Clayton Paddison and Chris Becker Build a T speedster in 6 months!

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Well we did accomplish that task. Last Saturday we drove the Becker Special for the first time. It was raining But we had a great time drifting it in the mud and dirt around our shop giving rides to friends and family who have watched this car come from pile of parts 6 months ago!!






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All we had was transmission break and hand throttle hitched up. Still finishing stuff, foot throttle was this weekends project. soon hopefully Rocky mountain brakes, spare tire carrier ,finished body, paint and upholstery(think a baby 1913 Mercer Raceabout and you have a good idea what it will look like when done).

Clayton and I built this car for my dad as a Christmas present But he passed away on October 13, 2010 and he never knew we were building it for him. He never saw it unfortunately so we are finishing it in his honor.

Here is the back story from the 2010 forum that Clayton posted....

As you know, my friend Chris and I were building this T speedster for his father, Bill, as a surprise Christmas gift this year...Her is a recap of the back story:

"My good buddy Chris and his family have become like family to me over the years and it was actually his dad Bill that sold me the little '26 roadster that would become my lil' black roadster that you all know and tought me everything I know about how to make a project like that work. Both he and Chris helped me put the roadster together and it wouldn't be on the road had they not been there.

Bill has unfortunately been dealing with heath issues (poor joints and leg problems from years of commercial sand blasting) and major depression over the last year or 2 and, as a result, has not had any interest in the cars at all (a total 180 from his usual manor) which has been hard on all of us. Chris also has a wife and little boy of his own now, so does not have much time to help service all the cars up for Bill as he used to do, so I volunteered to handle the maintenance on all the cars in the Becker collection.

This year we were very surprised to see him become excited about car season! I made an effort to get all cars (the 1917 Hupmobile, 1919 Model T, 1906 Holsman "Auto-Buggy" and the '34 PII Rolls-Royce) ready, repaired and tuned for him to start driving again only to discover he can physically no longer get in or drive any of them safely, even his 1919 T touring...a car he has put more mile on then I can fathom! His poor joints and medications prohibit him from even getting his feet on the pedals or even getting behind the wheel of them...which was a big blow for him.

He doesn't really have a problem working the pedals so much as he simply can't get into the cars period...and if he did, they are tight enough that he can't lift his feet up on the pedals. Bill is a big boy and those cars are tight up front (I'm a young and slender guy and I have problems getting in 'em). If the seats were moved back a ways, he wouldn't have a problem. His 1909 Brush has plenty of leg room and he has no problem working the brakes.

Because of this, Chris and I are wanting to but together a another T for him, something simple and low to the ground that he won't have any trouble getting in or out of and be able to drive comfortably. We have a large amount of T stuff already (frame, front/ rear axles, springs, wheels, etc) so we should have a pretty good start


...Oh! and I should mention that this is also going to be a surprise for him...he has no idea we are putting this together for him! :-)"


2 months ago, Bill suffered a choking accident at a church breakfast and, as a result, lost consciousness and both his breathing and his heart stopped. The EMT's were quick to the scene and were able to get his heart and breathing started once again...making him safe for transport to the ER...he did not however, regain consciousness. As much as we had hoped that Bill would return to us, he passed away about October 13th. He had been brought back to normal body temp after the cooling/re-warming procedure was complete...but showed no change. It was determined that he was no longer breathing on his own and had suffered irreparable brain damage and swelling with no chance of recovery. The family made the choice to remove life support and he passed away peacefully surrounded by his family, loved ones and very close friends.

his son Chris and I will continue to work diligently to complete his T as we had planned in his honor.

Chris Becker