Done like dinner

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/04/2010 (5671 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has consumed the better part of the last two months of our lives, and there were more than a few moments when we wondered why we were doing it.

But all those long days and nights were rewarded ten-fold when we finally made our maiden voyage in the winnipeg’s iconic, freshly resurrected Chickenmobile.

When we left my shop in Cooks Creek on Monday at high noon en route to the Chicken Delight head office on Berry Street, it quickly became apparent that we weren’t in just any car.

On the highway, passing motorists gave us the thumbs up and honked their horns. But when we hit the city the reaction was off the dial.

Folks were hanging out of their car windows to click photos with their cellphones, truckers were tooting their airhorns, kids at bus stops were cheering and there was more thumbs-up than a Fonzie convention.

We could have had Paris Hilton riding in the back seat and nobody would have noticed her. I’ve driven more than a few cars in my day, but nothing comes close to the reaction the Chickenmobile received.

When we arrived at the Chicken Delight office we parked on the street in front of an elementary school and every kid in the playground made for the car, cheering and screaming. The kids were pressing against the chain-link fence and the teacher didn’t look amused, so we pulled the car around back.

When Chicken Delight owner Otto Koch and his staff came outside to get a closer look, it was like an episode of the TV show Overhaulin’ with Chip Foose. Koch’s eyes lit up as he climbed into the car, and there were more cheers.

The Chickenmobile is officially back in action!

The amazing response to the car really shouldn’t have come as such a surprise. Mere days after purchasing it last summer, my buddy Dave Radey and I quickly realized that it was something special. We were flooded with phone calls, emails and kind words of support and encouragement from countless folks who have fond memories of the Chickenmobile. Thanks to their prompting,we vowed to restore the car to its former glory.

So what the heck is it?

The original Chicken Delight Chickenmobile began life as a 1958 Ford Thunderbird convertible and received numerous modifications, including a hand-built fibreglass body complete with a massive chicken wing that was created in California in the late ’60s. Someone spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours building it.

The car served as a promotional vehicle for the Chicken Delight brand in San Francisco until it was purchased and shipped to Winnipeg in ’76 by local Chicken Delight owner Otto Koch. It was used as a promotional vehicle here until it finally began to show its age and was retired from service in 1995.

THe Chickenmobile changed hands a couple of times over the years until Radey and I spotted it for sale in front of an auto-repair shop near Headingley last summer. We just had to buy it. Chicken Delight promotions manager Kevin Robinson contacted us within weeks of buying the car and the company graciously offered to help fund the restoration.

It sounded like a simple plan, but the car had been sitting outside for at least 15 years. Since it’s topless, there was basically zero protection from the elements. The thick shag carpet that covered the floor basically acted like a sponge and, when we pulled this soggy mess out, we discovered that the metal floor pan was so rusty you could poke your finger through it. We’re not just talking about a few rust holes; the entire floor pan was as soft as a wet cardboard box.

We didn’t have to go far to get the repairs done. On a cold winter night we towed the car a few doors down the road to my friend Jeff Copp’s shop, officially known as MRC Custom Fabrication. Copp got right down to business and in a few hours he’d torched and grinded away about 30 pounds of rotten metal.

That was the easy part. For the better part of the next two weeks, Copp, who also works as a metal fabricator at his day job, spent late nights in the shop cutting and welding in a new floor pan. The end result was so nice that we were reluctant to cover it with carpet.

Copp also yanked the 289-cubic-inch Ford V8 engine and transmission out of the car and hoisted it into the back of my Chevy truck. I’ve played with more than a few Chevrolet engines in my day, but this was my first kick at a Ford motor and I had no idea what to do with it.

After getting some sound advice from Dale Loewen, the owner of Sandale Fabrication, we dropped the engine off at Millar Auto Machine in Winkler, where Dave Millar and his capable crew rebuilt it from top to bottom. The transmission was also freshly rebuilt by the guys at GW Transmission.

