My interest in rods I can trace back to one summer day in 1966. A neighbor up the road, Andy, had just got his hot rod going and brought it down to our house to show us. I was just a little kid, but man I will never forget it! That car was the coolest thing I had ever seen, and I don't think I've seen a cooler one since. It was a '31 "A" coupe with a pretty radical channel. It wasn't chopped, and not so much as a nod to the east coast style, but for practical reasons. You see, Andy was about 6' 5" tall, a pretty big guy. With a 331 Chrysler hemi, Packard trans, and a 3:90 1949 Merc rear end it went pretty good too. That rod inspired me to build the '32 I am working on today. It makes me a little sad that Andy p***ed away last year and won't get to see what mine will be like. Maybe when I get mine going I'll do a burn-out in his memory!
No, he sold it in about 1968, and the next owner wrapped it around a telephone pole and totalled it off. I have one valve cover from the hemi hanging in my garage.
The Jalopy Journal
