Well, not too long ago someone began a thread about our own personal holy grail moments. Mine began a few days ago and continued through today. A year and a half or so ago, a friend of my dad's heard about the car I am building (it's a 30/31 coupe, for those who don't know). He said, " you know what you need for that don't you? A set of deuce rails!" I said yea, but a little pricey for me. So he said, "Well, if you promise you will use them on your car, and don't sell them, I have a set you can have. They will be my gift to you." Well, holy cow if I wasn't floored. So many painfully long months go by while I wait for him to dig them out of his barn. All the while I feel the project is stalling, when the truth is I don't have all the parts collected and don't have enough knowledge yet to make it happen, anyway. But when you are waiting for something that cool, it seems like an eternity anyway. A few days ago, my dad gets a call from his friend "The rails are ready for Mark to come get if he still wants them." (Still wants them? Are you kidding?) Well, two days later and not a moment too soon the rails are safe and sound in my barn. Good thing too. He told another guy that if I hadn't picked them up by 5 o'clock, he could come and get them. And that guy was going to give him $500 for them. But Al kept his word and gave them to me. Sometimes things just go your way. I must send out a big thank you to Al Nalbandian, owner of Insul-Shield Technologies for the HUGE favor. If you guys ever finish your cars to the extent that it requires sound insulation and stuff like that, give the guy a try. He is straight up. Then, today, I got to go with my dad to see the progress on the body work of his '34 Ford coupe. The body is being done by master metal guru David Simard, in Leominster MA. Wow, what a shop, and what a collection. He showed me a 34 he bought from Jim Jacobs, a 55 T Bird built by Valley Custom in '56, and a couple cars of incredible New England heritage, the Wentworth and Hoyt roadster, and the Albert Berton cabriolet. And that's just at the front of the garage... Dave and his crew are amazing guys, we got to join them for their traditional Friday lunch out and had a great time. Oh, and I scored a Model A front member and 32 rear member from him that I will get from him at the Greatwoods swap meet next weekend. Oh, life is good...
Thats the kind of gift that you will remember for the rest of your life. Very nice man, take him out for a big steak dinner!
Nice score...! Who's going to stitch the rails??? Do you have a welder? Show us your progress pictures when you get to that stage! Mark
Dave Simard does some of the nicest stuff I've ever seen. Please post some pics of your dad's '34 if you get a chance. Good score on the rails!
My buddy Jay(nosurf) is gonna help me with making the rails 3 dimensional. Right Jay? Jay? I will be sure to keep the pics coming as they warrant. i'll get on my dad to post some progress pics of the '34. It's sitting on a TCI ifs chassis right now. But he's trying to find a taker for that so he can keep the faith and go the more traditional route. Dave is the best. His work is right on. Stan and Mark that work for him are very good, too. They were hard at work when we showed up yesterday. The three of them seem to have a great working relationship and I think that shows in their work. It's good to see people doing what they love to do.
The Jalopy Journal
