The Bill Boren Photo Collection

Bill was born on August 2, 1927 in St Charles, Iowa. He was fascinated with aircrafts at an early age, and he enjoyed building simple model airplanes. This photo shows Bill and a friend with their airplanes. Bill is the kid on the right. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

In 1941, when Bill was 14 years old, there were opportunities for his parents to earn much better money in the rapidly expanding defense industry in Southern California, so the family moved out West. Living in California sparked Bill's interest in hot rodding, and this photo shows one of his early gow jobs. A flathead V-­8 powered 1926 - ­1927 Ford Model T Roadster that he ran without the turtle deck. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A rear-end shot of Bill's gow job. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A Culver City Screwdrivers club photo from 1948. Bill is the fellow on the top row to the far right wearing a striped shirt. Jerry is the big guy in front, to the lower left. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Bill next to a later iteration of the gow job. Now sporting a truck bed, this version did also feature a 1932 Ford frame, a homemade hood, and a 1932 Ford grille shell. Running as number “220” in the A-class, we believe this photo was taken in 1948. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Two 1932 Ford roadsters photographed in front of Palmdale Inn in Palmdale, California. Taken on the same day as the photo of Bill with the truck, we believe the roadster in the back belonged to fellow Screwdrivers member Jim Papworth. The roadster was Jim’s first car, and he bought it in 1947. He ran it without fenders and running boards. The windshield was chopped, and it featured a shortened front bumper. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Another photo taken in front of Palmdale Inn in Palmdale, California. Unfortunately, we don't recognize the car or the guy, but if he owned the car, chances are that he ran a Culver City Screwdrivers plaque. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Another photo taken in front of Palmdale Inn in Palmdale, California circa 1948. Unfortunately, we don't recognize the car or these two guys either. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Ella Keldrauk in front of a mildly restyled 1940 Ford coupe. Bill was good friends with Ella’s younger brother Jerry. Jerry was also a member of the Screwdrivers, and Bill and Ella met at a Dry Lakes event. They started dating shortly thereafter. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A photo of Bill with his roadster pick up on the dry lakes circa 1948. The firewall has been dressed up with a painting of a screwdriver. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A later version of Bill’s roadster pick up, sporting a convertible top. A few years ago, while watching a So Cal car chase on the news, Bill told Karen about a convertible he had with a removable truck bed; "He was driving one night with the top down and the cops were chasing him down Washington in Culver City. When he got to the little hill where the train tracks were, he had to reach over and grab his passenger by the belt and yank him back down into the seat. Back then the cop cars couldn't keep up with the hot rods, but dad did get caught enough to get his license suspended for too many tickets." Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A street-legal version of Bill’s roadster pick up at a dry lakes event, running headlights and a license plate. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Bill ran his roadster pickup as the “Nothin’ Special” at El Mirage in 1949. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

The timing tag from El Mirage July 24, 1949 shows that Bill achieved a top speed of 103.53 MPH with the roadster pickup. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Jerry Keldrauk and Bill Boren's 1932 Ford Sedan at a 1951 dry lakes event. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A photo of Bill Boren's heavily chopped 1941 Ford convertible. Bill's Ford was shaved for side trim and fender strips. The deck lid was shaved, and the license plate was moved down to the gravel shield. Custom accessory featured fender skirts and a white padded top by an unknown manufacturer. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A photo of Bob Arner's Streamliner at a dry lakes event. Bob was a member of the Culver City Screwdrivers, and his Streamliner was known as the "69'er". Bob's streamliner was originally owned and raced by Ralph Schenck. The flames on this version were supposedly painted by Von Dutch. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

A photo of Jerry Keldrauk next to Jerry Keldrauk and Bill Boren's 1932 Ford Sedan. Photo courtesy of Bill Boren, provided by Karen Boren.

Kustomrama Photo Archive

In September of 2014, we received an email from Karen Sue Boren. Karen’s dad, Bill Boren, had just passed away, and she was Googling her dad’s old club looking for info and old stories. She stumbled upon the Culver City Screwdrivers page on Kustomrama and decided to reach out. Karen’s first email contained eight photos. Four old black and white photos scanned from old magazines and books, and four photos showing Bill’s club jacket and a couple of trophies. She told me that both her dad and uncle, Jerry Keldrauk, were members of the old club. three days after Bill’s funeral I received another mail from Karen. She told me that they had some old photos they weren’t able to locate, showing at least one of his cars. She promised that she would scan them and send them to me when they found them. One month later I heard back from Karen, she had found the photos and started to scan them. I shared a Dropbox folder with Karen, and the next day photos started to appear. Lots of photos. Two years later, the number of photos Karen has shared counts 1 139! An early hot rod gold mine. Enough material for a book. Unfortunately, many of the original Screwdrivers members are gone by now, and much of the information around these old photos were lost when Bill passed away.