PTerrydactyl, an American Hot Rodder

BLOG FLOG 34: CARLISLE, HERSHEY

9/24-27/05: Flew to FL for Mom's Memorial, and we're having the NJ version in our home 10/9 with a Mass at local Church. Drove across FL and visited Speedster where 15 Zephyrs in progress are in the shop. Impressive. Then visited Tom DuPont's even more impressive publishing empire around the corner. Also visited Superior Classic Custom in Hudson to check on progress of speedboat Foose boattail.

9/30-10/1. Got an e-mail from a friend who shall remain unnamed saying the NY City Concours in Central Park was, as expected, a total flop. Glad I went to Carlise, PA Swap Meet instead. In a moment of foolishness, because I love my pal Golden Gup and his bride to be LuLu (who camp out at Carlisle, which was recently sold to Ebay), I decided to spend the night camping out in my chopped yellow Buick Roadmaster Friday evening. Sat 7 AM I awoke to people walking the event and saying heartbreaking, cruel, stupid, terrible comments about my car. They obviously didn't know I was inside listening. Took me down a peg or two, but I will nevertheless continue in my quest to design and build cars that are different than everyone else's.
Why is it that people focus on the flaws (cracks in paint, etc.) rather than standing back and admiring the overall design and beauty of a car.

10/06: Drove to Hershey, PA AACA Swap Meet with English Rich. Bought a sweet '37 Ford truck grille shell for the Delahaye project, which is REALLY coming together. Looked at a '48 Mark IV Jag drophead that turned out to be a Mark V on the way home, and didn't buy it because it was the wrong car, and because it was a total rag. I have too many projects anyway. Taking a turnkey Zephyr coupe to the docks today 10/07 to ship it overseas. Preparing for Detroit and Branson, MO trip next week. Just got an e-mail that Chip Foose will not be able to appear at either of my events next year due to his heavy schedule. Disappointed but not surprised. Stay tuned for the futher adventures.

Blog Flog 33: The passing of Marie Cook

On Sunday morning May 11 my dear mom, Marie, passed away. I never called her Marie, I always called her Mom. She was 96 and a half, she died in her sleep and she was not in pain or mental anguish. I spoke with her the day before. She told me repeatedly she was ready to go join my Dad. I'm sure she had an E-Z Pass to heaven, not even stopping to check with St. Peter at the gate. The last three years since my Dad passed away I would visit my Mom frequertly in West Palm Beach. These were three special years for us as I would focus totally on her when I visited. I love you Mom. Always have, always will. Say Hello to Jesus for me, and tell him I'm trying to be good.

From 9/16 to 9/20 I did a standard whirlwind Terry Tour of OH, IN, OH and MI. Visited the Gathering at Glenmore, a Concours near Massilon, OH. Got a lot accomplished on "Project Passion", the Delahaye/Bugatti effort that is coming along just great. When I get the time to write the text for the new website www.delahayeusa.com you can get the full scoop. Exciting stuff with a great "Dream Team" of guys.

On 9/15 Linda Naprstek and myself met with people from the Parsippany Hilton. We are proud to announce that we will be presenting a new event May 12-14, 2006 at the Parsippany Hilton for 1979 and earlier cars. Title of event and more info to come.

Sold my Dodge dually and trailer plus a Zephyr turnkey coupe to a Sheik! Off to FL in a few hours to a Memorial Service for my Mom plus check on developing projects and cars in the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater/Hudson metroplex. Stay tuned for the further adventures of PTerrydactyl.

Blog Flog 32: The last 2 months of my Life

Two months ago I stopped blogging because I felt nobody out there was reading it (due to complete lack of responses). Then at Lead East somebody mentioned that they were reading it. So I'll bring you up top speed on the past two months.

7/20/2005 Drove to Albany area to visit a customer who I will be supervising the construction of his Deco Rides fastback Zephyr, the first of it's kind. The car is being delivered to Ram's Rod Shop in Dover. DE from FL this month (hopefully) and Ram will do the work. It should be very slick.

7/28/2005. Flew to FL and visited my mom in West Palm who is 96 and a half and doing fine. Drove across FL to Speedster Motorcars in Clearwater, They had 15 Zephyrs in progress. Visited Mike Akins shop in Largo to check on progress of Foose Maserati Boattail. Shortly thereafter I shipped the almost finished car to Richard Graves' shop in Long Beach, CA to have some final refinements done to the car before having it shipped to Monterey, CA for RM auction. Then drove to Hudson, FL to check on construction of highboy Foose Boattail at Superior Classic Customs. Progress was great.

