Golden-Era Hot-Rodding

[JimInSoCalif]

I believe the drags in Santa Ana near the old blimp hangers were the first organized drags in the country. I went in the early 50's and for most of the day the top time was 109 mph.

Late in the day there was a run by the Pierson (sp) Brothers chopped 1934 Ford that normally ran at the dry lakes and it turned 112 mph - very exciting.

I think that car is now restored and owned by Bruce Meyer (not Bruce Meyers of dune buggy fame) and is sometimes displayed at the Peterson Museum.

As an aside, after a recent fatal accident one of the major sanctioning groups is running drags of 1,000 feet instead of the traditional 1/4 mile. This change does not seem popular with anyone.

I don't follow the sport, but my guess is that the drag strips will upgrade their run off area to be safer with the amazing 330 mph speeds that the cars can reach in a 1/4 of a mile and that they will return to the traditional distance.

Cheers, Jim.

 

[suitedcboy]

The 1000 foot race track is applied to tracks without an adequate run out length. The cars need a braking area and the tracks that do not have a long enough area by the new rules (I can't cite the length but I believe it is 3000+ feet) have to run the abbreviated length.

 

[HOP UP]

I believe the drags in Santa Ana near the old blimp hangers were the first organized drags in the country. I went in the early 50's and for most of the day the top time was 109 mph.

Late in the day there was a run by the Pierson (sp) Brothers chopped 1934 Ford that normally ran at the dry lakes and it turned 112 mph - very exciting.

I think that car is now restored and owned by Bruce Meyer (not Bruce Meyers of dune buggy fame) and is sometimes displayed at the Peterson Museum.

As an aside, after a recent fatal accident one of the major sanctioning groups is running drags of 1,000 feet instead of the traditional 1/4 mile. This change does not seem popular with anyone.

I don't follow the sport, but my guess is that the drag strips will upgrade their run off area to be safer with the amazing 330 mph speeds that the cars can reach in a 1/4 of a mile and that they will return to the traditional distance.

Cheers, Jim.

You called it as it happened !

HOP UP

 

[David Conwill]

Hi All;

If I may jump in here, I know second hand that drag racing was happening in St. Louis in the `30s. My grandma used to talk about how my grandpa and his racing buddies would block off Market St. (The main east-west street at that time.) and race on Sundays. She said there was no flying start and the raced a straight course. (Gotta be drag racing.) She also said that grandpa would work on other guys cars in a little shed that he kept on near their house. According to her, gramps had a `27 Durant and did pretty well.

Interestingly, there were no 1927 Durants (I just found this out). There were 1926s, and 1928s, but no ‘27s. The company was reorganizing production.

There were no Durant vehicles produced in 1927, but 1928 saw the launch of an entirely new line of Durant cars (models 55, 65, 75). Initially, Durant was to have only six-cylinder cars in its lineup leaving the four cylinder market to its companion Star line. However, by April 1928 economics dictated the shutdown of Star production, so the Star model M four-cylinder found a new home in the Durant line as the model M2. The M2 was replaced towards the end of the year with the M4.

Source:http://www.durantcars.com/catalogs/durant/index.shtml (Accessed July 14, 2009)

The 1928 was a handsome vehicle:

I do enjoy that radiator shell. I’d be in heaven if somebody gave me a ‘28 Durant M2 roadster that I could hop up in a period style. Their 4-cylinder Continental engines were produced in my hometown, Muskegon, Michigan.

-Dave

 

[David Conwill]

Those following this thread might also enjoy this thread on the HAMB. It’s a fellow putting together a largely period-correct 1930s gow job - in New Zealand! Which means he has the added challenge of making the whole thing right-hand drive.

c. 1923 Ford with 1929 Ford running gear

-Dave

 

[David Conwill]

Just happened to have this in my clipboard:

This car was finished c. 1939, so it fits squarely within the Golden Era.

-Dave

 

[vitanola]

So all this was a strictly SoCal phenomenon at the time.

