THE RESTORATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF A "MUTT" ROD
TO SEE A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE ENTIRE RESTORATION CLICK HERE..
THERE IS A GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT THE RICH AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE OF INDIANA POSTED HERE.
"BERNADINE" FROM 1958:
HERE IS A LINK TO THE WAYNEDALER ARTICLE ABOUT BERNADINE FROM MAY 15, 1958: Waynedaler Article 1958
It has been gratifying to receive all the comments and suggestions from those of you interested in the restoration and rebuild of the 1929 Ford Model A Mutt Rod "Bernadine". Our founder Rick Kennell inherited the car with the passing of his father, Chuck Kennell in February of 2007. There are automotive parts in the Chuck Kennell inventory which were not used in the restoration of "Bernadine" which are for sale. There is a partial listing of the PARTS HERE, and Stomberg 97 Carbs six pack with theOffenhauser manifold already sold on EBAY. For those interested in seeing the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette article please click here: JOURNAL GAZETTE ARTICLE. The News Sentinel article is here: NEWS SENTINEL, We had a very successful MUDDY RIVER RUN with the intial debut of "Bernadine" in the midwest, where we picked up the Don Hall's Guest House SPECIAL CHOICE AWARD among the field of 436 cars. Thanks to the board and the volunteers at Muddy River Run for the award and for raising money for such a worthwhile charity.
This photo above is from 1958, Chuck Kennell's original Hot Rod, "Bernadine", a 1929 Ford Model A roadster, with a 1936 Pontiac frame and a variety of odd parts from nearly every make and model of car you can imagine. That is Chuck's brother Bud Kennell in the driver's seat, as Chuck was taking the photo. These two brothers owned Kennell Brothers Body Shop and Garage for a number of years in the 1950's in Waynedale, Indiana. The ifn's founder and director, Rick Kennell, Chuck's only son, is in the picture. That is his arm just to the right of Uncle Bud's head! Bud was a first class body and paint man while Chuck specialized more on the mechanical side. They worked together on the building of this car. They also owned and maintained a couple of stock cars ('36 and '39 Pontiacs) which they raced at the South Anthony Speedway for a number of years in the mid-fifties. One of the cars is pictured below. The car pictured above was originally a coupe which Chuck cut the top off of. In this photo, we believe that the motor was the original motor from either the 1936 or 1939 Pontiac. After Chuck and Bud displayed the car at the first ever Hot Rod show at the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum, Chuck was offered a nice sum of money for the engine. Chuck wanted to put a big bore Pontiac engine in the car, so he sold the motor. Shortly after, Chuck started assembling a new motor from scratch. Chuck's extensive knowledge had earned him a "Doctor of Motors" certificate from Perfect Circle piston rings. Unfortunately, Chuck passed away before he could finish the re-build, although he did spend a lot of time planning and working on it over the years. In honor of Bud and Chuck, Chuck's son, Rick has decided to take the car back to his own interpretation of approximately this version of the car.
Here is another shot of the car with Grandma Ethyl Miller at the wheel and Grandpa Oliver Miller, standing. Note the too cool 1956 Oldsmobile "planet" tri-spinner hub caps. This photo was taken before the motorcycle fenders were mounted above the front wheels, but the car had already been pinstriped:
THE ORIGINAL RACE CAR:
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"Bernadine" evolved from a lot of different parts, but none more important than this 1936 Pontiac stock car raced at the South Anthony Speedway in the mid-fifties by Bud and Chuck Kennell. The car was nicknamed "the tiny 6" for the small engine Chuck rebuilt and souped up. If you look carefully in the picture on the lower left you can see "the tiny 6" painted on the car above the rear wheel. We stumbled on these photos of the car, which was originally number 55. However, when they arrived at the track another car had number 55 so they painted a 1 in front of it. We believe that the third photo is also the final kiss of the wall which ultimately convinced Bud and Chuck to build "Bernadine" rather than sustain the heartache and expense of dealing with the constant repairs and fix-ups required to own a race car. Chuck and Bud are in the first photo, and that's Uncle Bill Miller, Bud and Chuck in the last photo.
