This page is going to be dedicated in memory of Bill Drake.
Please pray for his wife Nancy and their daughter Billie.
Bill's love for cars goes back to the '60s.
It is an honor to carry on his memory and creativity.
Follow the development of this page that will highlight his creative mind.
Bill Drake's Story - written by his wife, Nancy
In 1981 my father was the pastor of the Church of God on Warm Springs Road where Bill and his family attended.
I lived in Bedford County and came to Chambersburg on the weekends to visit with my parents and I met Bill in church. Our first date was a motorcycle ride on the back roads around Caledonia. We dated about 10 months and married on Dec 26, 1981. Our daughter, Billie, was born in January 1984.
Bill had a love for cars at a very early age. He told stories about working at Frank's pizza in town and delivering pizza to the girls at Wilson College in his purple 1939 ford coupe when he was in high school and of course riding the peanut circuit. When I met him he drove a 1950 Ford sedan and was working on a 1932 Ford coupe. He finished the 32 ford and drove it on our wedding day.
Over the years he bought cars, traded cars, rescued them from junk yards and brought home cars in pieces. He could always see the potential in a car no matter what shape it was in. Our back yard turned into a car lot of old cars. It's a good thing we lived in the country. What started as a hobby turned into a collection. We never had the money to really put into the cars to make them pristine but Bill enjoyed spending his time tinkering with the cars.
When Billie was very young she hung out with Bill in the garage and he liked teaching her the different kind of tools so she could hand him what he needed. Bill had a dune buggy that he had bought from the people who owned Harmon's Furniture downtown. It sat outside for many years and he talked many times about restoring it. About a year before Bill's illness turned bad him and Billie decided to tear apart the engine so it could be rebuilt. Billie thought this would be a good project for her and her dad to work on together on the weekends. She wanted them to be able to ride together in the dune buggy. They tore the engine apart and then Bill turned worse and it wasn't long before he was unable to work in the garage. His illness progressed quickly and he passed away in December 2012.
In late summer of 2013 (about eight months after Bill passed away) longtime friends of ours Danny and Sheila Timmons, found out that Billie and her husband were going away on vacation. Danny came and got the dune buggy and him, his wife and the rest of his family and a friend of his worked endlessly for two weeks to restore the dune buggy and surprise Billie. They pulled it off and Billie could not have been more surprised and pleased and touched by their generosity, kindness and hard work. Bill would have been very pleased.
We took the dune buggy to it's first car show at Providence Place in July 2014. Billie won a trophy for top 25 pick.
Below are pictures of Bill Drake. And below those pictures are pictures of his daughter's dune buggy that Danny Timmons and his family restored for Billie (Bill's daughter).
I lived in Bedford County and came to Chambersburg on the weekends to visit with my parents and I met Bill in church. Our first date was a motorcycle ride on the back roads around Caledonia. We dated about 10 months and married on Dec 26, 1981. Our daughter, Billie, was born in January 1984.
Bill had a love for cars at a very early age. He told stories about working at Frank's pizza in town and delivering pizza to the girls at Wilson College in his purple 1939 ford coupe when he was in high school and of course riding the peanut circuit. When I met him he drove a 1950 Ford sedan and was working on a 1932 Ford coupe. He finished the 32 ford and drove it on our wedding day.
Over the years he bought cars, traded cars, rescued them from junk yards and brought home cars in pieces. He could always see the potential in a car no matter what shape it was in. Our back yard turned into a car lot of old cars. It's a good thing we lived in the country. What started as a hobby turned into a collection. We never had the money to really put into the cars to make them pristine but Bill enjoyed spending his time tinkering with the cars.
When Billie was very young she hung out with Bill in the garage and he liked teaching her the different kind of tools so she could hand him what he needed. Bill had a dune buggy that he had bought from the people who owned Harmon's Furniture downtown. It sat outside for many years and he talked many times about restoring it. About a year before Bill's illness turned bad him and Billie decided to tear apart the engine so it could be rebuilt. Billie thought this would be a good project for her and her dad to work on together on the weekends. She wanted them to be able to ride together in the dune buggy. They tore the engine apart and then Bill turned worse and it wasn't long before he was unable to work in the garage. His illness progressed quickly and he passed away in December 2012.
In late summer of 2013 (about eight months after Bill passed away) longtime friends of ours Danny and Sheila Timmons, found out that Billie and her husband were going away on vacation. Danny came and got the dune buggy and him, his wife and the rest of his family and a friend of his worked endlessly for two weeks to restore the dune buggy and surprise Billie. They pulled it off and Billie could not have been more surprised and pleased and touched by their generosity, kindness and hard work. Bill would have been very pleased.
