Gray Baskerville

Lost my dad the same year! Two of my favorite Old Dudes!!!! Gray was Hotrod Class!!!! Always remember the story about him driving the roadster to a show in the rain....with NO TOP!!!!! He was just COOL!!!!!

 

His vocabulary pulled a lot of us in.

The thing about that dude, was his writing was so casual and familiar. Reading his stuff was like listening to a buddy, that one friend that needs a rheostat 'cause he's always FULLY INTO whatever's going on....


He sure was taken from us far too soon.

 

Andy, I always felt the same way. Reading his articles was more like having him tell you a story one on one than reading something written for the masses. I think that is a big reason that we all appreciate the man and his contribution to the rodding world.

 

Gray was a great and fun guy. I remember meeting him on one of the Americurises.. Always a big smile, shorts and flip flops. Jim the new owner of the 32 is a cool guy and is a great caretaker of deuce.

 

I did'nt know him very well, but would see him at Chrismans' quite frequently . The stories that I've heard are nothing short of a riot, he was a real guys guy . I once remarked about the hole in his flip flop ,and all he said was that they were just getting broken in !! we'll always miss "Ol Dad !!!

 

Gray would intersperse so much "jazz" jargon in his rod tests, and he would always make you feel like this was for you! Never met him, only knew him through those timeless articles. The way he treated his roadster as a rolling memory of old friends, now that is traditional rodding at its core! I may see the salt one day, and I promise to thank God and Gray for bringing us a love for it!

 

The year was 1975 at the Memphis NSRA Nats, lots of rain that year! Phillis Diller was onstage & performing when ol' Basketcase came flying down the aisle yelling real LOUD "ITS RAINING"---Naturally all open car drivers fell over themselves in an attempt to get to their cars & get them covered up!!!----OL' GRAY just stood there laffing his head off over all the Basketcase confusion in the rain with his flip flops!!!
What a guy!!!----Miss him----For sure, ONE OF A KIND!!!-----------Don

 

I've still got my Hot Rod mag with the cover pic of him sitting on the salt (or was it the dry lakes) in his flip flops.......

 

I loved reading his stuff, in fact I was just browsing through some old magazines and found a road test of Jim Cashin's 427 Cobra from a 1978 Hot Rod mag. It was so neat to read not due to the car's historical significance or it's value but because the one thing he focused on was how FUN it was to drive. That's the difference between Gray and everyone else. He made everyone realize that cars are supposed to be FUN above all else.

 

i tryed to name my son gray the wife wouldnt go for it but she didnt like edsel either.

so alex it is.

i never got to meat him but i like to think his writeing has guided me some

 

I got a chance to talk to him a couple of times at the early Hot Rod Reunions and he was very nice and answered all my silly questions. Ol'Dad was very cool indeed.

Hard to imagine he coined the term "Rat Rod", eh?