WHOSE CAR IS THIS?.......PART 2

So if you will recall, I left off my last blog with Gene Coleman coming to determine if this was his car that we saved from the crusher. We were wrong once before, and Gene was certain his car was destroyed so we weren't holding our breath. The moment he saw the frame he said "you have my car!" Mr. Coleman's first question was "what are you going to do with it?" We told him we would like to recreate it the best we can and he was happy about that. There were plenty of pictures floating around, but nothing of much detail. Gene let us borrow an exact replica of his car that was built by a fan and used to be a functioning remote controlled car.

We scoured the country looking for a 1930 or 1931 Ford Model A Coupe body. They are not very easy to come by and if someone was to find out you were going to cut it up, they are reluctant to sell it. My dad's cousin called out of the blue one day and heard of a Model A that was involved in a barn fire. After looking near and far, this one was located approximately 10 miles from our family farm up north and my dad and uncle hopped in the truck immediately to go get it. It was exactly what we needed. Let the building continue. Gene even checked the progress when he was available.

Skip forward to July of 2015. We were planning on leaving for the races in the U.P on a Friday morning. The car has not driven under it's own power since 1971, the body was still drying on Wednesday, and on Thursday some coworkers came over to help us put the body on.

Come Friday morning, I climbed in, fired it up, put it in gear and ran it down the driveway. First time any of us have ever drove it. I turned around at the end of the driveway, loaded it on the trailer,  and we were northbound. On Friday, this car was back on a racetrack that is had tuned many, many laps at in the past in Norway, MI. Once at the track, we wanted to get the car weighed. The person running the booth (Jason C.) told us about a relative of his that used to run an old modified. He asked if we had ever heard of Gene Coleman. The look of disbelief in his eyes when my uncle told him that his former car was on it's way to the scaled was priceless. When I saw Jason's face, I knew we did something right. I was able to turn a few laps and it felt great driving this piece of racing history. 

After the races in Norway on Friday and the races in Escanaba on Saturday, it was time to meet up with Gene at his shop ( http://www.colemanracing.com/ ) in Menominee, MI. We got a few pictures with Gene by the car and a picture in front of the actual shop it was built in back in 1968.

This car is a blast to drive and the history behind it speaks volumes about our passion for this hobby. We love taking this car along with our others to tracks and having some fun with some great people we share our love for this sport with. We hope our 2017 season is as fun as the last few have been. Until next time.........Darrin