The Lowdown

The Lowdown

“It takes a village to build a hot rod.” – Clinton Billary
   Last minute deadline car build thrash stories – everyone who’s been building hot rods or customs more than one season has at least one such tale. For some guys it’s an annual or bi-annual ritual. Specific car shows, rod runs or motorcycle events always attract a few such episodes. Well, we can identify. Boy, can we identify!

   This time around, it’s Geno’s turn. The car is his ‘49 Mercury, a.k.a. Dixie DeLuxe; the builder’s shop is Bo Huff Customs, and the target show is (was, by the time you read this) the 60th Anniversary Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California. The players in this drama are many.

Fluid plans

   The vision for Dixie DeLuxe has developed over the past year. Had there been a concept drawing, it should have been drawn on a blackboard with plenty of chalk and erasers on hand. The list of changes since the initial idea reads a little like a gearhead version of the “begats” in the Bible: the taillights in the bumper begat finding ‘54 Pontiac guards, the Dixie DeLuxe name begat a Land of Dixie theme to the interior, etc.

   Thankfully we live in a world where people who specialize in certain things are easy to find and the major players in this scenario have been around long enough to know lots of people in the hot rod and custom industry, whether purveyors of new components or used. No one of us is actually persuasive enough to convince Bo to turn loose of any of the rare and desirable custom parts in his own stash, of course, but at least we have his stuff to use as a reference!

To read the rest of the tale, see Ol’ Skool Rodz #33.

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