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OREM — When you look at Wayne Hamill’s 1931 Ford Model A coupe, you can tell a lot of work went into it.
Hamill works as a firefighter/paramedic for Orem. In 2009, he was on vacation at Bear Lake, looking through the antiques (not cars) classifieds on KSL.com when he saw the body of the Ford for sale. That body came without a frame, doors or glass. He interrupted his vacation, drove to his home in Orem to get a truck and some buddies to help, and drove to Snowville to pick it up. After dropping it off at home, he drove back to Bear Lake and resumed vacationing. And making plans for his newly acquired vehicle.
As far as car bodies go, it was in bad shape. It had sat in a farmer’s field for 50 years. When the man who Hamill bought it from told the farmer he’d be coming to buy it, the farmer threw a chain around the back pillar and tried yanking the vehicle out of the field for him. It bent the pillar and tore the body off the frame before the buyer could get there. Hamill bought it from that man in 2009.
During the remodeling, James Lavery in Salt Lake City built a frame for it, Tyler Schwarzkopf at Salt Flats Speed Shop chopped and channeled it, and then Hamill took the car home. He put a small-block Chevrolet in front of the cab and eventually a four-barrel carburetor on top of the 350. Lake pipes now come out the other end.
Hamill said the car was loud and fast, but it wasn’t legit until he could get it a vehicle identification number (VIN). He could have bought one on eBay, but he decided to get a Utah state number. Getting a Utah VIN took three trips to DMV, a series of letters and photos and two visits from a police officer: once to confirm the car had no VIN and a second to watch the new VIN get attached.
For a time, the coupe was primer red with some pinstriping. Ready to take the look of his car to the next level, Hamill sold a car, raised some cash and took the coupe back to Schwarzkopf. Hamill gave the painter no direction, he just trusted Schwarzkopf to do something great and didn’t even get an update on the future color until it was finished. Hamill said he’s very happy with the current robin's-egg blue with custom stripes.
His remodeled coupe has since been driven to Colorado and Nevada. It has been through major cloudbursts where Hamill figured the best thing to do was just keep plowing through, even with water up to the doors. He said his vehicle often gets recognized from its appearances in a magazine and TV commercial.
Hamill said the car also wins awards at car shows, but that’s not why he takes it to them; he just wants to hang out and see his buddies. That’s what he’ll be doing Saturday at the UVU Auto Expo in Orem. You can see the coupe at the show and now you'll know the story behind its renovation.
Brian Champagne has reported on cars for more than nine years. He holds a master's degree in communications from the University of the Pacific and teaches at Utah State University.
