could NOT be a BETTER group for the job !!!!!!! Roys' is one of the best of the best !!!! WHO THE HECK IS THAT GUY WITH NORM, ? let's hear from him.
I am ,of course talking about the kid with him, in LIFE magazine picture. EVERYONE KNOWS THE KID IS HIS NIECE, was Norm ever married?
Roy doesn't really "do computers" ... so I'll try to update this thread with his team's progress ... or maybe I'll start a separate thread. Then again, the new owner (Mr. Ross Myers / 3 Dog Garage) may not want the restoration progress documented on "the Interwebs" and/or may let the print media (e.g., @TRJ) have exclusive rights to photos of the car's restoration. Perhaps Roy's sister, Terri Brizio Hollenbeck (aka @Born a HotRodGal) will chime in?
Hemi, it was just a thought. I'm sure that process will be documented in some way, unless you can get some spy photos!
I saw Norm's car at a car show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, late '50s, if I remember right...was curious about the construction so I got down on my hands and knees to look at how he had put the rear suspension together. I realized that only the back of the spring was chromed, and only the back half of the rear axle was painted....
Not of the restoration process ... but here's a few pics of it after being delivered to Roy Brizio Street Rods: Roy's sister, Terri (@Born a HotRodGal) Brizio Hollenbeck tries it on for size Interior NOTE: Teddy Zgrzemski refit the Larry Watson paint in pearl white and candy, and metal flake tangerine in '63-'64
It’s now in the right place for a rebuild. I hope when it’s all restored that the photo shoot takes place at Toluca Lake Bob’s . I remember seeing Franco’s version at the GNRS “OAKLAND” in 1987. I always felt that was a pretty faithful recreation. Does John LaBelle still have the Franco version? I know I’ve seen a version over at Sacramento Vintage,is that one the Franco - La Belle version? It would be great to see all of the Grabowski inspired T’s together, including Franco’s former LB version in black, then see who can tell which is the real version .
I had heard that it was "uglyfied" buy the last owner...Yup! Sure was! Damn the seventies were ruff times for style.
Blowers were fake Hid a small 4bbl and manifold All the last version junk is off Dual slicks Pipes Seats Rear end cover Front lights Etc See on roybrizio instagram
Thanks for that Dooley, that's a cool video from Brizio..... https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkv_RIvHi1F/?taken-by=roybriziostreetrods
For those of us not on instagram (yes, there are some), is there a way to see Brizio's video? A link or something?
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/driving-the-kookie-kar-back-to-1958.1110832/page-2 all new pics on this thread ^^^
Jack Dooney was in Mesa, AZ when he built and started showing that car. It’s still around and hasn’t been changed. It sat for a number of years here in Arizona and popped up out of nowhere at one of the Scottsdale Goodguys events a couple years ago. I spoke to the owner of it for probably an hour, he didn’t know the entire history of it, just knew it came out of Butch Tucker’s collection when he bought it from what he told me. I have photos of it that I took saved somewhere. I recently found a photo online of it that was published in a Hot Rod Show World issue also. I’ll dig ‘em up later.
Jack Dooney’s Kookie Klone featured in Hot Rod Show World 1988 or ‘89, and appearing at the Goodguys Spring Nationals last year. There have been some small changes made to it over the years, nothing that can’t be corrected back to the original version though.
So I was in a local junk/antique store yesterday and saw a Kookie T model car complete with box no less. It was the original car with the white top. There was a Norm Grabowski autograph on the top of the car. Who knows if it was genuine, but the store owner thought it was. Price $595.00. Let me know if any of you guys want me to pick it up for you.
Should have taken some good photos of the box, there are guys on here who were close enough to Norm to know exactly what his signature should look like.
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