Consider Street Rodder magazine, page 52, August 2009. This was the report on the Fresno Autorama. Right there, left handcolumn, second pix down, is one of my former roadsters. A car with lineage.

I bought this prime timer from Don Clark in the early Sixties, still in the original paint but with a ton ofexperience. One day I stopped by Don’s business (C-T Automotive,Clark was in partnership with Clem Tebow), which was out in North Hollywood onLankershim Blvd, which was on my way home from work at Hot Rod Magazine.  There was an interesting engine on a stand inthe shop window, had been there for some time, and I asked Don, “Hey, whatcha gonna do with that old Moeller?” Look back in history and you’ll find the Moeller was an OHV conversion for the Ford flathead V8.

In this case, the engine used a special C-T built slide-valve injector and it had been used in the C-T liner as well as Don’s old ’32 roadster. In the street car, it had run over 160 on the flats. It was used as the push carfor their streamliner, which had to be shoved to over 100mph before it couldpull it’s own. More inside info: Clarkand Tebow had shelves full of Ardun OHV Ford flat motor kits back then. An Ardun had also been in the roadster.

So Don says. “Nothing. Just put it there toget it out of the way.” I thought a minute, and asked, “Where’s your oldroadster?” Don says, “Home”. I say,“Wanna sell it?” He says, “yep, for two bills.” I went home to consider. At that time, 200 bucks was a lot of money .

Next day, going in to Hollywood and work, I stopped by the shop. “Here’s the deal. I’ll buy the roadster if you will let me put the Moeller in it and run the lakes and the salt.” Done deal, I gotta go out to Don’s parents home in the West Valley. The roadster is there, in an old chicken shed, still with air inthe tires and the tow bar attached  so I can sling it home. We’ll go out on Saturday.

The car was in the shed, with all kinds of parts laying around. Donald said I had to take everything, which included the original Deluxe Roadster spare tire fender well front fenders (the stuff that came off the car when Don bought it), etc. All in as-new condition. In addition I had to haul away a set of brand new front and rear standard fenders and runningboards, still in the original Ford shipping wrap. The engine I would get at a later date when I was ready.

The car was just as it had appeared from several years prior, with a number on the door in that  BonAmi white stuff we mixed with water. The car was unmolested in every way. So, I hauled it home, explained to Pegge what I planned, and backed it into the garage. Timing tag was on the dash, keys in the switch, couple hours to ignition if I wanted to go that way. But I had otherplans.

It would remain a highboy, so I off’ed the fenders, the dual sidemounts went to Dick Scritchfield for a ’32 phaeton he was buying from Australia (an aside, in my wintertime home of Castlemaine, Australia, I often visit with Eddie Ford who sold that tub to Scritch). The brand new fenders and boards went to Jack Stewart, who was even then (mid 1960s) gathering up Deuce stuff in astock pile. Way ahead of the rest of us. I never did ask Jack what happened tothose NOS primo’s.

I wanted to put torsion bar suspension onthe front . At a time when such a thing was confined to Indy type cars. But Frank Kurtis had some units, as did Dragmaster. Whatever, I took about a yearfarting around with the chassis, then one day Don called. “Hey, we gotta move the Moeller, and there is a guy here who wants to buy it.”  Someone told me later the engine ended up as a coffee table. So my plans swung away from the Lakes. Meantime, the magazine ad department asked if I had a project that needed a paint job. Turned out the famous so cal mass transit painter who said “We paint your car for $19.95, no up’s” wanted some HRM publicity. I delivered the roadster, with specific instructions to thoroughly sand the car and use primer, etc. Yeah, sure. Three days later I picked up the car, now abright yellow, with every little scratch magnified, and that old dry lakes racing number bleeding through the paint, graphically.

The car was in this state when I sold it to someone from the socal area. I got a call from Andy Brizio a few months later telling me he had purchased the car, and since he was doing some street rodswith a fiberglass body that a norcal guy was making, the roadster would be used to make a mold.

That’s a part of the story of a car with lineage that went on to win the big  Oakland Roadster Show trophy. Far as I’m concerned, it is in much better condition nowdays.