Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[Bob Heine]

That has to be one of the earliest rear-engine dragsters. They were difficult to drive because there was no sense of the car going sideways until it was too late to correct. Draglist.com ought to add this one to their rear-engine story:
http://www.draglist.com/stories/SOD Sep 2000/SOD-091500.htm

 

[N8]

That has to be one of the earliest rear-engine dragsters. They were difficult to drive because there was no sense of the car going sideways until it was too late to correct. Draglist.com ought to add this one to their rear-engine story:
http://www.draglist.com/stories/SOD Sep 2000/SOD-091500.htm

Navarro ran one on the strip and at Bonneville also but I forget the years.

This is a fantastic thread. You have an incredible space and story.
The history alone, for someone like me, is the real treat.
I have been collecting old hot rod memorabilia for awhile such as original Halibrand V8 quick change casting molds, literature, rare Howards 6 port intake parts etc.) and the resurrection of the shop and car make me proud there are still enough of us carrying it on.

 

[BigAl62]

Here is a photo Lou Bingham sent to me of another Jeraulds car..
Someone from the San Diego Roadster Club gave it to him years ago. We have NO INFO on the car , driver or years this photo was taken. Only thing we know for sure is it was taken at Paradise Mesa Drag Strip. This photo was taken by Bob Hardee. A San Diego LEDGED at the local race tracks as Official Track Photographer

The body work on this car reminds me of those fenders I hammed out in a hour for Fred Lobellos Tank for Bonneville this year, Ain't nothing smooth about them ... but they work...

Randy Chenowth

You should send a copy of this picture to Hot Rod DeLuxe magazine, they are all about vintage hot rods and vintage race cars. Maybe one of their readers can help with information on this car. I'm not sure of their address, but you can probably find it online or pick up a magazine. (This magazine is not the regular Hot Rod magazine, but a separate magazine they publish covering just vintage hot rod stuff.)

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

You should send a copy of this picture to Hot Rod DeLuxe magazine, they are all about vintage hot rods and vintage race cars. Maybe one of their readers can help with information on this car. I'm not sure of their address, but you can probably find it online or pick up a magazine. (This magazine is not the regular Hot Rod magazine, but a separate magazine they publish covering just vintage hot rod stuff.)

I subscribe to HOT ROD DELUXE , I love it just for the old photos.
I'll look up the address & send them the photo.
As I said I have NO INFO on the car , driver or when the photo was taken , the cars & trucks in the background date the photo to the mid 1950's
Randy Chenowth

 

[BigAl62]

I subscribe to HOT ROD DELUXE , I love it just for the old photos.
I'll look up the address & send them the photo.
As I said I have NO INFO on the car , driver or when the photo was taken , the cars & trucks in the background date the photo to the mid 1950's
Randy Chenowth

Glad to help. Sometimes it just takes a second set of eyes to find an answer.

 

[markviii]

Tom's home, we watched The World's Fastest Indian tonight, and Lou's visiting tomorrow. They'll swap stories about the Salt Flats, then Tom and Cameron will be back in the shop for some work on one of the cars after that. And the weather's great!

Chris

 

[BB767]

I'm back after braving Hurricane Irene. In the last 20 days I've been home a total of......2 days, so thanks everyone for being patient with me here! After Bonneville I went almost directly to Sao Paulo via NY for a couple of round trips. Then the third trip was scheduled out Saturday night, the exact time Irene was suppose to make landfall in the NY area so that was cancelled and I had to wait it out. Monday I did manage to find my way out on the first flight out to O'Hare. See, we really do lead a glamours life in commercial aviation.

Here's some more Bonneville material to continue:



This is Fred Lobello on the left, age 89 and Lou Bingham, age 79 together. Fred first hit the salt in the 1940's and Lou began in 1950. Thats' over 60 years these two have know each other and they're still out there. The famous speed people these two have seen over the years out there is nothing short of amazing.




This was some of the vintage tools and oil they used on Fred's tanker.




