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Normally, a person would not think of West Virginia as being any kind of a mecca for hotrodding. However, I have story that might change a few minds.
In 1956, when I first got my driver's license, my family had a farm in Lewisburg, W.Va. On the weekends, my friends and I would scoot around the countryside in my souped-up '47 Jeep, looking for old cars. We found plenty on the farms.
One Saturday, we cruised into White Sulpher Springs and low-and-behold, in a Shell station, was a state-of-the-art 1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe that was chopped and channeled, with a 3/4 race flathead. WOW !!! This was the coolest thing that I had ever seen in my life !
Randy Dixon was the name of this whizz-bang mechanic that was the proprietor of the old Shell station. He was 26 years old at the time. This "much older man" was so very nice to me, and we became good friends. He could have said, "Get away from me kid, I've got work to do". Instead, he explained things to me, showed me around, and best of all, let me sit in his killer '32, fire it up and drive around the lot. What a guy, what a car !
Years went by, I moved away, went to college, etc., etc.
A few years ago, I was on a trip to W.Va. (my 40th high school reunion) and thought it would be neat to visit Randy and the old Shell station. The station was exactly the same as in 1956, but by now, Randy had built a huge truck-stop business on I-64 (Shell of course). I immediately headed out there and met his wife and two daughters. She informed me that Randy had died a few months earlier. We talked for quite some time and she got out some pictures of Randy and the coupe. She told me the old coupe had been sold to someone in Florida, years ago. But she had no records of who had bought it.
Since I am an automotive artist, I asked her if I could borrow a photo to do a painting for her and her daughters. She was glad to let me have a photo. I finished the painting and mailed it to her. She was very grateful and we have kept in touch ever since.
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