Never Race A Yellow 1939 Pickup | Driving Tweety Bird

Back To The Past Car Show Kickoff

Mike Marrs 0:05

Can you hear that? Can you hear it now? Yeah, yeah. I just got to turn that. All right. We're back. We're at the Back to the Past car show. We've got another guest joining us here, and we're going to be talking about Tweety Bird.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Woohoo, my Tweet Tweet.

Mike Marrs 0:22

Debbie. Debbie. Miller.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

And Andrew Miller.

Mike Marrs 0:26

Andrew Miller. I keep all I know him just from his pictures and stuff. Let's go this way. Yes, sir. There he is. He's in here. So we've talked to you a couple of times, but this time we've got a picture of your truck out here that we're talking about. Yes, sir. So tell us about your Tweety Bird, please, ma'am.

Why Debbie Wanted A Classic

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Well, the thing is, is that we've always liked vintage cars. We go to car shows before we even had a classic. And then we had Lurlene first, and then my husband found this 1939. He asked me, uh, before I'm gonna buy you a new car, what do you want? A Mercedes, Lexus, or BMW? I said, no, but you know what? No. I want something that nobody has ever seen. You see those other cars every day. You don't see a classic vehicle truck, and my husband blessed me with this 1939, and it's the best thing that he has ever bought me. And I love her. She is my daily driver, nails, hair, doctor, H E B, Walgreens.

Driving Tweety Bird Every Day

SPEAKER_04 1:33

People think I'm crazy. Uh, she wasn't even a month old, and we took her from here to Laramie, Wyoming, from there to Tucum Carrie, New Mexico, and home, and no trailer. And a lot of people thought, So you drove it? Yeah. They said, You're not scared to put the miles on her. She's gonna get stolen or get chips. What are you gonna do? Just sit her in the garage.

Mike Marrs 1:58

Yeah, the stealing would be what I would be afraid of sitting at a hotel. She has a tracker on her. I was afraid in the hail.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

They get big hail in Wyoming. Now we didn't and the panhandle. We did go through that and she it did hail on her, but knock on wood, it didn't do nothing to her.

Mike Marrs 2:14

Pull this up just a little bit closer here.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

How's that?

Mike Marrs 2:20

Better.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

Yes. So if you're scared to drive your classic, I mean, what good is a vehicle if you have her? Why just go in the garage and turn the light on and say, look how shot she looks. I mean, I have fun with her.

Mike Marrs 2:36

I know some people that do that.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

Yeah, a lot of people just go. We got a lot of friends, and they just go every day and just sit there and look at them. I mean, I drive

Surprise Power Under The Hood

SPEAKER_04 2:46

her. I even raced a little boy in a C10 on Clay Road, and I whooped him. He was shocked. Was both at a red light. Yeah. He kept revving up his motor. He was probably looking at my Tweety bird and saying, Oh, I got her, and plus a woman at that. So I just when that light turned green, he went and I nailed my Tweety bird and I passed him, he went, did a thumbs up. And what I wanted to tell him so bad, never judge a book by its cover because she has a 350 up underneath.

Mike Marrs 3:17

350 Civic Small Block? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

A lot of people, you know, there's some people, the old school, the kind of haters on that, but like Bruce's Raja, Bruce's wife.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Right. She was asked, or yeah, she was asked why she had a Chevy motor in it. Chevy 350, it fits in everything. So why not?

Mike Marrs 3:42

Well, parts are readily available. You don't have to have some oddball, you know. I think it was a distributor difference between a 289 and a 302. They're still both small blocks, but still something about I don't remember what it was because I never missed the Ford that much, but Chevrolet Small Block of 350 is a 350. It doesn't make any difference what year it is.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

300 horse out of the box.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

But you know, some people are haters about that because they think you should have the Ford original.

