The
story of Dillehay Street (at least our chapter) starts with
Kirby’s Dad, Everett. In 1956 Everett completed his tour
of duty for the U.S. Navy. He was stationed in San
Diego with his wife Evona, pregnant with their first child
(Kirby) and anxious to return to Kentucky. Close your
eyes and you can see it:
. . . . A low, black ‘49 Mercury
packed so full the rear windows served no purpose. Glass
packs bellowing a tune down Route 66 and behind the wheel is
a young, dark haired, handsome man with a moustache. One arm
hanging out the window and the other around a beautiful lady
with long, red hair. Both are smiling and ready to face
their new life, full of hope and excitement.
By
1962 Everett had purchased a piece of property on Dillehay
Street, in the middle of Danville, KY.The
street had a reputation as a place you didn’t want to be
after dark. Everett got to know the rough boys and called
them “Dillehay Rats”.After putting
in his 8 hours at the Buick Garage, he would head straight
for his shop on Dillehay; banging fenders and spraying cars
after hours, until his business grew enough to open
full-time.
. . . .
As Kirby got older, hanging
out at the shop became the routine.Playing
in the junk cars, collecting gear shift knobs and riding his
Stingray.Watching his Dad build rods
from the late 60’s through the 80’s rubbed off on him
and somewhere along the way he learned to pinstripe and
paint signs.
In
1976 Everett built on to the back of the shop after
acquiring more land.Kirby then had a
place to start painting and working on his own cars.Now, fast forward past many stories and
top-of-the-line, national-award-winning street rods, to the
year 2002.
.
. . .
Richard
Sanders purchases property and starts his own chapter of
Dillehay Hot Rod history.(By this time,
Dillehay Street has seen plenty of changes.Empty
lots replaced houses and businessmen replaced the rough
boys. But, most of the older buildings are still being used,
so you can get a sense of the way things used to be.)
. . . .
Predictably, Richard and Kirby become thick as thieves.
Hours…days…weeks are spent discussing what they would
like to build next. They wanted something unique and
“road-trip-worthy”; a ride that fellow rodders would get
a real kick out of.Next thing you know,
Richard and Kirby both purchase Ford trucks. Richard’s a
1934 and Kirby’s a 1935. The more time they spent hunting
down parts together, the more they brained stormed. A goal
was set for a 1200 mile round-trip “shakedown” cruise in
the spring of 2003 to Myrtle Beach.
. . . .
Two trucks with no
paint, wide white wall tires, and loud pipes made the trip
with no major problems.
That
summer was interesting to say the least. After 3000+ miles,
Kirby sold his flathead powered ’35 truck at the NSRA
Nationals in Louisville to Billy F. Gibbons (of ZZ Top
fame). Richard sold his ’34, 283, 3 deuce truck in
Tennessee at the “Shades of the Past” Rod Run that
September. Turning the money over and doing their part
to keep rodding alive and well, the duo built several more
“ol’skool” rides over the next 4 years. Every rod had
a faded name painted on the doors in old company vehicle
fashion by Kirby, stuff like Dillehay Garage, Speed Shop,
Surf Shop, Drags, Pinstriper, etc. Those rods were sold
coast to coast and the name ‘Dillehay’ started to be
recognized and associated with good guys and kool looking,
drivable hot rods.
.
. . .
Other
rods were also built on the Street that summer and the
following 2 years. Jevan Morse owns a window tinting
business there and has turned out two sweet looking, fast
1934 trucks. Mark Brown owns a Body Shop and has a 1935
Dodge rat truck and an original restored 1937 two-door
Desoto coupe. Loran Arth works for Mark and built a 1931 rat
truck that has left melted rubber from one end of Dillehay
to the other on several occasions. Jerry and Shirley Rogers
built his and hers hot rods: a 1936 Dodge rat truck for him
and a 1936 Plymouth four-door for her.
.
. . .
With
the great response they were getting and “the Rat” logo
going over so well, they thought why not market this stuff
to support their habit? “Let’s throw a big party, call
it a Hullabaloo and promote it through a website.”
Dillehaystreet.com was born and the ideas keep coming.
. . . .
Come see their newest rides (how long has it been since
you’ve seen a wagon train?), hear the stories, and meet
all the “Dillehay Rats” this year at the Hullabaloo on
the street where it all began.
