Feature: Black Magic
October 1, 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."
advertisement
