17 minute read
The 40-year itch
Words: Dave Biggadyke Pics: Harry Hamm
In 1977, having been inspired by what he’d seen in American rodding magazines, a young Merv ‘Magoo’ Barnett started building a ’32 Ford roadster. Back then using a steel body for such a build was virtually unheard of on these shores, so Merv opted for Jeff Jago fibreglass and the build began.
The body was mounted on a Jago chassis, with the rolling stock comprising of a drop-tube front axle and Jaguar IRS and power coming from a 2.5-litre Daimler hemi mated to an automatic transmission. Assisted by a few fellow Bristol Hotrods members, the roadster appeared at the 1978 NASC Street Rod Nationals, finished in primer and sporting multi-coloured suspension parts. Merv then spent the next
Words: Dave Biggadyke Pics: Harry Hamm
few years driving the car to as many events as he could.
Eighteen years ago, the name on the V5 changed to that of the current owner, one Michael G Tebbs. Many other had appeared on the logbook prior to this and as he has researched that history we’ll let Mick, as he’s better known, recount it in his own words.
Cover up
‘The roadster was getting well known for clocking up a high mileage with Merv behind the wheel and that caught the attention of another well-known hot rodder, Chris Boyle. A deal was done and Chris carried on clocking up the miles. That was until Simon Pickford took a shine to it, painted it red and got it featured in these very pages.’
It was never going to be a total stripdown and rebuild, more a case of trying to put together what was literally a hot rod jigsaw from the boxes of parts supplied
The spec of the 4-bolt mains 450bhp Blueprint 383 stroker motor includes big valve billet heads, TRW pistons and a 10.5:1 compression ratio. The carb is a 650cfm Edelbrock with vacuum secondaries and an electric choke, whilst the ali radiator is by Walker. Mick picked up the engine dress-up goodies on a trip to the Tampa Nationals a few years back, the tubular headers feeding a 2.5-inch stainless exhaust with electric cut outs fabricated by Millers Speed Shop. For neatness and improved ground clearance the exhausts run between the Jago chassis rails and the ‘glass swage lines, while the level of polish on the firewall is such that what you’re looking at here is not actually Mick but his reflection
It wasn’t just featured, though: the roadster graced the cover of the January 1982 issue, in one of the most evocative images to appear in Custom Car.
History got a bit muddled in our feature, though, as it mentions that Chris Boyle bought the car from some nameless chappie in Yorkshire and not the late Merv arnett but else here suggests that hris tried to get Merv to take a Beetle in part exchange. But hell, you know, it was the early 80s and back then the Custom Car editorial office was not a place to go looking if you wanted to find sober people.
Anyway, here we are 40 years later and we can clear it up, sort of, because when he saw the Deuce on last issue’s Next Month page Chris dropped us a line (not the kind of line referred to in the previous paragraph) to say how nice it was to see it still going strong. So we asked him.
‘I must admit that I don’t remember offering Merv a swap with a VW,’ he told us. ‘But it certainly sounds possible, as I would have been well into them then.
‘When I bought the car from Merv, it came with red painted steel wheels with hubcaps and just the bonnet top. I changed the wheels to mags which I had in stock for the track T I was building at the time and made the black Carson top with drop-in side windows. I put in a Rover under-seat heater, which made it really driveable all year round!
‘The Daimler V8 was a bit smoky, so I had it rebuilt by drag racer Russ Carpenter and it ran beautifully after that. Ironically, I bought the mag wheels back from the next owner a while after I sold the car and they ended up on my track T after all!’
Along with the red paint, Simon was responsible for getting the front axle chromed. The feature also mentions that Chris fabricated the ali bonnet and steel side panels, something which he confirmed to us as well. The originally smooth steel sides were louvred at the time of the feature but quite when they were pressed, or even if they are the same panels, we’re less sure about. And Chris gave us a bit of a caveat, too: ‘All recollections are to the best my memory can muster – it was a long time ago now!’