Fred's tanker under Randy's (back, left) watchful gaze. Driver Jacob, in black, is explaining to fellow racers how he's going to get the courage up to drive the car.



Jacob's cockpit.



Right side of the engine...



...left side...



...rear suspension...



...pointy end...







Jacob mentally rehearsing his driving check list; "pointy end forward, pointy end forward, pointy end........"



The trophy on the left is for the team with the fastest speed during Speed Week. It starts in the 1940's and has some legendary names engraved on it. Mine is not one of them....



Fred Lobello's former tanker "Lady Bug" was featured at the driver's meeting. There's no one around yet because Lou and I were the first one's there so I could get some clean shots of "Lady Bug" like this one and ...



... this one...er, that's not right is it?



This is Bill Brutsman and Lou out near one of the courses (there were 4 courses of varying lengths). We were bringing supplies out to Bill. Bill volunteered to be a track observer which means...



...he was a few miles down the course watching the cars running and in case a car had a problem he could radio that in to the starter.



He also had to keep spectators off the course and insure the course was clear for each run. A thankless job, but the meet couldn't operate without the time and effort of these volunteers.



Part of Lou and my assignments was to act as "catch crew" for Roadster Club members cars. We were stationed a few miles down the #2 course at 4 1/2 miles. If the race car did a full run it went the full 5 miles, if it didn't do a full run and "turned out" early on the course, we could go either direction, up course or down course as necessary to reach it quickly. The binoculars were helpful watching the cars approach and making sure the car wasn't having a "mechanical event" dropping pieces/parts on the course. They also helped us to see and verify they got good, full deployment of their chutes or in some cases see if the car was on fire.



We would be the first to meet the car as it pulled off the course and ensure the driver could get out and then on some cars, we would remove part of the body work immediately as it was close to the exhaust system and could be a fire hazard to the body work. The push crew would drive up from the starting line to recover the car and tow it back to the pits. It might take the push crew a while to reach the race cars, so we were pre-positioned and could get there almost immediately if there was a problem.

More coming on this and other subjects...

Rested Thomas

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Thomas, welcome back to the land of s-s-s-l-l-l-o-o-o-w-w-w drivers. Did you remember to bring back a little something for Chris for her keeping the home fires burning? Maybe a little of the Bonneville salt for kitchen use? lol

Being a pilot, do you know if anyone has ever used the flats to make an emergency landing?

Just wondering if your trip has 'inspired' you to do something special with that flathead?

 

[charlief1]

The sad part here is that I don't see many young people any where near the event. To me this is sad. If I was able at 18 or younger to go I would've been like a kid in a candy store, to say the least.

 

[BB767]

Thomas, welcome back to the land of s-s-s-l-l-l-o-o-o-w-w-w drivers. Did you remember to bring back a little something for Chris for her keeping the home fires burning? Maybe a little of the Bonneville salt for kitchen use? lol

Being a pilot, do you know if anyone has ever used the flats to make an emergency landing?

Just wondering if your trip has 'inspired' you to do something special with that flathead?

Thanks Omphaloskeptic for the welcome home. The interesting thing is, with nothing beside the various race courses to compare the cars to while they were running, slower cars, say 200 mph or less don't seem to be going all that fast. The fastest one I saw was a streamliner doing 435 mph+ but you could tell he was really clicking along.


As for aircraft using the flats, there was this Cessna parked along with all the spectator cars just like this was an everyday deal...

...I don't know if this was the result of an emergency or...

... if they just wanted a closer look at all the neat cars.

Over the decades I'm sure several light aircraft have used the salt flats for an emergency landing strip but to my knowledge not a large, heavy commercial or military aircraft. They'd break through the salt crust and then it would start to get ugly. More suitable would be a dry lake bed such as Edward's Air Force Base where the shuttle has landed a few times.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

The sad part here is that I don't see many young people any where near the event. To me this is sad. If I was able at 18 or younger to go I would've been like a kid in a candy store, to say the least.

