Car's restoration is tribute to dad
‘Bernadine' will be shown at the Muddy River Run

By Amanda Junk ajunk@news-sentinel.com

Former Fort Wayne resident Rick Kennell arrived from New York in early July and stopped at Artisans Rods and Classics in Huntertown to catch a glimpse of the final stages of restoration of his late father’s 1929 Model A hot rod.

In preparation for the cruiser’s showing at the 34th annual Muddy River Run, Kennell had been in constant contact with the mechanics working on the car, even hearing the engine’s purrs over the phone from the East Coast.

“Roar is actually more like it,” he said.

But after being separated from the vehicle during its restoration process for nearly three months, Kennell’s first reaction to seeing the car — otherwise affectionately known as “Bernadine” — was pure elation.

“I’m so stoked. I can’t stop looking at it,” he said. “I don’t even care if I ride or sit in it. Just to see it is enough.”

An impromptu ride in Bernadine sent him even further through the roof. Upon returning to the garage after a quick jaunt around the town, Kennell felt as if he was floating on a cloud.

“‘Whoo!’ is the quote for the day,” he said. “I’m just floored! Waiting all these months – I knew this day would come, and here I am; I got to ride in it and everything.”

Bernadine and Kennell’s long-awaited reunion was more than that of antique auto enthusiast and coveted coupe: To Kennell, it brought back some of his favorite memories of his father.

Childhood memories

With a license plate that reads “MUTT ROD” and some body parts nearing 80 years old, Bernadine was born out of salvaged parts from swap meets nearly 50 years ago, the brainchild of Kennell’s late father, John Charles “Chuck” Kennell.

The project soon became a part of the family routine.

“Every night, I’d come home from school, go out to the garage and hand him wrenches and watch him work,” Rick Kennell said.

The younger Kennell hoped to restore the car — a yet-to-be-completed project — in time for this weekend’s Muddy River Run show as a way to honor his father, who died at age 79 in February 2007 of complications from a stroke.

“The thing that I’m saddest about is that I don’t really know what his plan was for the car,” Rick Kennell said. “We always talked about working on it, but he never really sat down and said, ‘Here’s what I’m thinking.’”.

Plan for car’s rebirth

In the mid-’50s, his father and Uncle Bud owned Kennell Brothers Body Shop and Garage in Waynedale, and raced stock cars at the Fort Wayne Speedway. Bernadine won its class in the annual Fort Wayne Hot Rod Association show at Memorial Coliseum in 1958, but Chuck Kennell sold the engine right out of the car when someone offered him a large sum of money for it.

Afterward, his goal was to reinvent Bernadine as “Thunderchief,” a white car with red trim, chrome wheels and an even larger engine.

“He had some crazy jigsaw puzzle in his head, and he was the only one who knew how to put it together,” Rick Kennell said.

The project took a backseat over the years as Chuck Kennell got involved with other projects and organizations, including his work as a Mason, treasurer of the Fort Wayne Jazz Club and a well-respected ballroom dancer and instructor.

“One of the reasons he quit being a mechanic was because he hated having grease and dirt under his fingernails,” Rick Kennell said. “Even at 79 years old, people would form circles around him. He looked like James Bond.”

The same, yet different

Talk of Thunderchief re-emerged in December 2006, and plans were made to start up the restoration project. But Chuck fell ill a month later, forcing them to put the project on hold.

“Parts of his memory were gone. I didn’t want to bring up the subject when he was really sick because, if the car was something he couldn’t remember, it would have really stressed him out,” Rick Kennell said.

The unfinished project was left to Rick after his father died. Since then, Kennell — a bass guitarist who also provides financial management for others in the music business — has been in talks with Michael Pranger and the craftsmen of Artisans Rods and Classics in Huntertown on how best to restore his father’s old friend.

In her most recent reincarnation, Bernadine is souped up with guitar headlights and heater-control knobs, and many pieces Kennell’s father acquired from swap meets, including a 1932 truck grill and a 1936 frame. While many updates have been made to the car, the original sticker is still on the windshield.

“I brought it back to this because I didn’t know what else to do with it. I don’t know any other way,” Kennell said. “The motor is a total Frankenstein.

“It’s so similar to the original car, yet it’s not at all. It has a brand-new frame and chassis, but other than that it looks exactly the same.”