Doc Lavinder found an old 1935 Nash Lafayette Coupe, sitting in a farmer's field on Nov. 30, 1989. It was sitting on cinder blocks, with the fenders, hood, running boards and trunk lid stuffed inside. The chickens had overtaken it and it was knee-deep in the stuff that chickens leave behind! But under all the chicken "stuff", Doc could see the race car of his childhood dreams. He bought the car for $100 and using a towrope and chains, dragged it home. He talked a "shade-tree mechanic" friend of ours, Eddie Johnson (who was retired), into building the car out of the parts that Doc had been collecting. There are very few pictures of Eddie doing the work, as he did not want Social Security to know that he was still able to "do anything". (Eddie has since died, and I think he is now safe from Social Security penalizing him for his "shade-tree" work.) The following pictures are taken from my "Building Album". I took Polaroid pictures, mostly so Doc could "see" what things looked like as they were finished as he could not get into the locations that I could.
|
|
Nov.30, 1989 Bought for $100. It was full of rotten eggs, chicken "stuff" and feathers. It was abandoned and the chickens had overtaken it. |
|
|
This is a view from the back, through the trunk. The trunk lid, fenders, hood and running boards were stored inside. You can see a tree in front of the car...there was nothing...front to back. My daughter. Jodie, spent 3 hours shoveling out the "chicken stuff" and hosing out the car just to get it to this point. |
|
|
You can just barely see Eddie in the door, checking out the interior. The little girl is Eddie's granddaughter, Holly Johnson. |
|
|
Holly repeats Grandpa's words, and says, "It looks like a lot of work to me Doc!" |
|
|
Dec.7, 1989 Eddie has spent the week test-fitting the big block and transmission. Doc preferred Mopar, and they had to make sure it would fit. (It did.) |
|
|
Doc did as much of the labor that he could. I would put things where he could reach them, and he would do the rest. |