No, You’re Not
Seeing Double!
Enjoy The
First OverDrive Hot Rod News Mother & Daughter Feature Car Photo
Shoot Models Katie & Sidona Malone…Bill & Patti Hogue’s 1934
Ford 3-Window Coupe
Second Hand Rose (Rosie)
Click on Photo for Slideshow
Story By Bill Hogue.
Photos of Katie & Sidona Malone by Ed
Zimmerly on Location Lakeside, CA
In 1973 I was driving what I thought was my dream car, a
1940 Ford coupe hot rod that I’d been working on for a year.
Then I found an old ’34 Ford 3-window coupe with a
chopped top and the ’40 was soon up for sale.
The ’34 was a well used old race car, a refugee from the
Southern California dry lakes and drag strips of the 50’s and
60’s. I learned from
a previous owner that the car had been chopped in 1951 and had
been run with everything from a flathead Ford to blown Olds and
Cadillac V8s. The 10” engine set back, roll bar, ’56 Olds rear
axle and massive traction bars testified to its’ racing
heritage. I was a
struggling college student so I had to give up racing the ’34
and fix it up for the street since it became my only car.
Eventually, with help from my fellow Over the Hill Gang
Club members, I was able to do a six-month rebuild on the car in
1975 and it has been on the road since then.
The Second Hand Rose name originated with an old Fannie
Brice song from the 20’s about a girl who always had to wear
second hand clothes.
Due to my lack of funds to do the rebuild almost every part used
in the reconstruction came from a wrecking yard, swap meet, flea
market, want ads, or my friend’s left over parts hoards.
Over the Hill Gang members became so tired of me haunting
their garages and backyards that they would give me stuff just
to get rid of me.
All the work was done in my one car garage in Lemon Grove with
lots of help from the late John Pickle and Eddie Fitzgibbons.
When the car was finished in ‘75 I had a total (including
purchase price) of $3,450 invested in it.
Two weeks after completing the rebuild Patti and I took
Rosie on our first cross county drive to the ’75 Street Rod
Nationals in Memphis, Tennessee. Since then Rosie has traveled
nearly 160,000 miles visiting 36 states, three countries, and
four traffic courts. A/C
(from a salvage yard) was added in 1985.
There is a trailer hitch on the back to tow a small cargo
trailer or a tent trailer.
She’s been drag raced, rallied, solo raced, driven in
parades, and used as a commuter car for work.
Both my sons took their first car ride in Rosie coming
home from the hospital and one later drove her to his high
school prom.
Over
the years Rosie has had four engines, three transmissions, two
rear ends, two interiors and two paint jobs.
The current engine is a 350 Chevrolet with numerous
internal modifications and a 4-71 GMC blower with a single big
AFB carb. The
transmission is an M-22 “Rockcrusher” 4-speed with a Hurst
shifter and the rear end is a Ford 8” with 3.50 gears.
The front suspension is a combination of Corvair, Camero,
and Mustang parts (it’s weird but it works).
The body is all original Ford steel with a 3 ¾ “ top chop
and a laid back windshield.
In 1980, Jack Williams Custom Auto Body painted Second
Hand Rose. Former OTHG club member, Nancy Schull stitched the
interior in 1983.