This Story appeared online Sep 5, 2014 related to a printed edition of the magazine Tail Fins and Chrome.
This is a story that literally rises up out of the mud from a creek bed near Dallas, Texas.
It was a day in 1958, when 19 year old Charles Tunnell and his buddy Joe Elliott happened to see windshield posts sticking up out of a creek bed. Both interested in old cars, they set out to unearth whatever it was that lay beneath. What they found was an intact seating compartment of a 1927 Ford T Roadster.
Charles’s friend who built cars decided it was rusted so bad that it would be a lot of hard work to restore and that he didn’t want to do anything with it. But Charles could see “life” in the car and bought the riding compartment from his friend for $150 in 1959. Charles says he was inspired by Norm Grabowski’s “Kookie” car on the TV series 77 Sunset Strip in the 50s. He always wanted to have a hot rod some day. So he poured himself into restoring the car and set out to finish it in just one year.
Charles focused on getting something drivable. He found a frame for the car for free from a field behind a large plant nursery in the area. He got wheels and essentially had the car ready to drive, making his one year goal. It still didn’t have upholstery, but he was able to get it in running order and then drove and parked it. A short while later, he became interested in fuel racing and said, it “wound my watch.” At that point, Charles decided to finish the car restoration. He only raced it about five or six times, as he quickly realized it was too costly when caught by the police!
Charles designed the car to have an exposed 283 SBC engine with side exhaust and a truck bed. He chose Baltic Blue paint with red tufted upholstery, a close ratio Corvette transmission, 4.56 gear, and reversed rims that he designed himself. He later put a 471 blower on, and it ran even faster. Charles’s work is good. The car won “Best Compartment” among other awards at several shows.
In 1981, Charles happened upon some pictures of a roadster build, so he contemplated a new look for his ‘27. He loaned the car to a friend, but unfortunately, his friend wrecked it. Being the kind of guy who likes to build cars anyway, Charles looked at the accident as an invitation to do what he’d been thinking about. Together with the help of the friend who was involved in the accident, they rebuilt the car with a ZZ4 350 crate engine which has performed without a hiccup.
Over the years Charles held jobs that allowed him to acquire many useful skills. He was a metal fabricator which enabled him to do much of the work himself in the rebuilding. At one point, he wasn’t satisfied with the wheels he had purchased, so he made his own. He’s even made his own lug nuts. The mill, lathe, and TIG welder in Charles’s shop, as well as many other tools, have spent a lot of their time in finishing the car.
“I dreamed, sketched, and labored many hours on numerous details of the new look,” said Charles. A lot of parts were especially made: the frame, gas tank, exhaust, hood, side panels, recovery tank, electric cowl vent, windshield modification, cast headlight brackets, steering wheel adapter, carpet, top, instrument inserts, glove box, shock mounts, thermostat housing, and many others were fabricated in his living room or shop. “If we didn’t smile when we added the new part, we would take it off and replace it,” Charles said.
Being so handy with metal came easy to Charles, but when it came time to redo the interior, he was stumped. It was then that Lavelle said, “Get me a sewing machine. I’ll do the upholstery!”
Another article could likely be written on the love story between Charles and Lavelle. They met at Luminator, where they both worked building items for trains, buses, rail, aircraft, and boats. Charles would ask Lavelle if she would like a ride in his roadster which was under heavy construction at the time and had no interior or windshield. She said sometimes he drove it with a string for throttle linkage. One day she finally accepted the invitation, so he took her for a drive to his place (now their home), but it ran out of gas!
They have shared many laughs about that first ride. They enjoyed a short courtship before getting married. Once married, they went to the NSRA Nationals in Oklahoma City without the roadster and while watching the cars cruising on Merridian Drive, Lavelle asked Charles about bringing their roadster to the next year’s event. This prompted Charles to finish the build. It was completed in 1996, and as planned, they were able to take the roadster to the same car show and cruise down Merridian Drive.
Lavelle said at one point, Charles stopped in a parking lot and told her it was her turn to drive, which surprised her. She was very excited to have a chance to get behind the wheel. All through the restoration process of the interior, Charles considered Lavelle. It was important to him that she felt comfortable riding or driving the car. He wanted her to enjoy the ride as much as he did, so he designed the top. She made side curtains to keep wind, cold, and rain out of the riding compartment.
Years later, after Charles retired but Lavelle was still working, it was getting difficult to miss out on adventures in the roadster. It was not uncommon for Lavelle to phone home to tell Charles to get the car gassed up, because she would be home shortly. When she got home, she would tell him where they were going. Within thirty minutes of her arrival home, they would pack and be on the road, smiling all the way.
Lavelle is not the kind of woman who needs a big, fancy brick home to be happy. In fact, she feels bad for people who own a house. She said, “I’ll take a metal building over a house any day!” You see, Charles’s and Lavelle’s retirement home is a 70’ x 70’ metal building that Charles designed. “You really have to see it, as pictures don’t do it justice,” Charles said. Lavelle described it as part garage, part museum, and part home. “We’ve got a collection of stuff, like neon signs and old oil cans,” she said. There is the workshop-garage part where Charles does his work, and there is the part that is their living space. The roadster sits in the living room. The idea is that this building provides low maintenance and many opportunities to get away and travel.
At one point, the Tunnels went to the LA Roadster show. Lavelle had a hobby in which she collected magnets from each state that they visited. So on their stop at an amphitheater in Colorado, Charles asked her how many magnets that made, and she counted thirteen. Since thirteen is a “superstitious” number to them, they couldn’t just go straight home. A detour was then planned in order to pick up another state or two before going home.
While they enjoyed the LA Roadster show, they felt the real focus was all about the car. And while cars can bring people together, it’s the people who own the cars that matter most. Of his own car, Charles said, “This car does not represent what the owners can buy, but rather, the feeling and spirit of their hearts, the ideas in their minds, and the abilities of their hands.”
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harles and Lavelle joined the T-bucket nationals and have met numerous friends that truly have become “family.” Lavelle stated, “The T-Bucket Nationals have brought us family we wouldn’t otherwise have.” The Tunnels travel a lot of miles in their roadster to go to these events as well as to visit friends. By the time of their fifth attendance at the T-Bucket Nationals, they received a plaque to commemorate the fact that together, they had visited all 48 contiguous states and even Canada in the roadster. Since 1996, they have driven over 165,000 miles and have modified the trunk and enlarged it some for much needed items for trip events and family vacations. Charles has owned the car for 55 years. On its 50th anniversary, they took it on a 50 day vacation.
They have no trailer and need no excuse to get in and take a spin. Both Tunnels remarked that it’s “total fun!” Charles said, “You’re in total comfort and surrounded by unique beauty at its best.” He continued, “I am so proud to have been a part of the hot rod scene and owned this ‘27 for 55 years! Our next projects waiting inside the building are a ‘47 Chevy Aero sedan and a ‘29 Dodge Victory 6.”