The Thunderbolt Grease Slapper

I loved the cartoon "Tom Slick" and his car "The Thunderbolt Grease Slapper" when I was a kid.

One Saturday coming out of the old Arlington swap meet (the good ones in the parking lot of the old Rangers baseball stadium) we saw this killer 1951 Ford in the parking lot.

I had seen the car before and always liked it.

As we were checking it out we noticed a business card on the dash that said "for sale" and a really reasonable price listed.



I had some cash and my dad was telling me he would make up the difference and that we should buy the car.

As fate would have it he guy that owned it walked up and I had a new set of wheels.

I had the pipe dream of it being a daily driver but that never works with old cars, but I drove the fool out of this car while I had it and it never ever once missed a beat.


The car was so reliable it was unreal, and the funny thing about it was the quirks it had.

Over time the master cylinder would leak fluid but it was right under the drivers floor with a hatch and I just added to it from time to time.

The first time I changed the oil on it chunks of journal bearings came out. The engine was painted bright yellow but the pan was not and I think he might have hit the pan once and tore it up and replaced it with a junkyard one and the car never once ran bad or smoked.


The headliner at speed on the highway would catch air and start ballooning up and then come down on your head. Since the hood would not stay up I had a cut off green broom handle for a hood prop that was also serving as my headliner prop on the highway.


The thing left an oil slick everywhere you went from the rear main seal and the rear end and that is why we named it after Tom Slicks' old car.

I needed the money for my 32 Five window so I let this car go and I miss it a bit.

It must of really missed me because it gave the following owners hell.

The emergency brake never really worked and one guy that owned it had it on a trailer and unhooked it on a hill and it rolled off the trailer and ran away from him crashing into some swap meet spots.

All the owners since I had it have changed it and it has been painted and redone but to me is somehow lost the unique spirit it had.

It does not stand out now like it did in the two tone primer.

The pictures are from the first week I had it when I got new white wall and caps for it.

I had not gotten a chance to take off the lake pipes yet.

I hate full length lake pipes and put dumps on it like all my cars have.

I had some great times with the Grease Slapper.