Mike Marrs 4:10

If you were restoring it, I could see that. But you're not restoring it, you're driving it.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Right. And plus I bought her that way, even if I did want to change her. I mean, it's my vehicle. I should be able to do what we want to with her. And she's reliable, she can go fast. I can hot rod her when I want to.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

And she was built right, she was frame off. I got pictures of it. That was automatic. It was done 1999. And she was in the center of a hot rod magazine. Ah.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

That's the best thing that my husband ever bought me was that truck right there. And I love her. And everybody thinks I'm crazy, but I love her. I love

Keeping Paint And Whitewalls Clean

SPEAKER_04 4:56

that truck.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

She used to be orange-peeled. But she gets up every day at 3 a.m. and goes out there and polishes.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

He bought it in 2023. She has had zero water on her. None. Except and she looks just like that because I get up every morning and with my torque detail, and that's all I have to do to her. And the hardest part of cleaning that truck is the tires to keep them white, but I finally found something.

Mike Marrs 5:25

So they're they're real wide white walls, they're not just the stickle and things.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

No, that's the true McCoy white walls.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

But they're very hard. I've tried every product, and I finally found Texas Detail Degreaser. That's the best thing that will clean them white walls. But she's pretty. And she's all mine.

Mike Marrs 5:52

I saw you when you were driving it around and brought it over here, and it looked like it was, you know, you were just kind of whipping her around through the parking lot like nothing to it.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Power steering and power steering, AC, everything. The only thing that we've added to it is uh the uh double exhaust in the back. We've had some front end work done, but other than that, we got it just like is.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

We put an antique trunk in it that is absolutely gorgeous. That we found an antique trunk. Oh, a trunk. And so all our cleaning stuff, all our signs for car shows, all of it fits in the trunk.

SPEAKER_04 6:30

And we found that in Wyoming and brought it back, and he painted it, put the little uh what do you call them little buttons? Conchos on it and stuff, and we put Route 66 stickers, and to me, and then he uh put a V8 emblem in the trunk when you raised it. And to me, that's what made my trunk because when we bought the the truck, it came with like an igloo with a black bottom and a gray, it didn't go with the truck. And then we found that in Wyoming and we brought it back, and my husband correct for the error.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

You know what an old farmer had put in the back of the truck, right?

Mike Marrs 7:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that. And you got the little side rails on the side of it that are kind of it's not really a state bid, but that's kind of a state bid look to it.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Right. Yeah. So we got a good deal on uh uh on her, and my husband hooked me up real good. That's the best thing that he's ever got.

Mike Marrs 7:29

Well, and and and it's drivable, obviously, because you can drive it all the way to New Mexico. I mean, that's what 20 hours just almost from here.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

We did 3,800 miles in 10 days going to Wyoming and back.

Road Trips That Create Stories

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Went to Rollins and up to Hannah and Medicine and Sinclair.

Mike Marrs 7:47

I'm running the map in my mind going, my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

And I'm telling you, people thought we were nuts. The coolest part, like you drive it up to Walmart and park it. And all of a sudden you got 50 people around. I can have our mom's. And you hear them saying, my grandpa had one of those just like it. Up on the farm, you know, go see them during the summer.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

And you get to hear their story. It's not cars going to car shows and getting a trophy, but I like telling my story about my Tweety Bird, how I got her, how I was into cars before we even had a classic, what it meant to me, and then after I got her, because somebody offered me a hundred thousand dollars and I turned them down because that's how much I love my Tweety Bird.

Mike Marrs 8:33

Well, $100,000 you can buy a bunch of cars, but you're not gonna go buy that.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

And plus you couldn't build it for that if you were lucky. Well, you could, but you'd have to be lucky enough to find one that was still there. Kind of bones to build it with, not a see-through truck where you're watching the sunset through the truck with all the rush.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

But you can't buy memories. No, you can't buy memories.