Our buddy Jason Holmes also contacted Marve Kraut at Canadian Super Shop to see what kind of deal he could make us on a set of chrome wheels and BF Goodrich tires.

When Kraut learned about the restoration he offered the entire works, including lug nuts, free of charge. Superior Radiator also restored our rad to better-than-new condition.

We’re currently running a rebuilt 2-barrel carb with a chrome air cleaner we bought at Canadian Tire, but we’ll be getting a fresh intake manifold, 4-barrel carburetor and air cleaner donated by the kind folks at River City Ford. Mid-Canada Suspension also gave us a great deal on a set of hard-to-find shock absorbers, and more than a few parts were ordered from Piston Ring in Selkirk.

While the motor and tranny were being rebuilt, Radey and I towed the car back to my shop and got started on the body. The first thing you have to know is that this car is three miles long. Okay, maybe not that long, but it sure felt like it as we sanded away at it for at least three solid weeks. Ward Schoenborn laid down a thick coat of body filler to get things rolling and, with help from Tyler Sigurdson, Kyle Antosko and Ed Krahn, we got the car ready for paint.

The good folks at Rondex Limited supplied the paint and body materials, and the colour we picked is called Viper Race Yellow. When we were finally ready for paint, we towed the car to J4 Performance in Cooks Creek, where our friend and old Ford expert Kevin Jackson not only allowed us the use of his paint booth but also helped install the engine and transmission and got the whole works running like a top.

Schoenborn laid down the enamel paint job and we applied the graphics and buttoned up the interior on the night before Piston Ring’s annual World of Wheels car show. The car wasn’t quite ready to drive yet — in fact, the engine wasn’t even hooked up — so we had it towed to the show on a flatbed. The first drive actually occurred last weekend on a dirt road after a few long days of wrenching, but the Monday-afternoon cruise was the first time the Chickenmobile actually hit the streets.

Whether it was a donation, a great deal on parts or a pair of helping hands, we are extremely grateful for all the assistance we received and we’d like to extend a huge, heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.

It’s easy to make a restoration like this sound easy, but the reality is that my friends and I, especially Radey and Jackson, devoted countless hours to this project. The devil is in the details, and you’d be amazed how much time and energy can be eaten up by seemingly simple tasks.

No maiden voyage would be complete without at least one mechanical mystery, and near the corner of Route 90 and Ellice Avenue the car sputtered and died. Thankfully, it conked out in front of a Napa auto-parts store and all that was required to get us rolling again was a fresh set of ignition points. We still have a few gremlins to iron out, but the engine and transmission operate as smooth as silk and the car miraculously drives as good as it looks.

Radey and I intend to pay it forward by making an epic road trip next month to the Chicken Delight location in Saskatoon. We will be raising money for the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation and will be calling the trip "Clucking Back to Saskatoon." You can also expect to see the Chickenmobile out and about all summer long at numerous events throughout Manitoba.

Don’t be shy in sharing your memories of the car, shoot as many pictures as you like, and remember that we can easily be convinced to take you for a ride.

The Chickenmobile is a bona-fried piece of local automotive history, and it belongs to each and every one of you.

***

Start your engines…

Thanks to the beautiful spring weather we’ve been having the Grant Park Pony Corral will be hosting an early-bird cruise night on Sunday, April 25 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Be there or be square!

willy@freepress.mb.ca

Take a Kid to a Car Show

The Manitoba Street Rod Association’s annual Rondex Rodarama car show is ready to roll April 30-May 2 at the East End Arena, and the "Take a Kid to a Car Show" promotion is back.

Admission for kids 12 and under is always free, and this year free entry has once again been extended to future cruisers between the ages of 13 and 16. To qualify, all you need to do is clip out the coupon in today’s Free Press Auto section. When you pay your $8 adult admission, the youngster you bring along will be admitted free.

As an added bonus, anyone who uses the coupon can enter a free draw for some great prizes. Check out Willy’s Garage next Friday for a full preview of the MSRA’s annual Rondex Rodarama car show.