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Part 2: The Obsession Takes Root
by
Ronald Kregoski
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I’d like to say that after 50 years one day I sat down and decided to fulfill my childhood car obsession. But it didn’t happen just that way. When I got back into rodding I got a topless, T-bucket and modified it, but it wasn’t anything near the object of my yearnings. So, after blowing the engine because of too much supercharger boost, I went on to something a little more practical… my ’34 Ford sedan.
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What brought me to the Kookie Kar project was a rat-rodded, T-pickup running a 4-banger I saw offered on eBay. It wasn’t anything like the Kookie Kar, but it was cool. It had a low reserve, wasn’t bringing many offers and was pretty cheap. However, by the time I decided to move on it, it was gone. So, I contacted the shop that listed it and talked with owner Johnnie Overbay who along with partner, Doug Burba operated Reno Rods and Customs in Oklahoma City.
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Johnnie explained that ever so often they rummage through their back lot of car parts and piece together something to sell. I inquired whether they could build another at the same price and in the discussion mentioned, “What I’d really like to do is replicate Norm Grabowski’s Kookie Kar.” Now whenever I mention the Kookie Kar to someone, there is a pause. Then I have to explain what it is and the era it’s from and the TV program because most folks weren’t old enough then. But no, not Johnnie, who said with gusto, “I’ve always dreamed of building that car myself and we already have most of the parts including a V-60 front axle that I’ve been saving for something special”!
THAT’S ALL IT TOOK! At that point our conversation took a left turn from my original reason for calling to what would be involved in such a project. It seems that in addition to the V-60 front axle, Reno Rods had the, ’29 frame, the rims, ’41 rear axle and other assorted parts. Plus, they knew where they could probably get a ‘53 Caddy engine (yes I know Norm used a ’52 but they’re the same). A fire had been ignited and I was being seriously tempted. But, what really put me over the top was Johnny’s enthusiasm. Here was a guy who shared my same passion for the car. And after we negotiated a shop rate for the project, I gave him a tentative “I’m interested, let me think on it!”
Picking Up The Body
The T body was located someplace in Grand Prairie, Nebraska. I had a car to drop off in Iowa and the plan was to keep on going to Nebraska, pick up the car then swing down to Oklahoma City and check out Reno Rods. If I liked what I saw and we could finalize an arrangement, I would leave the body. If not I’d take it home and tackle it myself. But, I was already working on a couple of projects and really didn’t want it languishing in my garage for a couple of years. Also, I really wasn’t sure how the front end was constructed and in any case I had planned to have a pro shop iron out the chassis anyway.
Little did I know that my commitment to the project was about to be tested.
Winter was just beginning to set in but the weather had been nice so far and I had a problem free delivery to Iowa. However, when I headed out I-80 in the morning the weather had taken a turn. There had been freezing rain during the night and I-80 was a sheet of black ice.
I started out cautiously but after an hour the roads worsened. I began seeing cars off the road. Every time I was passed by a semi my empty trailer danced like a hooked marlin. My hands were white knuckled and I griped the wheel so hard I was convinced I was leaving marks. My angst wasn’t eased when passing a large semi off the road. on its side! This was getting serious and I debated getting off the highway. But I feared that I wouldn’t be able to stop exiting the off ramp. I had visions of my enclosed trailer doing a sideways slide, slamming into a gas station wiping out the pumps in an orange blaze and having it all ending up on U-tube. So I soldiered on.
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Reno Rods & Customs
As I said, my reason for considering having Reno Rods to this car, or at least the chassis, was that I was unclear how the front end, exhaust and a number of other fabrications were done on the car. Also, there weren’t enough revealing magazine photographs from that era. And I was involved with doing other cars and didn’t have the time. Plus, Reno Rods was an old school shop and knew how things were done in the ‘way back’.
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Arriving at Reno Rods, I was met by Johnny Overbay and his crew. A tour of his facilities convinced me that here was a traditional rod shop. It had that eclectic blend of nostalgic trash decorating the walls, car parts hanging from the ceiling and scattered projects. The yard behind the shop was littered with enough Model A & T car bodies, frames and other whatnots to put together several cars. It felt right.
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Johnny and I went to lunch and discussed the project.
We were in agreement that the car should be built without the convenience of an automatic transmission and that we’d make it as close the original car as possible including adding the top, which had never been done on other Kookie clones.
Yes, a couple of others had cloned Norm’s iconic little bucket but something was always lacking. One was a done in Northern California by a guy who used a big block caddy, automatic trans and a quick-change rear axle. Nice, but not the 1957 Car Craft Magazine car that got into my head.
A guy with the handle of von Franco did the most famous clone in the late 80’s. He was also obsessed with the little pickup and did a beautiful job. His clone has been seen in many magazines recently including the prestigious Rodders Journal. But his clone had vertical tail pipes like when the original appeared in the TV show 77 Sunset Strip and no top. Later, we were to learn that there were other features, which deviated from the original.
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Norm added the top when an actor crashed the car, which was being rented by the movie studios. Norm vowed from then on no one would drive the car except himself. The studio agreed but required him to get a SAG card and add a top that would hide his face. This is what launched Norm into the acting business.
So, we were going to build the model that appeared on the April ‘57 cover of Car Craft magazine. It had exhaust pipes running horizontally along the pickup bed and a top. I spoke with von Franco on several occasions and he was helpful plus we now had a lot of magazine photos, a Utube piece and a DVD, ‘The Car That Ate My Brain’, von Franco made on the history of building his car. We used them to get specs at the beginning.
So an agreement was forged. Reno Rods would do, or at least begin, the build in their shop with me researching, consulting with Grabowski and von Franco, securing hard to find parts and working on some sub components. Johnnie & Doug would be involved but Chris Gutierrez and master fabricator, Gordon Burba would be using up most of the shop’s the hand cleaner.
The parts used in the build were to be either recycled originals or something we fabbed ourselves. And only if it absolutely must be bought, to get parts made in the USA.
So, here I was, doing another from-scratch car being built at another out-of-state shop…something I swore I’d never do again. But, I felt good about Reno Rods and that Johnnie and his team shared my passion for the car. More on the successes and set backs next time. Until then, think a good thought and don’t forget to put off putt’n off.
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