Feature: Black Magic
10/01/2007
For nearly two years, Pete Chapouris lived with a ghost. It didn’t matter where he was—at home, work, or a local Mexican restaurant—the specter loomed. As Chapouris explains it, the conversations were usually one-sided. He’d plead for answers, but the spirit would only grin Cheshire-like, frustratingly silent."I can’t remember how many nights there were," Chapouris says with a weary smile. "I’d sit here in my office and look up and say, ‘Come on, Doane, what would you do?’"
As president of legendary SO-CAL Speed Shop and a respected veteran of the hot rod world, Chapouris isn’t in the habit of seeking assistance when creating cars that galvanize public attention, much as he did in 1973 when his flamed-out ’34 hot rod coupe starred in the TV movie The California Kid bringing lean-and-mean back to the then paunchy hot rod scene.
Nevertheless, when it came to conjuring up the Spencer2, perhaps one of the most ambitious hot rod creations in recent years, Chapouris was not beneath invoking the afterlife. Particularly since it meant channeling the vision of the car’s originator, Doane Spencer—a giant in the post-World War II hot rod scene, and an icon to many of today’s baby boomers who create mobile magic out of metal.
"Doane was a hero to me and, later in his life, a friend," says Chapouris. "To have worked on just one of his roadsters in my lifetime would have been amazing. But to now have worked on both, well, I’m just over the moon." Indeed, there are two—and only two— very similar Spencers in the world.
But the object of Chapouris’ recent obsession—a 1932 Ford Hiboy roadster—is the star of the moment. A stunning study in black, every part of the hot rod was designed with Spencer’s uncompromising aesthetic in mind, and hand-fabricated by a full-time team of three SO-CAL craftsmen, over the course of 15 months. Its owner, auto dealer and muscle-car collector Dennis Higginbotham, has calmly exchanged $1.3 million for a piece of automotive lore.
"Most of us don’t look as good with our clothes off as we do with them on, but this car is an exception to that rule," says Higginbotham, who is particularly fond of the car’s stainless steel headers (the first thing that catches your eye in the exposed engine bay) and custom side pipes (whose Cadillac gas-cap stoppers can be spun off to uncork an otherworldly racket).
"It’s so beautiful, and so clearly Doane," says Higginbotham, whose new car bowed at the 2007 Grand National Roadster Show and will reside in a custom-built display area in his Florida museum. "Sometimes I’m afraid to do anything more than just look at it."
When fellow collector Bruce Meyer stares at Spencer2, he may feel like he’s seeing double. Ten years ago, Meyer took home the inaugural Pebble Beach Hot Rod class trophy for his Spencer Hiboy roadster. Time for a quick history lesson.
As a kid, Southern Californian Doane Spencer fell fast and furiously in love with cars, soon rising to the post of chief mechanic at Hollywood Sports Cars—where his natural acumen with everything from Ferraris to hot rods quickly garnered the attention of the cognoscenti.
In 1950, Spencer decided to prepare the Deuce roadster for the Carrera Panamericana—the grueling Mexican road race. But soon after starting that project, his attention was diverted, and his heart stolen, by the new 1955 Ford Thunderbird. It wasn’t long before Spencer’s Deuce roadster reappeared under the conservatorship of Lynn Wineland and Neal East, eventually landing in the wilds of Colorado.
However, Beverly Hills collector Meyer never took his eye off the car. In 1995, he bought what remained of it and unleashed Chapouris, which resulted in the Pebble Beach crown. Meyer understandably dubs his Spencer Hiboy "the Holy Grail" of hot rodding, but has plenty of praise for the Spencer2.
"What you have to understand is that Doane was the Michelangelo of hot rodders," says Meyer. "He was an engineer and a perfectionist, and he never stopped tinkering, which means that my car exists in its form only because Doane forgot about it. Otherwise, he would have changed it many times over. The Spencer2 is what he might have done had he been allowed to tinker more. What Pete has built is utterly perfect. Dennis deserves praise, too. It took a big commitment and deep pockets to get this done."
