Member #141

1939 Ford Coupe

When I was four years old, I got my first car (a pedal car of course) in 1944.  We lived on the corner of Fairmont Ave. and Meade in San Diego. We moved to North Park where I grew up in the Fifties digging old cars, listening to Rock ‘n Roll, cruising the Boulevard and going to Oscar’s.

In 1955 I was 15 and I bought my first old car. It was a ’41 Ford coupe for $50. I worked on it for a while then traded it for a ’40 Ford convertible. I drove the ’40 to Hoover High for my sophomore year before I got asked to leave. They sent me to Lincoln High where I finished the year.

Dad had taken my car away, so I rode the bus. Then I got asked to leave Lincoln High and then finished my high school days at Crawford High.

So, my Junior year at Crawford I drove a ’51 Ford Vicky that I bought from House of Hardtops. I sold the ’51 and bought a ’56 Chevy Del Ray and drove it for the rest of my Junior and Senior years.

I married my high school sweetheart in 1960. I raced at Cajon Speedway for a while and picked up a fad “T” bucket that needed some work. I got it back on it’s feet and drove it from 1972-76, then traded for a ’39 Ford sedan.

We have kept track of all the vehicles we have had through the years.  In the last 41 years I have bought, traded or redone 35 vehicles from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 13 from the 60s. I’m happiest when I’m building or repairing street rods.

We have gone on some wonderful long distance runs with cars these cars: Southern Nevada Street Rods in a red ’39 Ford sedan, Northwestern Nationals in Salem, Oregon in a gray ’48 Ford sedan (won Top Ten in Oregon) and Sedona in our ’57 Oldsmobile that I bought from the original owner and re-did completely. All wonderful experiences.

I always wanted to be in the Prowlers but never felt like I had a nice enough street rod. That’s when I built the ’32 Vicky. I first joined the Prowlers in 1990 with the ’32 Vicky and got the urge to have a roadster so I traded it for a red ’32 Ford.

I went inactive in 2004 when I moved to southern Arizona for a job working on Fort Huachuca Army Intelligence  at the UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Training Center.  In AZ I built a ’49 Chevy sedan, a ’59 Chevy Biscayne, a ’28 Ford track roadster, a ’32 Ford sedan, a ’51 Plymouth, a ’32 Ford 3 window coupe, a ’48 Chevy Fleetline, a ’61 Buick Le Sabre and a ’58 Chevy Del Ray that I brought back to San Diego. I sold it and bought my ’39 Ford coupe that I finished now and that brought me back into the best car club ever. “ONCE A PROWLER, ALWAYS A PROWLER”.