Curt Catallo was very excited when he received a call from Danbury Mint to make a die-cast replica of his dad’s ?32 Ford Coupe, the coupe was featured on the cover of a Beach Boys album.
‘It’s funny. Danbury Mint tracked me down through a local connection. They talked to Boomers up there, the Harley joint, and somehow via Boomer, to find out I was the keeper of the ‘Little Deuce Coupe,?? said Catallo. ‘I knew the type of work that they did and I knew it would be the kind of model that my dad would want done of his car.?
Catallo said he set up an agreement with Danbury Mint and the next thing he knew an ‘outfit? from Pennsylvania came to Clarkston.
‘They set up a full body scan for the vehicle,? he said. ‘They built scaffolding with a giant scanner on it and they scanned every inch of the vehicle.
After scanning, they took it to Morgan’s Service Inc. to put it up on a lift. Catallo said they took over 1,000 reference photos to make sure they got every detail.
‘I was there when they took the photographs of the car and it was so cool how they were so careful to get every detail accurate,? said Curt’s sister, Cara Catallo-Werner. ‘They really didn’t miss anything.?
Curt said Danbury Mint even called his dad’s friend, who painted the car back in 1960, to make sure they got the paint color right.
‘My father would have loved the model,? said Cara. ‘He would have gotten such a kick out of it and all the work that Curt put into restoring that coupe to its former grandeur.?
Curt was astonished of how many people have ‘shelled out? $149 for the six inch replica model. He said his dad would be thrilled knowing the little model car was on backorder.
‘Of course he would be one of the big reasons it was back ordered because he would have given one to everyone he came in contact with,? said Curt. ‘He would just be handing them out as he passed people on the street because he was so proud of the coupe and just loved to share it so much.?
Curt’s dad Clarence ‘Chili? Catallo originally bought the car for $75.
‘For a car that cost him $75 in 1956, it cost twice as much to buy the model of it now,? said Curt.
Chili found the old car wasting away behind a gas station across from his parent’s store in Taylor. He bought it and began restoration. Chili equipped his coupe with a supercharged ?56 Olds V-8 engine with triple Carburetors that could run a quarter mile in 12.90 seconds at a speed of 112 mph.
‘You look at the guys that my dad built it with, George Barris, and Mike Alexander,? Curt said. ‘These are still the legends of hot rodding and it’s just unbelievable to me that my dad ran in that circle back in the day, when he was just a kid from Dearborn.?
The car was originally called the ‘Silver Saphire,? named after the color of a prom date’s dress, noted Curt. Until it reached the cover of a Beach Boys album, from then on it was known as the ‘Little Deuce Coupe.? However, Chili reached a point when there was no more he could do with the car.
‘He was 21-years-old, already on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine with it, on the cover of Hop-up, Car Craft, just all the magazines you’d want to be on if you were a hot rodder back in the day,? said Curt. ‘Then when it came out on the ‘Little Deuce Coupe? album I think he realized he had taken it everywhere he could.?
In 1962, Chili sold the car, including the trailer, for $5,500 and bought a AA Fuel dragster.
‘He never looked back, he always had a copy of the album floating around here or there,? he said. ‘I think my sister and I were more curious about the coupe than he was and kept bothering him about it.?
Finally 12 years ago, Chili bought the car back from the man who had owned it for 25-30 years. Curt said he paid more for it than what he sold it for.
‘For us it means the world because it was the first car he ever bought and it turns out it was the last car he ever bought,? he said. ‘He passed away not long after he brought the coupe back home.?
After his father’s death, Curt continued working on the car to restore it back to its original condition.
‘We were fortunate because General Motors helped us restore the coupe by rebuilding the Olds engine and taking the car back to the way it was as it appeared on the Little Deuce Coupe album cover and Hot Rod Magazine in July of 1961,? said Curt.
The car still ‘gets around? to car shows and has been shown at museums including the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles Cal, the NHRA Museum in Pomona Cal., and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
‘It’s amazing when people look at the car – how many people remember it from the album cover, the magazines, and places they saw it as a kid. It’s pretty neat,? he said. ‘I’m pretty sure those are the people that are buying these models now because there was probably a chance when they were kids they were building models of this car back in the ?60s.?
Curt said ‘it’s cool? to see people who share the memories and appreciation of the car, but the car stands for so much more for Curt and his family members.
‘I think when my dad passed away, the coupe took on a whole new importance for all of us because it really embodied our dad,? he said. ‘To get it back to the way he had it and back to when it was ‘right? was so important because it was just a way for us to remember my dad and it always will be.?
The “Little Deuce Coupe” die-cast model can be purchased at Danburymint.com.