Vic Collins: Builder

1975 – I remember the Kopper Kart on the cover of a magazine my father had from the late 50's - early 60's. At 11 years old, I built model cars with my father, looking over the old books and being fascinated with this one particular truck, the Kopper Kart. I won my 1st model car contest in 1977 - I built a '29 roadster and my father built a wild '51 Ford, I still have both today. I also been very interested in cars from the 50's and the 60's. I feel I was born in the wrong era.

At 14 years old my 1st job was working at a junk yard with my grandfather. I purchased my 1st car, a '50 Ford coupe, out of a gas station. Then I met a man who collected '49-'51 Fords who said he had a car I would be interested in. It was a '50 Ford Victoria, an early custom with '55 Buick rear quarters, '55 Chevy headlights, '56 T-bird scoop in the hood, custom chrome and a 324 Oldsmobile engine. I paid $150.00 for it. That was my 1st Custom. I held on to the car for 2 years even though I still didn’t have my driver's license. At 17, I got my license and bought '50 Mercury. I traded the '51 Ford and '50 Mercury to a friend known as Rebel John for his '51 Ford Pickup with a 327 Chevy, big chrome side pipes, and Cragars.

Around 1981 or 1982 I met Mark Wojcik. He was working on his 55 Oldsmobile.

1984 - 1985 I sold the '51 Ford pickup and purchased a '51 Victoria. I had a friend install Desoto fins and a small block Ford engine.

In June '86, I sold the car to pay for a trip to California to go to the Barris Model car Auction. August '88, I brought a '51 Ford Sedan which I still have today at my home. I still drive it to car shows.

1989 - Mark had a small shop in the same town I lived, Linden, NJ. I started becoming good friends with Mark having the same interest with the older cars. I worked on my '51 Ford sedan at the apartment complex I lived in until 1992, when I purchased my home in Rahway, NJ with a 2 car garage. I did a lot of the mechanical things myself. In the early 90's I took the car to Mark's shop in Linden. I did custom work and added Studebaker fins. We painted the motor candy tangerine orange and gold under the hood.

1997 - Mark moved his shop from Linden to Howell where it is still today behind his home. Mark added a custom '56 Oldsmobile hardtop to the 51 Ford. We also primed the car in 3 stages of primer to see what it would look like 3 tone.

In '98 or '99 I passed up a '41 Buick with a straight 8 at an estate sale for $400.00 because I was eyeing up a '55 Chevy pickup. A week later I purchased the truck. I had my younger brother, Ed Collins tow the truck home for me. I remember to this day his words were "Are you going to build the Kopper Kart or What?" I called Barry Mazza, owner of the Aztec, knowing he had Studebaker pans because he was thinking of cloning the Aztec. Once I received the pans from Barry, my friend Eddie, my nephew Casey, and I started sectioning the truck.

In early 2000, Mark was settling into his new shop he built in Howell when I asked him if he was interested in the Kopper Kart Project. He said to bring it down. At this time I met Ron Blaufeder. He had been helping Mark with other projects around the shop and was eager to come on board. For years we worked on and off on the truck we ran across many problems even though it started looking like the Kopper Kart.

We gave up on this '55 Chevy and purchased another '55 Chevy in 2004. We started from scratch cleaning up the rust and learning from our mistakes. In 2003-04 Mark posted pictures on the HAMB and learned of another person cloning the Kopper Kart in Maine. Knowing that someone else was doing it we were more determined to complete this project.

In August, 2006, Mark received an email from John Maurice, the other person cloning the Kopper Kart. John asked us if we were interested in purchasing what he had - parts or the whole project because he was moving to NYC. We decided to purchase the whole project after looking at photos of what he had. We were very impressed. We picked up what he had after Lead East in Parsippany, NJ. On my way to Carlisle Swap Meet, I spoke to John and told him I was going to find an engine for the Kopper Kart. He told me he had the engine for it. I told him I would get the truck in a week and I did.

We bought it to Marks shop in Howell. We were in awe of what John had done with the specs of the truck. 2 weeks later we took a trip to Manhattan to meet John and pay for the truck. At our meeting we realized that we were more like each other with the same visions on this project. While going over 100's of pictures at dinner we knew that this would be a good friendship developing. I spoke to Mark on the train ride back from NYC from what John started and Mark's metal abilities we could pull this off in 18 months. Mark agreed.

Our goal in October 2006 is to finish the truck in March 2008. We are on time and very pleased at what is happening.