Larry Ewing

An early photo of Larry's Ford. After attending two Oakland Roadster Shows with his dad, Larry fell in love with the style of the '40 Fords he saw there. "So my first car was a ’40 Ford DeLuxe Coupe I bought when I was 15 in January 1957," Larry told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in November of 2020. Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

The Ford Larry bought was all stock except for a red paint job, dual exhaust, and full moon flipper hubcaps. "I bought it for $250 from a young man in San Francisco a few miles north of where we lived in San Bruno, California. The first thing I did was buy all new shocks and lowering shackles for the front. Next came the engine detail with chrome acorn nuts on heads and painted the firewall white. Next came a ’39 floor shift transmission and 4:11 rear gears." Larry also installed big and little tires. 5.60x15 up front and 8.20x15 in the rear. Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

"My sister was dating Jack Edgar who had just bought a brand new all-white ’56 Plymouth Belvedere Hard Top, V-8 with pushbutton transmission controls. I had just laid a strip of rubber with my ’40 Ford of just over 100 feet long. It happened under unusual conditions. I was on a newly paved asphalt street on an uphill grade. I stopped and rolled back, rev the 85 HP, 221 cu. in. V-8 engine, popped the clutch and the car stood still momentarily, still revving max and slowly started to move forward and after 100 feet of smokey burned rubber I sped off. I took a picture of the strip and bragged to Jack. He brought his Plymouth to the same street at attempted to match my burn-out. With the pushbutton trans he revved up and pushed buttons only to burn about 5 feet of rubber. He tried 2 or 3 times and on the last try something broke and he had to have his new car towed back to the dealer." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

Shortly after Larry had bought an Oldsmobile engine for the coupe he was in an accident in Redwood City, where the family had recently moved. Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

"The damage caused me to replace 2 fenders and running boards. That led to a complete repaint with the expert help from my sister's boyfriend, Richard McArdle. He happened to have a show car ’50 Chevy he built which was a cover car featured in a Custom Car Magazine at the time." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

Larry settled on a Limefire Green color from a 1957 Pontiac. "After 3 months of body prep Richard laid on the Acrylic Lacquer. After rub and buff, it was show quality." Early in 1959, a young man offered Larry $500 for the Ford. "He was impressed with the body and paint and had to have it. So away it went." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

An early photo of Larry's Oldsmobile. The Olds engine was still in Larry's garage after he sold the Forty Ford, and his goal was to have 1949 Oldsmobile 88 coupe much like one of his classmates, Dennis Milani, had. "The word was out and I soon got a call from Bill Leonheart having a ’50 88 coupe less engine for $125. Not a ‘49 but a perfect fit for my ’56 engine. My idol at the time, besides Milani, was Gene Adams that ran a ’50 Olds in Southern California that was in Hot Rod magazine almost every month setting the ¼ mile record constantly in an Engle Cam ad." Larry got the Olds in April of 1959, and by August it was on the street with a Cad/LaSalle side shift with Corvette floor linkage and 4:11 gears. "It was quick!" Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

The Olds was a stock medium to dark Ivy Green when Larry bought it. "With my experience prepping the ’40 I started in on the Olds." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

Larry decided to paint the Olds the darkest metallic green, which was Kensington Green from a 1959 Cadillac. "With a little help from Richard again it was painted and buffed out. I had the wheels reversed and chromed, put on big and little U.S. Royal Master tires with flat ’60 Pontiac poverty caps. It got beautiful!" Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

"After a few years, I had so many speed tickets in the Olds that the court was about to take my license away so it went to my younger teenage brothers, Mike and Tom." Fortunately, Mike kept the car for 25 years and Larry was able to get it back and restore it to show condition. "In 1995 it won Best of Class at the Oakland, Now Grand National Roadster Show. It now had a ’57 Olds J2 engine with a floor shifted ’37 Cad LaSalle transmission and with an even darker green, called Black Emerald pearl from ’88 Cadillac/Olds." Photo courtesy of Larry Ewing.

