The Alexander Brothers' "Grasshopper"

As with most in the hobby of rodding and customizing, Detroit's Alexander brothers, Mike and Larry, got their start by modifying cars for themselves. Possibly one of the brothers' best-remembered projects is their shop truck, a '31 Model A Ford pickup, which they christened the "Grasshopper." The little green, chopped A V-8 pickup was completed in late '58, and not only served as basic transportation (at least at first), but collected show trophies as well. However, it eventually became too nice to do any parts running, and became pretty much a calling card to promote their considerable restyling skills. Seeing the well-built truck at shows is one of the things that brought customers to their door. At first, the brothers worked out of Larry's two-stall home garage, keeping their day jobs; Mike working for a farm implement dealer and Larry for a machine shop. But they soon found that as more of their work was seen, the more it was in demand. In no time, not only were larger quarters necessary, but their full-time efforts as well. Their fate was sealed--customizing was their day job now. And so it was that the brothers moved to their first legit business location on Detroit's Northwestern Highway.

The brothers' first big commission came from Bob Runge, who brought them his brand-new '56 Studebaker to not only be customized (they added 6-foot-long fins), but turned into a convertible with the top converted into a lift-off unit. A succession of commissions soon followed, causing the pair to move a couple of times more, first to 13131 Littlefield Rd., and then to possibly their best remembered (and last) Detroit location at 21249 Schoolcraft Rd. Not only was their business ever expanding, but every location they picked for a shop was soon taken over by the demands of an ever expanding freeway system (it was really uncanny the way they could unknowingly pick new highway routing). It was here they would stay until mid-'68 when the shop (and subsequently their business partnership as well) gave way to the wrecking ball. It seems that once again they were in the path of progress, this time they had become savvy, and checked with the city before purchasing their property--all to no avail. The last official joint effort of Mike and Larry as the "A's" (as they were known in the business), was to build a Ridler-winning T roadster pickup for Larry, dubbed the "Top Banana." This car still exists too, and was shown at the 50th Anniversary Detroit Autorama in the Alexander Brothers' display area--but we're getting a bit ahead of our story.

With these first efforts, the "A's" fame soon spread across the land through both national magazine coverage and car show exposure, with their services becoming in great demand, not only from rod and custom enthusiasts, but from manufacturers as well--this was after all, Detroit! Nowhere would the saying, "If you build it they will come" be more apt than in the case of the Alexander brothers. One of their more famous customs was a '55 Ford Crown Victoria called the "Victorian," which made Car Craft magazine's Top 10 in 1960. An interesting sidenote to this is that the original "Victorian" still exists in unrestored condition, and that a cosmetic clone of the famed custom is also under construction. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time for the car to be finished in time for this year's 50th Autorama.

One car that earned the "A's" fame and was a Hot Rod magazine cover car was Clarence "Chili" Catello's "Silver Sapphire" '32 Ford three-window, which will always be remembered from the Beach Boys album as "The Little Deuce Coupe." Chili (the "A's" gave him his nickname because he loved chili) took a basic, hot rodded, and channeled Deuce coupe to Mike and Larry, asking them to perform their magic. They were more than willing to oblige, and got to work shortening the door bottoms, then adding new rocker panels to hold horizontal fins. Of course, they created that famed quad-headlight grille as well. It should be noted that the brothers also performed a similar job on Don Vargo's '34 Ford cabriolet, whose sculptured rockers held chromed exhaust stacks instead of fins. They also handformed a nose for the car that featured quad headlights, which was similar in concept, but different in interpretation than Chili's car (note that Don and Chili were friends). It must be remembered that this was the Age of the Nose, which pretty much defines the ultimate in '60s show rod styling. Even though Chili's and Don's cars were only around a quarter-century old at the time of customizing, the lower doors and accompanying sheetmetal were all but rusted away, as Detroit winters are heck on sheetmetal. There were but two ways to go--restoration or a complete revamp, and as the "A's" were customizers by profession, the choice was obvious.