I've sometimes wondered if there were hot rodders in the Midwest in those days, what with plenty of young mechanical talent and 1000s of miles of straight flat roads with (mostly) no speed limits. But I've seen no evidence of it hereabouts till well after WW2. So maybe there had to be an ethnic or counterculture angle to make it happen (in the corn belt we had neither).

Back in the Model T days the upper Midwest was a hotbed of "scorching". The Chevrolet Brothers Frontenac Mfg. Co., RAJO, PACO, Murphy, Warford, Hayes, Schebler, and many, many other firms made speed accessories for the Ford and (to a lesser extent) the Chevrolet machines.

Accessory "racing", "torpedo" or "speedster" bodies were readily available, as were overhead valve rigs, improved suspension components, underslung axels, disc and wire wheels, balloon tires, sliding-gear transmissions, accessory brakes, counterbalanced crankshafts, special carburetters, headers, and polished intake manifolds.

With careful tuning and the proper accessories nearly a hundred horsepower could be coaxed out of the Flivver block. An indifferent job might but double the power of the engine. A properly set up speedster would weigh betwixt 1200 and 1300 pounds, wet. This set-up would have produced a power-to-weight ratio that would still be impressive.

Many young blades built up such machines for street use.

Read Murray Fahnestock's "The Model T Ford in Speed and Sport", "Model T Speed Secrets" and "The Fast Ford Handbook".

 

[David Conwill]

Vitanola,

Great minds think alike. Read Post #12.

-Dave

 

[Talbot]

Those following this thread might also enjoy this thread on the HAMB. It’s a fellow putting together a largely period-correct 1930s gow job - in New Zealand! Which means he has the added challenge of making the whole thing right-hand drive.

c. 1923 Ford with 1929 Ford running gear

-Dave

Haha,

I have a buddy building a 40's style 27 turte deck roadster. He's just converted it to left hand drive to keep it era correct!

Talbot

 

[David Conwill]

Talbot,

Does he live in a state that had left-hand-drive in the '40s? Seems like a lot of work, just to make it harder to pass!

That being said, I'd love to see pictures of his project, if he'll let you post them.

-Dave

 

[Talbot]

David,

The rules on registering LHD cars have been relaxed over the years in Victoria so he'll probably have no difficulty.

I've known him for some 30 years and he's pretty much the most die hard guy I've ever known for era correctness.

He prefers to lurk, but he's pretty well connected - I bumped into Keith Weesner at his house!

I'll ask him, but I'm not sure he'd be comfortable with me posting pics of his project.

Talbot

 

[Edward]

Love the purist angle, great stuff.

But I don't see any clus devoted to recreating the whole atmosphere including clothing etc. That would be my ideal. I suppose that might be asking too much.

My dad's always been a big car buff - before I was born, he ran a 30s Wolsley 8 (?) as a hobby car, then there was a 1936 Austin 7, all sorts since, from the 30s up to the 70s (one of his current collection is a 911, a 78, if memory serves). His big love, though are the pre-war 30s cars - currently he's in the final stages of rebuilding a Morris 10. It's an interesting scene, qute a big one in Northern Ireland (relative to it being a niche interest and the size of the population). Right througout the Summer there are events nearly every weekend, from the beginning of May right to the end of September. Funny thing is, in all the years I spent growing up being take to these events, I can only ever remember once seeing a couple dressed to go with their car..... and that was a Morris Minor-based recreation of the Noddy car, as I recall..... The scene where I've seen most people dress period with the cars is the fifties stuff, the sort of period hot rods you see at the Ace Cafe some nights. At that, it's primarily American cars that seem to attract that scene.... I guess more a lifestyle thing than the cars alone. Not that it doesn't happen elsewhere, itjust doesn't seem to be so common to me. I always put it dwn to being an equivalent of the folks who are into one aspect of vintage, say, flying jackets, maybe A2s in particular, and not really interested in the rest. Not a value judgement on my part, just an observation.