Mike Marrs 9:00

And that's what we were talking about, you were talking about the people at the Walmart, you know, coming up and seeing it and looking at it. And it's my grandfather. I was thinking back, first vehicle I ever wrecked. Uh, I was up at my grandparents in Arkansas in the Ozarks. We're up on the side of the hill, and oh they had a basement built inside the hill. That's where they kept all the potatoes, you know. That's where they kept all this stuff. So he told me and my cousin, you know, you know, go on up there and bring the truck down. And it was push button start. It was like it was about like a 56, 57 Chevrolet, you know. And neither one of us could touch the pedals and look over. So I was steering and he was running pedals down below and come down off that hill and went right through the clothes line, took down all of Ma and Grandma's clothes, and I think it was they were memories. That was it. I mean, it that was a really long time ago when that happened. So, you know, it just that's when you see things like that, and that's what you do, and that's to me.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

That's like when you take her anywhere, I don't care if it's at H E B or whatever, or the car show, they come up, and my dad had one. I wrote him one of those as a kid.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

And you get to hear their story. Yeah, not just your story, but you get to hear their story, and we they enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

At the car shows, the little kids come up with mom and dad. Hey, you want a picture of him and behind the wheel? Yeah, we love it. We put that kid up there.

Mike Marrs 10:25

Well, I saw one up there earlier.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

That's a future hot rider.

Mike Marrs 10:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I'm gonna ask this you've got your Ford uh panel truck. Panel truck. It's a 41. Do you get that same kind of reaction? Yes, do you? Yeah, because you've got a uh you got a different paint style to it. I mean, you know, this is got that farm truck look to it, but it's obviously not. It's yellow. It's yellow and it stands out. Yours is dark blue, it's got uh I think a mural or something. Yeah, yeah. Really nice, but it's just it's a different type of it's more hot rod.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

The way it's custom. Yeah, that could be that could be a way to do it.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Yeah, she's got the bags on her and everything.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yep. Yeah, even on Route 66, like we pulled up in Shamrock at the Conaco Tower, and we went in to see if that old lady was still working at the little travel center there at the store. Yeah, and if she was wearing her poodle dress, and sure enough, she was there. But when we came out, we had people with cameras all around that truck. Can we take pictures?

Mike Marrs 11:38

Oh, with the Texas plates on it, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

I went, my mama lives in Webster, and I took her to the eye doctor in that truck, and when we got out, there was this elderly man with the Ford hat. He was Ford all the way. I mean, he loved a truck. Well, he came out there, he opened the door for my 97-year-old mama. I told my mama, I said, Well, mama, you need to get you an old truck, you get you some boyfriends. I mean, that's how, you know, an older vehicle, that's how they respect it. Like I said, you know, maybe because they had one.

Mike Marrs 12:18

Right.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

You know, or their or their parents had one, their daddy had one, they rode in the back. It just brings back a lot of memories.

Mike Marrs 12:26

It does, it really does. And I think that's really great. And I think it's really great that y'all are kind of patient with people when they come up and want to look at it and things.

Classic Insurance That Costs Less

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Well, the best part a whole year of insurance only costs $105.

Mike Marrs 12:43

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

No.

Mike Marrs 12:45

They consider it uh because it's antique or I'm asking because I'm thinking how did I get that?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

That's for what I paid for it. It's worth the paint would cost more than what I paid for it.

Mike Marrs 12:59

Okay. Um so you don't have like regular liability insurance kind of.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

No, it's full coverage through Grundy. And they use uh Philadelphia Fire and something, Fire of Life. That's who underwrites it. But I only have that insured for what I paid for it.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

And we've only got it.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

And I paid 27. So the full coverage insurance for 27 grand is 105 a year. And I tell other people with new cars how much you pay. Well, even on that beater you're driving, they're paying $150, $200 a month. Another reason to buy a classic vintage car. Plus, it's cooler.

Picking A Dependable Show Rig

Mike Marrs 13:53

Well, it it is, and and I've looked at we put some miles onto that truck, uh, the in-wheel time machine. And I've I've kind of looked at it and said, you know, what do we, you know, you start getting up $180,000, $190,000 miles, well, I thought about that. I always I worry about like I want to make like all right, you're going to Wyoming or something. If I go to someplace well, like Granbury, we go to Granberry for the Lone Star Street Rod Association. I'm thinking, well, that's five hours. If I got it, can I buy one? Then it's dependable enough that I know I can get there.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah, you can 350 Chevy. Yeah, you can. Or put a 302 in it.

