All in the Family
Passion for cars passed on from one generation to the next
Like father, like son. That might not always be the case, but there’s clear evidence of the theory when one looks at four generations of the Murphy family in Calgary.
Meet Chad Murphy, proprietor of Lucky- U- Dezine. His father Terry and late- grampa Spud have been involved with internal combustion engines and two- and four- wheeled vehicles their entire lives.
Charles Gordon Murphy, better known as Spud, was born in 1918. He purchased his first motorcycle in 1935, and served overseas in the Canadian Army during the Second World War. He was in charge of a mobile motorcycle unit.
Spud’s son Terry clearly remembers helping his dad in the garage, and says he was the only one at school who perpetually smelled of parts cleaner.
And Chad, Terry’s son, says he was four years old when he and his dad were cutting apart and welding back together tricycles, essentially making choppers out of the threewheelers.
So it’s no surprise that Chad’s three- year- old son Mason loves to hang out with dad in the family garage, where there’s a 1950 Ford Club Coupe.
“He’s taken an interest in the car,” Murphy says of his son. “He’ll say, ‘ Let’s go hang out in the car, Dad.’”
The car, Murphy says, was found for sale locally in Auto Trader. He was originally looking for a truck circa 1934 to 1936, but his mom found the Ford.
“She turned me on to something much more family- oriented than a truck, but I wasn’t thinking about family at the time,” Murphy says.
The Ford was on a farm near Stettler, Alta. Although it was a running car, it wasn’t safe for the highway so Murphy, his father and a friend arrived with a trailer. First, they took it for a quick drive.
“The car was right out of the barn, but we take off down the gravel roads and we’re all giggling because this old car is running and driving, and I was thinking, ‘ This thing is sold. It’s coming home with us for sure,’” Murphy says.
Once home in Calgary, the Ford was unloaded and Murphy drove it around the block and into his two- car garage, where it sat for only a few days while he thought about what he was going to do with it.
“I had a vision of building something like what the kids in their white T- shirts and rolledup jeans would have done back in the day,” Murphy says. “Just doing what they could afford to do without changing out a bunch of parts — they likely didn’t have much money to build, and neither did I.”
Murphy and his friend Dale Yamada of Mad Jap Kustoms modified the front end by reversing the spindles to drop the car 100 millimetres. Out back, a set of lowering blocks allowed the car to settle just 90 mm off the ground. Ceramic brake shoes went into the drums, and Murphy and Yamada followed up with an alignment job using strings and levels.
“It’s one of the straightest and truest cars I’ve ever driven,” he says.
Murphy’s engine is the original V- 8 flathead, and it’s still running with the original spark plug wires and six- volt electrical system. Apart from the battery, oil and antifreeze, nothing else has been touched.
For now, Murphy has no plans to refinish the exterior of the car, which was originally maroon.
“That’s nature’s patina,” he says. “At some point I might clear coat it, but I like it the way it is.”
He stripped out the interior, and the Ford doesn’t have a headliner, door panels or any carpet on the floor. The seats were reupholstered in black vinyl with cream inserts, and Murphy and his wife Amanda added a seat belt in the rear to accommodate a child’s safety seat.
Murphy says he’s glad he got a car instead of a truck, because his is now a family of four. Their second son, Lincoln, was born in late April and he’s sure to enjoy the car as much as his older brother Mason.
“When I put Mason in the car seat, he’s asleep after three blocks,” Murphy says. “I think it’s the rumbling of the old flathead that does that.”