The month-long show of hot rods and custom motorcycles inside the Vancouver Art Gallery was big news in November 1968. There were 15 hot rods and custom cars alongside custom motorcycles from B.C. and Washington in a show that was to be one of a kind.
A 1915 Ford Model T pickup hot rod owned by a young Safeway truck driver named Bill Traquair was featured on the cover of the large program. On an inside page, the curator explained the show:
“There may still be those who question the validity of exhibiting custom cars in the art gallery environment. I hope that any such objection will vanish in the presence of these gleaming machines which literally reflect the hours of affectionate labour …
“The custom car is North America’s original contribution to the folk-art of the 20th Century. Not only does it work as sculpture, it also, by virtue of the raw power it is known to unleash, possesses a magical mana for the young of all ages.”
Shane Traquair picking up his fathers original hot rod after purchasing it in Parksville on Vancouver Island.
PNG Merlin Archive, Driving
Bill Traquair had spent 18 months creating the Mod Rod in a garage rented with Gary Lang, a young pattern maker who was also building a ‘T roadster’ hot rod. They had gas welding equipment, a drill and a few hand tools to create their masterpieces.
Traquair’s Mod Rod emerged on a custom built frame with chrome suspension, a hopped-up and chromed-up 289-cubic- inch Ford V8 engine right out of the crate and wide racing tires mounted on Halibrand magnesium rims.The speedometer could register 160 miles per hour. The striking hot rod was painted candy tangerine at first then, after an accident it got a full rebuild including a tilting body, a Jaguar rear end and a pearl pink paint job.
The hot rod was a big hit on the show circuit winning awards for Best Engineering, Best Paint and Rod Sweepstakes at Vancouver’s Motorama show in 1973. It also won best paint, best upholstery and first in its class at the Portland Roadster Show and Glamour Rod of the Year at the two-week-long Oakland Roadster Show in 1972.
Shane Traquair at the age of three with his fathers Model T Ford hot rod.
PNG Merlin Archive, Driving
But marriage and the need to buy a house saw Bill Traquair part with his treasured hot rod and, in 1972, he sold it to Ron Ford who lived in Nanaimo.
Ron entered it in the 1973 Vancouver Motorsport Show and took home Sweepstakes and the award for best engineered hot rod. After Ron sold the car, it went through a series of owners on Vancouver Island for the next 40 years.
Bill’s son Shane remembers standing beside his father’s hot rod when he was three years old. He still has his first hot rod – a flame painted ride-on toy model he got for Christmas when he was two years old.
Later in life, Shane and his father got National Hot Rod Association licences and went drag racing with a sling shot alcohol-burning dragster that could go from zero to 225 kilometres an hour (150 m.p.h.) on a quarter-mile track from a standing start.
Shane became obsessed with buying his father’s hot rod and relentless in tracking it down. He tried to buy it 25 years ago but couldn’t afford the price.
One year ago, he approached the last owner, Roy Stewart in Parksville. The hot rod wasn’t for sale. But the owner conceded it needed a restoration and finally agreed to part with it “because he knew we were the ones that had to do it.”
Bill Traquairs 1915 Model T Ford hot rod after it was purchased by his son Shane bringing it back into the family after 40 years.
PNG Merlin Archive, Driving
The deal was finally inked this spring. Original builder Bill Traquair and son Shane trailered the car back from Parksville, returning the hot rod to the family after more than four decades.
“I knew at some point I would get the car but I didn’t want it to be 20 years from now. Who would be left to know its history?” Shane says.
Father and son are now teaming up to restore the car to exactly the way it was when it competed at the Oakland Roadster show in 1972.
They have already begun acquiring the same type of equipment originally used on the hot rod. A full set of Hallibrand magnesium wheels is now on hand as well as an Edelbrock XF8 cross ram manifold with dual four-barrel carburetors.
But the rebuild is going deep. They are enlisting help from the master craftsmen who originally helped to make the Mod Rod a showstopper:
Legendary custom car painter Fred Welsh is on board to help with painting. Slim Easton, now 81 years old, will supervise the upholstery. Gary Lang is lined up to fabricate the custom disc brakes as he did 46 years ago. There are other people who worked on the car who will be invited to contribute their talents.
“They are as excited as we are,” Shane Traquair enthuses before backing the famous Mod Rod into the garage at his Abbotsford home. He will do all the bodywork on the car just as his father did before he was born. It will be a showstopper once more.
Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com