"BERNADINE" IN APRIL 2007 AS WE FOUND HER:
The photos above were taken of "Bernadine" in April 2007 as we pulled the car out of Chuck's garage and loaded it on the flatbed. Since the car was already in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Rick chose ARTISANS ROD & CLASSICS, INC. out of Huntertown, Indiana to do the restoration work.Due to the incredible amount of parts Chuck had accumulated, it would have cost a couple of grand to ship everything out to New York before anyone even picked up a wrench. Mike Pranger and the crew at Artisan are pros, and auto restoration is their entire focus. Mike prides himself on his paint work. Thanks to my cousin Kerry Kennell, Bud's son, I have also found an incredible interior man: Marcus Marquart of Marquart's Custom Creations in Fort Wayne. Marcus will be refurbishing the interior and fabricating the convertible top. Kerry happens to be a friend of Marcus or I probably wouldn't have been able to get in. Marcus is busy and sometimes booked up for over a year, even without a website; it's all word of mouth. He does everything from custom rods to classic cars to tractor trailer interiors to yachts.
The restoration instructions to Artisans were very simple; as long as SAFETY is not an issue, re-use every part you possibly can from either the original car or from Chuck's parts inventory. Chuck had re-named the car "Thunderchief" and even had white jackets made up with the logo on the back for himself and for his wife Betty. We eventually decided to go back to the original name of "Bernadine". In the first shot you can see that Chuck was headed towards a different concept for the car, with the roll bar and chrome racing wheels. He had also painted the 1932 Ford Model B truck grill shell white with maroon trim to check out the color scheme he had envisioned. However, we had decided early on to keep the basic color scheme from 1958, and stay with hot rod satin black. Note the 1947 Kaiser Frazier garnish moldings and Frazier interior door handles along with the too sexy 1947 or 1948 Lincoln exterior door buttons. The fabricated "K" chrome bumper and "bobbed" rear fenders are also a highlight. The replacement engine block was donated to Chuck from an automotive training center in Detroit. For many years, the Pontiac line for 1958 was looked upon with disdain, and there was a general disrespect for their "different" design. Enthusiasts seemed to gravitate to the clean style of the 1955, '56 and '57 models, as well as the larger 1959 and '60 models. But for those in the know, the '58 models were a true turning point in GM's bold new way of thinking with respect to styling and design. Pontiac Motor Division referred to the redesigned line in their advertising with the slogan, "The Boldest Advance in Fifty Years." When the racy `58 Bonneville was fitted with Tri-Power carburetion, it made for a desirable - and speedy - cruiser. Perhaps this is why a Tri-Power `58 Bonneville was chosen to pace the Indy 500 that year and that the 1958 blocks started showing up at NASCAR races. The cylinder heads Chuck used were from a 1955 Pontiac. He fashioned the Offenhauser log style racing manifold himself from a kit as well as using a number of Offenhauser racing components, giving it in excess of 400 horsepower. The six two barrel Stromberg 97 carbs top off the new engine design. Chuck was an old school "rodder" who would fashion parts for the car as he went along, robbing parts from anything he could find at the junk yard, or from cars that landed as totaled in their body shop. Hence the name "Mutt Rod". This original car features suspension parts from both the '36 and '39 Pontiacs they raced. The bottom photo shows some of the other custom creations in various states of progress at the Artisan shop.
THE RESTORATION BEGINS:
MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2007: Just returned from Indiana, and spent some quality time with the restoration forman Mike Pranger at Artisan. Mike already had his hands full on the car, from doing a complete inventory of all the parts, getting an appraisal for the estate, and organizing the future workflow on the car. We finally got the car insured, registered and licensed out of New York and we love the "MUTT ROD" vanity plates we managed to score. They cut out the roll bar, pulled the engine, took off the wheels and put the car up on blocks, so they could thoroughly examine and inspect the frame, steering, clutch, suspension and brake components. It was discovered that the frame had been weakened considerably, as some chunks of the "C" channel along the edges on the top and on both sides of the frame had been removed to accommodate the oversize Pontiac V8. I observed that the frame had too much "give" and was easily moved by simply leaning or pushing on one side of it. I am thankful that Chuck had not completed it as is, because the vehicle may not have been safe with that oversize engine and weakened frame. The torque from the engine could actually cause the frame to twist or buckle slightly which could have wreaked havoc on the handling of the car. We had to make some tough decisions this time around and ultimately decided to purchase an entire new Model A frame. Safety is paramount and although we want to utilize as much of the original car and parts as possible, we have to insure that the car will be safe to drive. The engine fired fine, although it was not running long enough to insure the seals are still ok. We are going to keep the Pontiac engine and drive train intact and replace some of the brake components and a good portion of the suspension. We have decided to go with no air conditioning, no power steering, and no radio. We also decided upon an original steel dash instead of a custom wooden one. While I was in Indiana, we discovered Chuck's technical notes on the carburetor settings. Not just any mechanic knows how to sync up and maintain those carburetors. Chuck's notes should prove to be very helpful. The meeting with Marcus on the interior was such a treat. Seeing his shop and his work, what an incredibly dedicated and talented ARTIST he is! We sketched out some general plans but realized that ultimately, you need to let the car come to you as it is built, and that the vision of the interior will reveal itself as the car progresses.
MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2007: It has been a couple of grueling months facing the tedious task of gathering parts, measuring the fit and removing all of the usable suspension parts from the old 1936 Pontiac frame. It's going to be a real challenge to get everything fitted and attached to the new custom frame and get back to a rolling chassis. Artisan Rods sent some photos and in this first photo you can see that the body is sitting up on top of the frame, creating a "highboy" style rod. The highboys originated in California and are generally considered to be a West Coast build. We don't particularly care for the highboy look, it has always looked "boxy" to us. We prefer the channeled low-boy look of the East Coast Rods. Even though it will cost more, and create hours of additional labor charges, I have asked Artisan go back to the same 4" channel on the original "Bernadine". This means that the body will slip down over the frame about 4". This also means that the oversized motor will need to be channeled 4" also in order to facilitate the hood we have envisioned for the car:
You can see the work involved on the cowl and body braces in order to get the body to slip down over the frame 4":
Here is the Pontiac V8 basically in place. However, when the body drops 4" the engine has to drop 4" as well, creating a problem for the current exhaust manifolds whose size make the motor too wide for the frame. We will have to fabricate custom exhaust manifolds for the car.
Here is another shot of the motor from the other side:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007: A rolling chassis! Just returned from Indiana, and spent some quality time with Mike Pranger (pictured below) at the Artisan Rod shop. Also spent time with Marcus Marquart finalizing the interior color choices and getting samples to Mike for paint matching purposes. Here is a picture of the current status of the car. The '32 Ford grill shell is close to proper positioning, but not yet bolted in place, as it is still being precisely fitted. The new steel firewall the shop fabricated is welded into place. The gas tank is mounted inside the body between what will be the seat and the trunk. We are also grateful to see that it is possible with the lower engine and the perfectly aligned grill shell that the half hood we had envisioned will be possible. The half hood would stretch from the cowl to the grill shell and will clear the carburetors only by a very slim margin. This wasn't possible with the original frame for a number of reasons. Also, the rear fenders have been temporarily removed to facilitate easier removal of the body from the frame. Please note that Mike will need to add steel to extend the windshield posts upward holding the windshield and also all the way across.
The steelwork is first rate. We originally thought that we would end up with a transmission hump in the floor, due to channeling the body 4", but happily, the floor sits nice and flat. We also realized with the channeling that we can't use a conventional Model A seat frame. It would simply sit too high now, you would be looking over the windshield. Mike advised that due to the safety of the gas tank, we should remove the lightweight tin Chuck had fabricated around the body's interior and replace it with heavy gauge steel. Here is a shot from over the passenger door:
Another shot of the steel floor from the driver's door. You can see the tin Chuck had fabricated which needs to be removed. It starts to the left of the speaker hole at the edge of the door panels and wraps all the way around to other side and behind the seat. This will be replaced with heavy duty steel to create a more substantial barrier between the seat and the gas tank.
Another shot of the tin that needs to be removed along with a glimpse of the gas tank:
Here is a picture of the rear suspension. Note how heavy duty the Model A Frame is:
Here is a view of the car from the rear. I must say, I miss seeing those bobbed fenders, they make the car, especially the view from behind. Mike and his staff also did a nice job finishing up the steel lining inside the trunk area. The next step is to carve out the battery holder.