Well, there were a few younger folks enjoying themselves there charlief1...

Many of the crew of this single Cadillac engine powered streamliner were "youthful".

These guys were looking at running 400+ mph.

Superb engineering everywhere you looked...

I bet the electronics were just like a video game to the younger crowd, right?

I suspect a couple of reason you don't see more young people at Bonneville especially, is because it truly is in a remote area. For spectators its not easy to get to and with minimal accommodations once you're there. To run there has become quite expensive. Entry fee alone is $400 so it takes serious money to play at any of the faster levels. There were several college teams running in various classes. Those were mostly engineering types learning first hand which was great to see. I bet they learned more in one week at Bonneville than a full year at school.

I agree though the age of people at many racing events these days are not as young as when I first start attending years ago. Whenever spectators come into my or my friends pits, we try our best to welcome and engage them in the sport, especially youngsters. Let them sit in the cars, put a helmet on them, take pictures etc. Hook 'em while they're young!

Thomas

 

[BB767]

I started reading this thread Monday and now I have reached the end. Very interesting read and I really feel I know Thomas and Chris personally after reading about the garage and restoration projects. I have one question, how soon will you be building your house on the property? After reading this and getting to "know" the two of you I have a mental image of the house I think you would build. I will be interested to see how accurate I am. One thing I am pretty sure of is that it will have a carport.

MacTexas hello! It's been about a week since you posted this and I've not gotten back to you, so sorry. Salt, wind, rain, hurricanes, pestilence etc prevented an earlier reply, you understand I'm sure!

Chris and I will build our retirement home out at Timber Haven once the economy is more conducive to selling our present 100 year old Victorian home. I don't want to have one or the other structure vacant so we'll sell this one first and then build. The new home will take advantage of the site with it's terrific view to the south and the mature timber all around. I'm a big believer in environmental conservation so it will contain passive solar features, be as energy efficient as possible utilizing geothermal heat and maximizing insulation. Visuality I'm interested in a good looking structure and not some weird, one off, odd ball. A handsome home if you will that I would like to indeed incorporate a carport. I'm just so surprised you don't see more of them; they are useful in the hot blazing sun, provide shelter in rain or snow, help keep large overhead door openings drier etc. At present I have 4 of them with all my different buildings and they are easily one of my most favorite features as I'm sure everyone knows by now.

Welcome to our little corner of the world and BTW, you're not at the end of this thread, just at a lull in the action.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Navarro ran one on the strip and at Bonneville also but I forget the years.

This is a fantastic thread. You have an incredible space and story.
The history alone, for someone like me, is the real treat.
I have been collecting old hot rod memorabilia for awhile such as original Halibrand V8 quick change casting molds, literature, rare Howards 6 port intake parts etc.) and the resurrection of the shop and car make me proud there are still enough of us carrying it on.

Hi N8 and I appreciate your kind words. I too have always loved history, nearly majored in it at college. I think I get my appreciation of it from my father who always respected and admired those who went before him. He instilled in me a duty to preserve that which is worthwhile preserving and pass it along to the next generation. People of the past have done that for me and now I'm in a position to do it for others. Someones got to do it don't they?

I'd love to see some of your racing memorabilia. Post some of it if you like, maybe on the "Free Parkin" forum and post the link here. I'm sure others would be interested as well. A most warm welcome to you.

Thomas

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

it's terrific view to the south

You mean the view of the air/drag strip.

 

[markviii]

rlwhitetr3b, shhhh! Don't remind him!

Also, Omphaloskeptic. Tom did not bring me back a ziplock baggie of the real salt - I guess there's some left in his shoe threads, but not enough to even put on a boiled egg! The pictures have been great and Lou brought a DVD documentary yesterday about Ab Jenkins (look him up). We've been immersed in Salt Flats history this past month!

Chris

 

[JC23]

Chris,

I'm thinkin a lot of us would like to hear your take on Tom coming back from the Holy Land of Salt. Was he a changed man? Is he different, now? What are we NOT seeing by his usual great posts?

