A Gearhead’s Time Portal
Jun 30, 2008
Step inside Dave Stuckey’s one-man hot rod shop in southeast Wichita and you are walking through a gearhead’s time portal. Project cars, a chopped ‘32 Ford coupe, a ‘32 Ford Tudor, an old pickup and a wrecked rear-engined dragster are all wedged together in the main work bay, up on jack stands, in various build stages.
A few feet away, in the engine room, sit a pair of V-8s that come from opposite ends of the spectrum: a big-block Ford that will get a Weiand blower and nitrous and a stunning Mercury flathead with a four-deuce intake, eye-blinding polished aluminum heads and ceramic-coated Fenton headers.
Everywhere you look are vintage car parts and tools and mementos of the cars he’s created or painted or wrenched on.
A physically imposing guy with a head of white hair swept back, racer-style, and a white beard, Stuckey, 70, warms up to conversation slowly. There’s no sense of boast in his words as the stories begin tumbling out, just matter-of-fact narration of his life as a dyed-in-the-wool car guy.
He began building cars “before I started high school (West High).” One of the more memorable was a ‘53 Studebaker that he powered with a ‘56 nailhead Buick V-8, mated to the original Studebaker three-speed overdrive transmission with an adapter he created.
He got into customizing, eventually running his own shop, before getting a chance to go to work as a designer for American Motors, where he worked for three years. “I was the only person there who didn’t have an art degree,” he remarks.
Stuckey added wistfully, “I’ve lost every (show) car I’ve ever built.” Some were the result of divorce, at least one has generated longstanding controversy with another builder over who should have been credited for the car’s design and construction. But Stuckey was reluctant to discuss the details.
Instead, he concentrates on the builds in progress.