We also discussed the utilization of the convertible top frame that Chuck fabricated. We have never been wild about the look of the original 1929 Model A canvas top. However, with Chuck's frame combined with the design sense and expertise of Mike and Marcus, a convertible top could have decent visual appeal and still present a practical solution for getting the car from place to place in inclement weather. Mike took a look and said the convertible frame Chuck fabricated was pretty much ready to go with some narrowing and cosmetic touches. We have no idea where Chuck got this unique frame but our guess is that it was from an old horse drawn buggy, or else from a boat. Here is an early pic that Chuck took with the convertible top frame in place as he had envisioned it:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007: Lots of news along with some new photos. The battery box in the trunk is now complete, the convertible top frame is now mounted and part of the car, and the grill shell is mounted, along with the support rods which go from the grill shell to the firewall. The exhaust manifold is now complete, and the dash is mounted in the car. The 1947 Pontiac transmission has been pulled and sent out to be double checked and serviced. The body has been fabricated with new upper windshield posts and upper body supports across the top of the windshield in order to secure the original windshield frame. We found the tri-spinner "planet" '56 Olds hubcaps at the mother of all swap meets in Hershey, Pennsylvania last weekend, along with another Lincoln push button we may be able to utilize for the trunk. Here are the pictures from today courtesy of Artisan Rods & Classics:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2007: Greetings from Indiana. Had quite a time here with Mike Pranger and Marcus Marquart both on the scene to help make some final decisions about fitting and latching the convertible top, fitting the pedals and the steering wheel and column and finalizing the plans for the custom seat. Won a very cool 18" banjo steering wheel on an ebay auction from an early 1936 Oldsmobile. Here it is:
The next photo below shows the seat frame mock-up used to determine how we are going to custom make the seat frame. I sat in the car while Marcus and Mike took their measurements. Due to the channeling of the body, the seat frame will have to rise up a short 2" from the floor in the front and be directly on the floor in the back. There is no room for seat springs so the seat will be constructed of wood and foam cushions. The second shot shows a nice view of the 1947 Kaiser Frazier garnish moldings on the upper portion of the inside of the doors and the Frazier inside door handles. In the next frame you can get a clear view of the exhaust pipes which had to be individually tooled and fitted. Next you can see the steel dash ready to paint before installing the gauges as well as the retrofit which had to be made on the 1947 Pontiac transmission. In 1947 all Pontiac transmissions had column shifters not floor shifters. The guys at Artisan retrofitted the transmission to allow it to be used with a handshaker type floor shifter. However, we are now weighing the pros and cons of moving to an automatic transmission.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2008: Just got back from Indiana for a few days and spent some time with Mike and Joe from Artisans. We finalized the decision to move forward with a three speed automatic transmission. Anyone looking for a 1947 Pontiac manual transmission with a floor shifter kit installed and in great shape? They have also finished the steering column mounts and removed the manual transmission. They estimate that there are an additional 240 hours of labor left on the the restoration of the car, including drive train, disassembly, painting, re-assembly and completing all the systems work such as brakes, and electrical. Should be some new pictures soon. I would like to thank my childhood friend, photographer extraordinaire, Johnny "Chicago" Hornberger for photoshopping the picture from 1958 which had creases across it. It appears at the very top of this page and he did an incredible job of restoring the photo.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008: Had an extended conversation with Mike today. They have finished all of the upper body welding; including welding and grinding the final cosmetic phase of the firewall. They have received the heater, the whitewall tires, the transmission adaptor and the transmission. They should have the drive train finished next week. After the transmission installation it is a matter of shortening and connecting the drive shaft.
MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2008: Just got some new photos from Mike! The first photo shows the heater installation, the gauges temporarily mounted, along with the steering column installation. The automatic transmission has been fitted and mounted, along with the transmission adaptor. The second picture shows the steel base of the seat frame which has also been fabricated. The third and fourth pictures show the new steel half-hood that Artisans have rolled and fabricated for the car. They are really making progress now:
WEDNESDAY APRIL 2, 2008: Got a picture from Mike today. A bit difficult to see by looking, but the bolt patterns on the front vs. rear wheels were slightly different, which created a need to get two matching front and two matching rear wheels. We picked up the wheels at a local junkyard, and Mike had the wheels sandblasted. Then Mike painted them dark red, which will match the motor and interior highlights, and got the vintage wide whitewall tires mounted. Mike likes the badass look of no fenders and no hubcaps as he tends to lean towards the rat rod world. If this was his car he would probably choose not to paint it at all, but to simply leave it exactly as is.
