Jack Calori’s ’36 Ford & The
Chrisman Coupe for Sale!
These days we frequently hear about cars with some hot rod history turning up for sale. But when two cars as storied as the Jack Calori ’36 Ford and the Chrisman Brothers’ Model A Competition Coupe become available, it’s news. This Saturday both will cross the block at Mecum’s Monterey auction (which kicks off tomorrow and concludes Saturday), and you can bet we’ll be watching.
Over 70 years have passed since Calori’s three-window coupe was completed, yet it still represents the high water mark for ’36 Ford customs. Chopped and customized by bodyman extraordinaire Herb Reneau, it epitomizes immediate post-WWII custom styling with its slender LaSalle grille, sunken ’40 Chevy headlights, teardrop skirts and rich black paint. Though built to tow his lakes racer, Calori pushed the Merc flathead-equipped coupe to an impressive 114.50mph pass on the lakes in 1948, and it later appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine in November 1949.
Roy Brizio’s crew completely restored the Ford for Jorge Zaragoza back in 2005. That same year it appeared in the inaugural Early Customs class at Pebble Beach, where it won Best in Class and the Dean Batchelor Award, crossing the stage with Calori himself riding shotgun. We lost track of the coupe after it was sold at another Mecum auction in November 2012, so we’ll be excited to see where it winds up after this Saturday’s sale.
The Chrisman Coupe
The late brothers, Art and Lloyd Chrisman, were nothing short of legendary in rodding and racing circles, and their Model A Competition Coupe was a force to be reckoned with. Constructed from a hammered ’30 Ford body wrapped around a steel tube frame with two ’40 Ford hoods forming the nose, the coupe stormed Bonneville in 1953. They set a Class B record at 160.178mph with a 258-inch Ardun, then installed a 304-inch Merc to go for a Class C record. But as Art told us when we talked about the car a few years ago, “Tom Cobbs [and the So-Cal Speed Shop Comp Coupe] had a blower on his flathead, and he beat us. We got second place in C Class.”
The following year, however, they returned loaded for bear. With a 258-inch Dodge Hemi they re-set the Class B record at 180.87mph, then dropped in a 275-inch DeSoto Hemi and set the Class C record at 180.08mph. The coupe also appeared on the cover of the February ’54 HRM. In 1955 Art went nearly 200mph in the coupe before selling it to Harry Duncan. Duncan returned to Bonneville in ’56 after installing an injected 392 Chrysler and painting it purple with white flames. With Art at the wheel, they made one half-hearted pass before discovering that the lug nuts weren’t tightened and the wheels were damaged. “I told Harry to get somebody else to drive it or park it,” Art told us. “I think they parked it.”
The coupe changed hands a few more times, first being sold to John Geraghty and then to George Barris, who drastically modified it into a show rod. Decades later Art Chrisman bought it back and restored it to its former glory, and in 2001 it took third place in the Hot Rod class at Pebble Beach. It’s been in Dana Mecum’s personal collection for several years now, but on Saturday that’s bound to change.
Both the Calori and Chrisman Brothers coupes will cross the auction block this Saturday. For those interested in bidding on either of these remarkable rod and custom icons, you’ll find more information at www.mecum.com. And if you’re just interested in watching the action and seeing what the cars bring, it will be televised live on NBC Sports Network.
