I just looked up the movie Running Wild (1955) that the car was in. It's in the lot of the gas station in the beginning of the movie. Enjoy!
That's as much a 'real car guy' piece, as it is a story of the iconic custom involved. Strong stuff. As a casual custom admirer, I reluctantly gave it a peek. You can read in every character's eyes their commitment & dedication to the car, as well as the car culture as a whole. Worth a look, great story, and excellent presentation.
Thanks for the link. That was good. Does anybody have a list of the R&C issues on the restore? I’d like to get those. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I remember those ads that Kurt used to put in Hot rod magazine too.... he never did find it but ya gotta give him credit for trying
I remember as a 18 year old while working at the local hot rod shop, the Bossman taping his finger at some old black and white photos. He told me this is the most beautiful custom car ever built. You could tell by his voice and look on his face that he was serious. He had asked me what my favorite car was like some sort of test. I guess he was shocked when a smart mouthed teenager said a Merc. He had to dig out the pictures he had of the Hirohata car. He knew which magazines to grab to show me without any hesitation. It’s says something about the car when 30 years after it was built that an old guy in central Bama was ready to fight anyone in the shop that didn’t agree with his statements about it. When the features on its resurrection hit the shelves, an older version of me was keeping up with it. By this time I was in a shop full of Porsches, Ferraris ....... and the Hirohata was the topic of many discussions. When something really cool came in the shop, some of the guys would mess with saying “We know, it’s not THE Merc” At work, I turned into the ‘straightener’. Not the bondo jockey but the panel beater. Every bump, every file stroke each shrink was me getting closer to where I thought I needed to be before I attempted to build one I still haven’t built one but that’s Ok. It says a lot about the how the skills used to build the Hirohata was still inspiring folks decades later.