Inquring minds want to know!

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Chris,

I'm thinkin a lot of us would like to hear your take on Tom coming back from the Holy Land of Salt. Was he a changed man? Is he different, now? What are we NOT seeing by his usual great posts?

Inquring minds want to know!

JC23
I have know Thomas for a little over a year. First time I met him the salt flats were mentioned , but it was not a major topic. He acted like a normal everyday gear head that loves tools & cars.

Then I met up with him at the salt...He was a change man
Personally I think he has a bad case of SALT FEVER.....
I know I have a case of SALT FEVER. There is no cure. You have to treat the illness with a large dose of salt every 12 months & see something drive past at 400+ mph.

I blame Lou Bingham he has been infected with this disease since the 1950's. Thomas & I have contracted it from Lou... THANKS LOU, YOU DA MAN

Randy Chenowth

 

[markviii]

JC23 - the changes aren't always visible. The clothes he packed and used were so neatly folded (as usual) that it was impossible to detect that they were even worn (I thought Lou had washed them before dropping them off at our house!). Tom came home from the Salt Flats, slept one night and was off to 9 days of flying. When he returned, we watched a documentary about the Salt Flats. Lou showed up the next day (yesterday) to just hang out with us, leaving a book and a DVD - about Bonneville. Seems that it may be a return destination!

Yep, it must be Lou! (if we gotta blame someone, he's the guy -- he doesn't check this thread when he's not home, so this will go undetected for a while!). Lou knows many of the early Bonneville guys, having been there since the 50s himself. He's our living history book!

The Salt sneaks up on you for sure. Isn't salt the foundation of civilization, a great preservative (look at all the old guys at Bonneville for proof - the activity keeps them young), difficult to obtain so it's highly valued, and addictive? It's proven you can't live without salt.

And then there are dreams. You can't really live without those either, I guess. It's great when you can make a dream come true. Going to the Salt Flats checked another one off for Tom (at least once). I don't have the right to say 'no' to something like that. (I'll be going off to Hawaii and my picture framing conference as a trade-off!).

We feel very blessed to have Lou as our friend. It seems like we've known each other for a life time. Our house is his house and vice versa.

I haven't detected many changes in Tom since his return - he's still the goal-directed person he was before with one more checked off of his TO Do list and eager to get on to the next unfinished project (the BB) and the drag race in 2 weeks (car still needs to be prepped). The need for speed has always been there and he'll always find a way to get there.

Chris

 

[JC23]

Thanks. Not only from me but others who enjoyed your (and Randy's) answers. We are out there and say thanks for the dash of salt...

 

[N8]

Hi N8 and I appreciate your kind words. I too have always loved history, nearly majored in it at college. I think I get my appreciation of it from my father who always respected and admired those who went before him. He instilled in me a duty to preserve that which is worthwhile preserving and pass it along to the next generation. People of the past have done that for me and now I'm in a position to do it for others. Someones got to do it don't they?

I'd love to see some of your racing memorabilia. Post some of it if you like, maybe on the "Free Parkin" forum and post the link here. I'm sure others would be interested as well. A most warm welcome to you.

Thomas

Thomas,
I see some photos of the 444 car there and a very good friend of mine that crews with that car.

I should also say I am taken with your story because I grew up in Utah and was surrounded by the Bonneville culture and have been many times.

I have a few shots of some of my items on my garage thread. I don't want to pollute your story here with my images.
I would gladly PM you the link and you can have a look at it.

Another good friend of mine who is a regular at the flats went out again this year and bested his old record so I certainly know what is involved to even make it there!

Again congratulations. You and your team have accomplished something others only dream about. It's an inspiration.

Regards,

Nate

 

[BB767]

JC23
I have know Thomas for a little over a year. First time I met him the salt flats were mentioned , but it was not a major topic. He acted like a normal everyday gear head that loves tools & cars.