8/4/2005. Pulled trailer with blue Zephyr convert to Detroit. Made a few quick stops enroute at Koala Motorsports in Cleveland area (they are building a BMW V-12 engine for a customer of mine) and Amitelli Products in Norwalk, OH. Spent 8/5 at Capture 3D in Novi, MI scanning a number of models and car parts, capturing the shapes digitally in three dimensions. Very slick. Spent 8/6 at the RM auction at Meadowbrook Concours with blue Zephyr convertible on display at RM Auction. The auction was first class. Spent 8/7 at the Meadowbrook Concours, very impressive array of cars but a little too much hot sun for me. That night I met with the key guys on the new "Dream Team", Steve Pierce from NH and Mark Kennison from OH. It was a brain storming session on the new metal-bodied Bugatti/Delahaye "Project Passion". Spent 8/8 starting at 5:30 AM with Mark, Steve Dream Team's 4th Muskatteer, Sean Halpin of Halpindesign.com.
Manipulated the data from Capture 3D. Amazing science fiction come true. Blew out of Detroit 4 PM Monday, beat the mid-twon rush hour traffic clot and was home Mon night.

8/16/2005. Flew to San Jose, drove rental car to Carmel for start of Pebble Beach week. Hooked up with good friends Riley and Val Hopkins from Gig Harbor, WA. Saw my Eldorado Brougham and Foose Maserati Boattail at RM auction display at Portola Plaza in Monterey. Went to Wed, night party at Monterey Jetport. Nice gig. Had dinner with Riley and Val and Ken Gross. As fate would have it, we were kibbitzing about Riley's dad's hot rod/sports car he built in 1943, and Ken said he though he knew where the car was. Riley could not sleep for 3 nights. Guess who is now trying to track it down and buy it? On Thursday I had lunch with a real Maharaja from New Zeland named "Chuck" and his two, very polite children. A neat, down to earth guy. A genuine car guy. I'd never had lunch with a Maharaja before. On Friday night 8/19 Rick Dore sold one of his bikes for 40K and his blue '52 Caddy custom for $220K at the RM auction. My '60 Pininfarina Eldorado Brougham was bid to 65K but I wouldn't sell it for that price. Announcer failed to mention it was a Pininfarina bodied car built in Italy..On Saturday 8/20 my Foose Maserati Boattail was sold for $100K, Rick's lime green '34 Ford sold for $147K and another of his bikes fro $30K (a steal). Rick Dore boght dinner both nights after selling about $430K worth of cars and bikes. Rubbed elbows with Larry Erikson, one of my heros. Sunday 8/21 the Concours on the 18th green of Pebble Beach. Two cars captured my fancy, and that of everyone else. A Rolls Royce fastback with Belgian bodywork, owned by Petersen Museum. It had a thyroid problem. A giant car, bigger than my Dodge dually pickup. Best of Show rightfully went to Sam Mann of NJ with his George Paulin Designed, Porteau bodied Delage silver fastback built by Stone Barn which is about 10 miles from my office in NJ. Congrats to Sam and Stone Barn. You deserved it. Incredible car. Caught the red eye home Sunday night from San Jose.

8/26 Drove to Newport, RI for Wooden Boat Nationals, in search of wealthy people to buy my blue Zephyr convertible. No such luck, although I thought I was going to win Best Car In Show at the otherwise all boat event.

8/31 Departed for 23rd annual LEAD EAST at Parsippany, NJ Hilton, the event I put on along with invaluable help of the amazing Linda Naprstek, Event Director Jim Craig and 130 other volunteers. The event ran smooth, fabulous weather, record 1,500 cars, great concerts, and we made a lot of people happy in the process. Rich Brandl of Superior Custom Classics in Hudson, FL unveiled Tom Dupont's Deco Rides Zephyr Sedan Delivery. I'm obviously biased, but I think it was the car that stole the show.

9/2. Drove my "Yellow Peril" chopped '92 Buick Roadmaster Sedan Delivery into Manhattan to experience the Rand Workman high end Lifestyle event and collector car auction at the Pier. Nicely laid out and presented. Presentable selection of cars for a first time event. Waiting to find out if any bidders with money to sped showed up. It's going on right now. Then drove to Bay Parkway cruise in Brooklyn. Since I had a good weekend at LEAD EAST, I bought several L & B Sicilian Pizzas and put 'em on the rear hatch of the Buick for all to nosh. Got home in one piece. The roads in New York City (Manhattan..Brooklyn and Staten Island) REALLY REALLU suck..Possibly the worst in the USA. Apparently too much traffic demand to ever close 'em and fix 'em. Off to OH, IN and Michigan next week for another work session with Dream Team; Life is good. Thank you Jesus for being so good to me.

Blog Flog 31 Columbus Goodguys and CA Trip:

A few weekends back I hit the Goodguys Columbus Nationals. It was massive. Best car at the event was Steve Grimes little shorty T-bucket with blown flathead in the rear. Clear, pure fun, pure originality, something completely different, and he didn't even pull into the Top 20 or Pro's Pick parking area to be considered because all that awards stuff is poppycock to him. What a cool car. Tried to convince him to come to Lead East.