Larry Ewing of San Bruno, California.

Forty Ford Fever

"My Dad took me to two Oakland Roadster Shows," Larry told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in November of 2020, "one when I was 11 in 1953 another in 1955." Larry fell in love with the style of the '40 Fords he saw there. "So my first car was a ’40 Ford DeLuxe Coupe I bought when I was 15 in January 1957."

"The first thing I did was buy all new shocks and lowering shackles for the front"

The Ford Larry bought was all stock except for a red paint job, dual exhaust, and full moon flipper hubcaps. "I bought it for $250 from a young man in San Francisco a few miles north of where we lived in San Bruno, California. The first thing I did was buy all new shocks and lowering shackles for the front. Next came the engine detail with chrome acorn nuts on heads and painted the firewall white. Next came a ’39 floor shift transmission and 4:11 rear gears." Larry also installed big and little tires. 5.60x15 up front and 8.20x15 in the rear.

"It wasn't fast enough"

"It wasn't fast enough so I bought a ’56 Olds engine with 240 HP."

New paint job

Shortly after Larry had bought the engine, he was in an accident in Redwood City, where the family had recently moved. "The damage caused me to replace 2 fenders and running boards. That led to a complete repaint with the expert help from my sister's boyfriend, Richard McArdle. He happened to have a show car ’50 Chevy he built which was a cover car featured in a Custom Car Magazine at the time." Larry settled on a Limefire Green color from a 1957 Pontiac. "After 3 months of body prep Richard laid on the Acrylic Lacquer. After rub and buff, it was show quality." The Limefire Green iteration of Larry's Ford ran a 4 inch dropped axle that he bought from Bill Leonheart.

Sold

Not Olds powered yet in early 1959, a young man offered Larry $500 for the Ford. "He was impressed with the body and paint and had to have it. So away it went."

'50 88 Coupe

The Olds engine was still in Larry's garage, and his goal was to have ’49 88 coupe much like one of his classmates, Dennis Milani, had. "The word was out and I soon got a call from Bill Leonheart having a ’50 88 coupe less engine for $125. Not a ‘49 but a perfect fit for my ’56 engine. My idol at the time, besides Milani, was Gene Adams that ran a ’50 Olds in Southern California that was in Hot Rod magazine almost every month setting the ¼ mile record constantly in an Engle Cam ad."

"It was quick!"

Larry got the Olds in April of 1959, and by August it was on the street with a Cad/LaSalle side shift with Corvette floor linkage and 4:11 gears. "It was quick!"

Kensington Green, chromed and reversed wheels, and big and little tires

The Olds was a stock medium to dark Ivy Green. "With my experience prepping the ’40 I started in on the Olds. Choice was to paint it the darkest metallic green, which was Kensington Green from ’59 Cadillac. With a little help from Richard again it was painted and buffed out. I had the wheels reversed and chromed, put on big and little U.S. Royal Master tires with flat ’60 Pontiac poverty caps. It got beautiful!" Larry separated the rims from the centers himself before he took them to Santa Clara Plating. "$75 for all 8 pieces. Then I went to a welding shop in Palo Alto and had them welded back together for $6 as I waited. I did not change the valve stem location so now the stem was on the backside of the wheel. It looked cool but was a pain to check the air."

The keeper

"After a few years, I had so many speed tickets in the Olds that the court was about to take my license away so it went to my younger teenage brothers, Mike and Tom." Fortunately, Mike kept the car for 25 years and Larry was able to get it back and restore it to show condition. "In 1995 it won Best of Class at the Oakland, Now Grand National Roadster Show. It now had a ’57 Olds J2 engine with a floor shifted ’37 Cad LaSalle transmission and with an even darker green, called Black Emerald pearl from ’88 Cadillac/Olds."

Larry Ewing's Cars

Larry Ewing's 1940 Ford DeLuxe Coupe
Larry Ewing's 1950 Oldsmobile 88 Coupe