Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/551480
ter of the original 1938 "Lone Ranger" serial. The little kid actor was Sammy McKim. Southard recalls, 'Little did I real- ize I would meet him some years later at the Golden Boot Awards and we would become friends.' The other cherished gifts are two coins from Norm Grabowski, a friend of Andy's, who was an American hot rod builder and actor appearing in many Disney films. These coins depict Grabowski's crew-cut image and his hugely influential T-bucket hot rod, which became known as The Kookie Kar, used in the television show " '77 Sunset Strip." The car was owned and driven in the show by the character Kookie who was played by Edd Byrnes. It all started with Southard's ancestors. On his father's side, grandfather Townsend Southard was a farmer whose family came to America in 1629 on the second Mayflower. On his mother Snyder's side, their notorious rel- ative Jesse James drove the family from Kansas to Williamsburg, PA, to escape the connection. Also of note on his mother's side was Capt. Herbert James, one of the soldiers who escaped from a Nazi camp, as depicted in the movie, "The Great Escape." As a child of 13 Southard was fascinated with Westerns. All that changed after his father sent him off to a cowboy summer camp that found him roping, rid- ing, branding and castrating, which was the end of his dream of being a cowboy because it was "just too much work." There is still a strong Western influence in his home today, with a collection that includes a 1938 Lone Ranger autographed photo, an original silver bullet from the late 1930s (rare because only a few hundred were made), and a pair of tooled leather and brass spurs he wore as a kid. At 16, with his newly acquired driver license, Southard's first car was a 1940 Mercury. His second vehicle was a 1927 Ford Roadster Pickup which he cus- tomized and rebuilt at age 19. This began a lifetime of his personal passion with cars. In 1952, he left Oceanside, Long Island, after graduating from the New York Institute of Photography to attend the first roadster show in LA. While there, an interview at Paramount studios landed him a job in their camera department. The next day he was drafted into the Korean War that sent him to Germany once the war ended in 1953. At the G.I. com- pound he bought his first Leica 35mm camera in its original box. Southard held an illustrious career as a writer and photographer for Peterson Publishing, Hot Rod and Rod & Custom magazines in Los Angeles, Green's Camera and Lloyds Printing Ser vice in Salinas, 52 years as a pin-striper of cars, boats, air- planes, then finally 23 years at the Monterey County Public Wor ks until retirement. We finally make it out to Southard's garage, and there gleaming in the sun- light filtering through the windows, is the infamous maroon chopped Mercury. It sits immaculate and proud. The garage has dozens of photos of car shows and awards and his 2009 PT Cruiser. This is the Southards' everyday car. Together with Tom Otis, nicknamed "Itchy," they pin-striped the PT. Otis, an actor on "Car Warriors," inherited all of Southard's brushes and equipment because Andy would never stripe In 2006 Andy Southard Jr. was inducted into the San Fran- cisco Rod, Custom, and Motorcycle Show Hall of Fame. Southard's lifelong fascination with cars began at age 16. Since then, he has photographed thousands of cars including this 1932 Ford Roadster. 204 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 5