Then I met up with him at the salt...He was a change man
Personally I think he has a bad case of SALT FEVER.....
I know I have a case of SALT FEVER. There is no cure. You have to treat the illness with a large dose of salt every 12 months & see something drive past at 400+ mph.

I blame Lou Bingham he has been infected with this disease since the 1950's. Thomas & I have contracted it from Lou... THANKS LOU, YOU DA MAN

Randy Chenowth

Randy, you might be on to something there! As for SALT FEVER, note the back of this trailer seen at the Roadster Club pits...



If you can read the initials on the bottom of the purple San Diego Roadster Club decal, lower left, they are as follows "W M B C S B W E". Translated that stands for "We May Be Chicken $hit But We're Exclusive" And this from a club formed in 1941 and still going strong.



Here's a partial view of the SDRC pits, way down near the far end is Fred's tanker. SDRC had covered club pits for 15 cars, plus some individual club members had thier own covered pits. In total the club had 23 cars entered, the largest of any SCTA club I believe. Those boys have the fever REAL bad!

Here are just some of the other club members cars...





















The engine pictured above belonged to a member of both of the SDRC and the Bean Bandits. It ran in the 4 cylinder class. They took an modern OHV V8 block and only ran one side of it. On the unused other bank of empty cylinders...



...they installed an old flat head to cap off the empty block. It's completely non functional but looked very cool! The D F Q written on the air box is racer code for when things aren't going well and it stands for, well... in polite company it stands for Don't Forget the Quest. You get to figure out what it means when things are really not going well, but it starts with Don't and ends with Quit.

This club member ran a traditional tanker...









...that was called the...



...Scandinavian Street Rod in honor of all our Scandinavian readers here I'm sure. It was powdered by a blown Model A engine seen here...



Note the metal bars running along the cylinders on the block. Those bolted to the cylinder head on top and...



...this girdle attached to the bottom of the block. That way they could squeeze the block in between to hopefully keep from blowing it up.



Here's a better look at the pressurized oil system they rigged up for the engine. Fabulous to watch these fellows working on the car, very diligent.

One look at my library at home shows it contains many, many books on the Salt Flats and Bonneville that I've collected over the years. That place has always intrigued me, now more than ever.

Thomas

 

[realvc]

Hello Thomas, Chris and the whole thread crew.
Thanks for sharing these great pictures of your shop, drag cars, show cars and the salt flats adventure.
I'm a regular follower and enjoy your updates and everyone's comments.
I have always liked the old Stude coupes as salt flat cars. They just look like what a salt flats go fast ride should look like to me.
Thanks again for all the time you spend keeping this epic going.

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

The Y MANIFOLD Gang & the OUT HOUSE ACCIDENT

Thomas
YOU DA MAN. Great Photos
We were so busy thrashing on Lobello's car that I maybe spent about 30 minutes looking at other cars in the pits. The farthest I got from our pit stall was up to see the Bean Bandits & that was only 6 or 7 pit stalls away from where we were pitted. Almost everything else was seen as we drove by towing the race car with me sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Your photos have shown me things I would have never seen.
I correct my self I did walk the 1/8 mile down to the out houses one morning. I was in a BIG hurry to get there, not much time to look at race cars & I had to hurry back because we were headed to tech inspection that morning.
Everything at Bonneville was one big adventure, Even the trip to the out house was exciting.
As I sat there contemplating life , hoping there was enough paper & wishing I had a HOT ROD magazine to read. I heard some one yell "LOOK OUT" . About 2 seconds later something slammed into the row of out houses. For a moment I though it was going to tip over..I wasn't in a poisson to rush out & check out what was going on. But I heard someone say " ARE YOU OK " , Then someone else answered "YES, I THINK SO". Then the first person said "YOU NEED TO WATCH WERE YOUR GOING ,YOUR GOING TO GET F***ING RUN OVER".
5 minutes later when I came out of the out house no one was around & the row of out houses was all crooked... I think someone on a bicycle hit the row of out houses????

