I walk out of the convention center at the Louisville Street Rod Nationals in 2023 and see a car across the street that I thought I recognized.
My first thought: That looks like Larry Wood's 1932 Nash.
My second thought: Nope, that was the original color scheme but Larry changed it later.
My third thought: Look at that wooden trunk. That looks like Norm Grabowski's woodworking style.
Your thought: Who are these people he's talking about? OK, grasshopper, time for a history lesson.
Larry Wood is Mr. Hot Wheels. He was the main designer and force behind this iconic brand for more than 40 years. He's also an inductee into the Automotive Hall of Fame and builder of many full-size hot rods including the 1932 Nash I mentioned.
Norm Grabowski created one of the most famous T-bucket roadsters, one that set the design for thousands of roadsters since. It is known as the "Kookie" car because it was driven by a character named Kookie in the TV show "77 Sunset Strip" that ran from 1958-64. It was also featured in a 1957 issue of Life magazine.
Norm was also known for his particular style of woodworking, especially wooden skulls. It was the hand-carved wooden trunk on the car in Louisville that caught my attention. The car I saw is actually a 1932 Studebaker, built by Norm in 1973 and has a similar paint scheme to Larry's original Nash scheme.
Larry's 1932 Nash was featured in many car magazines in the early 1970s because it was an "odd rod," not the usual early Ford. I kept having this nagging feeling that I had seen the Nash in person and even have a photograph I took somewhere, sometime. The most likely place would have been the 1972 Street Rod Nationals in Tulsa. But, could Larry have driven the Nash from Los Angeles to Tulsa in 1972?
So, I emailed Larry and asked the question.
Indeed, he did drive the Nash to Tulsa. His running buddy was Jake Jacobs (of Pete & Jakes fame) who drove his well-known yellow '34 Coupe. Larry also mentioned that they took the long way home through Colorado because they knew a guy who got them into the Coors bottling plant. This was a big deal once upon a time when Coors was only sold in Colorado.
Larry is currently working on a 1953 Jaguar Mark VII sedan with Chevy LS power and a Kwik Performance narrow street rod serpentine system. Can't wait to see Larry's interpretation of that car.