They also put brand new modern door latches on both doors. This turned out to be quite a project as they had to cut the door panel in order to get to the bolts on the back of the door handle on the driver's side. This photo shows what a process it was:
SUNDAY APRIL 6, 2008: Just completed a very productive trip to Indiana. New pictures below courtesy of our lifelong friend, Johnny "Chicago" Hornberger, who took a ride out to Artisans with me. The only remaining issues are putting in the truck lock/latch and then pulling the body. The body needs some comprehensive welding work on the underside around the new floor and trunk areas. Once the body is off, the fuel lines and brake lines can be installed on the chassis. Then, it's time to get the motor, the chassis and the body prepped for painting. Note in the last photo you can see the cool effect of the tri-spinner hubcaps along with the fenders. Artisans put the headlamp fixtures and front bumper on temporarily to get an idea of the "look" of the front of the car. We are also discussing the idea of using baffles in the lake pipes to quiet the car down, rather than feeding the pipes under the car and into Chuck's muffler system. Don't know what the neighbors might think but we love the idea of the baffles and we are going to try that first.
MONDAY, MAY 6, 2008: Got some pics from Mike at Artisans this morning and the car has now been disassembled to begin the paint prep process. Here is a shot of the motor painted and ready to pop back in, along with the chassis primed and ready for paint and the body, which is still a work in progress, being prepared for primer. Motor is now in the chassis:
A WORD ABOUT THE 1958 PONTIAC 370 CI POWER PLANT IN "BERNADINE"
from Hemmings Motor News, article here: Hemmings Motor News
As Pontiac enthusiasts have long known, the heart of every V-8-powered Pontiac is its engine. These big-bore powerplants are engineering masterpieces, and are considered by many professional engine builders to be the very best carbureted V-8 engines that General Motors ever produced. The reasons are many.
Introduced for the 1955 model year sporting 287 cubic inches, the cylinder block was enlarged to 316 for 1956, 347 for 1957 then to 370 cubes for the 1958 models before Pontiac engineers settled on the 389-cubic-inch displacement for 1959. The 389 lasted through the 1966 model run before being enlarged to 400, then 455 cubic inches.
Based on a 90-degree design, the 370-cu.in. overhead-valve V-8 had a bore and stroke of 4.06 x 3.56 inches. The stout blocks were overbuilt with unusually thick webbing, strong bulkheads surrounding the main bearing and thick walls surrounding each cylinder bore. Ultra-tough forged steel crankshafts with wide 2.625-inch diameter main journals and super-strong forged steel connecting rods with wide 2.25-inch diameter big-end journals and full floating wrist pins were the reason the 370's bottom end is so indestructible; in fact, so well-designed were these long 6.625-inch rods that they were used throughout the Pontiac V-8's entire production span, and that lasted until 1978!
And if that wasn't enough, a windage tray was standard. The windage tray, which was fastened atop the crankshaft's main caps, scrapes the oil off the crankshaft as it spins, reducing the oil's parasitic drag and freeing up a few horsepower.
Up top, the cast-iron cylinder heads featured dual springs per valve to insure positive sealing while eliminating valve float at high rpm. More importantly, specially designed rocker-arm studs accurately located the rocker-arm nuts for correct preload of the hydraulic lifters-this rocker-arm design eliminates the need for regular adjustments.
Between the cylinder heads sits a heavy cast-iron dual-plane intake manifold to which a Carter AFB four-barrel carburetor is fitted. Late in the model year, some 500 cars were fitted with a Rochester 4GC four-barrel carburetor. All Tri-Power units used Rochester two-barrel carburetors with vacuum activated linkage.
To ensure that the cylinder heads were secured to the block as firmly as possible, ten beefy 1/2-inch bolts were used. Each bolt was anchored into special bosses that were cast into the outer walls of the block, as opposed to the more usual location of the water jackets or cylinder walls. This sound engineering principle helped minimize distortion of the cylinder bores when the bolts were torqued down, in addition to eliminating any potential water leaks.
Another outstanding production technique that was a characteristic of Pontiac's advanced design and engineering was the machining of the combustion chambers. This process creates identically sized chamber volumes for all eight combustion chambers, thus ensuring the same power output for each cylinder. Raw cast chambers that are not machined, which is the typical cylinder head finish used by all the other auto manufacturers, do not have equally precise chamber volumes, thus causing the power output of each cylinder to vary slightly which, in turn, affects the engine's smoothness.
A WORD ABOUT REVERSE COOLING IN THE 1958 PONTIAC POWER PLANT IN "BERNADINE" 1958 Pontiac motors had a cooling system which uses reverse flow circulation for maximum cooling efficiency. In reverse flow, cooled water from the radiator passes first to the cylinder heads, which are the hottest parts of the engine, and then to the cylinder block which is the coolest portion of the engine.
