Back when Bobbie Paik was growing up, his family didn’t have much money to spend, so like many others, Paik’s father cut off the back end of an old Chevy and converted it into a flat bed for family use.
Back when Bobbie Paik was growing up, his family didn’t have much money to spend, so like many others, Paik’s father cut off the back end of an old Chevy and converted it into a flat bed for family use. During this time, Paik was learning the how-tos of auto repair in high school working on old 1947-50 Chevrolets and Pontiacs.
Occasionally, Paik would borrow his father’s car to go riding with his friends at night. One night, Paik borrowed his father’s old car and the next morning he returned it with a split manifold, a big carburetor and a few other conversions. When Paik’s father started the car to go to work that morning he was so surprised to hear the engine he thought he was in someone else’s car and asked, “What is this in this car?”
In 1961, Paik found a ’32 Ford in a pineapple field that was owned by the family of a classmate, so he asked the girl that lived there if her parents wanted to sell the car. Her dad said he could have it for $5, so Paik paid the money and made a gas tank, hooked it up to the carburetor and drove it home on four flat tires. He and his brothers would go to Kilauea plantation or Hanalei rubbish pile to look for old tires and rims.
Paik no longer searches the pineapple fields for his rides, choosing instead to cruise the Internet to source out American classics. One evening while browsing, Paik discovered a 1927 Ford “Tall T” in Reno, Nevada. He called on a possible lead and, after “talking story” for a bit, he was able to view the custom classic through an e-mail attachment sent by the owner’s wife.
Paik agreed to see if the car was as good as the picture and immediately shipped a trailer to the mainland. When Paik arrived, he was given a demo ride on the freeway at 100 miles per hour, and from that moment it was a done deal. The previous owner claimed this customized “T” was featured on a 1994 edition of Spike TV, making Paik’s classic one of the hottest little rides on Kaua‘i.
The engine is a 305 cubic inch Chevy with a competition cam. The transmission is a 350 turbo-hydramatic with a 2500 rpm stall-out. The car has a drop axle rear end with Monte Carlo disk brakes on all four wheels.
he steering wheel is the original but customized into a smaller version. The hubs are American racing wheels with torque thrust. The hand tooled customized roof is made with Mercedes Benz convertible material.
The AM/FM radio and CB are mounted in the center of the ceiling along with a powered custom “French antennae” molded into the body. Paik’s ’27 “T” still has the original windows that swing up and out for cool air ventilation on hot days. Paik proudly displays the windshield wipers that have what he likes to call the manual operation feature.