How come everyone else has cool stories about Bonneville & all I have to remember is have problems with that vintage beast Fred Lobello owns & almost getting killed in a out house. LOLOLOL , But you know.... I STILL HAD A BLAST AT THE SALT

Again Thomas. Thanks for the great photos. If you got more , I cant wait to see them.

Randy Chenowth

 

[3bay]

Very cool pics of the salt Folks!

Thank you all for sharing them and the stories with all of us wannabees . . .

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Y MANIFOLD GANG

Here is a photo of one of the DIFFERENT people we saw at the Salt ... notice in the upper right hand corner of the photo - See the vice grips. I got no idea what they were used for.

When I took the photo of this guy with his stoggy & top hat. I didn't notice them & I can only wonder what those vice grips were hold to the door frame... He must have been out of duct tapeshadeFlats

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Y MANIFOLD GANG

TEAM LOBELLO at the Bonneville sign
Mike Bloom , Jose Serrano , Fred Lobello , Jacob Bagnell & Randy Chenowth

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Busted piston that some guy took out of his Flathead Ford V8. He drove to Bonneville from New York in his vintage rat rod. He said he drove for a 100 miles with the motor running funny. They stopped a few time to try to figure out what the problem was but couldn't figure it out. They met some guy in the mid-west that let them use his shop & tools to fix the problem. Lucky he had a extra set of pistons with him.

Here is the dip in the road right where you first drive onto the salt, the morning after the thunder storm

Thomas & Lou Bingham were camping at the bend in the road with all the other hippies.... That place was a muddy mess with wind busted up tents & pop up shades everywhere.

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Lobello Streamliner / Lakester Belly Tank in line for tech inspection
Photo taken by John Edwin Mason

 

[BB767]

The Y MANIFOLD Gang & the OUT HOUSE ACCIDENT

Thomas
YOU DA MAN. Great Photos
We were so busy thrashing on Lobello's car that I maybe spent about 30 minutes looking at other cars in the pits. The farthest I got from our pit stall was up to see the Bean Bandits & that was only 6 or 7 pit stalls away from where we were pitted. Almost everything else was seen as we drove by towing the race car with me sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Your photos have shown me things I would have never seen....


....How come everyone else has cool stories about Bonneville & all I have to remember is have problems with that vintage beast Fred Lobello owns & almost getting killed in a out house. LOLOLOL , But you know.... I STILL HAD A BLAST AT THE SALT

Again Thomas. Thanks for the great photos. If you got more , I cant wait to see them.

Randy Chenowth

Randy, here you are checking something on the car while being towed out for the umteenth time.



This is some of the group that drove out from upstate New York, 2,000+ miles, one with the broken piston. I believe they're associated with "The Rollin' Bones" garage/group.



They were right across the pit lane from the SDRC pits so I got to speak at length with a few.



Not all their cars were "patinaed"







Once at the flats some of that group...



...then pulled their street engines out...



...dropped in race engines and when racing on the salt. Once done they reversed it, yanked the race engines out and swapped back street engines and drove home to New York. The pits were a scene right out of the 1950's. The cover over their pits was Army surplus camouflage netting. Nicest bunch of fellows, first rate cars.



This was a support vehicle next to them...



...so called "Flying Goddess Garage". Yup, first rate all the way.



Scandinavia was well represented; not only the vintage tanker from post #3582, but also this wicked looking Saab. Not in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought I would be saying that about a Saab.



Exquisite bike...



Not sure but I think it was a BMW.



Thomas

 

[BB767]

Y MANIFOLD GANG

Here is a photo of one of the DIFFERENT people we saw at the Salt ... notice in the upper right hand corner of the photo - See the vice grips. I got no idea what they were used for.

When I took the photo of this guy with his stoggy & top hat. I didn't notice them & I can only wonder what those vice grips were hold to the door frame... He must have been out of duct tapeshadeFlats

Randy, this is what the other side of that "car" looked like. To each his own.

