Sarasota Café Racer and Bonneville competitor, Rob Gibby spent seven years searching for the remains of the hot rod he drove while in high school. His endgame: Recreate it and drive it to his school’s 50th Reunion. Mission accomplished!
Rob Gibby and his 50th Reunion high school hot rod.
Ten years ago Rob Gibby started to think about the whereabouts of the hot rod he built and drove while he was a student at the Pingry School in Martinsville, NJ. He had sold his 1930 Ford Model A coupe powered by a 1955 265-inch Chevy small-block to friend Ric Schumann in 1961. His search revealed, as pretty much expected, that his onetime daily driver hot rod had gone through a series of changes over the years.
“My Dad kept my hot rod’s logbook and receipts, which he later gave me. Many times over the past 40 years, I’ve wondered, what ever happened to my old hot rod?”
Rob Gibby and his original Model A hot rod, circa 1960.
In Spring 1999, Rob placed an advertisement in the NSRA magazine, Street Scene: WANTED: Information on my high school hot rod – ’30 Ford coupe/Chevy V-8/’37 Buick tranny/black leather seat with coral stripe, sold in northern NJ in 1961. As quickly as Rob submitted it, he forgot about it!
Two months later Rob received a phone call from Paul Adams who, after talking with his Dad (Paul Sr.), believed that they had Rob’s rod in their garage. The best part of all was that they lived just a half-hour ride from Rob.
“Paul Sr. had purchased the A-Coupe in 1996 in New Jersey and all the details made sense except one: The firewall mounted pedals. I didn’t remember using that pedal layout. Checking the logbook and receipt file revealed a $5.50 receipt from Horbaly’s Junkyard for a set of ’54 Ford (hanging) pedals!”
After buying Rob’s hot rod in 1996, Paul had turned it into a really nice street rod, left, with a Rod Shop chassis, 350/350 small-block, AC, ’31 Model A grille shell and Viper Red paint.
Fortunately, he had used Rob’s original stock height coupe body on his lowered rod. He also keptRob’s old firewall, grille shell and assorted body parts. Unfortunately, he was selling it and already had a deposit!
The Adams reconsidered and called Rob, “You should have this car. I told the guy I changed my mind and returned his deposit. It’s your car if you want it.” Rob was really interested in the body and not the complete car and went back to check it out. The original deal must have fallen through and he was willing to sell Rob what he needed.
In addition to the pedals identifying Rob’s car, there was also a unique detail that proved to be the clincher: the cowl lights.
“My car was a standard coupe and I added the cowl lights, and did not locate them where the factory would. Mine were lower. I crawled inside my old car, now painted red, and found welded up (non-stock position) cowl light holes that I hand drilled”
“I only wanted the parts that were original to my car and he was willing to part-out his hot rod. I bought my old steel body, and an old stock Model A frame he had in his garage,” added Rob.
Rob drives lifelong friend Robin Dripps' stunning E/STR '32 roadster at Bonneville.
Since Rob’s Dad had saved his logbook and all of the bills involved from Day One, it was relatively easy to reconstruct his high school hot rod. While Rob made a number of safety upgrades, he kept the spirit of the times by mounting the body on a Model A frame that had been boxed. Ford F-100 truck steering and hydraulic 1939-’48 Ford brakes were added. The “new” engine is a vintage 1955 Chevy 265-inch small-block with Duntov solid-lifter cam and dual exhausts, bolted to a ’37 Buick Roadmaster three-speed transmission.
Before driving his reconstructed high school hot rod to his 50th Pingry Reunion a few months ago, covered in the Pingry School publication, above, Rob painted the body.
“I used the same type and color paint, Tractor Black, I used back in the day and, like in 1960, prepared the body with Scotch Brite pads and hit it with a brush,” said Rob, left. Bob Outwater and his wife worked with Rob on the restoration. His wife did the paint work and Bob did most of the heavy lifting!
When friend, author and hot rod aficionado, Dain Gingerelli, saw the before and after photos, his response was, "It’s an all expense spared regress-toration."
“It looks and drives exactly how it did in 1960. It’s as ‘old school’ as it gets and I’m one happy guy.”