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WESLACO — Meet Casper.
He’s a friendly ghost that’s been lurking around Rod Hinojosa’s garage for quite a while, and lately he’s been materializing as the only 1941 Plymouth Coup with tear drop tail lights from a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a chassis from a 1991 S10 pickup truck, and a bumper from a 1978 Datsun 280Z.
“It’s a capirotada,” said Rod’s brother, Meliton Hinojosa, a Harlingen resident and retired mechanics teacher from the San Benito school district.
Rod, 84, and Meliton, 73, have spent so much time bringing their car capirotada to life they’ve given it the name “Casper the Friendly Ghost,” even more fitting with its shiny coat of white metallic.
The split bumper, the grill and the striping in tangerine candy apple orange give Casper an especially dashing appearance.
Meliton often travels to the home of his brother Rod in Weslaco, where they spend hours restoring cars. “Casper” is their latest project.
They’ve been working on the car for about five years.
“It gives me satisfaction in the sense that you have a plan, and you are going in that direction,” Meliton said. “The split bumper is something Rod and I fabricated.”
The butterfly type hood from a 1940 Plymouth reveals a four-cylinder engine from the 1991 S10 with the transmission and differential.
“The driveshaft was custom built in a driveshaft shop in Harlingen,” Rod said. “We had to extend it from 108 inches to 116 inches.”
Opening the door to reveal a cavernous inside, Rod said, “Next thing to do is to put in the carpet. I’m going to a junk yard for that.”
Such a project would seem to be fraught with challenges, obstacles and all manner of setbacks.
But not necessarily.
“My philosophy,” Rod said, “is if a man can do it, I can do it. I may not know how to do it, but I can do it.”
Meliton said, “If I screw it up, somebody knows how to fix it.”
And then Rod said, “We don’t have problems; we have solutions.”
They hope to have the project finished later this year. And then what will they do with Casper?
“Drive it,” said Meliton.
