An artist/car builder’s saga

Editor’s note: Michael Behrendt, who built this week’s featured Wheels car, prepared these notes prior to our interview with him. We thought you might like to hear his story in his own well-chosen words.

My folks had a cattle ranch in the Flint Hills by Atlanta, Kan. But I was raised and graduated in Derby in 1964. My dad was a B-24 pilot in World War II and a fix-anything inventor-type man, my mother a cowgirl with her two brothers, my uncles, who were '40 Ford hot rodders and, later, mid '50s Oldsmobile owners.

My grandparents lived in Wellington, Kansas (a town full of '50s hot rods and customs.) My grandma drove a '40 Ford two-door sedan once owned by son Donald, and my granddad a '51 Mercury that I still have. Eldon, the other uncle, had a full custom '54 Olds.

My folks always had Oldsmobiles -- a new '50 Olds 98 fastback sedan in the early '50s and we took a lot of vacations to the Rocky Mountains in it and, later, a '60 Olds two door sedan. Well, I don't have those original cars, but I do have a 1950 Olds 98 fastback sedan and a 1960 Olds 88 two door hardtop! And of course, several '40 Fords: a '40 Ford pickup and a 1-1/2 ton dump bed truck (plus) a '40 Mercury coupe that legendary Wellington, Kansas, hot rodder Phil Korner owned in the mid '50s.

Yes, I was greatly influenced by these people and their cars.

I've built models as a teenager, and I've always drawn and built "traditional" hot rods and customs, the real American automotive statement. These automobiles are built in this style and are timeless.

After service in the Kansas Air National Guard/Air Force, time in an art school and later Wichita State University, I was a high fashion illustrator for Henry's department stores in the '70s, doing their full-page ads in the Eagle newspaper and later in the early '80s, the model stores. Working from my home studio, I did local advertisements and commercial art.

I now do automotive pen and pencil illustrations on a commissioned basis. I retired from Big Dog Motorcycles in 2007, where I was a quality control paint inspector.

I started the "Fundamentals" Rod and Kustom Club in the '70s - still the best car club in Wichita! I also, with the help of the "Fundamentals" put on several national show events for Darryl Starbird. I also was a judge for his shows, as well as doing pinstriping and show posters with my friend, Krazy of Kansas.

I like all things with style, creative mechanical and, well, just "cool stuff."

My house was built in 1880, a stick-style Queen Anne, which I've been working on since 1971. It is restored in the "Wild West" style with a touch of hot rod.

My shop, a 10-car L-shaped complex, is where I spend most of my "old man" time now, a building full of memories and history. My history from the models I built as a teen-ager, the'49 Harley chopper bar hopper of my outlaw bikers years, to my passions of this century, my 1934 Ford DeLuxe hot rod 5-window coupe with '50 Olds Rocket engine, '50 Olds Hydramatic transmission and early Ford V-8 Halibrand quick-change rear end. The dash is '50 Olds; every part is pre-'60 vehicles, off of junked American cars built in the late '50s-early '60s style, with that "Wichita look" of the period.

This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 8:00 PM with the headline "An artist/car builder’s saga."