We took the dune buggy to it's first car show at Providence Place in July 2014. Billie won a trophy for top 25 pick.
Below are pictures of Bill Drake. And below those pictures are pictures of his daughter's dune buggy that Danny Timmons and his family restored for Billie (Bill's daughter).
Bill Drake's Story - written by his daughter, Billie
When you think of someone we can’t help but to judge him or her. We remember the good and the bad and we weigh it against one another. If you love someone though, it doesn’t really matter where that scale tips. My father was one of those people you couldn’t help but love. Sure he had his faults, but he had this way of making his faults endearing.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of him is, he was crazy. He had such an odd sense of humor, interests in strange things, unusual ways of dealing with people, and a weird way of showing love. He was colorful in everything he did, and sometimes I didn’t appreciate that at the time, but like I said, he sort of grew on you. Even when you were mad at him, he had a way of making you smile and then you just couldn’t stay mad anymore.
That’s another thing I won’t be able to forget, his smile. He was just so expressive, and he certainly loved to express himself. He loved art and was one of the most creative people I have ever met. He could just pick up a pencil and create magic. And sometimes you wouldn’t understand what he was creating, most of the time actually. But once he was finished you would wonder how you ever questioned what he was drawing, it was so obviously a car, a sea monster, a camel, a self-portrait.
He also expressed himself through his ability to take trash and turn it into something amazing. His love of old cars is probably his most prominent creation interest. He collected many old cars, parts, pieces and strange bits and squirreled them away in his garage. He restored some really beautiful classic cars. But being as crazy creative as he was, he would also take those car parts and use them for very unintended purposes. Like decorating a tree. You just never knew what was going to come out of him when he got the itch to create things.
When collecting real cars became too expensive, or too cumbersome, I mean really where was he going to put one more car, he would collect models and toy cars. He had a passion for “the hunt.” We would go out and search every store in the area for a Hot Wheel or model he didn’t have. Then we would do the same thing in the 3 nearest cities.
He met several likeminded characters on his adventures to create. Both life size cars, and the toy variety, he would find someone he could talk to about all of his interests. And if, on a Hot Wheel hunt, he didn’t find some other collector to swap stories with he would chat up the cashier.
His creative interests began to develop into these little toys he would collect. It didn’t just stay Hot Wheels, or even other car related toys. It began to develop in other strange ways. I remember one time he found an Elvis doll. He also had a large model that he decided to put Elvis in. Then he decided Elvis would get lonely and he took one of my Barbie dolls to “go on a cruise” with Elvis in his new car.
He loved to drive around and listen to oldies music. I didn’t listen to the music of “my generation” till I was 18. Thanks to my daddy I can sing along to most any song from the 60’s and 70’s. He also loved going to car shows. Much of my childhood was spent complaining about all the car shows we went to as a family “no Dad, that is not a vacation.” I never had one of those measuring tapes to mark my height on, but you sure can tell my growth based on all the cars I stood beside at car shows.
He was also a man of faith. Looking back, I can tell it was important to him, but at the time he had an odd way of teaching me that. Anytime I would “get sick” and not want to go to church he would tell me “you can’t stay home unless you are throwing up” and if I was sick and did throw up he would say “I bet you feel better, now get ready for church.” He was also my Sunday school teacher when I was in middle school. I can’t tell you how embarrassing that was. I was never a strong reader; it was something I inherited from him. And whenever there was scripture to read, he called on me. I would read from his bible, which was old and worn. I remember him epoxying the spine back together because he didn’t want to get a new one.
Many times he was infuriating. With his hobbies and interests, or his dragging us off to yet another car show for vacation. Or always controlling the remote control and picking every movie we watched and every radio station we listened to. For making me “eat my weight” in a buffet so it was worth paying for me, or not letting me leave the table before I was done “because there are hungry kids out there.” For hogging the telephone, which let me tell you can really get on a 13 year olds nerves. For taking me to Halloween stores that terrified the crap out of me. He knew just what to do to get under your skin.
Now I know, he did it all for a reason. Well maybe not the part about controlling the remote control. But everything he did taught me something, or developed creativity in me. As a kid you just think your parents are “so annoying” and that “they’re just doing it on purpose.” But as an adult you realize that, yes there were doing it on purpose, but for your own good. To make you the person you are, to teach you the lessons you need to grow. He and I were never very touchy feely, we rarely said I love you. But I love you so much Daddy, thank you for teaching me all the things I didn’t want to learn. I miss you.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of him is, he was crazy. He had such an odd sense of humor, interests in strange things, unusual ways of dealing with people, and a weird way of showing love. He was colorful in everything he did, and sometimes I didn’t appreciate that at the time, but like I said, he sort of grew on you. Even when you were mad at him, he had a way of making you smile and then you just couldn’t stay mad anymore.