Mike Marrs 14:33

So you didn't think you can put the small block in it.

SPEAKER_04 14:36

She made it that far in a 350.

Mike Marrs 14:39

Well, that's that's what I'm thinking, but it's it's not just the motor in the the transmission, the brakes. I mean front end. Well, that's what I'm thinking. You know, you could build one that would do that. You could buy one already built. Well, that'd probably be cheaper.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

How cool it would be you going to these car shows and you have a cool car.

Mike Marrs 14:59

Uh uh Absolutely a metro van. Are you saying that that's not cool? Well, it looks all right.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

A metro van with all this built in.

Mike Marrs 15:12

The problem is we go to a lot of places that like the Houston Auto Show or someplace where you can't take your thing out.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

It's all about looking cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

That's right. You gotta look good no matter what, they'll come to you. Yeah. Yeah, see me pulling in NRG.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

And if you have one, I mean that would be bad to the bones.

Mike Marrs 15:35

I I I have seriously thought about, you know, particularly something like your your truck and uh the panel. And I thought I even looked at a couple of station wagons. I thought, you know, station wagons are kind of popular, but the the chairs and stuff they're not tall enough to put some of the gear in. So you just about got to have uh a truck or a van or a panel.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Mid-70s custom Dodge van.

Mike Marrs 16:00

I saw a short wheelbase Chevrolet with fender flares came up for sale the other day. Oh, yeah. That was in Pennsylvania or somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

We'll be taking pictures of your vehicle.

Mike Marrs 16:12

A shack and one shag carpet. That's what my son says. You want to put it in the top, put the shag carpet in the top. That's right. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

You gotta look cool. Uh I understand your wheel time. Yeah, I can't have you some nice wheels. I'm sorry. Um there's nothing wrong with that. It's got wheel time all over.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

It's just not the same. A 31 paddy wagon, it'd be tall enough for all this. Yes, that'd be nice. Yep. Put chains in the back.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

Oh, yeah. You'd be riding in style, dude. You'd be bad to the bone. Yeah. Go check out that wheel man. Woo!

Mike Marrs 16:58

Yeah. We'll we'll we'll keep that in mind as we get a little bit further. I mean, you know, if you gotta go buy we'll help you find one. If you go buy a new truck, which is what I thought. Well, I I figure with the connections, I could probably get one for 60 or 70. They'll do what I want to do. It'll be a nice ride, but it looks like everybody else's truck, like you say. Yeah, the gentleman we were talking to earlier was talking about he he used to be a field engineer in some of the exploits of vehicles not making it 50 miles from the dealership and brand new. That could be a problem. Well, guys, I have to tell you I appreciate it. I thank you for taking the time. I know we we've kind of talked in the past a couple of times. Yes, sir. And uh you, sir. Howdy. Great.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Wait, one of our fans.

Mike Marrs 17:58

Oh, okay. I didn't I didn't wasn't sure. He just intruder. Yeah, it's like don't mind him. The uh Spring Branch ISD policeman kept walked up here and kind of you know, I'm thinking, okay, here's a man with a gun and a badge. What's going on? What'd I do? He was just saying, I just saying hi, you know. Okay. Well, great. That's good, good, good. But anyway, you so you before we get away, you still do a lot of automotive photography work?

Photography Songs And True Stories

Mike Marrs 18:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

Now he's into his songs. You ought to hear his songs.

Mike Marrs 18:31

I heard some songs that he did. I could not believe that he had created those.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

And I'm telling you, his songs are real life what has happened. True stories. It's a story, a song and a story. Not just a song, but it's happened. I mean, no, right, right.

