Lorne Kerr

By Keith Warren 2010

Lorne was first introduced to hot rods in the early 50s when he was 10 years old. He lived a block away from the Horticultural Hall at 20th Avenue and Clark Drive in East Vancouver; the meeting place of the newly formed
BCCCA. Lorne would go there on the meeting nights and watch the cars arrive, he knew all the cars and their owners. When he was twelve, Lorne’s parents moved and his new neighbour just happened to be Jim McGowan
(Apache Roadster). Lorne spent all his free time in Jim’s garage helping him, Jim was a great mentor and included Lorne in numerous events including the drag races at Abbotsford Airport and many early car shows. Jim was also instrumental in getting Lorne his first car, a 1935 Ford pickup. Lorne put a dropped axle in the truck and drove it to high school. When Lorne was in school he got a part-time job at Cal Van Auto Accessories and while he was working there started to build his first real hot rod. It began as a stock 1940 Ford Tudor sedan. Lorne purchased a 283 Chev block and Jahns pistons from the Syndicate who had decided not to run a Chev. He then purchased Corvette heads and Bud Child built the 301 ci engine running a four and then a six carb manifold. Ed Loewen painted the ‘40 a bright orange and Lorne raced it at Arlington for a number of years. His best et was 14.00 and best speed was 98 mph in the quarter mile. He could never break into the 13s or get over 100mph.
Lorne joined BCCCA in 1957 and was member number 24.
In 1963, Lorne purchased his 1930 Ford roadster from his neighbour Dave
Shorter. Dave had completed the roadster in 1961, it had a 1930 body on a ‘32 frame, with 6:71 blown 270 ci Dodge Red Ram engine. Dave was a machinist and built the blower drive and machined the blower manifold. Jack Williams completed the bodywork and assembly, Lee Romanowski did the upholstery and John Ford the paint. When it was completed in 1961 it won Rod Sweepstakes at BCCCA’s 1961 Motorama and it was featured in the December 1961 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. In 1965, Lorne disassembled the roadster making a number of minor changes and Ed Loewen re-painted it.
Lorne then entered the roadster in a number of car shows and raced it at Arlington Race Track earning him his coveted BCCCA 100 mph Club crest.
His best time was a 12.8 and best speed 106 mph. Lorne sold the car in 1974. In addition, Lorne was a crew member with the Syndicate Scuderia in Pomona 1963 with Jack Williams and Ron Lowe when they set an NHRA record for mph and won the Best Appearing Car and Crew award Lorne got married in the 60s and had two children. In 1969, he started teaching Automotive at David Thompson Secondary in Vancouver and
ended his career as the principal of Eric Hamber Secondary in Vancouver.
During this period of work and mortgages he was away from hot rods but did go to the car shows and keep in touch with things. When Lorne was looking at retirement he told his friends he would like to build another hot rod. Jack Williams informed him that he knew where the roadster was being stored in a trailer so Lorne and Ed Loewen went out to have a look and sure enough it was there minus the engine and running gear. Lorne purchased the car and started the rebuild with the help of some old friends. An excellent 270 ci Red Ram engine was found and the rebuild began. The chassis was in poor shape so Dale Gerry built a new one to fit the body. Jim McGowan, did the metalwork and Jack Williams built the engine and blower drive – Jack still had the original drawings! When the roadster was completed it was entered in the 2008 Seattle Roadster Show, displaying a Best Engineering trophy won there in 1965 and took home a new trophy for
First Place Fendered Roadster.
The roadster is driven regularly. Lorne and his wife Sheri drove it to Pleasanton, California in the summer of 2008 thoroughly enjoying the Pleasanton Show, the Sonoma Valley and hot rod days once again.
As a footnote, at the 2010 Northwest Deuce Days held in Victoria, Lorne’s car won the Most Historic Vehicle award presented by the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada, it was presented to the hot rod for its history.