Ken
Gone but not forgotten
It was a pretty good Friday at our local cruise night; we had a few cars show up - enough to fill both lots again, although not quite as many as last Tuesday night, when we had the grand opening of the clubhouse. We had something like 175-180 cars there that night. :cool
I was talking with an old-timer in a Ruby Red 50th Anniversary Corvette, who had a copy of either Popular Hot Rodding or Hot Rodder Magazine (I forget which now.
) from November of 1963, with a brand-new '63 Corvette coupe on the cover.
That brand-new coupe was taken directly from the dealer to the customizer's shop, where it was customized by removing the "split', adding headers similar to the early Mako Sharks that Bill Mitchell had, Borrani wheels, a 352 ci engine with six Stromberg 97s, an extended hood and nose with a custom grille, and a total restying of the rear end. The gentleman with whom I was speaking did the interior.
The paint was finished in what they called "Asteroid", which was also the name they gave the car. The paint reminded me of what we now call a "champagne" type of paint color with a little metalflake (Hell, it could have been a lot of metalflake - the magazine is over 50 years old, you gotta expect some washout I'd think. :L)
Anyhow, cool car, great reminiscence, and you may recognize the name: Don Farrera - he did a lot of interiors in the old hot rods, custom cars, and hot boats. Here's one of his boats in a photo taken at the 2001 California Boat Racer's Reunion at Lake Irvine, CA:
Nice gentleman to talk with. It's great to talk to the people who were there at the beginning.
I was talking with an old-timer in a Ruby Red 50th Anniversary Corvette, who had a copy of either Popular Hot Rodding or Hot Rodder Magazine (I forget which now.
) from November of 1963, with a brand-new '63 Corvette coupe on the cover.That brand-new coupe was taken directly from the dealer to the customizer's shop, where it was customized by removing the "split', adding headers similar to the early Mako Sharks that Bill Mitchell had, Borrani wheels, a 352 ci engine with six Stromberg 97s, an extended hood and nose with a custom grille, and a total restying of the rear end. The gentleman with whom I was speaking did the interior.
The paint was finished in what they called "Asteroid", which was also the name they gave the car. The paint reminded me of what we now call a "champagne" type of paint color with a little metalflake (Hell, it could have been a lot of metalflake - the magazine is over 50 years old, you gotta expect some washout I'd think. :L)
Anyhow, cool car, great reminiscence, and you may recognize the name: Don Farrera - he did a lot of interiors in the old hot rods, custom cars, and hot boats. Here's one of his boats in a photo taken at the 2001 California Boat Racer's Reunion at Lake Irvine, CA:
Whimsy - a 1944 19' Mandella runabout - brought by ACBS member Don Ferrara
4th place winner in several ski races from Long Beach to Catalina island in early 50's
300hp Olds engine - 480 ci
Nice gentleman to talk with. It's great to talk to the people who were there at the beginning.
