Archive for April, 2010
The Gadberry “Low Bucket”
The December, 1996 issue of Hot Rod Magazine featured a story by the late Gray Baskerville titled, “Low Bucket — Doin’ a Fad-T for $2.94 a Pound!” After first reading it, I spent countless hours pouring over the three picture-filled pages accompanied by Baskerville’s always entertaining and informative commentary. While I’d been hooked on T-Buckets [...]
Barn Find Hot Rods: Hidden Treasure or Simply No Pleasure?
“Barn find” hot rods seem to be turning up everywhere today. It seems that with the Internet, every significant barn find sends hundreds of guys spreading out across the country searching every barn, shed, vacant warehouse, backyard and “old man’s open garage” looking for the next long-lost Ed Roth Orbitron. Hey, it’s fun and the [...]
How a T-Bucket Became Key to “Big Daddy” Don Garlits Drag Racing Success
In the early 50s a young Don Garlits was frustrated that his 1950 Ford daily driver couldn’t beat local Florida drag racer, “King” Charles Hogan, and his brutish V-12 Lincoln. A friend of Don’s had a used car lot and was planning to build a ’27 T, but instead sold it to Don who built [...]
1970s Waterbed Fad Meets T-Bucket Trend
In the 1970s, waterbed stores were popping up everywhere as their popularity spread from the hippie community to suburbanites seeking more excitement in their love life, as well as the over-50 crowd looking for a better night’s sleep. So, why not do something for Junior that tied in with the exciting T-Bucket hot rod phenomenon? [...]
“Bucket T”, the T-Bucket Song — 3 Versions, No Less
Just to show what an important element of popular culture the T-Bucket became, you need look no further than the three artists who recorded this dopey ditty: Jan & Dean, The Who and Ronny and the Daytonas. I must say that I find the cover version of this song done by The Who to be [...]
Larry Ryan’s T-Bucket
The October, 1961 issue of Rod & Custom magazine had a special feature on “Midwest Rods” and the one I found most memorable was a very cool, very stubby T-bucket built on a budget by a Kansas City teen named Larry Ryan. I understand that mechanical genius George Barnes contributed significantly to this bucket’s build [...]
Ed Roth’s Outlaw/Excalibur/Excaliber
Nine years ago (April 4, 2001), we lost Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. I felt fortunate that two months prior I had a chance to say hi to Ed and get him to autograph a couple of T-shirts at the Chicago World of Wheels car show. Growing up, Ed’s T-Bucket inspired fiberglass creation also had a [...]
Ted Brown: T-Bucket Chassis Designer Extraordinaire
Ted Brown was a young hot rodder from Minnesota who heeded the advice to “go west young man” to seek fame and fortune. Man, was he ever successful! After arriving in Southern California, Ted had the opportunity to see Norm Grabowski’s “Kookie” T-bucket at the famous Bob’s Big Boy in Toluca Lake and “was totally [...]
Chester Greenhalgh: T-Bucket Genius!?!
The following is a personal blog post from New Year’s Day, 2009. It was a great start to my New Year because it brought me into contact with the long incommunicado Chester Greenhalgh and through our friendship has brought us to where we are today with TBucketPlans.com. A lot of disparaging remarks have been made [...]
Ted McMullen and the U.S. Speed Sport “Instant T”
Hot rodder Ted McMullen made a pioneering imprint on the T-Bucket world in a short time span. Prior to 1963, T-Buckets were individually designed and constructed. Starting with Grabowski and Ivo …
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