Old Marvin
By noderel:
You probably never heard of Ol’ Marvin, although I’ve told the story before, at least in bits. This is a ’32 roadster that started life as a streeter over in the San Gabriel Valley right after War Two.
I was into my Air Force Cadet flight training down in Florida, when a routine weekend trip triggered my eyes. A bright yellow highboy under a tree with California license plates. Quick skid and the answer was, Yes, I could buy the car. Young owner was away from home, and he had acquired the car from someone who had. Brought it out from California. Cost me $l50 I seem to remember. No, that was the one behind Blairs Speed Shop. Ol’ Marvin, as the car came to be known, was $400. Not bad, fully upholstered, nice padded type top, lots of chrome, broken flat motor.
Somewhere in my pile of photos is a pix of me and AF friends installing a good wrecking yard flattie. One weekend and I had transportation. Another day, I pulled that bitchin’ top, set it behind the car, and promptly backed across the middle of my rain protection. Left with only a tonneau cover, and the car did miles in Montana snow just that way. The car was towed up to Bozeman, Montana by a friend, (from Florida), and after my discharge, I found a great set of fenders and boards in a trash heap in an alley right there in Bozeville. At that time, the town’s stockyards had a good horse track that stock cars were racing on, and old Ford sheet metal was rather common. Put them on Marvin and towed the car to my new digs in Hollywood. Started work at Hot Rod Magazine, the car sat unmolested on the street out front of my Hollywood house for a year while I tinkered with a few things. Those were good days, when most So Cal hot rodders could park parts and pieces out on the neighbourhood street without offending the neighbors. Before all the do-gooders we now have so anxious to dictate how we must all live . The Roadster Club was getting underway, so I had some turquoise paint mixed and sprayed, I think, by Junior Conway. Just to be different, I pulled the stock grille bars and made up an expanded metal insert. Dumb when I think about it, but seemed cool at the time.
And about that time I happened on a good running Olds394. Got a trans adaptor from Offenhauser, and then I flat towed the car out to San Bernardino where Scotty’s Muffler guys made up a wild set of megaphone lakes pipes. Plating was way reasonable them days, so I included a double inlet Cad aircleaner of the type nostalgia builders now seem to want. End result that the car looked really good, and would hall ass. Of course, I had to stay out of the loud pedal if I wanted to keep the old FoMoCo axle keys and the trans in proper condition.
A few years later I hauled that car up to Bozeman again, where I sold it to George Schrieber, he of Yellow Fang dragster fame, and George then sold it to someone in the Midwest, who in turn sold it down to Phoenix. Next I got a call from a fellow over in the San Rafael area (that’s near San Francisco). By that time the Olds was gone. The new owner had the car built with full fenders, and was having the car fixed again, this time at Brizio’s, (again with fenders) from whence it ended up going to the Phoenix auctions, and from there no more is known.
And this is another of those stories where that old hot rod went through some professional wizardry and came out far and away the better for it. Roy Brizio turns some way cool rides out of his shop, and this was typical of the super quality streeters he creates. Somewhere, some person has Marvin. I hope he is treated well.
I wonder if all the original paperwork I eventually sent to the San Rafael owner stayed with the car. It would have helped continue a solid legacy.