The Sebastian Rubbo Roadster

Most people have heard the saying, "a dog and its owner often look alike." However, the same could probably be said for cars and their owners. Cars have always been an extension of the owner's personality, whether it's a bright red racer for the type who likes to live life on the edge, or a late-model Corvette that possibly makes up for someone's personal deficiency. That's why most guys take it so personal when you comment on their car--you can scratch their CDs or forget to return the lawnmower, but don't trash talk the car!

And when you get a guy with a legendary personality, then you can bet he isn't going to be driving some run-of-the-mill rod. Such is the case with Sebastian Rubbo (or "Sabie" to his friends). Sabie, who passed away in 1988, was a larger-than-life hot rodder who for more than 40 years not only drove one of the most well-known hot rods in the New England area, but also managed to rack up more than 400,000 miles in it!

The New England hot rod scene has been around for at least as long as its West Coast counterpart, just with a lot less fan fare (as most rod magazines were based on the Left Coast). Sabie was just 23 years old when he began working on his ride--a '36 Ford roadster--back in 1945. He had just gotten out of the Navy and was inspired by the cars he saw racing at the dry lakes near where he was stationed in Southern California.

When he got home to Massachusetts, he bought a wrecked '36 roadster (it had been hit up front). The car was bad enough that he decided to put a better chassis under it, so the body came off and was dropped on a rolling '40 Mercury frame. Sabie did, however, decide to modify the rear suspension on the car--by adding a Model A crossmember and spring. The front still uses the wishbone setup that came from Ford, and Houdaille lever shocks are located on each corner.

A lot of the other '40 Merc parts found there way onto the car, including the wheels and steering column. Using whatever parts he thought looked good together, Rubbo added a rear bumper from a '32 Ford (the '49 Chevy bumper guards came later). The front fenders were made from a portion of a '36 Ford's spare tire ring and, after he removed the running boards, Rubbo custom fit some rear fender skirts using five Dzus fasteners. The roadster sits as low as it does due to the 6-inch channel job he performed.

But of all the parts and pieces, the grille is the trademark of this roadster. There were three different cars featured in the first few years of Hot Rod magazine that had a '37 Ford truck grille--one of them being a dry lakes racer. Did Sebastian see that car at the lakes and become inspired to create his own version? We'll never know. Did he choose not to spend the money on another set of front fenders and running boards to replace the ones that were wrecked? One could only speculate on why this car was built the way it was, but again, we'll never know. But what we do know is that the stock '37 truck shell and insert he used was chopped 6 inches from top to bottom, and narrowed a total of 3 inches from side to side.

Having an open roadster in New England probably wasn't the best choice, but it was the right one for Sabie. Over the years he'd drive his '36 all over (this was in a time when there weren't car shows and rod runs every weekend!) and any dash plaques he'd collect he'd add to the sill plate, so when you'd open the door you could see where he'd been. One of the events only a few rodders can claim they've attended is the first Street Rod Nationals in Peoria, Illinois, in 1970. Sabie attended, as did Andy "The Rodfather" Brizio, but they had met at a rod gathering in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the year before. Andy remembers Sabie as a great guy to hang around with, full of fun and good times.

Besides the unique look of his roadster, that carefree attitude is what most people who meet Sabie remember about him. Another long-time friend, Lenny Biondi, met Sabie in the late-'60s as well, but Lenny remembers seeing the roadster around the Boston area in the early-'60s. Lenny owned a gas station near where Sabie worked as a line mechanic for a Lincoln-Mercury dealership. Biondi owned a few rods, including a '48 Olds with a 394 stuffed into it. He had a question about his car and met up with Sabie. Soon after, they became good friends. And, when Sabie wanted to freshen his roadster up in 1976, it was Lenny that painted it.

They'd travel to all of the shows they could up and down the Eastern United States, and often went to the Street Rod Nationals together. Sabie would throw some chicken or sausages on his Hibachi grille, and partake of some of the wine or Yukon Jack that he kept hidden in the trunk. If the mood struck him, he'd pull his fold-up Italian bicycle out and go for a ride around the fairgrounds, and always with a big smile.

In the mid-'80s Sabie was diagnosed with cancer, and he tried to make as many shows as he could. In 1987, though very sick, he flew to the Nationals in Columbus and was honored by the NSRA for his contribution to the street rodding hobby. In November of 1987 Rubbo decided to do some work on his roadster and replace the rear spring. Biondi helped shuttle him around to get the work done, but the cancer soon caught up with him and he passed away in 1988.

He left a wife and three children (two sons and one daughter), each of whom received one of Sabie's cars. The '36 went to David Rubbo who, after a family meeting in 1991, decided Lenny would be the best person to sell the roadster to. Biondi accepted, and drove it around for a few years. But after 60 years on the road, the Ford needed some major attention, so Biondi blew it apart for a major rebuild in 1995.

One of the things Lenny did while the car was apart was clean up some of the crude work (some of the welding, for example) that was done back in the '40s and '50s. Some items that wouldn't be seen, such as the wood used in the seating area, were replaced with steel for added strength. But the lion's share of the rebuild was to strip the old paint and bodywork and start over from scratch. Bobby Mullins, an expert painter that works for Biondi's Service Center in Quincy, Massachusetts, sprayed the black PPG, and J. Warren Alessi followed with the gold pinstripe (which included the "Flatheads Forever" text found on the rear of the cockpit).

The roadster made its debut at the 50th Ty-Rods Reunion, though Lenny didn't break out Sabie's Hibachi (it did, however, come with the car!). Other items, such as the original top mechanism and wooden front header piece, also came with the car, but Sabie never ran the car with a top, so Lenny probably won't either. He will keep the badges and "go topless" buttons that Sabie had collected and stuck in the carpet.

Even 12 years after his passing, Sabie's historic roadster continues to be seen thanks to his good friend, Lenny Biondi. And whether or not you agree with Sabie's styling ideas, you would be hard pressed to find a car that has been driven longer or is more well-known than Sebastian Rubbo's '36 Ford roadster.