Jim Delaney

Jim Delaney of Springfield, Illinois. Jim was a member of the Knucklebusters of Springfield car club. In 1953 Jim had a Ford Model A coupe. In 2015 he told Kustomrama that his car would go down as a "rat rod" today, but he was so proud of it; "I chopped and channeled it in my back yard, installed a flathead V8 and raced anyone I could..on the street. Beat most of them, too!"

Through the Knucklebusters, Jim became friend with body man Bob Maisenbacher. The two became friends when Jim asked him to weld the top on his Model A Ford coupe back on after he had chopped it in 1953; "After that he "apprenticed" me while he did a number of custom and restoration jobs, among them was Mandy Holder's 1951 Mercury, a 1909 Brush, and a 1934 Ford coupe with a LaSalle hood and grille. Later he hired me as a body man until I decided to go to college."

Jim worked for Wally Troy at Wally's Garage for a short time; "At the time he was quite fixated on Jaguars. His shop was behind their restaurant, “Wally and Janet’s,” where Bob Maisenbacher and I often ate lunch when we were working at Springfield Welding."