The Short Tale of how Dwain Rogers
got his Deuce Roadster Back After 26 Long Years.
Two things: First, Dwain Rogers appeared on
the fifth cover of this magazine in September 1972, sitting in a bright red '32
highboy roadster. The photo was taken by Brian Brennan at the Southwestern Rod
Run in Texas. Brennan did have a bylined editorial column inside describing his
experience covering a distant event as a budding street rod
reporter/photographer. Second, I joined the staff of this magazine through luck
and happenstance in late 1973 as a clueless beginner. I didn't know magazines,
but I did know hot rods and some of their history. So when I was introduced to
Tom McMullen as the publisher of this fairly new rod magazine, and was told, “He's
the guy who had that blown, flamed '32 roadster on the cover of Hot
Rod," I certainly knew the car. And my first question to him was,
“Where is it now?" Thus began my career as a journalist and as a hot rod
archeologist. I eventually found McMullen's roadster, in pieces, in a storage
garage, and showed it in the magazine. Other hot rod “finds” (such as “TV
Tommy'' Ivo's T in similar condition) and “biographies" followed.
Return
of the lost Rod
I love this sort of hot rod sleuthing - not
just finding vintage tin or old barn cars, but tracking down former cover cars,
show winners, or race heroes simply to answer the question, “Whatever became
of...?" I've been doing it for years in various publications, and you
readers seem to dig it as much as I do. So it's only natural that this
eventually developed into a book, Lost Hot Rods, which appeared a couple
of years ago. And you liked that one enough that it prompted a sequel, Lost
Hot Rods II, which debuted recently.
So Brennan asked if’ I would select one of
the “lost rods” from the new book to present here as a taste (there are 80 such
cars in the book altogether). And as I rummaged through the contents, I quickly
honed in on this one, because it all comes back to STREET RODDER
magazine in several ways.
No, this isn't the same highboy that
appeared on the Sept. '72 SR cover. Rogers said that one - though nice
had been salvaged from a channeled, floorless hulk. So he sold it that summer
and with the hot cash in his pocket, and a friend with a new lace-painted Nova
eager to visit the L.A Roadsters Show. They set off on a 1,200 mile adventure
that ultimately netted not one, but two Deuces to bring back to Texas (the
friend drove home the Olds powered sedan he bought at the swap meet).
Back
in 1972, this is what Rogers found under a tarp in a garage in Monterey Park,
still driveable, for $2,500.
I can't tell you the whole story here,
because that's at least half the fun of every lost rod find, but Rogers did
find this roadster, in complete and near-original condition, sitting under a
tarp in an “old rodder's" garage in an L.A. suburb. He paid what he
considered big money for it at the time ($2,500). But get this. Not only did he
fire it up and drive it out of the garage, but he rented a tow bar, hooked it
to the Nova, and flat-towed it all the way back to Houston - no problem.
So
he hitched it to the back of his friend’s Nova and towed it 1,200 miles back to
Texas.
The day after he got it home he had the
fenders, bumpers, lights, and spare tire off, and soon the cherry body was
sprayed shiny black. Then Rogers spent hours studying, taping, and spraying the
flames to match those on the famous McMullen car. He even taught himself to
pinstripe to outline them. Other influences from McMullen's roadster include
the drilled axle and split radius rods, the lights, the chopped windshield, and
the real American five-spoke mags. The main difference, at first, was building
a mild, twin-carb, 8BA Flathead to power it. In this form it won Best Homebuilt
Paint and Best Nostalgia trophies at the '73 NSRA Nats in Tulsa. Two years
later he added a Moon tank to the front and a 265 Chevy under the hood in
further emulation of the McMullen car, and it got on a couple of magazine
covers.
By 1980, however, Rogers needed cash to
start a business, sold the roadster, and "dropped out of the rod
scene" for many years. He knew the car later sold at the big Pate Swap
Meet, and went back to California, but he lost track after that.
To quote the book: "Then, in 2001,
Rogers picked up a copy of STREET RODDER magazine and happened to be
reading a six-page article on ..." OK, I won't give it all away. But we're
back to SR again, aren't we? Rogers spotted the recognizable flames of
his old roadster in the background of one photo of someone's car collection. It
was far from California, and someone else was listed as the car's former owner,
but Rogers knew it was his. And he knew he'd like it back. It appeared to be
just the way he built it. The problem was the collector didn't want to sell.
Obviously Rogers did finally get his
roadster back. It took five years of persistence and pestering (and an
undisclosed amount of cash), but he's quite happy to have it in his driveway
once again. He decided to leave the Flathead some unknown owner installed. Otherwise
all he did was add a gennie set of early American mags with appropriate rubber,
a Bell steering wheel, and a couple other little things. But the paint, the
flames, and the pinstripes Rogers applied in 1972 are all still the same, as is
the upholstery and chrome. To get the whole story, and many more like it, pick
up Lost Hot Rods II at your bookstore, on the web, or directly from
cartechbooks.com or (800) 551-4754.
Doing
all his own work, Rogers had the Deuce looking like this in a couple of months.
Running an 8BA Flathead with two high-rise carbs, and red Kelsey wires, it won
Best Homebuilt Paint and Best Nostalgia (presented by the Early Times of SoCal)
at the '73 Tulsa NSRA Nats.
This
is how the roadster looks today, back in Rogers' Texas driveway same paint,
same flames, same upholstery, even the same black California plate that came on
it.
It
still has the chrome 8-inch rear on a buggy spring with '36 radius rods, and a
Muncie four-speed. Rogers had to find a new (old) set of five-spoke mags to
return it to the very McMullenesque look it had when he sold it in 1980.
When
he finally got the car back, it had this 250-inch Flattie with an Isky cam,
Offy heads, and two 97s on an Edelbrock Super intake.
The tan upholstery is the only component
that belies the car’s '70s heritage, but even it is in great shape. Rogers
doesn't know who added the dash full of early S-W gauges, but they're fine.
