I asked Cecil Taylor whose burgundy 1932 5-window Ford Coupe was sitting in his garage. He explained it belonged to his wife, Fern.
“She gets the cool car, yep,” said Cecil with a sly grin.
Part of me wonders if he kept the coolest cars for himself.
For 51 years, Taylor has been making cars by hand. His favorites are called “woodies,” popular cars from the 1930s and 40s where the rear portion body work was made of wood. He has built 127 of them in the past 25 years in his Tampa garage, Hercules Motor Car Company. He’s known around the world for his incredible designs.
“Anybody who has any testosterone, this is interesting to them,” he said as he looked at his 1929 Model A Closed Cab pickup, which he built in 1985.
Taylor grew up riding in Model A's with his dad. At the age of 19, he started an apprenticeship working with sheet metal. He always loved cars, so he naturally began building them.
Aside from a three-year stint in the Army, he’s been making them by hand ever since. He opened his company in 1973.
“This is what I do for a living,” he said, standing next to a tan-colored 1933 Phaeton. “Those are like babies, man. We nurture them and when we get to see them finished, it’s like one of my kids there, you know?”
The one “Woodie” he never intends to sell sits high above the rest. Up in a loft in the corner of his garage is the first “Woodie” Taylor made.
“Someday when I decide to retire, I can take No. 1 and finish it up,” he said. “We’re waiting for the right time.”
This weekend, Taylor will get to show off his work at the Florida State Fairgrounds during the National Street Rod Association’s National Southeast event. Over 1,200 car enthusiasts will bring their woodies to Tampa. Taylor will have built many of them.
“It’s very rewarding to get to see all this and hang out with my buddies and have a good time.”
The NSRA event is open to the public, April 6-8. Friday and Saturday the event will open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, the event opens from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Handmade cars
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