Sad Day in the Hot Rod World

Dave Bell passed away Saturday night. In case you live under a rock, Dave Bell is the BEST automotive artist that ever lived. He drew the Henry Hirise cartoon in Street Rodder magazine for the last 40 years. His art work was on many many T shirts ( I have a couple of dozen), show posters and ads. I was honored to have the 46 Chevy in one of his cartoons in 1995 and just a few months back, Dec 2011, he drew my likeness, with my pony tail blowing back, in the roadster, in the LA Roadster edition cartoon in Street Rodder. I got to spend one whloe day with him in the fall of 1994....what a fun day. We ran errands, visited some other car guys, looked at his art work, I bought a couple, toured his studio, lots of fun that day. His wake was held yesterday. The Nystroms and us drove to St Paul in the rods. We drove the 46 delivery. There were many hot rods and customs in the laot, lots of people, most wearing "Bell" T shirts as I was too. I took the framed cartoon that he drew and sent me, complete with a message and signature. There were easels in the viewing room to place our artwork on, that was nice. There were about 50 or so on display, really cool. At 7 PM, Wings Callahan mc'd a memorial to Dave, he read several letters from hot rod celebs that could not be there, then opened the floor to any one that wanted to speak. There were many great stories about the good times. I thought about telling about my day with him and his big yellow cat that jumped up on my shoulders and then sat on top of my head in his studio. I did not wany to offend Dave that day so just let the cat set there. I did not tel the story, fearing I would get choked up during the tale. It was a beautiful warm day, a sad day but a great send off for a great guy. He will be missed!!