Half a century ago, when some of the finest and best-known hot rods were featured in early rodding publications, few people–including the owners–imagined future collectors would be seeking out and restoring these old cars, let alone seeing those cars on display at Pebble Beach and Amelia Island. A hot rod was considered a work in progress, a canvas that would be repainted and improved, again and again. Looking good and going faster, with the latest hop-up equipment available, was the intent. So, feature cars of decades past were updated continuously, with bigger, more powerful engines, modern running gear and improvements mandated by newer safety regulations.
Two of the most famous competition coupes of all time, the Pierson Brothers’ hammered ’34 Ford and the So-Cal Speed Shop’s equally chopped “Double Threat” ’34 were prime examples. Passed on to new owners virtually unchanged externally save for new paint, they were progressively fitted with bigger, badder engines, roll cages, improved tires, and they managed to go faster and faster. Owned by Tom Bryant, the ex-Pierson coupe topped 220 mph at Bonneville and the So-Cal ’34, owned by legendary old salt, Jim Travis, turned 233 mph–after Travis figured out a few aerodynamic tricks to keep the coupe in contact with the salt and not flying above it.
One of the first guys to buy and restore an historic hot rod was Jim “Jake” Jacobs, with the famed Bill Niekamp ’29 Model A that won the first America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy at the inaugural Grand National Roadster Show in Oakland in 1950.
The “Jake” of Pete and Jake’s fame, Jacobs heard the Niekamp car was for sale and bought it for just $1,800. In two weeks he had it running, but the now-Buick nailhead-powered ’29, with swing pedals and a shortened driveshaft, etc., was living way out of character. A torsion bar snapped and the big mill overheated. Jake returned the roadster to flathead power with a Jerry Kugel-built 260-cu.in. 59A, with a Merc crank, Edelbrock dual intake and heads and a Weber cam, mated to a ’39 Ford three-speed with a Zephyr cluster. Restoration accuracy wasn’t yet important. Jake installed the “new” flathead rearward four inches because the driveshaft had been shortened to accommodate a ’38 Buick transmission. The resulting space permitted installation of a larger radiator and sorely needed fan.
“Niekamp told me, with the belly pan installed, the car would boil over before he got it out of his driveway,” Jake reported.
Jim Jacobs insists he wasn’t particularly prescient in buying the Niekamp roadster. “I thought it’d be a neat car, and I was thinking at the time that nobody was going that way. Actually, most friends tried to discourage me from buying it.”
In a 1971 article entitled “Old Roadsters Never Die,” he defended the restoration saying, “Inevitably it had to happen, and a better time we couldn’t think of, what with trends as they are now: ‘glass bodies, four-corner independent ride, (Art) Himsl-type artistry. What better time could there be for this most traditional hot rod to reappear?”
A ’40 Ford wheel replaced the ’41, and the dash received Stewart-Warner instruments. A previous owner had torched the rear frame. “I couldn’t find an Essex,” Jake said, “so I used part of an old Willys frame and partially boxed it to better mount the rear shocks.” Jake had some great moments in that car including a monumental 5,000-mile chingo to the Nationals with the late Ardun guru, Tom Senter.
For the first Pebble Beach hot rod class in 1997, Jake “backdated” the Niekamp, removing the Chevy V-8 that had replaced the Buick and dropping in the car’s third flathead, this time with a Weiand dual intake and Offenhauser heads. Jake showed the Niekamp in lakes guise with a tonneau, without its windshield, and with a Cyclone quick-change rear end. The old roadster didn’t win, but its classic good looks and fine workmanship impressed the crowd.
Soon afterward, while I was the director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, Jake alluded that the car could be purchased. I helped negotiate the deal that saw the restored Niekamp, complete with its original Oakland AMBR trophy and other hardware, join Bob Petersen’s collection.
Jake’s actions inspired others to collect and restore what Boyd Coddington likes to call “our ancestor cars.” In the early 1990s, Bruce Meyer purchased Alex Xydias’ So-Cal record-setting belly tank from Don Ferguson, had Pete Chapouris and Bob Bauder restore it, then re-united Alex with his old car. That experience spawned the reconstituted (and now highly successful) So-Cal Speed Shop.
Bruce then bought the famous Pierson Brothers coupe from Tom Bryant and celebrated the completion of its restoration with a coming-out party attended by a “Who’s Who” of hot rodding including the Piersons and Bobby Meeks. Probably the most prolific collector of early hot rods, Meyer owns the ex-Doane Spencer, Frank Mack and Bob McGee roadsters, and he’s hardly finished. Bob Bauder just completed Meyer’s ex-Doyle Gammel ’32 three-window with its injected Corvette motor, preserving one of the meanest and quickest chopped coupes ever to hit the street.
Kirk White had Ray Brown’s street and lakes deuce roadster restored and won awards at Hershey.
All across the country, these iconic hot rods are being resurrected, added to car collections and displayed at major events, so that we can admire the cars that inspired the hobby and appreciate the creativity of their builders. And there are still some great cars out there to find. Did you say you know where Stuart Hilborn’s long-lost, 150-mph lakester is located? Tell me more…