The feature mentioned that Simon was a mate of Peter Stevens, which is an apt
Above right: The slot mags up front are 31/2 x 15 Fentons wearing 135 R15 Firestone F-560 tyres. The Shelby mags on the back weigh in at 11 x 15 and are wrapped in N50-15 white lettered Super Charger rubber Above left: Mick has detailed the rebuilt IRS to the max with a mix of chrome, ali, stainless and powder coating. The adjustable coilovers are by Protech, with everything held in place by chromed pike nuts. Mick fabricated the mild steel plate to tidy up the underside of the car’s floor, then had it chrome powder coated
Above: Rolling on red steels and with multi-coloured running gear, Merv’s roadster won the trophy for best unfi nished at the treet od ationals. he grille void was later fi lled with an insert fi tted by hris oyle. he original build spec featured a ago chassis, drop tube a le with early over spindles, van steering bo mated to a Pontiac tilt column, aguar Mk , . litre aimler hemi and org arner automatic transmission Pics: Jim Stewart ight ou couldn’t get away with a front cover like this these days. here is a hint that ustom ar is actually a car magazine though…
bove left hile the year is unknown, the location is defi nitely illing uadrome. ote the glass dummy swage lines grafted on to the sides of the ago chassis to make it more resemble ’ rails. hat dates this pic after our maga ine feature Pic: Jim Stewart bove right his shot, taken at the same event, shows the bobbed rear fenders were easily removed for show fi eld cruising and that the roadster was once again rolling on red steel rims Pic: Jim Stewart
ight y the time the roadster travelled to e Mans in , it appears the one piece top had been changed to a conventional fold down soft top Pic: Anon
eft he ad that started off Mick’s ourney with the roadster appeared in our ovember ’ issue bove Mick displayed the roadster at the Multi tory ar how in ull, once again rolling on slot mags. ote the engine had been swapped to a small block hevy with sprint car style headers. hree years later, the red paintwork had been adorned with fl ames as shown here at the orthern ot od lub ot od oliday in leethorpes. Mick replaced the stainless fi rewall fi tted by Merv with a fresh one to better suit the hevy engine and trans Pics: Dave Biggadyke
cue to return to Mick’s history lesson. ‘It was after the CC feature that someone else stepped in to add yet another aspect to the roadster’s past. That was Peter Stevens, the man responsible for designing the Jaguar XJR-15 and the McLaren F1, among other notable cars.
‘It was when under Peter’s ownership that I came across the roadster for sale in an advert in the back pages of this very magazine – remember those days? I immediately rang the number and was informed that Peter was away on business. Having explained just how much I wanted to buy the car, it was agreed that it would be taken off the market, despite it being another two weeks before I could speak to Peter direct to do the deal.’
Left: The girl on the 1982 font cover wasn’t taking our calls any more, so this is as close as we could get to recreating that iconic shot. The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted the grille shell now sports a spoon badge and Mick can see what’s behind him thanks to screen post-mounted swan neck mirrors Right: The bottom edges of the sides of the four-piece Rootlieb bonnet have been lengthened and reprofi led to match the contours of the Jago chassis. Mick has reshaped the rear fenders that came with the car to better match those formed by Chris Boyle many years previously The chromed drop tube front axle hangs from a transverse leaf spring and is located by 4-bars. Mick changed the existing top shock mounts that for a pair of polished aftermarket F1 mounts
It’s a steal
Mick rang long-time friend Carl Powles and arranged for them to travel together to Peter’s house to view the car. ‘I paid the agreed £2500 and the little red roadster was mine. The question now was, how were we going to get it home? We’d kind of overlooked that, thinking we were just going to look at it then arrange collection later.’
The answer lay with Mick’s wingman for the day. If you know Carl, you’ll know that he doesn’t just build hot rods, he drives them. Drives them a lot. ‘Drive it. Drive it like we stole it,’ Carl quipped as he jumped in and fired it up (at that price, you did steal it Mick – DB).
Goodbye pleasantries were exchanged and the pair headed north. ‘To be honest, the run home was somewhat of a blur,’ Mick recalls. ‘I remember the rain lashing down, the weather causing me to lose track of Carl during the journey. Did I say the car had no hood? In all the excitement I completely forgot about that and it had to be posted on later. We arrived home safely – but it was one hell of a journey, wasn’t it Carl?’
Mick decided a thorough service was in order and it was then he found out that Daimler hemi parts don’t come cheap.