Just returned from a 4 day whiz of the LA area. Hit Bob's Big Boy Toluca Lake cruise Friday night and saw a few really cool really different cars. Ran into some old friends. Hit the fabled Huntington Beach 6 am to 9 am Saturday morning Donut Shop cruise and with the exception of a tilt body Model A roadster pickup with a rear engine and tube frame, is was pretty much the same old same old. While in Huntington Beach I stopped by Foose's shop and saw a few things he's got going. Always amazing. Then hit the Moon Bar Be Que in Santa Fe Springs and saw some neat stuff. Seems the rat rods offer more fresh looks and variety than the same old same old street rods.

Finished the trip on Sunday at Art Center School car show of 100 cars. Some really incredible stuff, and a great event that is really coming into it's own. Saw Foose there and chatted with him. There's a chance he may come to Lead East 2006. He's a pop star. Still a great, down to earth guy. I hope he doesn't blow up from working so hard.

Off to Meadowbrook Concours 6-7 Aug. Stay tuned, etc. etc.

BLOG FLOG 30 - LZOC NATIONALS, LEHIGH CONCOURS and PASSION TO PERFECTION

Just returned from Stratton Mountain, VT and Lincoln Zephyr Owners Club National event. Nice people, great cars. Once I got my trailer up the mountain (ugh) the setting was nice, once the fog cleared away on Friday morning for the show. Perhaps 75 Lincolns on display of all shapes and sizes. I was nicely received with my blue '39 Convertible despite the fact it was not an original Lincoln. They also had the new Zephyr on display there from Lincoln division.

Attended the Burn Foundation Eastern Concours at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. A nice event, nice venue, nice weather and nice people. I plan to make that an annual gig since it is less than one and a half hours from my home.

Highlight of the event for me was meeting a 15 year old young man named Bryan or Kevin (wish I had got his name and e-mail address) who was totally hip to French coach builders of the late 30's and passionate about great classic car styling. He read Richard Adatto's FROM PASSION TO PERFECTION book which is in my mind the best thing out there dealing with French streamliners of the 30's.

Off to Detroit and Texas this weekend for a trip that could have a profound positive impact on the rest of my life. Stay Tuned.

BLOG FLOG 29 - OHIO CONCOURS and D&D

Just returned form the Ohio Concours at Ault Park in Cincinnati. A very classy event, well organized on a proper venue.

After loading up and beginning my trek back to NJ, I stopped by D & D Classic (automobile restoration) in Covington, OH, just north of Dayton. Mark Kennison is one of the three principals of the 25,000 sq. ft, five building complex with 20 employees. Like many other high end restoration shops it was packed with dozens of customer's classics cars, which is not unusual. What is unique is the planning, extreme cleanliness and thought that went into organizing their shop. I'd met Mark at Louis Vuitton in NYC and Detroit Autorama and I never realized how talented he really is. He's an old school metal shaper and after a 10 minute demonstration where he turns a flat hunk of aluminum in one half of a pumpkin seed, I felt my life change, as If I'd passed through an invisible curtain.

I'm a big science ficton fan and recall seeing plot developments where one passenger in a space ship is exposed to some weird ray from outer space and slowly begins a transformation into some other strange mutant being. My evolution in life has lead a strange and fun path, always littered with cars. In recent years I've often felt like I was in outer space, all alone, with the odd cars I create that are not classics and not street rods. I think when I passed through that warp at D&D, I felt my mutant evolution change from fiberglass to metal. Before I never really cared about the difference between fiberglass vs. metal bodies cars. It was a moot question anyway because I could not afford to build metal cars, so fiberglass was the natural path. The Bugatti/Delahaye quest I'm on will be metal bodied cars. But now, with the aid of Mark and D&D, I feel several alloy bodied Foose Boattail are looming on the near horizon. I'm excited.

Stay tuned for PTerrydactyl at the Lincoln Zephyr Owners Club Nationals later this week in Stratton Mountain, VT, followed by the Concours of the Eastern US in Bethlehem, PA on Father's day.

BLOG FLOG 28 - NEW CARS IN FLORIDA

Jumped a jet from Newark to West Palm to visit my 96 year old mom who is doing great. Had coffee with NJ pinstriper Anthony White who is now working a straight job in Jupiter, Fl. Neat guy. Amazing photographic memory for customs. Drove over to Tampa/St. Pete area early this AM to inspect two cars that are under construction.

Mike Akins of Largo, FL and his crew have done a great job on my Maserati powered Foose full fendered boattail. Photos to come on Deco website in a few days. I'm in love with this new ride, which will be trucked to CA and hopefully sold at RM Auction Aug. 20 in Monterey, CA.

Rich and son Jr. Brandl of Superior custom Classics in Hudson, FL are likewise doing a great job on C5 'Vette powered highboy Foose Boattail. I'm equally excited.

Saw photos of Long Island Gary "Chopit" Fioto's bubble-top radical custom and admire his creativity and cajones for daring to risk such a far out design. Read on the HAMB (www.jalopyjournal.com message board) that some HAMBr's are picking it apart for this and that. To them I say, rather than picking somebody else's car apart, especially a guy who is willing to risk deviating from the same old lookalike stuff that everbody else builds, let's see you build something this original and creative. Stay tuned...