I had a long conversation with Dave today and can now clear up some questions you have. First, the Kandy Kart restoration is still underway and should be finished this year. He said he believes it is at a shop in Minnesota or Wisconsin. The '40 sedan is a car he was doing for Jim Rourke, who was driving Dave's Funny Car back in '69. Jim died of cancer and Dave speculates the car was junked when Jim's father had it towed from his house. WHAT A SHAME! At 73, Dave is building a new "Lil Coffin". It will be much like the old car but "new generation". He hopes to finish it this year. He had a stroke a couple years ago but still works in his shop most every day. It is true, he is one of the nicest "car guys" you will ever talk to.
Frank...Many thanks for your input.I do hope we get to see photos of the Kandy Kart when its all done. That would be really cool. What a shame if that ended up being the fate of that wonderful Kustom 40
If those tires are good and still on the car, they would have to be the only surviving set of 60's era Royal Masters. Haven't seen any since about 1968! Many of the top 60's customs used them.
I've honestly never understood how these beautiful cars...Show or Street cars ever go from being created over thousands of hours and dollars, to the place we find them abandoned or neglected to the point where there's little left of the original car. Really, who allows that to happen?????
yeah i was gonna say he had a stroke not too long ago. he's still doing okay. don't know if he's back to doin louvers or not. last i knew not yet. but he has some cool stuff in his shop...definitely worth checkin out!!
I'm with you, it totally boggles the mind that so much thought,work, and pride could be just discarded and left to deteriorate! Un-****in-real.-MIKE
Great thread! Carnut.com has provided me with a lot of photo and information on Dave that I'm working on adding to my website Kustomrama. You can see my page on Dave so far here: http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?***le=Dave_Stuckey And this one is for his shop Stuckey Kustom: http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?***le=Stuckey_Kustom Frank, thanks for asking Dave about the 40 Ford, it was one of the cars in the photos that I had no information on. If you talk to him again, can you also ask him if he has any more information on this sectioned Oldsmobile, would have been nice to know who he did it for, and whatever became of it: One of my favorite Stuckey creations is Dave's old Studebaker pickup. This was his personal driver, and I have only been able to find one photo on this cool creation. If anyone have more photos and info on this one I would love to see them
The sectioned Olds sat around behind Doug Thompson's shop in Kansas City in the 70's looking exactly as it does here, pale yellow with the primer. At some point, I believe that Jon Povenmire finished and drove it. Cool Stude. I hope we are seeing the start of Dave becoming more recognized as he well should be. He was definitely on the custom edge throughout the 60's. Wichita was always custom crazy. The problem was, customizing was generally over then and no one cared. It wasn't until a few years later that the interest revived when a handful of builders started building early 50's-style 'sleds again. The musclecar craze killed both rods and customs in the 70's, but customs suffered the most.
The Stude truck w/ 59 Chevy bed is un-fukin-believable. Someone should build one w/ that in mind. so true. we have to thank the Lowriders for flying the flag for customs during those years.....and you know that better than many. Your cars were so bad *** in those years.
Dave really liked sectioning cars. one of the last ones he did was a 69/72 el camino. it was in my shop for awhile, I didn't get alot done because the owner started going in a direction I didn't like. It went to anouther shop in the wichita area, they added some ferrari testerosa looking side veins and suecided the doors. don't know where the project is now, or how far from completion it is, or if work is still getting done on it. This could someday be the last sectioned car from stuckey.I am soo glad he is getting some noteriety now, just hope he is able to work some, so he can get his current build done.
Aren't there any Wichita HAMBers who could stop by his shop (with a camera) for a visit? He has done some kool stuff allright.
It has been over a year and a half since this thread went dormant and I have not seen anything on the HAMB about "The Kandy Kart's" restoration. Has anyone seen or heard anything about it elsewhere?
I really dont like how someone added more poncho molding to thesides of the car, it was bad *** as it was.
I talked to Dave Stuckey today and he has not talked to the owner of "The Kandy Kart" since we last talked nearly 2 years ago. He has not talked to anyone else about it and does not know if the restoration has been finished. The car had a Chevy engine in it and when Dave told the owner he implanted a 413 Chrysler in it when he built it the owner disputed that but finally accepted that as the truth and replaced the Chevy with a 413. Dave told me he used 1960 Olds bumpers, a '59 Chevy dash and countless other modifications in addition to the Chrysler implant in an effort to gain as many points as possible in the Radical Custom cl***. Dave told me the customized '40 Ford Coupe he built for Bob Moore of Oklahoma 50 years ago has been restored and featured in one of Pat Ganahl's books. He also told me he is still working on the new Lil Coffin but cataracts have slowed down his work. But he has had surgury on both eyes in the last 30 days and plans to get back on it soon. He plans to finish it in '13 and has Monogram interested in a new model since it will be a mixture of the old and the new. He is a very nice guy who is easy to talk to for someone who has accomplished so much. He said he has built over 40 cars. If you have any questions about one of the cars he built give him a call at 316 524 0056.
hey thanks Frank! I'd love to give him a call and just might if I can work out the time difference from NZ to Wichita
Ahah, amazing how that guy didnt want to believe the car originally had a 413 in it even if the original builder told him. Some people really are plain ***es.
Yeah, Dave seemed irritated when talking about it.... that the guy would not believe it had Chrysler engine when he finished it. Here is another picture I found. I took this in '76 after moving it in my new building. Not a good picture but it shows how nice the Kandy Red paint was about 15 years after being built.
really cool colour in that photo Frank. Unusual 'windsplits' on the roof too....did the seats originate from a production car? thanks heaps for your input here...PB
I believe the interior, like the body modifications, was all kustom. The roof "Vs" just added more styling to the car. I can't say this about most kustoms but there was not one thing I would have changed about the way Dave designed and built the car.
Stopped by Dave's shop today. He's got alot done on the Coffin since I last saw it,but he still has a lot to do. He's been working on the guage pod for the 4 small guages(a work of art) No pix.
These pics appear on the great Kustomrama site. (That's the "Lil Coffin Next Generation"!) (Photo from CarNut.com) (Photo from Larry Sunner)
Ill try and stop by and see Dave next time im in the area. The elcamino that finkd was talking about is in Ron Pinkstons shop and the last time i seen it it was almost finsished. I think theres pics of it on royboyproductions.com. Or travisfromkansases site. one in the same.
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