By Brian Brennan – Photography By the Author & the Roy Brizio Collection
While attending this year’s Grand National Roadster Show, we made our obligatory walk-bys of the manufacturers’ booths to see what was new and interesting. As always, we were not disappointed and saw all sorts of projects, but one from the past immediately caught our attention.
As we passed the Roy Brizio Street Rods booth, we spotted a hot rod from yesteryear that stirred up many wonderful memories. Andy Brizio’s, the original builder and owner, 1915 Ford Model T C-Cab (affectionately known as the Instant-T) in all its remarkable glory, adorned with a stunning ribbon paintjob by Art Himsl. This truck was initially built for the Rod & Custom Street Rod Nationals in Memphis in August 1971 where it won the “Best Appearing Car” award among a competitive field of 1,600 vehicles. In 1972, Andy drove the C-Cab across the country again, this time to the Hot Rod Street Rod Nationals in Detroit. (Remember that the first three Street Rod Nationals had not yet carried the National Street Rod Association banner; that was soon to come.) During that trip, riding shotgun and sharing driving duties was a young Roy Brizio, just 15-1/2 years old, clutching a freshly minted “learner’s permit.” In Detroit, the C-Cab earned the People’s Choice award. Afterward, with Andy behind the wheel, the C-Cab graced the cover of the Dec. ’71 issue of Street Rod magazine, published by Bruce Miller.
When speaking with Roy, he shared that the C-Cab had traveled to several continents and had various owners, yet it remained remarkably original, receiving just a bit of freshening during its recent return to Roy’s Bay Area shop.
Roy gave us a chronological account of the C-Cab’s history. In 1973, rock legend John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin, purchased the truck and had it shipped to England. It later appeared in the film The Song Remains the Same. After Bonham, the truck went to his friend Alan Spittle in 1977 and was sold to Meteor Ford, a dealership in Moseley, Birmingham, England, as a display vehicle. Spittle repurchased it in 2001, and it was kept in a climate-controlled environment owned by Bruce Screen. Bonham replaced the original engine after taking it out to make room for a blown motor from his Corvette. However, the current engine comes from Mick Cook’s Camaro Silhouette, while the truck still sports the original Goodyear Polyglas GT tires that Andy installed. Eventually, Screen sold the car to Charlie Farley in Australia in 2019. From there, Ross Myers, a Brizio customer, bought the C-Cab and brought it back to the States, which led to its appearance at the GNRS.
During the 1970s, Brizio solidified his standing by co-owning Champion Speed Shop with Cub Barnett, a longtime and very close friend whom Andy traveled with on many cross-country trips. One of Andy’s more notable achievements during this time was winning America’s Most Beautiful Roadster in 1970 with a sensational graphic paint design by Art Himsl on a 1923 Ford roadster pickup (Instant-T). He even drove this back to the first Street Rod Nationals in Peoria, Illinois. Additionally, his annual picnic became a hallmark event in hot rodding, drawing significant attention and further establishing Brizio as a prominent figure in the world of hot rods. Some might even call him “The Rodfather.”
MR