Mike Marrs 18:50

I mean, you can either the songs were very, very storytelling type songs.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I bought a 64 Catalina one time, made a song about it. Because the light bulb went on my head, and I was like 19, 20 years old. I paid 40 bucks for it. And we all wanted to be stunt men, like Dukes of House. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We took it out like that all night long. Hitting 60 barricades at like 60 miles an hour, jumping a pile of dirt at 50 and landing 300 feet down the road on all four wheels. And the next morning, I sold that car for 20 bucks. Okay, taco. We had the best time for 20 bucks. Entertainment for 20 bucks, cheap entertainment. Back then you could do that. Today we'd be in prison.

Mike Marrs 19:49

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. If you could even get the car to begin with, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

That's right.

Mike Marrs 19:54

Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, guys, I appreciate it. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us and share us Tweety Bird with us.

unknown 20:02

Thank you.

Mike Marrs 20:03

And uh Katerade. I'm not I'm Trailer Park Margaritas. Trailer Park Margaritas, Red Cup solos, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

And Mountain Dew. Can't beat it with stick.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

I'll uh I'm gonna take your word for that. Yeah, it's gotta be cheap.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

$12 war S to get not the expensive stuff for it, ain't gonna taste good. But we thank you so much. It's always a pleasure talking with you.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Thank you. It's good talking to you again, sir. They're drinking that New Zealand and Australia and Europe because I introduced a bunch of fellow Route 66 travelers at the Blue Swallow in Tukum Carrie. Really? They used to cook schmores every night out there. Yeah, the previous owner. I'm gonna get the new owner to do it too.

Mike Marrs 20:59

Yes, very much. Have to make another trip out that way.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yeah.

Mike Marrs 21:04

Thank you, sir.

Event Promos And Final Sign Off

Mike Marrs 21:08

All right, we're gonna take another quick break here and regroup. You're right back. You're listening to In Wheel Time.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

It's that time again. Fire up those engines. Heroes and Hot Rods is rolling into Bass Drop for Veterans Day weekend. Friday night, cruise downtown. Saturday, 400 of the coolest rides in Texas take over Main Street. Honor our veterans, enjoy local food and shopping, and help support local charities and scholarships. Presented by Craig's Jewelry and over 200 local sponsors, November 13th and 14th, downtown Bastrop. Don't miss it.

Mike Marrs 21:46

It's Back to the Past. Cruise Back in Time Saturday, October the 17th for the SBISD Alumni Association's annual Back to the Past Car Show. See classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more as automotive history comes alive at the Cornerstone Academy, 9016 West View Drive in Houston. Bring the family, check out the rides, and enjoy a great day celebrating the vehicles that we remember and the memories that go with them. That's Saturday, October the 17th, Back to the Past, 9016 Westview Drive in Houston. Thank you for riding with us this Saturday. We're going to wrap up our show here out at the Back to the Past car show. It's uh still going to be going on for a couple of more hours or at least another hour. They're going to have the awards around two o'clock. Sun's shining. Nobody's left, so there's still plenty of cars out here. If you'd like to come on out, pay a visit out here. The museum is still open. If you want to go in and check out the SBC, no, the SBISD Alumni Foundation. Museum that they've got inside here. Uh, it's a pretty cool place. But again, got lots of cool cars out here. We still got uh several really nice cars sitting out here. Um thank you again for joining us today. I'm Michael Mars. You can uh follow us on our podcast during the week, and we will also be back in our studio next Saturday, October the 24th. We'll be going on from 9 to 10. We got some guests lined up, and we'll be sure enjoying it. Thank you again, and until next time, travel safe. Cars, trucks, SUVs, motorsports, road trips, and the people who make the automotive world interesting. In wheel time is changing and we're expanding. We're bringing you more automotive stories, more interviews, more destinations, and more of what you may have missed. From Texas to the automotive world beyond, in wheel time is your place for automotive talk without the politics or the nonsense. Join us for the next generation of In Wheel Time Cars, trucks, and the people who love them.