It's rare indeed when one can make a definitive statement-"He's the end of an era". We are deeply burdened and with a heavy heart to say that Dave Bell (1939 to 2012) has left his drawing board behind-forever. Bell was a constant in 40 years of Street Rodder. Every month his talented efforts would appear as Henry HiRise; he also penned the artwork for our column heads over the years. His artwork is known to the hot rod community here and abroad as it appeared everywhere from flyers, to posters, to T-shirts, and in hundreds of magazines. But it's the magazine work that will always endear us to Dave. Dave was a constant on the pages of SR and a constant in the rodding community and will be greatly missed with his passing.
For starters, Dave Bell came to the pages of Street Rodder through the attention of Tex Smith (SR founder along with Tom McMullen). We were doing Street Chopper at the time and Smith decided it was time to do a hot rod, or street rod if you wish, magazine-it would be called Street Rod (more on that in a later editorial). Smith thought it would be cool to have a monthly cartoon that catered to hot rodders but more importantly it had to have current topics to keep rodders thoroughly interested. Smith told me he was aware of a young rodder (in his '30s and to me that was old!) that just might be what our fledgling title needed.
His artwork was first rate; it was humorous and entertaining but once you got past the initial chuckle you began to notice all of the subtitles that made his work standout. He was a hot rodder and sure as heck knew what was going on-both in front and behind the scenes.
I remember looking at the first Henry HiRise and being totally fascinated. At first the sheer volume of the multiple topics handled in the art was mind boggling. It took me a while but I finally "learned" how to look at Dave's artwork-in small bits. I learned that you had to look at his work as a book broken into many chapters. To try and absorb it all at once meant you would miss many of the subtitles or in some cases the point of the entire piece. Over time I learned to start in the middle and work my way out realizing there were many topics worthy of my attention. His artwork was always humorous but often times I learned a surprising amount about what was going on in our hobby and I worked in it daily. The manner in which he drew the cars was distinctive but so was the way he handled the many upon many of rodders who likeness appeared in Henry HiRise over the years.
I can't even begin to tell you how many car types (builders, owners, and promoters) would call or write and see if I could put in a good word for them with Dave. My response was always the same, "Next month's cartoon will be as much a surprise to me as it will be to you!" Dave would call from time to time, he wasn't much on emails, and we would talk. Every now and then he would ask for a picture or two on a car that he had heard about but hadn't seen nor could find a photo. He would take this input and file it away for a future Henry HiRise.
I would always ask Dave, "Will this be in this month's cartoon?" He would always respond, "We will see." And we did. We were never disappointed. I can't begin to tell you how many times I would look at his monthly effort and try and find his phone number which he cleverly hid from month to month. Every now and then it wouldn't be in the cartoon and I would ask Dave where it was. He would respond thinking I was nuts saying, "Brian, it isn't can't you see that?" Oh well.
I always knew Dave was special as his first hot rod was a Model A coupe. (We Model A champions have to stick together against the Dark Side that's absorbed with the '32 thingy!)
Smith and I were emailing each other (as he lives in Australia) upon Dave's passing and he commented that he hoped Dave wasn't underappreciated. All of us know that it's oftentimes when you no longer have something that you finally fully appreciate what you have lost. I always thought that I appreciated Dave's efforts but I am afraid I am going to really feel the loss after a few issues of SR go by. I will miss a good friend. There's no one who can replace Dave nor would we want to. A glorious lifetime with a noteworthy career is now over- for the kid from southern Minnesota it's the end of an era. SRM