By Kathleen Kieffer
I was the third oldest of 10 kids, and always the big sister, I had a lot on my plate as a teenager. But at 15, I hung out in the parking lot at school where all the older kids had their hot rods. I drooled over those cars and knew that someday I’d have my own. I had saved all my babysitting money, and bought a 1949 Plymouth Deluxe. I drove it home, burnt valves and all. I paid $45 for that car and was so proud of it. I only had a permit, but being from a small town in the Midwest, you could get away with just about anything. I pushed that little car to the limits, doing 99 miles an hour down the old back roads of rural Illinois. My older brother helped me do a valve job. I had no idea what I was doing, up to my elbows in grease, but I liked working on the car. I became known as the girl that knew how to do burnouts. I could name the make and model of all the 50’s & 60’s cars, and I still remember them.
I got married at 18, and had to sell my little Plymouth to help pay for a baby on the way. My husband and I dated in a 1958 Chevrolet Impala Convertible. We raced it at the Alton Drag Strip in 1967, and took home a trophy. I was the pit crew, under the car, pregnant, helping with whatever needed to be done. We were married for 43 years and owned a mass of cars – hot rods, muscle cars, racers, you name it.
My husband passed away in August 2010. I continued to run our small Advertising Specialty business, but knew that something was missing. Before my husband died, I’d been nagging for an old pickup truck. He finally found one in Coon Rapids, a total basket case. He bought it and started buying parts for it. I had no idea just how much work it was going to take to get that little truck back on the road. It sat in Darrel Goad’s back yard for years. We started working on it together, when he wasn’t too ill. It gave us that closeness we had as young lovers and the desire to build one more vehicle before we retired. I scrapped all the gunk off the motor and power washed it. I painted the frame and parts of the motor, but it had been in the garage, incomplete, for nearly four years after my husband died.
In late October 2013, Jim Noren stopped by and we got talking about cars. I mentioned that I was looking for someone to put my truck together. Jim was part of the Car Club out of Big Dick’s Speedshop in East St. Paul. The group of guys get together on Monday nights and Saturday mornings to work on a car project. Jim took the idea of finishing my truck to the guys, and they voted to work on it. All I had to do was supply the parts. But I wanted to be a part of the build. It was important for me to prove that I could pull my weight and I wanted to get my hands dirty again.
Two pickup loads of parts and the little truck was on its way to Big Dick’s. Once the truck was in the shop, the Car Club took a survey of all the parts and missing pieces and noted what it would take to put it together. A lot! It was going to be a complete ground up restoration, but not high dollar. I wanted it to have a rusty patina look. With assistance and tutoring, the guys helped me work alongside them. I made a lot of mistakes, but they always helped bail me out. I did most of the grunt work: beating up the bed boards to distress them (a great stress reliever), bolting down the bed chrome strips, grind-off welding boogers, grinding through some of the weld (oops), and sanding and painting the body to a patina look – a style some of them referred to as the hillbilly paint job. I painted the dash and steering column and learned a lesson: if it looks good, leave it alone. It had to be stripped down after the first paint job because I thought it needed wet sanding. So much for thinking I knew what I was doing! I broke so many nails and had bruises all over my body, but I powered on. I loved every minute of my time spent with these guys. I was in that shop four nights a week and on the weekends, and we’ve bonded as friends for life. These guys teased the hell out of me and I loved it. We all worked so well together and laughed so hard sometimes, I thought I’d bust a gut.
It might be rare for a woman of 65 to be rolling around on a creeper with a bunch of guys spittin’, trash talkin’ and cussin’ and having fun, but I wouldn’t have wanted this build any other way. It was just what I had in mind and what I needed. It’s given me a lift in humanity, friendship and loyalty. A true car club project, where everyone is involved in the build and each one did their own thing to make it possible for a gal like me to drive that little truck all over town. I’m looking forward to this summer and using my little truck as my daily driver. I hope I have many years left in me to enjoy this ride, but if I die tomorrow, they’ll have to cremate me, because they won’t be able to wipe that grin off my face.
This build would never have happened if it weren’t for Big Dick’s Speedshop and all the guys: Jim Noren, Dick “Big Dick” Bredemus, Tom Noren, Stevie Urquahrt, Scotty Cregan, John “Johnny Boy” Schwartz, Gary “Osterschmoozer” Osterberg, “Dyno Don” Nelson, and Mike “Tape” Ruhberg. This build was all made possible from “A Little Help From My Friends”.
The little truck got an interior makeover by Stichbitch Upholstery in Stillwater, MN. The seats and door panels are Vintage Turquoise and White Tuck-n-Roll for a 50’s/60’s custom look. The headliner is white with turquoise piping. The outside roof of the truck repeats the turquoise and white tuck-n-roll to carry out theme. Even the running boards have Tuck-n-Roll to make it pop at the car shows.
And speaking of car shows, the little truck attended its first show in April – the Gopher State Time Association Rod and Car Show in St. Paul. It won Outstanding in Class, Best Individual Display!
