Righteous Rods In Progress Abound Around Astoria
By David Marin

Publishing CruZin’ Magazine means perks that only a gearhead can appreciate. First and foremost are the people with which we deal. The word like-minded fits. A fondness for old iron that others would dismiss as junk, an appreciation for the time, energy, skill and imagination that it takes to craft one person’s junk into a gearhead’s dream.

We get a taste of this at dozens of car shows every season; vehicles that are in-progress appear at most shows. Primered, or not, mostly running, some not, they’re always eyeballed and enjoyed and you just know, each enthusiast clicks a mental photograph how a project is going to look when completed.

That’s all well and good, but except in the instances where the owner/builder has provided a “build book”, you don’t really get to the roots of the project. Thus, when we get a sucker, make that “tour guide”, willing to take us to assorted shops and garages, we’re happy to hit the road and put together a CruZin’ “Rods in Progress” feature.

In this instance the tour guide was Astoria, Oregon resident Steve Jordan, a long-time member of the Lower Columbia Classics Car Club and a gearhead for about as long as he can remember.

Actually, Steve remembers being a 15-year-old student at Sturgis High School, Sturgis (motorcycle city), South Dakota, when he acquired his first car.

“It was a 1951 Plymouth tudor sedan with the flathead six and three on the tree,” he says. “I didn’t do much with it other than bullnose the hood and deck it; basically back then we were all trying to make our cars as cool as possible without any money.”

Steve’s first “memorable” car was a 1953 Ford tudor post, six cylinder powered with three on the tree.

“I was still in high school so I still didn’t have any money,” he continues, “I left the door handles on and decked, shaved, bullnosed and put tuck and roll upholstery in the car and left the running gear pretty much stock.”

Shortly after high school Steve moved to Payson, Arizona where he ran a service station and cruised a 1956 Ford F100 tow truck that remains firmly etched in his memory bank.

“The pickup was powered by a ’56 Chrysler Fire Dome HEMI engine,” Steve says. “That was in the early Sixties and I bought the truck with the HEMI already installed, along with dual stacks up the rear of the cab.”

Steve did the marriage thing and recalls thinking, “Oh well, so much for cars”. By the mid-Sixties he had moved to Astoria but it was the early Eighties before he jumped back into the hobby with the purchase of a 1939 Buick Straight Eight fordor sedan that he still owns today.

“I found that first Buick in Caldwell, Idaho and rebuilt it bone stock and original,” he says. “I did all the work myself, even bought a Hampton upholstery kit and did the interior myself.”

Next up on the Steve Jordan project parade was to be a second ’39 Buick that he intended to restore, but that project was quickly moved to the back burner when he found a 1957 Buick Century convertible that he just couldn’t resist.

“I found the convertible in Sacramento and drove it home,” Steve details, “It was a car I had wanted ever since a friend of mine showed up in Sturgis for high school graduation driving one.”

Steve purchased the Buick in the spring, drove it until fall, and then began an extensive restoration.

“That was in the early Nineties and though the car was advertised as restored, it needed a lot of work,” Steve continues. “The paint was shot, the top was shot, and there was plenty that needed doing.”

Steve tore into the project, did all the repair and restoration work, and then had the car painted Seminole Red & Carlsbad black, an original 1957 Buick color combination. The ensuing fall Steve drove the completed 364ci/300hp nailhead/Dyna Flow powered softtop to the Rod Run to the End of the World at Ocean Park, Washington.

Visit Steve Jordan’s shop today and you’re likely to think the guy is “multi-tasking” with several projects underway at once. Truth is, the lead project is a 1955 Buick Century convertible, which is going together as an original restoration with a 322ci nailhead mill and Dyna Flow trans.

“I found the ’55 in Ridgefield, Steve says. It was a solid car, the floors were good, I replaced both rear quarter panels and did a little patch work.”

Steve plans to sell the ’55, in order to finance the restoration of a 1954 Buick Skylark convertible he found in Salem a while back, a car, according to Steve, “My wife Judy made me buy.”

Further down the road Steve intends to put together either another ’39 Buick, or, a ’54 Buick Roadmaster convertible, either of which he would “hot rod a little”, with either a 401 or 425 nailhead motor.

Further down the road is also where we need to be going so “tour guide” Steve navigates us to the nearby Warrenton, Oregon home of Burt and Cindy Young.

Burt, a 1964 graduate of Warrenton High School, recalls his first car was a 1948 Ford panel truck that he acquired in 1962.

“The panel had a 1952 Mercury flathead motor in it when I got it,” he says. “I did my best but just couldn’t kill that poor thing.”

Later, as a high school senior, Burt sold the panel and bought a 1956 Ford Victoria.

“I customized the Vicky, leaded in the hood, ran the exhaust straight out through the rear bumper. I left the 292 V8 and automatic transmission alone.”

After high school Burt joined the Navy, served in Viet Nam, returned to the U.S., purchased and wrecked a ’65 Mustang and shortly thereafter was honorably discharged in June 1968.

“Then I bought a 1963 Corvette split window with the Rochester fuel injected 396 engine,” he recalls. “The harder I drove it the better the mileage; then I got married and the Corvette turned into a Datsun 510 station wagon.”

The years that followed the Datsun were mostly involved making a living and raising a family, though, Burt notes, “My first wife and I had six Mustangs.”

Then, in the mid-Nineties Burt got back into the car scene when he worked cooperatively with his youngest son Loren, in the refurbishing of a Datsun pickup.

“We did that Datsun and next thing I knew, here comes Loren up the driveway with a pickup truck across the prongs of

a forklift,” Burt continues. “That was a 1979 Chev 4x4 pickup, no engine, trans or rear end, Loren scrounged everything and put it together mostly himself.”

Loren Young’s current project is a ’67 Chev C/10 pickup that is channeled, chopped, tubbed, air bagged and the frame zee’d.

Burt recently completed the third resto of the family’s 1969 Chev Nova, a 350/TH350 car that he purchased for $800 at an estate sale years ago. His current and ongoing project is a 1931 Ford five-window coupe, an all steel car that he found sitting alongside the highway near the little town of Knappa, Oregon.

“The ’31 is all Ford,” Burt says. “I’m using a 351W motor, C/6 transmission and narrowed Ford nine-inch rear end with Mosher axles. I’ve been working on the car for about two and a half years and hope to have it done in the next year or so.”

Beyond the ’31 awaits a 1955 Chev first series pickup that Burt says will be street rodded and powered by a “wild” 350 Chev small block.

Burt and Cindy attend a half dozen or so car shows each season and especially enjoy Clatskanie, Crescent City and Rod Run to the End of the World.

We could easily hang out at Burt’s and chit chat the day away, but people and projects are waiting on us so Steve Jordan gets us on the road and headed to the Astoria home of Fred and Ann Mestrich.

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