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consideration of my involvement with Chrysler (I was in the midst of creating the hemi.com website—it’s still live, so check it out). I was on my way to owning a dream, one that I never thought would come true.
Paul has been collecting ’32 Ford stuff since his school days. It all started when he told a high school teacher that his dream was to have a Deuce. The teacher said that it would “never happen.” That was all Beck needed. Nothing is impossible to him. He’s now had dozens of the cars, and built a few for some rather famous people, including Boyd Coddington. One of them, a roadster Paul built for himself, won a “Wally” at the NHRA’s 40th anniversary celebration at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Beck’s roadster is as Old School as they come: A primer body with a 270 hp dual-quad 1957 Corvette engine that has its original air cleaner. The car has un-split wishbones and a torque tube drive. Paul invented his own cure for the flexible Ford frame: Reinforcements made from modified Ford wishbones that connect the K-member to the frame rails to triangulate and stiffen the structure. I’ll call them “Beck Struts.” When Wally Parks gave him the trophy he told Paul, “Never change it.” He hasn’t and he won’t.
My ’32 roadster chassis was being built the same as Paul’s original, with the same “Beck Struts” stiffening the frame and with some refinements that occurred to Paul over the years. One such improvement was to attach the fronts of the struts to a large plate on the K member that included the mount for the brake master cylinder. A more efficient design.
I looked for parts during the build and found a cut-down Auburn instrument panel out in Stockton, Calif. I also got a set of matching Stewart-Warner gauges that were out of an old Autocar truck, and the same place yielded a pair of 40s Ford 16-inch wheels that were five inches wide. The rest of the parts came out of Paul’s barn. I misfired on some parts ideas, like the time I told Paul that some current-model Harley-Davidson turn signals would be cool. He looked at me sideways and reminded me that the plan was to do a vintage hot rod. Another time I got some gas shocks for the front, but the were chrome and had no covering for the shaft. One glance from Paul and they quickly disappeared.
One of Beck’s loves is a woman named Veda Orr, the Californian who kept hot rodding alive during the Second World War by sending newsletters to the troops. Paul served in Viet Nam and had no such connection to the car world back home, so he had real respect for what Veda did. Her husband Karl had one of the first speed shops in Southern California and he ran the dry lakes with a couple of ’32 Ford roadsters. He put Veda behind the wheel and she did so well that she was the only woman certified by the Southern California Timing Association to drive the lakes. Her ’32 Ford was legendary. Beck told me more than once that he would like to build a tribute to that car.
Six months into my roadster build I had a meeting with Tony Thacker the executive director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. It was September 2006. He was heavily involved with the ’32 Ford 75th Anniversary along with Californian Dave Boulé and Ford designer Larry Erickson (of the famous “Cadzilla” ZZ Top car). They were searching for the 75 Most Significant ’32 Fords to display at the 2007 Grand National Roadster Show, which was scheduled for January in Pomona, Calif.
But they couldn’t find the Veda Orr roadster.
When the meeting was over, I took a chance and asked Tony if I could do a Veda Orr reproduction. I told him that my roadster was well along and I could turn it into the Veda car. He thought that might be possible. He said he was seeing Erickson the next day and would mention it to him.
I got the call the next evening and Tony said Larry approved the project. I immediately called Paul and told him I wanted to turn the project into the Veda Orr car. Paul sounded cool to the idea, but said he would see if he could do it. After I hung up, I got it. I was taking away Paul’s dream. I looked at my wife, who had been listening to my side of the conversation, and said, “I can’t to this.” I immediately called Paul back and told him he should do the car.
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