Grier Lowry

A photo of Ray Farhner's X-Ray that Grier Lowry captured on August 25, 1963. With its sleek, silver contours and futuristic body, this show car looked like it drove straight out of a science fiction novel and onto the lush backdrop of a lakeside view. The X-Ray wasn't just a feast for the eyes; its supercharged engine promised a roar as impressive as its space-age aesthetic. Photo by Grier Lowry, from The Ray Soff Photo Collection.

A construction photo of Ray Farhner's 1963 Chevrolet Corvette taken by Grier Lowry in 1963. Known as "Outer Limits," the car had less than 100 miles on it when it fell victim to a high-speed crash in 1963. It had hit a concrete bridge abutment head-on at high speed. Tom Davison was there when it was delivered to Ray's shop on a flatbed truck, and he saw the shattered pieces of the car. Tom remembers that Ray paid $950 for the car, and spent 6 weeks creating the custom body and finishing up the repairs from the accident. In 2019 Tom told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that he remembers well when Grier's photo was taken. "At one point, Ray had the body off the chassis, hanging from the ceiling by chains, about head high to the rocker panels. I came into the shop one night, hours after any work had been done, to show it to some friends. I didn’t touch anything, but I itched from the fiberglass in the air I guess." Photo from The Ray Soff Photo Collection.

"Grier Lowry was cool," Tom told Sondre. "An older guy, old-time journalist, not into cars at all, just a job to him. Tweed jacket with sleeve patches, smoked a pipe, very sophisticated. He sold Ray to a lot of magazines." Ray Soff got the construction photos of The Outer Limits from Grier's wife after Grier had passed away. When Grier passed away she threw boxes of old photos in the dumpster. Ray reached out to her a little too late, but he told her to get in touch if she ever came across more car-related photos. She did and sent Ray a few negatives later on. Photo from The Ray Soff Photo Collection.

A photo of Ray Farhner's 1940 Ford Pickup that Grier Lowry took. This photo appeared in print in Custom Craft Magazine, and according to the caption in the magazine, the two men in the photo are Ray Farhner and his top aide Doug Thompson. Photo from The Ray Soff Photo Collection.

Grier Lowry was a journalist and a photographer. In 2019 Tom Davison told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that Grier was cool. "An older guy, old-time journalist, not into cars at all, just a job to him. Tweed jacket with sleeve patches, smoked a pipe, very sophisticated. He sold Ray (Farhner) to a lot of magazines." When Grier passed away his wife threw boxes of old photos in the dumpster. Ray Soff reached out to her a little too late, but he told her to get in touch if she ever came across more car-related photos. She did and sent Ray a few negatives later on.