Featured Folks Of Interest RIP ... Tom Prufer

Obviously, he lived life well.

 

Yes, Larry did it no favors, it is now owned by another Tulsan who has restored it to Tom’s perfection. So we have two Prufer builds here in Tulsa.

 

Heart felt condolences to the Prufer Clan.

 

It was May last year, I was mucking round in my shed like I often do and I heard a rumbling sound out front that stopped. Thought I better pop out the front to see what was making the harmony. Low and behold it was Greg in the Cop Shop Coupe. Absolutely made my day seeing that car, especially in little old Bay View, NZ. Thanks for the info about Tom and his past, I am keen to find out more about him, what a great man.

 

Hello,

We have followed Tom Prufer’s cars in various classes. His drag racing scene was beyond our participation. But, impressive to say the least.

I was drawing a modified 29 roadster with a stock grille and wire wheels for a full bodied altered or modified roadster class. The headers were out and swooping back below/past the doors. But, I was at a standstill. Something was not right.

So, when the Tom Prufer section came along, I made a few changes and the 29 roadster became my version of the classic 29 roadster with flames. (I liked drawing the flames ) So, with a few mods, different wheels/tires, plus those lakes pipes headers, the new Tom Prufer version stood out on the art board.

Jnaki

I also have the chopped 3 window coupe already in a similar state but not with the Tom Prufer Flames. That was going to be another drag car with a big 671 sticking up and outside the hood. (the Dave Bell artwork is so inspiring…) So, we shall see how that one moves along with the other art projects already started but stalled at the moment. YRMV

 

Here's a (circa 2010) video clip of Prufer's "Poofer & Nitro Billy's Power King Too" AA/Top Fuel Dragster. Tom (red shirt) is seen test firing the car for a "Kacklefest" exhibition at the 14th Annual SO-CAL Speed Shop Open House:

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NOTE: Fellow HAMBer @RodPowell punched the louvers in the tins of this FED (see his August 2008 Louvers / Working with an old friend. thread) ... Rod also gets credit for most (if not all) of the bitchin' flame-jobs on Tom's iconic Hot Rods!

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Just a bump of this little tribute to Tom Prufer ... 'cuz I finally found my copies of the '94 American Rodder & Street Rodder magazines and was able to update post #57.

 

Just another bump of this little tribute to Tom Prufer ... 'cuz I just realized I never posted pics of Tom's other Red 1932 Ford 3-window Coupe (most likely because I’m not a fan of its painted wheels) . . . anyway here it is at the 2014 GNRS:

snapshots by me​

This Deuce 3wd ended up in the Richard V. Munz Collection . . . and was SOLD at the Kissimmee, FL auction on Friday, January 17th:

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. . . and here's the write-up from the auction listing:

THE STORY
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Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame member Tom Prufer balanced a long career in the San Francisco Bay Area with Lockheed Aircraft working on secret projects while making a parallel effort as a noted Hot Rod builder and Top Fuel Drag racer. Prufer’s many cars included frequent GNRS entries. His roadsters and coupes were unmistakable—cutting-edge cool, technically interesting, well built—and several of them were featured in major magazines.

Tom Prufer’s cars always set high standards. They have been admired and imitated for years. This car is no exception. In 2005, inspired by a Dave Bell cartoon image, Prufer built the famous “Cop Shop” ’33 Ford Coupe to much the same pattern: big rake, mean chop, no fenders, flashy flames and external headers. But he liked keeping functional parts like handles and hinges. That was a formula that worked well for Prufer, so he repeated it, but he always changed the elements just a little so his cars were never quite the same. You can see the family resemblance to the “Cop Shop Coupe” in this car, but there are many different details.

Chopped, channeled and raked, this 1932 Ford 3-Window, one of a memorable series of Prufer-built hardtops, debuted in 1999 at the 50th anniversary Grand National Roadster Show, which was held that year at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The mean-looking 3-window packs a massive 427 CI big-block Chevrolet V-8, with distinctive Limefire-style four-into-one headers, riding on a custom chassis by Ron Attebury.

The body was extensively modified by the Renteria brothers; the roof was filled, and the hammered 3-window was dramatically flamed by Rod Powell. Dan Fink fabricated the custom louvered hood and filled-grille shell. The car’s original E-T knockoff wheels were initially painted red. When Munz bought the car, it was fitted with traditionally finished and polished alloys. He re-installed the red E-Ts, of course.

From its aggressive, bull-dogged front end, tiny headlights and hairpin radius rods to the abbreviated track roadster-style side nerf bars and the rolled rear pan, this coupe has many of the distinctive styling and flame-painted elements that Prufer loved and included in many of his cars—especially those “crab claw” fade-away flames in bright yellow with sharp red tips. Over the years, Tom built a number of progressively tough-looking coupes.

Writing in The Rodder’s Journal, Pat Ganahl, who’d earlier edited Hot Rod magazine and Rod & Custom, called Prufer, “the inimitable, indefatigable, 100-proof Hot Rodder.” Referencing Tom’s cars over the years, Ganahl wrote, “… a real Hot Rod has to be low, powerful, sinister, swoopy, clean, understated and brutish, all at the same time. [With Prufer’s cars] … no two are exactly alike. There are some themes and similarities, sure. But there’s no formula, no template. Just the right stuff.”

Commenting on Prufer’s work in 2012, a H.A.M.B. member with the handle "@Flat-N-Low" commented, “I always thought Prufer had a keen eye for proportion. His cars were always proportionally correct—the right chop, the right stance, the right color and the right wheel/tire combo.”

Munz added, “This is what I would call a real Hot Rod with a lot of provenance.”​

 

One sinister hot rod

 

It's still available . . . checkout @DUAL 4S's 1929 Ford Tom Prufer Roadster Classified Ad:

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I'd like to see more detailed pictures of this car. I don't believe I built this chassis.

 

Well Pete , my friend , if you did build it there is none better built anywhere .

 

This is a hyperlink to the ad here on the HAMB.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1929-ford-tom-prufer-roadster.1333217/

 

FYI . . . This same hyperlink is in my POST#70

 

Yes, sir, I copied that and pasted. It came out as the link, not the text and link. I should have clarified, but the basic info was there.