Have you seen these cars? Part 1

My father has always been into cars. During the 1960's, before I was born, he was a member of a hot rod club called the Steel Mills, based in Granite City, IL. Granite City, located across the river from St. Louis, MO, had been a manufacturing center since the late 19th century due to fewer pollution restrictions and available land. My dad's side of the family had moved there in 1914 from a farming area near Trenton, IL. My great-great grandfather and two of his sons, my great-grandfather, and his brother all worked at Commonwealth Steel. My grandfather worked at National Lead Co. and my grandmother worked as a telephone switchboard operator at Granite City Steel. Therefore, the name of the car club was organic, a play on words in the hot rod culture (a engine is a mill), and a dash of local pride all rolled into one name.

Members of these type of clubs were into cars from the 1920's, 30's, 40's & 50's, customization of the current cars of the day, and drag racing. My father fit into the latter group. He owned two cars that he raced mostly at the Alton Dragway in Alton, IL. The picture in the upper left shows my dad adding something to the fuel tank of the 1932 Ford A/Competition Coupe that he named "Misty". The car was chopped, chanelled, and sectioned giving the car an ultra low stance. This also shrunk the back window of the car to less than 12 inches in diameter. The windows were tinted blue all around. When driving the car, my father actually had his head sticking through the open top of the coupe just in front of a small roll bar that protruded through the roof line. He said that he had an open faced helmet, goggles, and a leather jacket as his safety protection! This little '32 Ford coupe sported a 327 c.i. Chevrolet engine. My dad said that the car originally had a 283 c.i. Chevrolet engine, but his friend, John Tayon, had a 1962 Chevrolet with a 327 and so they swapped the engine when John had mentioned selling the car. The engine block was painted gold instead of the normal Chevrolet orange color. The rear end was shortened so much that the rear drag slicks were just on the outside of the car. If you study the pictures you will notice that even the drag slicks had whitewalls! Ahh...the 60's. My dad even still has that olive green gas can in the front of the trailer in the picture above.

The tow car for "Misty" was a 1953 Cadillac Hearse/Ambulance. With two front doors, the Cadillac also featured a loading door in the rear for loading a gurney or casket. There were also "jump" seats that were recessed into the floor for nurses, etc. The Caddy was painted the same color blue as the '32 coupe and given the same yellow lettering. My dad related that he took the car to Earl Schieb for a $19.99 paint job, the standard then, but they said that the vehicle was too big and they had to charge $29.99 instead! With the popularity of "barn finds" in such magazines as Hot Rod and Car Craft, I would like to hear from anyone who has any knowledge of where these cars ended up.