The Spencer2’s story started—and almost ended—in 1995. Although racked with cancer, Spencer was eager to try his hand at another Hiboy for a friend, Darrell Brunn, and began assembling its foundation while sketching plans in chalk on the floor of his shop. A few months later, Spencer died. The project slipped under Brunn’s tarps for a decade, until exotic car specialist Kirk F. White unearthed it. He mentioned its existence to Higginbotham, who at the time was considering having a hot rod built from scratch. The notion of owning a vehicle with considerable pedigree appealed immediately, and a deal was struck.
"I’d say the project was maybe 30 percent done when Doane passed away," says Chapouris. "He was always suspicious of off-the-shelf parts, so he’d already had a lot of hand casting done. But there was still so much for us to guess about. Take the headlights. We made a special rack just so we could test different lights at different heights, in order to see if we could feel which position Doane would have gone for."
Walking around Spencer2, Chapouris comes off like the proverbial father gushing about his newborn’s silky skin or beaming eyes. And rightly so.
With its racer’s heart, the car eschews winking brightwork in favor of a "many shades of black" paint scheme. Helping the hot rod achieve its cougar-ready-to-pounce proportions are a windshield that’s slightly cut down compared to Meyer’s Spencer, and a so-called "bulldog" front end (slightly compressed) that sits conspicuously behind the front rubber. In addition, the body was lengthened 2 inches to accommodate a lack of legroom for its 6-foot-plus owner.
The result: "Cool" on four wheels.
But it’s when you step closer to Spencer2 that the endless hours of communing with spirits shows through. "In the end, Doane was all about racing," says Chapouris. He points out the welds left on the headers, the slightly scooped out "hex head" cap screws for weight reduction, a front suspension that sits ahead of the radiator, the hand-forged steering links and suspension arms, the 60/40 weigh bias, the air scoops in the rear to cool not the brakes, but the hub bearings. "I guess in Doane’s mind, the bearings had to be cooled," says Chapouris with a shrug and a grin.
Settling inside the bathtub-like passenger area that sits atop the car’s tubular, birdcage-style frame, the first thing that overwhelms is the scent of leather. Acres of it, saddle in hue and private-jet variety smooth, from the seat with bolstered armrests to the elegant door panels.
Fix your eyes straight ahead and a hand-turned dash smiles back, inset with achingly simple white numerals on black Stewart Warner gauges. "They’re industrial in nature, actually used on Brockway trucks in the ’30s" says Chapouris, who wouldn’t take no for an answer when a supplier said a matching tach would never be found. Chapouris prevailed.
Just when it’s getting dreamy lounging inside Spencer2, SO-CAL shop foreman Ryan Reed hops in the driver’s seat and fires up the Roush-prepared 289 Ford V-8. In an instant, we’re out of the cooling shade of SO-CAL’s 30,000-square-foot shop and into the searing heat of Southern California’s inland empire.
Checking to make sure the roads are clear, Reed romps on the delicate triangle-shaped gas pedal. A race-worthy brraaaaaapp fills the air as the 405-hp engine sends Spencer2 ripping down the straight. With nothing but wind and engine sounds assaulting the senses, this must be the closest thing to a motorcycle experience on four wheels.
For an open-topped car, Spencer2 is impressively screwed down. Two sets of railroad tracks fail to make the rear end so much as chatter. The car never deviates from its arrow-straight course, except when Reed tugs on the handmade steering wheel and guides the car back into its bay.
Visibly relieved that his million-dollar-baby is safe and sound, Chapouris relaxes. "I don’t know if I’m ready for this thing to leave, to be honest," he says, referring to some final touches the car needs (finicky speedo for one) before it can be handed over to its owner. "We are not supposed to fall in love with the cars we build, but in this case, we did."
But, Chapouris admits, at least now he’ll get some rest. The legendary ghost has no reason to haunt its skilled apprentice anymore. "I think if Doane could look down on this car and see it, he’d think, ‘Yeah, that’s bitchin’,’" he says.
SO-CAL Speed Shop
909.469.6171
www.so-calspeedshop.com