By Larry Wing
I was born in Oakdale and grew up in Modesto. My mom said I was going to be a mechanic. I went to Franklin, Burbank and Mark Twain and qualified for the State track meet in relay and high-jump. At 14, bought a 1932 Ford 3-window for $30, in pieces. It took me a year to build and this began my love for ’32 Fords.
I graduated from Modesto High in 1960 and I played football and baseball and was a member of the Regs Fraternity. While at MHS, I drove my ’32 Ford, then a 1950 Oldsmobile with white pearl with gold race stripes and hood louvers. Weekends when I wasn’t playing football, I was “dragging” 10th St, then a 2-way street. We would turn around at Burge’s Drive In and it was a great time spent with friends.
I met my wife Saundra at MHS and we have two daughters and four grandkids. As my mom predicted, I was a truck mechanic with nine years at Dow Hammond and thirty-one years at UPS, retiring at age 60. In our first few years in marriage, I built a ’32 with a rumble seat for our daughters. We regularly went waterskiing and camping and I had a flat bottomed race boat with a Hemi.
In the late 80s we built a home in Ripon and the golf course with a garage that holds many of my cars. Over the years, I have built many 32 Fords, 3-window, 5 window, 2 and 4 door and a roadster. I also had 1955 and 56 Chevy sedans and did a full build up of a 56 Ford pickup and even had a 39 Packard sedan like my Grandpa’s for a couple of years.
Currently, I have three ’32 Fords. In 2013 I built a full fender roadster painted red with flames with a Ford Flathead motor, C6 transmission, corvette rear end and a full chrome underside. This car is a multiple award winner.
In the 1960s we joined the Modesto Area Street Rods (MASRA) and then rejoined in 2010. We are very active in MASRA helping with the car show in McHenry Village each June. My wife and I organize the car show awards, and we also organize a car show each July at Spring Creek. Since retirement, we enjoy cars, golfing and travelling.
It is an honor to be inducted into the Legends of the Cruise. – Larry Wing
