Written by Jeff "Titus" Bloedorn Photos by Chadly Johnson
In these days it seems pretty hard to find an old hot rod that hasn't been changed in some way from its original build. Louie Labossiere of White Bear Lake, MN has one, and he's had it for a long time, since 1960 to be exact. The known story of the car goes earlier than that, but we'll touch on that later.
One day I drove my '32 coupe to work where I had just started a new job at an auto parts store as the machinist and was starting to meet all the "regulars." Louie introduced himself and proceeded to ask "is that your coupe out there?" "Yep," I replied. "I've got one too," he said. I figured he was blowing smoke up my ass, but then figured...why would he? I said "let's go see it," to which he replied, "one of these days." Well, a week went past and he finally stopped down. We drove up the block and pulled in an old farm house. Louie proceeded to open up the garage door and there it was, a chopped, full-fendered '32 coupe. The deuce had a flathead in it, 3 carbs, aluminum heads, filled cowl vent, filled top, and a filled grille shell, but that's all I could really see. The car was buried to the tops of the fenders, you couldn't get within 5 feet of it, but I could tell it was neat!
Louie stopped in regularly and we often talked about the car. I bugged him about getting started on the rebuild, but he was just a busy guy and didn't know when he'd have the time. One day Louie asked if I would be interested in working on the car for him. "Hell yeah," I said, it would be an honor to get it going. I figured Louie was just talking and wasn't sure that it would happen, until one day he showed up to work with it on the trailer! Wow, I couldn't believe it. The funny thing was that they had brought it over on a bobcat trailer that had 4ft sides on it, I still couldn't get a good look at the car! I got off work and had them follow me to my house where they dropped the car off.
Later that week, Louie stopped in and we talked about the plan of attack. He definitely wanted to keep the car "as is". He mostly just wanted it gone through mechanically, cleaned up, and a new coat of primer put on it. I kept telling him to leave the paint alone and that we should just get it going and worry about the paint stuff later. He said he'd think about it. I started looking over the car and found that the motor was stuck, I told Louie this and we decided to pull it out and go through it. Louie's buddy had expressed an interest in rebuilding the motor so he got the job. Now those of you that have had machine work done know the busy schedule of most shops, we kinda had a deadline of Louie's 50th high school reunion, but unfortunately with the motor being stuck that didn't happen. About 2 years later (ahhh) he got a call from his friend and was informed that the machine shop he worked for was closing and he needed to pick the motor up. If that wasn't bad enough, the block was cracked! I had done work with Buck at "Crow Custom Cast Welding" in Hudson, WI before so we had him take a look at it and see what he thought. The crack was in the bottom of the cylinder just above the oil pan rail. It was decided that a sleeve would fix the problem. Buck also got the job of finishing the long delayed rebuild on the flathead.
Some time had gone by. The project had originally got going in 2005, but with both of our lives being busy, and with waiting for the engine, the project took the back burner. We figured it had been sitting since 1964, why rush it! Finally in 2010 or so, the motor came back to my house, but it still wasn't the right timeto get started on the coupe. I was busy with projects and now working full time running the "East side Speed Shop." I just wasn't sure when I was going to be able to get going on the car. Finally over the 2011/2012 winter, we tore into it. I told Louie that we were going to shoot for the 2012 Gopher State Timing Associations Rod and Custom Spectacular Show. With a goal in mind, we hit it hard. We installed the motor and did all the mechanicals, rewired it, and made the show where the coupe was a huge hit.
This is where some of the earlier known stuff about the car comes in. I was gathering up information for Kathy at "Weeks End Sign Shop" in Lake Elmo, MN so she could do the display sign for the GSTA show. I was grilling Louie on some of the coupe's info, and he informed me that his buddy Gordy Kordosky bought the car out of Highland Park, MN in 1955. It was already chopped and in the basic form you see today. Gordy rebuilt the motor, put an Isky track can in it (the same can was reused), put some Offy heads on it, and put a Thickstun PM7 on it. A 3 carb intake made it onto the car at some point. Gordy was also responsible for adding a Stewart Warner straight five gauge panel and gauges. He apparently ordered most of the parts from Honest Charlies. The coupe was then brought to a body shop to have some of the body work straightened and be put into a coat of primer.
Louie and Gordy were high school buddies, so naturally when Gordy was going to go into the service he asked Louie if he wanted to buy the car from him, to which Louie agreed. I've spoken to both Louie and Gordy about the price, Louie says $600, Gordy says $750...who knows for sure! Louie ended up driving the car until 1964, and then put it away for its long slumber. One more funny thing, Louie hadn't fully paid Gordy for the car. Back around 1977 Louie still owed Gordy $100. Gordy thought that they should get the deal done, but he was also having thoughts of maybe buying the car back from Louie. Gordy went to go look at the car, but when they opened the garage door and Gordy saw what had become of all the work he had done on it, he said, "forget it, it's yours!"
So now it comes to the end of the story, we got the car to the show, Louie had a great time. He told all his buddies that the car was going to be in the show and they all stopped down to take a look. I'm also happy to say that Gordy made it to the show and I got to talk with him about the car for quite a while. He had a great time too. It was the first time he had seen the car since 1977. Oh, and after having it at the show and talking with all the people, Louie decided to leave the paint alone. The car will now simply be driven, maintained, and enjoyed.
