Bill Larson says friends and family who completed his hotrod project helped him stay cancer-free

Bill Larson thanks friends, family for car

  • 15 Feb 2013
  • ALYN EDWARDS Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver- based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com

lBill Larson says his 1937 Ford street rod, left, saved his life. It’s parked alongside nephew Bob’s 1940 Mercury coupe and his own daily driver, a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 with a beefed-up V8 engine.

Bill Larson believes the support of his family and a wide group of car-enthusiast friends is a big reason he is a cancer survivor today. By mid-2012, his future looked bleak as cancer and weight loss took its toll on his body. His hobby project — to turn a 1937 Ford sedan into a hotrod — remained in pieces in his garage.

Unbeknownst to him, his retired mechanic brother Jim, Jim’s son Bob and a host of car friends and supporters had collected all the parts from Bill’s garage for the uncompleted 1937 Ford flatback sedan hotrod and were hurriedly trying to finish the project.

Pioneer hot-rodder Jerry Abramson was the first to reach into his pocket, then encourage other friends to donate money to finish the bodywork on Bill’s car. When the body was completed and painted, friends got together to install it on a new frame that had been built by Jim the previous year.

Bill was still in the hospital when Jim told him he would be able to drive his hotrod when he got out. Like magic, Bill began to perk up while local businesses donated necessary items and hotrod builder Dave Salter took the car to his shop to wire and fire the engine so it could be driven.

When Bill was finally released from hospital last October, he was amazed to find the project completed by dozens of family members and hotrod friends who had donated money and labour.

Bill and his older brother Jim grew up during the hotrod and custom craze of the ’50s and ’60s. They were into cars before either of them was old enough to have a driver’s licence, and between the two of them have owned more than two dozen hotrods over the years — all Ford products. Jim and Bill credit the support and patience of their wives, Jackie and Eileen, for the long hours of garage time.

It was in the summer of 1957 that Jim Larson saw his first car — a 1939 Ford Tudor sedan — on a gas station lot. He had just earned $37.50 peeling onions at the Pacific National Exhibition for 10 days. “The car cost $35 and my mother was really angry when I came home with only pocket change,” he recalls.

His father bought him a lowmileage 1954 Ford Tudor sedan when Jim was 17. Jim and his friends eventually drove the Ford to Tijuana, Mexico, for a custom green and white tuck ’n’ roll Naugahyde interior that took only one day to complete and cost $129.

In the years following, Jim built a series of hotrods with a number of cars from the ’30s and ’40s, including 1939 and 1941 Ford convertibles, two Model-A Fords and four 1950s Fords. His current driver is a Wimbledon White 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 fastback with a beefed up V-8 engine. It replaces a similar car that he sold to get married.

Younger brother Bill also got into cars at an early age with a 1937 Ford coupe purchased when he was just 13 for $75 earned from a paper route. As time progressed, Bill built a series of Model-A Ford coupes and sedan models, most with modern high-performance Chevrolet V-8 engines.

He then followed up with a very rare 1937 Ford fourdoor convertible purchased in pieces and rebuilt with modern power. He drove his hotrods tens of thousands of kilometres before he got sick.

Jim Larson’s son Bob was in the garage learning about cars from his dad and his Uncle Bill from the age of three, and built his first complete hotrod in his early twenties.

Bob’s present ride is extra special because it’s a copy of one of the first radically customized cars done by legendary California customizer Sam Barris. In 1949, Nick Matranga paid $850 for a low-mileage 1940 Mercury coupe. He took it to Barris Customs, where the top was chopped and a host of body modifications were completed over the next year. Bob recreated that Matranga Merc with his own radically customized 1940 Mercury coupe.

An early Chrysler 354-cubicinch hemi engine lurks beneath the hood, delivering power to the rear wheels through a Chevrolet automatic overdrive transmission.

“I’ve met so many great people that I wouldn’t know if it wasn’t for old cars,” he says. He regularly attends hotrod shows in Washington with his parents and his Uncle Bill.

“When Uncle Bill got sick and we had the opportunity to finish his car, we all jumped in,” he says.

Bill Larson is filled with gratitude. “I have about 45 people to thank and all the businesses who contributed,” he says.

His health has improved dramatically since his family and friends put the car he was building on the road in December.

“The whole thing has brought us closer as a family,” he says. “After not being able to do anything for a year, driving this car is very high on my bucket list.”