Thomas

 

[Kanticoy]

Not sure but I think it was a BMW.

Thomas, that is Mike Geokan's Bonneville Bullet. It's Harley powered (if you can call it that anymore!). I use his scavenge pumps on several applications. Thanks for posting that man. I've been following him for years. Awesome to see he's still making the dream happen.

Here's a link of the build.

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/bonneville2.htm

 

[BB767]

Thomas, that is Mike Geokan's Bonneville Bullet. It's Harley powered (if you can call it that anymore!). I use his scavenge pumps on several applications. Thanks for posting that man. I've been following him for years. Awesome to see he's still making the dream happen.

Here's a link of the build.

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/bonneville2.htm

Thanks for the correction Kanticoy and the link. That makes much more sense if you look in the background at the guys who were crewing for it. Not that I'm one to stereo-type mind you. Just fabulous workmanship. Well done even if it was polished instead of powder coated.

Thomas

 

[MisteR Tee]

Randy, this is what the other side of that "car" looked like. To each his own.

Thomas

Hey, that's a 26/27 Doctor's coupe you're talking about there!!! Now if it just had fenders & running boards it'd be pretty neat!!

The Rolling Bones guys are pretty cool as well, a couple of Brits have travelled with them in previous years.

 

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Hey, that's a 26/27 Doctor's coupe you're talking about there!!! Now if it just had fenders & running boards it'd be pretty neat!!

The Rolling Bones guys are pretty cool as well, a couple of Brits have travelled with them in previous years.

Some might call that a rat rod... I call it a HOT ROD with true nostalgic spirit.
No $50,000.00 paint job. Few store bought parts. Patina / RUST that some would kill for...
You don't need fenders or running boards. You don't even need rims that match. OK may be it has some features that most wouldn't put on a hot rod. But thats what makes it unique. Those features are what got me to stop & look closer , then I noticed the guy sitting in the drivers seat. He was as unique as the car. He was being himself... & I don't think he cares what any of us think of his car or him. I'm sure this guy has SALT FEVER...
You Rock Brother

PS: I really like the tow hooks on the front corners of the roof. Kind of look like devil horns

 

[ScottS]

A little video That is in tune with the time frame of the shop.

Scott

 

[markviii]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing, ScottS. Our Terraplane "Three on the Tree" is a 1937, so this assembly line footage is of the relative same vintage.

Chris

 

[Vernmotor]

Cool vid !

 

[BB767]

A little video That is in tune with the time frame of the shop.

Scott

Really excellent video Scott. Yup, it's definitely in the era of the shop. Thank you making this thread better and better!!

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Hey, that's a 26/27 Doctor's coupe you're talking about there!!! Now if it just had fenders & running boards it'd be pretty neat!!

The Rolling Bones guys are pretty cool as well, a couple of Brits have travelled with them in previous years.

Hello there MisteR Tee, it was a very unusual body style for me, thanks for identifying it.

As for cool guys at Bonneville the few Brits I talked with out there sure were, very enthusiastic! To be honest there really wasn't anyone out there who wasn't cool, at least I didn't come across them. Very tight fraternity out there and according to Lou, that's the way it's always been on the salt. I feel fortunate to have experienced it for myself.

Thomas

 

[lostmind]

Hello,
I've been folowing this thread since the begining.There is nothing on the internet
Quite as interesting.I was a mechanic for 47 years and worked in several "shops" that resembled yours in the "early" days.Chris's post (no. 3587) mentions your chassis with the tree groing up through it.Ive owned many Hudson's and Terraplanes and I think
research will show your frame is a 1939 Hudson with a Terraplane engine in it or
a Terraplane head mounted to the engine.They are interchangeable.I'm not trying to
find fault,just hoping to add fact.Hudson or Terraplane did not have coloum shift untill
1939 and the bumpers are 1939.I'm looking forward to more photo's of the old shop.

Thanks and keep posting please! Roy (lostmind)