R.I.P. Norm Grabowski. 1933-2012

Checking the daily subscribed email from the Jalopy Journal I was saddened to see Norm Grabowski has passed away. I have never met Norm but he was one person I would have really liked to have met. Norm was a man who crammed a lot into his life, Hot Rods, magazine covers, Film Actor, Artist extraordinaire carving the coolest, evilest wood shift knobs anywhere!

Norm's Lightning Bug was/is my favourite T-bucket of all time, it is perfect in black paint & whitewalls. The Chrome laden Cad V8 was no slouch dispatching the competition to the wayside. Norm would rebuild the car into what will forever be known as the Kookie Kar. The October 1955 Hot Rod featured Lightning Bug on the cover & it happens to be the first Hot Rod issue of 50s I owned. I bought it 8-9 years ago at Wintersun Nostalgia Festival, it was a taped together piece of crap but I was stoked to own it. That issue really ignited my passion to collect these old Hot Rod mags.

R.I.P. Norm, Thank You for all you did for Hot Rodding!