VILONIA — Dicky Shannon of Vilonia, a classic-car lover, bought his three sons their first cars when they were barely teenagers and worked hours with them to painstakingly restore each vehicle.
Three of their four vintage vehicles were damaged in the 2014 tornado that devastated Vilonia, killing eight people and destroying more than 150 homes — including Dicky and Mary Shannon’s homes.
Jerry Shannon, 39, has a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro that escaped the storm; Terry Shannon, 33, had a 1965 Nova that was totaled; and Kerry Shannon, 32, had a 1969 Chevelle that was damaged. Their father’s 1939 Chevrolet two-door sedan took a beating, too.
All three brothers said they reflect on that time and realize they learned more than how to install a carburetor.
“Then I kind of took it for granted, and I wish I wouldn’t have, but it meant a lot looking back now,” Kerry said. “The older I get, the more it means to me to have that time with my dad.”
Jerry said he was 15 when he his dad bought his car from someone in Vilonia.
“It was really in rough shape when I got it,” he said, but they restored it. “It was my daily driver for 10 years or so.”
He said he was out of town when the EF4-rated tornado came through April 27, 2014, and his home was away from the tornado’s path.
The car had been idle for several years, so in 2009, his dad and he started rebuilding it for the second time.
“It was a total frame-off restoration. … We replaced sheet metal, engine, interior, paint, everything,” Jerry said.
His father was with him every step of the process. “Dad has a shop. He’s just always done it as a hobby,” Jerry said.
They were rebuilding the Camaro when the tornado hit and destroyed his parents’ home and shop and the other cars.
The Camaro is finished, complete with a Rally Red paint job. Jerry said his father and he take the Camaro to car shows; they got back from Springfield, Missouri, earlier this month.
Jerry said the best lesson he learned as a teenager from working with his dad on the car was “just how to stay with something to completion. There’s times you get burned out and want to quit; he was always steady and kept going,” Jerry said. “It’s a commitment to something you enjoy.”
His father, normally laid-back, is a perfectionist when it comes to restoring a vehicle, Jerry said. He said he is helping to restore his father’s 1939 car.
Terry’s memory of his first car is that his parents bought the Nova from someone in Beebe.
“I was real excited; they surprised me with it the summer of my 13th year,” he said. “It was running, but it needed a little bit of work — actually, quite a bit of work — it was driveable.”
It was a powder blue, but he picked out a metallic-flake blue to repaint the Nova.
“We’d been around cars our entire lives, going to car shows and stuff like that, but as far as working on them, I really didn’t do much — just hung out with him,” Terry said of his dad.
His father taught him to do things right, Terry said, and “that the fast way isn’t always the best way.”
“I had a wreck my senior year, so [the Nova] was totaled in that accident; no one was injured, thankfully,” he said. Once again, father and son went to the shop and brought the car back to its original glory.
The car was at his dad’s house the day of the tornado, parked behind the shop. He had pulled it in the shop earlier because he was worried about hail damage.
“The tornado came, and [the Nova] ended up about 50 yards from the shop, flipped over on its top. It was pretty much a total loss,” Terry said.
Terry, who lives next door to Jerry, was in his older brother’s storm shelter when the tornado roared through. However, it was Jerry who texted him and told him their parents’ home had been hit.
When Terry went to check on his parents, a mobile home was blocking the road, and he walked about a quarter mile to their home.
He was relieved that his family was safe, but the roof of the family home was gone, and every wall was damaged. Terry took a flashlight and found his car in the field.
Terry said he joked with his wife that he was going to replace it with a Nova wagon, and she told him she liked it.
“The funny thing is, I’d wanted a wagon since I was 16,” he said.
When Terry called his father, he said, “You’re never going to find one.”
Within an hour of searching online, Terry had found a 1965 Nova wagon for sale in Sheridan; he test-drove it and bought it.
“It’s not rebuilt; it’s sitting in the shop right now,” Terry said. Life is busy with two daughters and a son, he said, so the car isn’t a priority.
Kerry got his 1969 Chevelle when he was 15 — a turquoise car with black racing stripes.
It was in “bad” shape, he said, laughing. Kerry and his dad spent about nine months restoring the Chevelle.
“We stripped it all the way down. It had a straight body on it, but it was pretty rough,” he said. When he was in college, his dad painted the car sapphire-pearl blue and silver. “It was my everyday driver till I was 21,” Kerry said, when he bought a Chevy Cobalt SS. These days, he’s switched to a truck and drives a Ford F-150.
Restoring cars isn’t “cheap,” Kerry said, “but it’s cheaper than going out and buying one, and he always wanted to [restore cars] with us,” Kerry said of his dad.
“Back then, it didn’t hit me that much until later in life, when I realized what it meant. I wish I’d paid more attention,” Kerry said. “When I was 15, I just wanted to go play basketball. Then I kind of took it for granted, and I wish I wouldn’t have, but it meant a lot looking back now. The older I get, the more it means to me to have that time with my dad.”
When the tornado hit Arkansas, Kerry was in Kansas, where he lived for 14 years until he moved back to Vilonia earlier this month to take a job as coordinator of recreation at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
He got a text about the tornado that night, and the important thing was that his parents were OK, he said. His car didn’t make it, though.
“It was pretty bad; completely totaled. It had dents on everything but one door. The top was crushed in pretty good — it would start still, so I could start it and actually move it,” he said. Since he’s been back home, he and his father have “messed with it a little bit,” stripped the interior and prepared some sheet metal to restore the car.
“We’re really going to get going on it again soon,” Kerry said.
Kerry said he thinks about all those hours in the shop and what he learned from his father.
“Definitely hard work; he’s definitely one of the hardest workers I know. And just perseverance — whenever you get knocked down, you just keep going.”
What Kerry enjoys about restoring a vehicle is the sense of accomplishment, he said.
“You’re the one that did it — taking pride in what you’ve done,” he said. “Whenever we first [restored the car], I really didn’t even think of that. After we repainted it the second time, I put a lot more time and effort in it. And this time, it will be even more special. I’ll definitely be more involved in it. Seeing the finished product this time will be a lot more meaningful, now that I appreciate it a lot more.”
He’s looking forward to spending time with his father — today, especially.
“It will be nice to be here for Father’s Day for the first time, maybe, in 14 years, although I may have made one or two,” Kerry said.
Dicky Shannon was kept in the dark about this story until the photographer arrived at his home last week.
He said the experience of working with his sons on their cars has been special.
“It means a whole lot, you know. You get to be with them and have a fun time with them,” he said. “I hope they’ve learned to maybe do the same things when their kids get a little bit older.”
And, Dicky added with a laugh, it’s not over. “They’re going to have to help do these [cars] some more,” he said.
The men will probably end up in the shop at some point today, gathering to talk around the pieces and parts and partially restored cars.
That will just be an excuse to gather. The real purpose is deeper.
“At the time, it was me being a teenager and wanting to do my own thing, but looking back on it, it was some time you can’t replace,” Terry said. “I learned a little bit, but just being able to be out there with him was the best part of it.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.