Rich Stapf Sr. Lives the Dream He Lost Half a Century Ago.It’s Even Better Than He Could’ve Imagined It.
The one that got away. Everyone has a story about it. I can vouch for only the men’s perspective but for most of them it’s usually about a girl or a fish (which raises some interesting questions if you think about it). For us, it’s almost always a car. Or a truck. Or a motorcycle, or boat, or some other means of independence. I keep almost everything for fear of that loss but not all of us have that luxury. Rich Stapf Sr. didn’t. At least when he was 14 he didn’t.
“I dragged a ’34 Ford three-window highboy coupe home with a frame under it that I purchased from a buddy for $5,” he recalls. But typical of a 14-year-old kid, the young Stapf didn’t have the resources to do anything but store such a project. After watching the car sit for six months, his dad offered him a running and driving car provided he just get the coupe out of the garage. “I took him up on it,” he says. “We loaded the old coupe body and hauled it out to a field and laid it right alongside a ’34 sedan.”
A succession of cool cars followed: A ’40 Ford coupe, a Jimmy-powered ’39 Chevy, and a ’55 Ford freshly painted by the body shop where he worked at the time. But in the back of his mind sat that forlorn coupe in a field.
Rich Stapf Jr. probably knows the story by heart. At the very least it inspired him to look at a three window for sale. Though a ’32 and not a ’34, it was a hot rod—at least it was a hot rod at one point in its distant past. But it was real. And right there. So he bought it.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2017 de Street Rodder.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2017 de Street Rodder.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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STREET SHAKER
Jeff Norwell’s ’32 Ford Pickup Breathes Fire with a 422ci Hemi V-8
Valley Custom Forged the Path for Many a Rod and Custom
It must go with the territory … as one gains experience, one realizes just how much one doesn’t know.
NEXT GENERATION
THE START FAMILY’S ’33 FORD TUDOR BRINGS A NEW GENERATION INTO HOT RODDING
THAT 60'S SHOW
PETE’S COMP COUPE DREAMS CAME REAL
Digital Doin's
Our '55 Ford Gets a Custom Digital Dash
LIKE FATHER … LIKE SON
THE DOMINGUE ’57 CHEVY DELRAY
BEST FORD IN A FORD
TAKING THE OUTDOOR AWARD, CAN 600 HP IN A ’57 FORD BE SUBTLE … YES
A CAUSE OF ACTION
THE ULTIMATE FAIRLANE COMES WITH A 427 SOHC
COWA BUNGA!
THE SEXIEST ORTHOPEDIC SHOE EVER
50TH NSRA STREET ROD NATIONALS
A GREAT DEAL OF HISTORY WAS ON VIEW FOR ALL TO SEE … AND REFLECT