That’s another thing I won’t be able to forget, his smile. He was just so expressive, and he certainly loved to express himself. He loved art and was one of the most creative people I have ever met. He could just pick up a pencil and create magic. And sometimes you wouldn’t understand what he was creating, most of the time actually. But once he was finished you would wonder how you ever questioned what he was drawing, it was so obviously a car, a sea monster, a camel, a self-portrait.
He also expressed himself through his ability to take trash and turn it into something amazing. His love of old cars is probably his most prominent creation interest. He collected many old cars, parts, pieces and strange bits and squirreled them away in his garage. He restored some really beautiful classic cars. But being as crazy creative as he was, he would also take those car parts and use them for very unintended purposes. Like decorating a tree. You just never knew what was going to come out of him when he got the itch to create things.
When collecting real cars became too expensive, or too cumbersome, I mean really where was he going to put one more car, he would collect models and toy cars. He had a passion for “the hunt.” We would go out and search every store in the area for a Hot Wheel or model he didn’t have. Then we would do the same thing in the 3 nearest cities.
He met several likeminded characters on his adventures to create. Both life size cars, and the toy variety, he would find someone he could talk to about all of his interests. And if, on a Hot Wheel hunt, he didn’t find some other collector to swap stories with he would chat up the cashier.
His creative interests began to develop into these little toys he would collect. It didn’t just stay Hot Wheels, or even other car related toys. It began to develop in other strange ways. I remember one time he found an Elvis doll. He also had a large model that he decided to put Elvis in. Then he decided Elvis would get lonely and he took one of my Barbie dolls to “go on a cruise” with Elvis in his new car.
He loved to drive around and listen to oldies music. I didn’t listen to the music of “my generation” till I was 18. Thanks to my daddy I can sing along to most any song from the 60’s and 70’s. He also loved going to car shows. Much of my childhood was spent complaining about all the car shows we went to as a family “no Dad, that is not a vacation.” I never had one of those measuring tapes to mark my height on, but you sure can tell my growth based on all the cars I stood beside at car shows.
He was also a man of faith. Looking back, I can tell it was important to him, but at the time he had an odd way of teaching me that. Anytime I would “get sick” and not want to go to church he would tell me “you can’t stay home unless you are throwing up” and if I was sick and did throw up he would say “I bet you feel better, now get ready for church.” He was also my Sunday school teacher when I was in middle school. I can’t tell you how embarrassing that was. I was never a strong reader; it was something I inherited from him. And whenever there was scripture to read, he called on me. I would read from his bible, which was old and worn. I remember him epoxying the spine back together because he didn’t want to get a new one.
Many times he was infuriating. With his hobbies and interests, or his dragging us off to yet another car show for vacation. Or always controlling the remote control and picking every movie we watched and every radio station we listened to. For making me “eat my weight” in a buffet so it was worth paying for me, or not letting me leave the table before I was done “because there are hungry kids out there.” For hogging the telephone, which let me tell you can really get on a 13 year olds nerves. For taking me to Halloween stores that terrified the crap out of me. He knew just what to do to get under your skin.
Now I know, he did it all for a reason. Well maybe not the part about controlling the remote control. But everything he did taught me something, or developed creativity in me. As a kid you just think your parents are “so annoying” and that “they’re just doing it on purpose.” But as an adult you realize that, yes there were doing it on purpose, but for your own good. To make you the person you are, to teach you the lessons you need to grow. He and I were never very touchy feely, we rarely said I love you. But I love you so much Daddy, thank you for teaching me all the things I didn’t want to learn. I miss you.
Here are pictures of the donated cars.
We are working on finding garage space for these cars.
They need to get out of the weather.
Below are the parts that have been donated. We have our first storage garage (10x20).
Creative Ideas to customize this 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan
Below are two pictures of this car.
Below that is a list of ideas.
Send us your best ideas to customize this vehicle.
Your ideas will be added to the list.
Pastor John has listed his ideas.
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Ideas from Pastor John
1. French headlights
2. Rumble seat
Creative ideas for the 1966 Chevrolet Biscayne
Below are two pictures of this car.
Below that is a list of ideas.
Send us your best ideas to customize this vehicle.
Your ideas will be added to the list below.
Help us get started.
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Submit your ideas for this 1966 ride.
We would love to have your ideas for this build.
What should be done with the Henry J?
Here is a picture of the car.
