As a young boy I loved to draw cars with big motors and large tires. Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was my idol due to his imagination and exaggeration of cartoon characters with cars and motorcycles. I always wanted to create cars like he did.

A couple of years went by and a house across the street sold to Gale Hendricks. When Gale moved in he was driving an orange 1957 Chevrolet. I was impressed with his car, and one day I walked over to take a closer look. Gale was 10 years older than me but this did not stop him from investing time with me, and sharing his passion for cars. Gale would let me hang out in his garage while he was working on old cars, and he taught me about old cars and how to work on them. I found myself looking for Gale to come home from work so I could hang out with him and learn more about cars. At the time I did not realize this would be my passion as well. Gale introduced me to my first car show in Daytona Beach, Florida back in 1974. This was the start of spending every Thanksgiving in Daytona Beach.

When I turned 16 years old my first car was a 1940 Chevy Coupe. I have had many more great cars since, but that is where I got my start in this hobby with the ownership of my first cool ride. Over the years I would always look at Hot Rod magazines, and it seemed like I was always drawn to the 1930 Ford Model A Coupes. I always thought they looked like a true hot rod!

In 2016-2017 I decided I wanted to build what had become my dream car, a 1933 Ford 3-Window Coupe. The journey started with purchasing a frame from Hotshoe Hot Rods, and a motor from Big Al’s Toy Box. The motor is a 468 cubic inch big block with a 6-71 blower, putting out 750 horsepower. After I received the frame and the motor it was time for a body. I took the frame to Bebops Glass Works and they fit the body to my frame. They chopped the car another inch, channeled it, and turned it into a Pro Street setup. All of this gives the car a more aggressive look. I knew I wanted it to look as close to a steel bodied car as possible, so I decided to have Bebop install a metal louvered trunk lid from Steve’s Restoration, and I had the door handles and hinges exposed. I made the windshield hinge out, and made the air vent on the cowl operational to help make it look like an original steel body. The car is equipped with a TCI 400 street fighter transmission, 4.11 positraction rear end from Big John’s Performance, chrome grill from Advance Plating, and a cool and unique gas cap lid from Crafty B.

I knew I wanted the car to be painted black, but I could not make my mind up about the interior until Kenny Ferguson introduced me to Howard Krusey at the Daytona Turkey Run in 2018. Howard is the owner of Complete Auto Upholstery in Altamonte Springs, Florida. I took my car to Howard in 2019 and shared with him my vision for the interior. When I went to pick it up I was excited yet nervous....but when I saw the interior it put a SMILE on my face. Howard did an outstanding job on the interior!

Now that I am older I realize that we all need to invest time with the younger generation and share our passion for cars (like Gale Hendricks did with me), so this hobby will live on for generations. This will allow stories to be told, and we can all continue to meet great people along the way! CN