Undoubtedly, we each have someone to blame for our street rod affliction. Dee Fair was all about musclecars, particularly a 1966 L79 Nova, until '97. As Fair put it, "I've always been a car nut." But that was then. "In May '97, my friends Scott Perry and Major Toles invited me to a pre-'49 show." Of course, you can imagine where that led.
Edified by his two friends, Fair just had to take the plunge into the pre-'49 world. "I looked at Fords and Chevys and knew I wanted a Chevy, because there were not that many out there," Fair said. But it seems the thing that attracted Fair the most was the very thing standing in his way. "I started looking, but I found out they were hard to find ... so I wound up with a '34 Ford three-window coupe." Not a bad concession by any means, but even though "it was a nice car," Fair still wanted a Chevy. So he sold the Ford and bought a '34 Chevy cabriolet at the Street Rod Nationals in '97, but it still wasn't what he wanted--a Pro Street car. "In '98, I went to the Turkey Run in Florida and traded it for another '34 Ford coupe, but I still wasn't satisfied."
Just as many of us would throw in the towel, Fair hit the '99 Frog Follies and "saw my dream car, but the owner [Larry Hessler] didn't want to sell." Fair needled Hessler for two days, proving tenacious enough that Hessler "priced the car, so I bought it."
One could say Fair's good taste and good fortune yielded quite a catch. As it turns out, the Hessler-cum-Fair coupe was the first Pro Street job from Outlaw's gates. Hessler based the coupe on one of Outlaw's Stage III chassis kits for a solid start and fitted it with all the stainless steel suspension components Outlaw offered. Wilwood binders flank all four corners, and a 3.89:1 Auburn-equipped third member churns the enormous 33x21.5-inch Mickeys.Not to let all that bulletproof componentry go to waste, Hessler sent an '80-model 454 Chevy over to Jasper Machine for some gumption. They gave the mill the once-over, working the heads with bronze guides, TRW valves, and a good hogging. They stuffed it with forged TRW slugs and balanced the whole batch. B&M whipped a Turbo 400 with a Dacco converter and Superior Solutions shift kit to spin the Inland Empire driveshaft--all in all, a combo that packs plenty of horsepower, even way down low.
Once set up properly, Hessler bedecked the rolling chassis with an Outlaw three-window '35 Chevy body. He also scared up an original '35 tin hood, grille shell, and insert to complete the package. After a good coat of DuPont Flame Red, the coupe got an assemblage of billet mirrors, '35 commercial headlights, and a set of Valley '39 Ford teardrop-style taillights. From there, Paul Atkins trimmed the cab and trunk with coffee-colored leather. And when we say trimmed the cab and trunk, we mean the whole cab and trunk. Each and every panel got the hide--even the floor.
All that shiny red paint and buttery leather might lead one to believe this coupe gets the trailer treatment, but not so, according to Fair. "The car is excellent--it's really fun to drive, and I wanted a car I could drive a lot."And how much is a lot? Well, in the three years Fair's owned the car, he's made Goodguys Indy and Columbus, the NSRA Nats South and Louisville, as well as the Frog Follies, the Turkey Run, and every show within 200 miles--all in all, nearly 7,000 miles total. As a matter of fact, the Chevy's such a driver that before Fair acquired it, Hessler towed a travel trailer behind it with the hidden receiver behind the license plate. So if you were thinkin' one had to build a car just to have fun with it--think again. "I've had plenty of opportunities to sell, but I haven't. This is my dream car," Fair maintained. "I didn't buy a car to show, I bought a car I could run with my buddies."
Oh yeah, and about that musclecar--remember the root of Fair's automotive interests? "In the three years I've been into street rods, I think I've only taken it out about three times!"