Above left: Three-stage Mipa pearl – red, orange, green – was sprayed over the red basecoat on the dash, which was then coated in House of Kolor Rainbow Flake for good measure. The white-faced electronic Dolphin gauges are housed in a polished ali waterfall art deco insert. The tilt steering column is by Billet Specialities, Mick picked up the ali spoked banjo wheel at the Tampa Nationals, and the 24-inch swan shifter is by Gennie Top right: Ray Boyland in Bristol scratch built the bench seat before trimming it in cherry red tuck and roll vinyl, along with the door cards and side and kick panels. The new folding hood was stitched up by VC Classics in Rossington, near Doncaster. Above right: The interior trimming extends into the boot, where the vintage suitcase doubles up as a storage locker and battery cover.
Another pal, Eddie Brown, mentioned he had a 305ci Chevy V8 going spare, only he wasn’t sure what condition it was in. It was soon slotted between the roadster’s chassis rails, along with a TH350 transmission, and fired up.
Initially, there was some concern as whenever the engine was struck up, a creeping mist of smoke appeared from under the car. However it disappeared once the engine warmed up, so much so that in the end it ran just fine with no more smoke for a good many miles. So with that concern taken care of, Mick regularly made trips to a great number of events before eventually deciding it was time for a rebuild. That, however, is when it all went wrong.
‘I had met a so-called builder at the Peterborough hot rod show,’ Mick explained. ‘He convinced me he was the man to rebuild the car, a price was agreed and the car delivered to his workshop. You know how it is, if something seems to be too good to be true it probably is, and that was certainly the case.
‘It was at a time when family bereavement was taking over my life and I really needed that helping hand with the roadster. Instead, the car got lost in a sea of disappointment, failed promises and time I could never get back. It dragged on for years until I turned up one day and pulled my car out of there, yet still the saga continued. After what seemed an eternity, an out-of-court settlement was agreed and the whole nasty business brought to an end.’
Welsh re-assembly
Assisted by his mate Tony Williamson, Mick set about sorting out the roadster himself. Progress was being made until an enforced house move threw a spanner in the works. ‘I was relocating to the house I grew up in,’ Mick explained. ‘Problem was it needed work and having been down the road of trusting a pro builder in the past, I was reluctant to let another loose on the car, but needs must. Having done some digging which didn’t throw up any dirt, I called a young chap I’d been keeping an eye on, Ifan Miller at Miller’s Speed Shop in Bridgend, Wales. We had a long chat and I took the decision to let Ifan work on the car while I moved house and got settled in. Thanks must go to a good friend, Paul Perozzi, who organised transportation for me.’
It was never going to be a total stripdown and rebuild, more a case of Ifan trying to put together what was literally a hot rod jigsaw from the boxes of parts supplied. That, and put right the bad workmanship that came to light as work progressed.
Mick regularly visited Millers Speed Shop to check out progress and all was going well until the engine went bang. Up stepped Wayne Allman who, aware of the grief Mick had already encountered with the car, mentioned a Chevy V8 he knew was up for grabs. ‘It was a real nice motor,’ Mick enthused. ‘Thanks to Wayne for putting Ifan and myself in touch with the seller, but how was I going to afford it? Us hot rodders are a resourceful bunch though and a deal was struck. Thank you Helen for the wonderful engine you bought me for my birthday!
‘I regret not getting the car back on the road for Merv to see, but I hope it meets with his family’s approval. I’ve incorporated parts of the roadster from everybody who’s owned it, including myself, as that both preserves and adds to the history of the car. If ‘Magoo’ had owned it for all these years, I’d like to think this latest rebuild is what he would have had in mind. There are a couple of minor niggles that need sorting, but once they’re done the roadster should be good for another 40 years.
‘Most of the people you meet in this hobby, lifestyle, call it what you will, are genuine and become friends for many years to come. That is the case with Ifan Miller who went above and beyond to make me happy. As I trusted him, he had a degree of free range on certain matters and I’m proud to say he has now become a good friend.
‘There have been many times over the years when I’ve wondered if it’s all worth it. Quite frequently the car was doing more miles on a trailer than on tarmac and it’s caused more heartache and cost more money than I ever thought.
‘So, is it all worth it? You bet it is!’
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