Mike and Larry's custom work was by no means what one would consider conservative, but then again, it did have a practical bent, as all of their creations could be driven on the street in the real world. They didn't wish to build cars just to park on a show floor to be ooh-ed and ah-ed over. One other hard-and-fast "A's" rule was that they would only do modifications to make a car look better, not to make "change for the sake of change." When the Ford Mustang was introduced mid-year in '64, it immediately became "custom bait," with everyone from the general public to Ford executives beating a path to the "A's" door to have their personal steeds individualized. In fact, remodeling Mustangs became so prevalent and such a big part of their business that the brothers brought some of their most asked for customizing components, such as rear grilles and scoops, to market under the title of Alexander Brothers Accessories. It may be noted that they eventually sold the rights to the grilles to an accessory manufacturer. Mike and Larry went so far as to predict that the Mustang would become the Model A and Deuce of the future. The initial rush to customize aside, Ford's first generation pony car did indeed take on a life of its own, but on an entirely different branch of the motorsport's tree.The brothers were also invited to participate in the Ford Custom Car Caravan for which they built the "Alexa" in '64 to Harry Bradley's design (note that several other of the brothers' creations were designed by Bradley as well). As Ford retained ownership of all its Caravan and show cars, it leads one to wonder, "where are they now?" What we do know is that somehow the "Alexa" did make it out the backdoor of Ford, as it was spotted in the '70s behind a Detroit area gas station with front-end damage. If you know of its fate, or if it did indeed survive, please drop us a line and let us know. Mike and Larry also built several show cars for Ford to Ford Styling Studio designs, the "Fiera" being a good example. They not only built cars for Ford, but for Chrysler Corporation and American Motors as well. They also created some Funny Cars for factory-backed racers. One of their creations for the Plymouth division of Chrysler was a restyled 'Cuda, which has recently been located and is under restoration by Mike's son. Yet another perk of the Alexander brothers' newfound fame was being asked by AMT Corporation to be Design Consultants, coming up with custom ideas for their yearly releases of new car model kits. Remember, this was a period when it was acceptable to modify brand-new cars such as the aforementioned Mustang. There's many a street rod and custom car builder today that started out restyling 1/25-scale plastic models of new cars on their family's kitchen table.

The Alexander brothers' display at Cobo Center earlier this year at the 50th Detroit Autorama was the jewel in their crown. Note that these guys had never pulled off a self-coronation, leaving such promotional high jinks to more flamboyant showmen in the business, like Barris, Bailon, and Jeffries--the three self-appointed "Kings" of the custom world. Mike and Larry were never promoters, being content to rest on the laurels of their metalwork and paint, which earned them a solid reputation. In fact, it's said that West Coast custom painters couldn't understand how the brothers could do such great custom paintjobs under the severe weather conditions of Michigan winters, where it got so cold that a 'flake job could shatter as if made of glass.

After a few decades, with the brothers having taken separate but equally rewarding careers, Mike found that Don Boeke, known to one and all in the brotherhood of Pinheads as "The Egyptian," had the brothers' old "Grasshopper" shop truck, and wasted no time in purchasing it. The model A was worn but fortunately pretty much complete. The flathead had been out of the car when purchased after a rebuild several years prior, so Mike sent it to Motor City Flatheads for a complete checkup and tweak where needed. The truck itself was sent to Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters in Fountain Valley, California, for most of the restoration work. Metalcrafters, of course, isn't in the restoration business, but is known for building OEM prototypes. However, this gave Mike a place to work when on the West Coast (when was the last time you saw a street rod being assembled on a surface table anyway?). Mike found that the old frame just wouldn't cut it, so he ordered a new reproduction unit as he worked at a furious pace during the six months before Autorama. Mike's obsession was not only to have the "Grasshopper" at Autorama, but to locate as many other Alexander brothers' creations as well--the Ridler-winning Dodge "Deora" being the other major restoration project of note. The prospect of having the "Deora"completed by its owner in time for the Autorama was looking pretty slim, so Mike took it upon himself, along with lots of expert volunteer help, to get the job done. This included assistance from Harry Bradley in (among other things) convincing the owner to put it back together exactly as he had designed it. Mike also wishes to thank all of those who worked tirelessly in getting the "Grasshopper" ready to show, especially the Gaffoglio family and their employees, Bob Hedrick and Kenny Pfitzer, at Metalcrafters. Mike would also like to thank Ken Yanez of Special Projects in Plymouth, Michigan, where Mike and Larry finished last minute items on the "Grasshopper." Ken and his crew were also instrumental in completion of the "Deora." Without their help it wouldn't have made it to the show.

Obviously, deadlines were met all around, and both vehicles made the show in beautifully refurbished condition. In all there were seven Alexander brothers' masterpieces on display, including those already mentioned, with three being previous Ridler winners. The rest of the roster included the '57 Chevy Bel Air of Dave Jenkins, the "Golden Indian" '60 Pontiac, the "Venturian" '56 Chevy (also a Ridler recipient) and a dead-on clone of the "Adonis" '60 Ford by John Schleicher. (Note that the original "Adonis" is said not to have survived Michigan rust.) Missing from this prestigious lineup was the late Chili Catello's "Silver Sapphire," but not to worry, it wasn't far away. It was just across the aisle at the GM stand (because of its Olds engine) where it sat beautifully restored as well. All in all, the 50th Detroit Autorama was a perfect tribute to not only the Alexander brothers, but to the entire history of Michigan's hot rod and custom building scene as well. Note that Mike had Dave "Henry Hirise" Bell design a special Alexander Bros. poster to commemorate the occasion, of which copies are still available.

Okay, now that we've indulged in historical retrospect on two of the best custom builders ever, let's check out the restored and minimally updated version of the truck that this month's Milestone feature is all about, the "Grasshopper!"