My condolences to the Low family. Spence Sr. helped me turn a lowly 1977 2WD red Chevy Luv into a 6'5" black, mean 4x4 machine, back in 1980. I had done various mountain races in a 1973 K5 blazer, and later, a Jimmy. But my true love was my Luv. Bought it, built it, bled all around it, busted many a knuckle, ran out of money. Sold it. Saved. Bought it back. Lived with it for years. Still miss it.
Summer of 1980 I drove across country from NY to CA with my road buddy Jackson Bennett just after my 18th birthday (second crossing for me), in a truck that would regularly slip belts, leak all kinds of fluids, and throw studs. Usually when it was raining. Here a cracked leaf, there a stripped U-joint. You get the idea. Don't even get me started on the electrical. Spent as much time under it as we did driving. Not sure how we lived to tell the tale(s).
Got to Monrovia (where Low Manufacturing was), didn't have enough money to stay anywhere but in/on and under the truck. And a torn green tent sometimes. What money we did have went to Spence, Marlboro Reds, Cokes, and Hormel canned chili (served cold straight out of the can -- we opened those with a hatchet, as the good lord intended). The
potentially aggressive natives left us be after seeing all that. Good times!
Dropped a 231 Buick V6 in there with Spence's team. Dana's all around. New Leafs. Double shocks. Even a ratchet shifter. Dreams of qualifying for a Baja sub-class. Alas, was not to be. Eventually, blew out 2-cylinders while driving from rural Idaho to the edge of NY State in 40 hours flat (selling everything we had - even the beloved Blaupunkt - for gas money along the way). Not a bad crossing time given the pan-handling segues, and um, utterly unstable nature of that vehicle at 110 mph (very definitely it's
terminal velocity).
Rebuilt, ran through the mud often, but no time or money for racing. Then the rest of life happened. I still look back fondly on all that, and that terrific gentleman and race-truck genius, Spence Low. Hadn't seen him in 39 years.
Miss Spence. Also miss my old Low Manufacturing t-shirt, long-gone I'm afraid.
RIP Spence Low.
