Scott Simpson’s 1929
Scott Simpson, former mayor of Lebanon Oregon, has been a long time friend of The Filling Station and a collector car enthusiast. When The Filling Station moved to Oregon, Scott and owner Steve Kassis purchased the original building together. Recently he moved to Idaho Falls to be closer to his family and we thought we would take this opportunity to feature his 1929 Chevrolet and the story behind the work it took to get this beauty on the road.
Over 30 years ago, while living in California, Scott was offered a pile of 1929 Chevy parts by his good friend Howard Porteous. The only catch being that the parts were in a cow field in New Zealand. Whenever he could, Scott would make trips to New Zealand to work on the body and frame sometimes for 6 months at a time. He claims the hardest thing to find was the Red Cedar to match the original body structure wood. After searching all over New Zealand Howard and Scott found a lumber yard that had Southland Beech wood which would be a suitable replacement and has beautiful grain. Scott was a wood worker so he used what he had at his disposal, a 12v DC powered jigsaw, and spent hours shaping the structure wood. After 15 trips to New Zealand working together with Howard the body and frame were together and he was ready to bring his American made beauty back home.
With his vehicle on the other side of the world, Scott’s best bet to get it home safely was to arrange to fly it back to San Francisco in a 747. When Scott arrived at the airport to pick up his ‘29, it was nowhere to be found. A quick call to the carrier clarified to his horror that it had been dropped off in Dallas, Texas by mistake! When the shipping company suggested that they would just truck load it to California Scott with his political prowess convinced them to load it on a plane for a flight to Sacramento.
Once the ‘29 was back in the States it was time to get it running. Steve and Scott chose an engine for it. While getting that engine worked on at a shop, Scott got the unfortunate news that the shop had declared bankruptcy and the bank had seized everything including his engine. An unfortunate setback but luckily his good friend Steve was there to help him out again with another engine. Scott says he has been working on the car ever since and just “finished” it the day that we caught up with him to talk about the details for this story. Just in time too because he is moving and passing this beautiful piece of American history that he has spent 30 years of his life working on to his son, Mike who lives in North Carolina. UPDATE: So Scott can enjoy his ‘29 a little longer the car is being taken to Idaho. His daughter Sue plans to travel with Scott to shows this summer.
Scott Simpson is a former rocket scientist who helped design the Titan 1 engine that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Scott remarks that he has “fond memories of speed” and reminisces about some of his favorite cars including a 1955 Bel Air 2dr hardtop w/ dual carbs and a 308/GT4 Ferrari Coupe. When asked if he has any advice for people who are thinking about doing a restoration project Scott says simply, “one at a time.” Which is some good advice, that he admits he has never taken.
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