My search for the Holy Grail, not unlike that of the great Sir deLeon was taken from me against my own will...... Just as his thirst for the fountain of youth was never quenched so shall my appetite for that sweet nectar of Hot-Rod lore go unfulfilled. Long story short. The old Hot-rod sitting in a barn for 40 years that I have chased down and begged for was sold to another with deeper pockets and more pull. I tried for a very long time and came as close as a promise away from said Hot-Rod. So the story goes...This weekend I went to my dad's house and he said he needed to talk to me. So we went for a walk....I was worried. I thought he was going to drop some unmentionable bomb on me - telling me that someone died or that he was diagnosed with some horrible affliction. We walked to the park while drinking a couple cans of beer that he had grabbed on the way out the door. It must have been about 90 degrees because I was sucking it up very quickly and hadn't even thought about the laws we were both breaking. Suddenly we were on the other side of the park when he stopped and looked at me. I looked back at him and he pointed his finger towards a nearby house.....and there it sat, my old Holy Grail on a trailer only 200 yards away from my old man's front steps. Sold to a guy who aready has two old Mustangs and a cool truck. That bastard.... I had never seen the Grail, I had only been given descriptions of it and had made offers based solely on those words. If it was all true I would take it - no matter how bad it was. I could fix it, I was sure of that. As long as there was something left I would save it. I stood there gawking - damn that is cool!! Still sitting on old steelies with dried out rubber. A sort of flat purple colored Model A roadster. The once snow white interior was now filthy and smelled horrible from years of moisture and rodent poop. It was a wierd interior too. It had a mix between tuck and roll and a super-fluffy fur. Very pimp-ish looking. Strange to see in a roadster. The stock windshield posts were kinda dorky sticking up so straight and still in the un-chopped configuration - and painted the same tacky purple as the rest of the car. The glass was still there but it was really wavy looking, not the almost transparent kind of stuff we are all used to today. The trunk was sitting in the cockpit (covering treasures I'm sure yet unfound). You could look in the trunk area and tell that there would be alot of work involved in this re-build. The engine was early SBC I think (I wasn't really paying attention but that is what it looked like from the onset so I didn't investigate). I was busy checking out the tri-power set-up and the cool air-cleaner covers. It also had this sort of home-made lake-pipe set that you could easily tell was amateurish in execution. In fact I would say with a good amount of confidence that this whole car was an amateur mid-western copy-cat version of a Californian Hot-Rod. It was channeled and lowered well enough but it scores low on making the right statement that says So-Cal Hot-Rod. I think that is what endears me to it as much as I am. All of the thing that went into it were done by some punk kid on a budget way back in the day. I can't stop thinking about it... I gotta have it!! Pics forthcoming - no damn digi cam!!!
I hope that bringing this post BTTT is good enough to get some more views - I'd just as soon start another post but I figured that I might have to re explain myself. ANYwhoo.... I finally have pics of the barn car. The so called myth. The urban legend that we all hear of. Well this car is real the story is real and the people are real. Here it is after 40 years of sleep:
Did you see that battery box infront of the steering column? Cool.....why put it in the trunk? Ohh and nevermind the pimped out fur carpet....
some good parts there ...i think you might have lucked out though.... any idea how much this jewel fetched??
There are so many things wrong with this car that I am afraid that it's new owner will ruin it (street-rod). The frame and the engine are very saveable. The body, although wierd is solid. The suspension is period perfect. The rims are mis-matched front to rear - but I kinda like 'em that way. The color sucks, the light treatments are crazy and some of the engineering is way strange. ....I want it.
I have yet to meet the new owner. I will beg him for it when I do though. It really looks worse in pics than it is in person. A ton of work no doubt, but this is the real deal here. I don't live in Cali where this kind of stuff was peppered all over the place. This car is a relic of almost unhearof proportions in my neck of the timber...
Hey Broman, I think that was a coupe that has had the top cut off. My ex father-in-law has a little street rod that looks very similar. He has been putting his car together for the last twenty years and as such has mixed some styles, but I'm working on him to change a few things. I keep telling him that his square rear view mirrors and such need to go. The driver's side door on his car is welded shut also, that was done to give the car some rigidity. The top was cut off of the car when he bought it. Here is a pic of the car. Maybe some time all us Iowa HAMBers can meet and I can talk him into bringing it along.
I will give you an A+ on the story write. But, I like stories with happy endings. You have to keep at him till he sells or gives you the car. As the story unfolded, I thought your dad was going to show you your car on the trailer.
...this is not a story, it's a friggin SAGA!!! I am being tenacious about this thing too. Actually, part of me is HOPING he'll street-rod it. Then I can snatch the suspenders and such. I figure I could build a cool car with just a home-made frame and the susp. from this car.
That is about the ugliest car I've ever seen. I can see why you want it. Get it, and don't change a thing. Except the color JOE
Yeah, it was probably a sport coupe,(closed leather top) First move is casually ask if he,s cleaning up and would he be interested in selling that useless project.Or you could wait till he starts work on it and then call the cops about excesive noise every evening and hope he will sell it off.Keep in touch with the guy, he may have taken on to much with the project, You never know.
No nothing yet. I have been busy. I am laid off and have to job hunt first and foremost - Iowa sucks!! I have been fortunate enough to be able to use this off time to do some art for mySELF for a change however. That feels good. Plus I got time to spend with my 1 year old daughter - feels even better. In the meantime I am still financially good so I am working on my Buick and lusting for this roadster. I really hope to be able to work out some sort of work trade or something. Maybe I can paint this guy's Harley in trade for the roadster or something. I might even be a man-ho shortly. It worked for Rob Shneider/Deuce Bigalo.
It might have been in a barn for 40 years but someone put a 70's van column in it.Would be a nice one to re-do.
The Jalopy Journal
