HISTORY LOST (AND FOUND)
*Here is a little blurb sent to me by Sean Clason about his Model A Coupe. I remember meeting him at our drag race event and really loving this car and the fact that he had driven it all the way to middle-of-nowhere Washington state from Bakersfield, California. It turns out the car has a bit of history as well! Here is what Sean had to say about his car:
...
Hi Jake, we met briefly last summer at the Estranged drags, I drove my coupe up from Bakersfield for the race.
...
The car has a lot of Bakersfield history, first built in Buttonwillow in 55-56 by the Selvidge brothers and raced at the first March Meet in ‘58. The car was really well known back then and traded off to a guy in a town nearby for a 60 Impala for a more suitable mode of transportation thru their college years.
...
My uncle acquired the car in the early 60’s when it was powered by a punched out 283 with a Man-a-Fre and a 4 speed. He tore the car down for improvements when life got in the way and unfortunately never put it back on the road. My uncle passed in ‘98 and I became the new caretaker of the “blue Model A”
....
...
Much of the same, I sat on it while I built a life and family, slowly gathering parts as my budget would allow. I ended up finally having both time and money to finish it, when my wife and I began a year and a half project of building the car. First build for either of us btw.
....
...
We completed the project with help from a list of friends and we’re able to connect with the previous owners/builders. We have put 30K miles on the car since. The younger of the two Selvidge brothers Wes I still talk to often.
.....
...
*Awesome! While I was sifting through Sean's story and the photos he provided, I noticed that one of them was a screen shot of a post made back in 2017 by an AMAZING Instagram account called: "46to64"
For anyone that doesn't already follow that account, you should! It is run by Ross Ruiz, who is insanely passionate about hot rod, custom and lowrider car history. Ross spends countless hours researching the topic and posts his unbelievable detective work for all to see. It really is a treat.
...
Here is what Ross had to say about this car in his post from a few years back:
....
...
"Since everyone is posting their "best 9" of 2017, I thought I'd take this week and share the best stories I've shared this year at 46 to 64. Let's start with the 1959 Wasco High yearbook.
...
The chances of finding an obscure photo of a hot rod in a yearbook are slim to none. The chances of finding a photo of a hot rod and then being able to identify it and follow the car's history throughout the years is beyond my imagination.
...
After I stumbled on a photo of a chopped Model A hot rod in the yearbook, Sean Clason (homebuilt_model_a) messaged me and told me the Model A he had gotten from his uncle had to be the same car.
...
His car came from the Wasco area and he informed me that it was built around 1957 - 1958 by the Selvidge brothers of Buttonwillow, CA. I went back to the yearbook and cross referenced the names of the brothers, J.B. Selvidge (class of '59) and Wesley Selvidge (class of '60) both were in the book!
After they had built the car it changed hands and a guy named Merle Dean Hallmark owned it. After Merle Dean Hallmark owned it, Sean's uncle got the car and that's how it ended up in the family.
...
Fastforward a couple weeks later, @machinegunmarc (who's profile no longer exists) told me he was in contact with original builder, J.B. Selvidge and then Marc shared the Hot Rod of Dreams photo from his collection with me and finally after all these years, Sean got the hot rod back on the road!
...
Pretty amazing that just from an obscure photo in a high school yearbook and connecting the dots, this hot rod's story came together, the definition of lost history."
....
*Stay tuned for Part 2, a first-hand story written by original builder, Wes Selvidge!
Leave a comment
Please note, comments must be approved before they are published