Charles Earl Porter

Chuck Porter's 1942 Buick

Chuck Porter's 1949 Ford

Kustom car builder and race car driver Charles E. Porter was born April 20, 1915 in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. Chuck moved to Kansas City during the days of prohibition and depression. He made friends with another fellow also named "Chuck", they used to go out to the ball games together, later he discovered that "Chuck" was the wanted gangster "Pretty Boy Floyd". Later on Chuck was hired at Ford Motor Company installing running boards on 1936 1937 Fords, when the a strike closed the plant he migrated to California where he for a short while worked as a long-haul truck driver, a lumber jack, a midget race car driver and a body man. His biggest passions were bodywork racing and old Fords. When WWII broke out, Chuck was enlisted to the army air corps and ranked as a sergeant waist gunner. He was involved in over sixty missions in B-17's over Germany. On one mission aboard a bomber known as "old Bill", the entire crew except Chuck and the radio operator was killed. No one of them knew how to fly but they managed to nurse the wreck toward the white cliffs of Dover and home. When the plane landed on the airstrip, it broke in two upon landing. Chuck was awarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross, as Chuck said; "I don't know why they gave me the medal, the plane wasn't any good anymore."

Following his adventures in the European theater, Chuck thought he was coming home to become an instructor. However, Uncle Sam changed his plans and Chuck soon found himself over the Pacific aboard B-29's. On one mission his plane was forced to ditch in the ocean and his crew was rescued by an American submarine. Another time on a bombing raid over Nagasaki, Japan, his bomber was shot up so badly that Chuck was forced to bail out. He landed in the middle of the city shattering his knee on the curb and found himself captured by a mob of civilians. For nearly six months, he was prisoned in a war camp until August, 9 1945 when the second American atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki. The prison camp where Chuck was interred was only nine miles from ground zero. After being liberated, Chuck returned to California and resumed the body and fender trade. In 1950 he opened up his own shop at Sunset and Vermont in Hollywood. His outstanding brand of workmanship became legendary and the covers of innumerable automotive enthusiast magazines of the 1950's displayed the products of Chuck Porter's Body Shop.

His talent working with aluminum soon led sports car owners flocking to his door for repairs and modifications. His clientele included James Dean, Lance Reventlow, Don Wilson and Steve McQueen. The late 1950's were spend racing and working on sports cars. He drove the Mercedes himself to numerous victories, but on occasion turned over the wheel to the likes of Johnnie Parsons, George Amick and Jerry Unser. Busy as he was, Chuck still found time to hand-craft miniature Porsches and Mercedes roadsters for his daughters to play in.

In later years Porter craftsmanship was used in a variety of ways from rebuilding total wrecks, to the futuristic restyling of a Mazda coupe in his own backyard garage. He was even called upon to fabricate bodywork for reproductions of the fabulous Duesenberg roadsters. His flawless restorations ran the gamut of autovotive interest from a 1934 Ford truck to a flashy Nash-Healy sports car.

Chuck Porter passed away in 1982 while driving in an Old Timer’s race at Indian Dunes.. He may have been seriously ill for some time, but hospitals were for other people as Chuck said.

Chuck Porter's Cars

Chuck Porter's 1949 Ford
Chuck Porter's Mercedes 300 SLS
Chuck Porter's 1942 Buick

Sources

www.hemmings.net