The Right Place | The Jalopy Journal The Jalopy Journal

The Right Place

This week has been one for the books. Somewhere in between Monday night and Tuesday morning, I flew from San Francisco to Michigan in preparation for the road trip of a lifetime. The plan? Take a pack of early Ford hot rods and drive to The Gathering at the Roc. Five states, three days and a whole lot of miles. It’s all part of a Ridetech project that I’ll be sharing more about later.

On Thursday morning, I unfolded myself out of Tim Traylor’s nailhead-powered Deuce five-window in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Within 10 seconds of standing upright, my eyes locked in on a Torch Red 1932 Ford roadster. “Woah!” I said, admiring the weathered paint, chrome steelies and 2×4-fed smallblock. As luck would have it, Dan Olsen, the car’s owner, was standing nearby.

It took a moment for it to click, but I remember that he told me all about this car in Des Moines earlier this year. Originally hot rodded in the late 1950s, the Nebraska-based roadster was a dream Craigslist find.

Purchased as a pile of parts, Dan spent several years bringing it back to life. Although it had a flathead back in the day, he discovered that it eventually got a smallblock transplant. Now backed by a T5, he drives this car everywhere.

Dan’s roadster is one of those hot rods that just feels right. It’s perfectly imperfect. I like just about everything about it, but I’m most in love with the candy-striped interior. This car is a standout.

Seeing it right off the bat in Bartlesville solidifies that I am, without a shadow of a doubt, in the right place. See ya in Oklahoma!

Joey Ukrop

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