The "Lil Deuce Coupe"
This is THE car, featured on the cover of the Beach Boy's album,
of the same name. The car originally was the creation of Clarence "Chili"
Catallo of Detroit, Mich. It went through basically three renovations
before becoming the famous "Lil Deuce Coupe".
I (Bob Nugent) was fortunate to be a part of the very beginnings
of this legendary coupe and am proud to present it as one of our Hot Rod
Hall Of Fame cars.
This coupe sat for many years beside the house of a local customizer in
Dearborn, Mich. His name was "Ziggy" and he did most of
the local guys work in a little shed out behind his mom's house. Clarence
and I drug that coupe out of the weeds and began the work of kids everywhere,
turning a piece of junk into a "Hot Rod". We put an Olds engine
into the coupe, hooked to the stock Ford transmission. I learned how to
rebuild Ford transmissions that way, because we immediately blew five of
them. It seemed whenever you gave the thing some gas, it scattered the tranny
everywhere. Before any serious work started on the car, I left Michigan
and lost contact with "Chili".
The next phase had the Alexander Bros. restoring the coupe and placing
that famous nose piece on it. The years had taken their toll on the lower
body, so the famous fins were fitted and this was long before Ferrari came
up with the styling trick. During this period the car was called the "Silver
Sapphire" and was painted dark blue with silcer scallops.
The scallops and striping was done by Paul Hatton of Detroit and
the best striper I have ever seen, and the guy that got me into striping
in my young days.
The famous phase
was when the car was chopped and remodeled by George Barris in California,
and sprayed a beautiful transluscent blue with white pearl scallops. This
then became the famous Lil Deuce coupe that was on the cover of the Beach
Boys Album and also on the cover of the July 1961 Hot Rod Magazine.
Shortly after the car was sold to a car club and then to its current owner,
Ray Woloszak who has owned it for the past 30 years and has recently
restored it to its former glory. Ray has become a good friend and has participated
in the Old Farts Car Club activities at the Turkey Run in Daytona
for the last couple years.
This picture
is of George Barris, Ray and his wife at "Lead East" in 1994.
George gave Ray a Barris crest to replace one that had been stolen and was
pleased to see the current status of...
The Infamous "Lil' Deuce Coupe"!
UPDATE: Clarence " Chili" Catallo repurchased the "Lil
Deuce coupe" from Ray Woloszak in July of 1997.
At Daytona Speedway
No trip to the Daytona International Speedway would be complete
without a trip to the tent of the infamous Old Farts Car Club.