Johnn Vinta Associate Prowlers Member
I was born and raised in Hawaii. We came to the mainland when I was fifteen and it wasn’t long before I realized people need to mobile here to make it and be cool. I needed wheels!!
My first car was a 1946 Chevy two door coupe. Bought it when I was 16. I tinkered with it and changed the engine twice and did little things to make it look different.
My second car was a 1952 Cadillac Coup de Ville which was painted Candy Gold, and lowered. I entered it in shows at the Balboa Park Electric Building and the Community Concourse. Man I was hooked! I have since just always had a hotrod in the works and I always did my own work and and paint.
I started with a 1915 ‘T’ bucket roadster pickup. It is now 66 years later and I’m building my last car, I swear it! It is a 1948 Custom Ford convertible that is a frame up restoration.
In all I remember about 10 cars. Most of them I built from the frame up and painted by myself. I remember a 1925 Ford roadster, 1925 two door sedan, 1932 Ford Victoria, 1955 Ford pickup, and a 1931 Ford Vicky.
Some of those cars were with me such a short time I barely got to know them.
One car I won’t forget is the 1925 Ford Roadster that won the Oakland Roadster show….the same car I rolled at the 1969 Prowlers picnic. I took it apart and totally restored it again.
My brother-in-law drives a 1930 Ford coupe I built. My favorite toy today is a 1921 Woody delivery wagon. I got it shipped out of New Jersey and restored it. And someone in Italy is driving around in a 1951 5-window pickup I restored.
I first joined the Prowlers in 1967. I left to work on the Alaskan pipeline in the early 70’s then lived in Washington and in Oregon. We finally returned to San Diego and I have rejoined the Prowlers in 2012. My current club car is a 1935 Ford humpback that, yes, I have rebuilt from the frame up.