Water enters each cylinder head from the pump through a water distributing tube that is inserted into each cylinder head. Openings in the water distributing tube direct coolant in jet fashion onto valve seats and around each exhaust passage. This feature is referred to as “gusher valve cooling”.
The combination of reverse flow circulation and gusher valve cooling results in relatively low operating temperature of valves and valve seats. Valve life is greatly increased, therefore, and valve seat inserts are not required.
With reverse flow circulation no cooled water is thrown directly on cylinder walls to cause cylinder distortion. Sludging of engine oil is minimized since highest temperature coolants are retained in the cylinder block, particularly during warm-up, and condensation on cylinder bores is thereby reduced. Water circulation during warm-up (thermostat closed) is from the pump to the water distributing tubes to the cylinder heads.
Water circulation after normal operating temperatures are reached (thermostat open) takes two courses. Part of the water will always recirculate through the block as outlined above. A large portion of the water, however, will pass from the pump to the water distributing tubes, to the heads, and thence directly into the top of the radiator through the water outlet page in the front of the intake manifold. The 1959 Shop Manual talks about why reverse flow cooling was used and extols the benefits of reverse flow and gusher valve cooling. Why did Pontiac abandon the documented superior cooling system and switch to conventional flow in the 1960 model year without any explanation? No one seems to know for sure.
TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2008: Just got back from another whirlwind trip to Indiana to check in on the Mutt Rod and attend my nieces wedding reception (Congratulations Megan, Shane is a great guy!). We have decided not to post any more pictures here to create a little drama and incentive for folks to come on out and see the car. We had the car pinstriped and photographed complete with extensive interviews with both the major newspapers, the Journal Gazette and the News Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Thanks to Amanda Junk from the Fort Wayne News Sentinel for spending so much time with us last wednesday, and special thanks to Rosa Salter of the Journal Gazette for turning us on to the 1957 Pat Boone hit "Bernadine" and for spending so much time with us last thursday. What a perfect theme song the Pat Boone hit is for this beast of a car! The car is basically finished on the mechanical side except for some issues with the Strombergs and we got it over to Marcus Marquart of Marquart Custom Creations, in Waynedale, Indiana to do the interior and convertible top yesterday. We need to do some other de-bugging work when the car gets back to the Artisan Rod shop before the show. We discovered that the motor has a compression ratio of approximately 13:1, basically a NASCAR racing setup for that era, which is ridiculous for a street car. We are also weighing the possibility of changing over from the 6 Stromberg 97's carbs to a single Edelbrock 4 barrel set up. Chuck had the other manifold and an original 4 barrel available, as though he anticipated the Strombergs being a nuisance. The 'bergs are amazing but dump a ton of fuel into the motor and with the cost of gas these days and their finicky nature, it may be wise to move to the 4 barrel. The Strombergs also have a tendency to be belligerent with changes in the weather, especially drastic changes in humidity. In the event that we decide to switch to the single 4 barrel carb, the complete Stromberg 97 setup with manifold, fuel lines and linkages will be for sale. Details on the Muddy River Run in Fort Wayne Indiana August 9-10 are here: MUDDY RIVER RUN. Come out and say hello and see the car!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008: Just returned from Indiana and the Muddy River Run, where we picked up the Don Hall's Guesthouse SPECIAL CHOICE AWARD among the field of 436 cars. It was gratifying to meet all the friends and admirers of Bud and Chuck and we are especially excited about the possibility of getting more stuff for the archives from several people we met at the show. Special thanks to Ron Reed, a former employee of Kennell Brothers Body Shop in the fifties, who informed us that in fact "Bernadine" WAS named after the Pat Boone song of the same name. More pictures from the 1958 Hot Rod show and possibly some videos of the 1936 Pontiac race car performing at the speedway may be coming. Marcus Marquart took some photos of the interior work in progress and we have decided to post those pictures here:
BERNADINE IN THE FALL OF 1958 WITH UNCLE BUD KENNELL (LEFT) DRIVING AND RICK KENNELL IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT (RIGHT) IN THE FALL OF 2008 - 50 YEARS LATER ALMOST TO THE DAY!
VIVA LA BERNADINE!
Looks like you guys win! I wasn't going to post any final pics of "Bernadine" but here she is as photographed by the legendary Viva Van Story for Car Kulture Deluxe Magazine. Enjoy!
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