RIDE-CT – Classic Cars Celebrating Classic Cars in Connecticut
NORWALK, CT – As a teenager, Jim Torok of Norwalk mowed lawns to make money, specifically the lawn of a neighbor who had a 1954 Dodge pickup. “I did some work for him and he had it, and we went all over in that truck. I mowed his grass. He paid off half my bicycle that I was saving for,” Torok recalled earlier this week.
When the man passed away in 1967, the family gave Torok the truck. “I think I was too young then, they put it in my father’s name and I got my truck,” he said.
The Dodge is one of four classic models that he keeps in garages on his property. There’s also a customized 1957 Oldsmobile, an unrestored 1931 Chevrolet five-passenger coupe and a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu that’s currently undergoing restoration.
The pickup is “just a part of the family. Everybody knows the Dodge. I went to high school in it. We went to the drive-in in it. We did everything with the old Dodge truck. Towed my first stock car but found out it was too slow to get from Norwalk, Connecticut to the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, so had to step up to a new truck then but I kept it,” he said.
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When the former owner’s daughter died, Torok drove it to pay his respects.
“When his daughter passed away, I said to my wife, ‘Do you think I should take it to the funeral?’ and she said, ‘Yes,’ so I go in and his granddaughter’s there and she said, ‘He’s got grandpa’s truck.’
“I told her to turn around and look out the window. They were so happy that I brought the Dodge truck. It just made their day, so that’s what I like to do. If I can make somebody’s eyes light up and they get to see something they knew … that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
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Torok enjoys using the pickup to take his grandson for rides. “He loves to go riding in the ‘hiccup truck’ as he calls it. It’s part of the family. It’ll stay in the family forever.”
Stashed behind the pickup in one slot in the basement garage of his home, behind a stack of slicks and waiting revival, is the ’31 Chevy “which we bought when we got married some 50 years ago, and I never did it yet. The Oldsmobile, my other project car got in the way.”
The Oldsmobile will be the subject of a My Ride column in Hearst newspapers across Connecticut.
Torok is anxious to begin work on the 95-year-old Chevrolet. “As soon this Chevelle is done, it is getting done. I’ve been buying parts all these years. I have a rebuilt engine. It’s the last vehicle I’m doing. It’ll be cool when that’s done. The minute this Chevelle is done, it’s coming out. I’m hoping to have the Chevelle done in the fall.”
The1971 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu awaiting paint
The ’71 Chevelle was purchased new at Redman Chevrolet in Stamford.
“We were building a stock car to go racing and I had a ’56 Chevy. If it got a scratch, I had to stop and fix it, so I bought this so I could concentrate on building my stock car,” Torok said. “And then my wife drove it. She had it. We put 188,000 miles on it and when I pulled the engine down and took it up to my buddy’s engine shop up in New Milford, he couldn’t believe it had the mileage on it. I changed the oil and took care of it all its life.”
Work is progressing and the Chevelle. It was slated for paint on Friday. Torok is anticipating its completion so work may begin the ’31 Chevy.
“One day later that thing will be in here because I don’’t have enough time. I gotta get it done right now,” he said.
(Photos by Bud Wilkinson.)
