Dick Patterson's wicked Model A - I had these images hanging on my bedroom walls as a kid (actually I had the entire bedroom wallpapered with color images gleaned from mid-'60s Hot Rods - maybe why I'm so warped today). That interior!
Dude...someone needs to build this one! Lessee...v-drive, cotton-and-dope wing and front nose panels, 'glass body and wheel spats. Needs a funky engine, like either a Daimler hemi or Franklin air-cooled v-8...it'd be epic.
I wouldn't consider this a 'show rod'. This a high-zoot Hot Rod, just a rather extreme example. Maybe call it a 'techno-rod' if anything. A show rod should have some major visible custom body mods and bright paint to qualify IMO... I'm not saying it isn't an example of the high art of rodding, it's just not a show rod.
@DDDenny or @Marty Strode this is a little OT but do wither of you remember the Allison powered trike that used to show up at the car show in Portland?
That pic was taken when I owned it, I had just finished removing the pac man paint job......they even painted over the bubble
Bob Arrigo’s ‘glass T coupe out of Burbank, IL. He was a teenager when the car was built, it featured home brewed stainless headers, blower drive and IFS. Pretty heady stuff for a young guy, but I think his older brother gave advice. @Bill Rinaldi will know more details.
There is something about this goofy trike that I absolutely LOVE - probably the wide Indys but overall it has cool proportions...
...I think Showrod like Hotrod evolved to the Toilet Tub Special Showrods... There were magazines, all kinds of Shows evolving in line with the NRS (GNRS) and that probably upped the bar on making things pretty so to speak... Mark my words this is not an insult to have a clean show worthy Hotrod, many did have just that and raced them too... I have to give a big thumbs up to those that were able to pull this off...I know I don't have that in me... Anyhow I'll shut up now... Credit to Photographer, Owner
I see Bill Rinaldi on a regular basis, so I'll try to get him to add some history to this. I do know that my neighbor and fellow Vintage Tin member bought the car in the mid 80's. It was painted brown and had a Jim McFall interior at the time. Vince drove it all over. Probably, about 1987, a group of us drove our cars out to Wilmington, Illinois for an annual car show. Wilmington is kind of out in the country and sits on the Kankakee River, right by a dam. It was the best car show by a dam site, as many would come to say. Coming into Wilmington, after cruising 65/70 miles an hour, Vince slowed the T down for a stop sign, and right before he came to a stop, the left front control arms, snapped off. Could have been a bad situation a few miles down the road. I trailered the broken T back home, and Vince put it all back together. He ended up trading it to another club member for a project, sectioned 40 Ford, which ended up with a Hemi with Weber carbs and an Alston chassis. But that's another story. Maybe Rinaldi can put some more history to Bob Arrigo's nice T.
Not a lot more that I can add, I believe Bobby did the flag paint job in 1976 jn honor of the Bicentenial. If my memory is correct it was a fiberglass car and Bobby built every aspect of the car and the supercharged engine. When Bobby was building the car he was a member of Street Rods Limited (LTD) and had a lot of very talented club members to help him along. The car was definatley a driver as well as a very nicely done car. Bill Rinaldi
The Jalopy Journal