Me, well, I don't drive. Have my licence (it's not realistic to limit yourself to public transport back in Northern Ireland), but I never liked driving, so never used it much. Since I settled in London eeven years ago and live very centrally, I don't have the need of a car for transport, ad I doubt I could afford to run one anyhow... That said, I would if ever it became affordable and practical love to have a couple of old school cars. The hot rodding approach appeals as it would allow moorway driving and so on... nothing extreme, though. I'd be all about practicality, not performance. I always liked the early fifties British Fords - RHD as standard, a more practical size for our roads (the average British car of the period, frm what I've seen first hand, was about 2/3 to 7/8 the size of the US equivalent), and not quite as thirsty (no V8s in our shopping runabouts ). Part of me would love to have an early fifties model that was (at least externally) entirely period-correct, with an identical model that represented the same car several years later, under the ownership of some young greaser who turnedit into a bit of a rat rod.... I think that would be fun.

 

[David Conwill]

Meet “Le Nain Bordeaux”, my concept for a personalized 1926 Ford:

I have a ‘26 roadster frame that I intend to build into a period vehicle. I don’t want a restored, stock Flivver, though. I’ve been evolving my plan, which started out as a ‘23-‘25 roadster built in the Multy Aldrich style.

My plan is to use a Model A engine (with period hop ups yet to be determined), front axle, and wheels; and a Model T “Ruckstell” 2-speed rear axle (the A trans and T torque tube can be mated with a special U-joint). My intent is to use no parts of a newer design or style than 1932.

What do you think? I intend for Le Nain Bordeaux to sit a bit lower than this (with reversed spring eyes), but the color scheme and the raked windshield were what I was testing out with this Photoshop (courtesy of HAMBster “Russian”).

-Dave

 

[Talbot]

Meet “Le Nain Bordeaux”, my concept for a personalized 1926 Ford:

I have a ‘26 roadster frame that I intend to build into a period vehicle. I don’t want a restored, stock Flivver, though. I’ve been evolving my plan, which started out as a ‘23-‘25 roadster built in the Multy Aldrich style.

My plan is to use a Model A engine (with period hop ups yet to be determined), front axle, and wheels; and a Model T “Ruckstell” 2-speed rear axle (the A trans and T torque tube can be mated with a special U-joint). My intent is to use no parts of a newer design or style than 1932.

What do you think? I intend for Le Nain Bordeaux to sit a bit lower than this (with reversed spring eyes), but the color scheme and the raked windshield were what I was testing out with this Photoshop (courtesy of HAMBster “Russian”).

-Dave

Dave,

Looks great! A cool little jitney to be sure.

I'm not up on banger gear, what year did Rajo heads come out?

Keep us posted on progress.

 

[David Conwill]

Talbot,

You know, I wasn't exactly sure when the first Rajo head for a Ford (he later made Chevy 6 heads) came out. Wikipedia indicates it was around 1914 or 1916, which jives, as they're a part I associate with the 1920s (likewise with Frontenac heads).

-Dave

 

[Warbaby]

Here's a photo of one of the earliest hot-rods I've ever seen. The photo was taken in the early 1920s. I imagine driving this was a bit of hair-raising fun...

 

[David Conwill]

Here's a photo of one of the earliest hot-rods I've ever seen. The photo was taken in the early 1920s. I imagine driving this was a bit of hair-raising fun...

That could be the prototype for the much-maligned Rootlieb speedster, only sans fenders. Can I ask where you got the photo and your information on it?

-Dave

 

[Talbot]

Meet “Le Nain Bordeaux”, my concept for a personalized 1926 Ford:


-Dave

Hot rodding Hulot style?

 

[David Conwill]

The name is an homage to Le Nain Rouge, the little devil who is traditionally blamed for Detroit's misfortunes. It comes from the city's past as a French colony.

-Dave

 

[Warbaby]

That could be the prototype for the much-maligned Rootlieb speedster, only sans fenders. Can I ask where you got the photo and your information on it?

-Dave

The photo is from an album that I was watching on eBay a couple of days ago. I don't know if the auction has ended or not - I dropped it from my watch list when I decided to go for another album that's coming up later this week. I'll take a look and see if I can find it if it's still an active auction. If i do, I'll PM you the details - the seller might know more than is in the listing description.