Hot Rods H&J Service Station '34 3W Race Car From Temple, PA!

Man this is so cool! That Russ Delp was a drivin' dude!

Hey @Al Consoli, I don't suppose you recall any details of this car like say the engine color by chance? I mean it's only been 55 years right???

 

Only 55 years ...... Let's see... Photographs and TV were mostly black and white and so is my memory.

 

This is why Mitch Zajac stopped driving and just built motors.

 

Well, I've given it some thought, and I'm thinking the block was black. I remember that one time Gary Wolford blew the Bobby Abel motor he had in his car and borrowed a Zajac motor, and it was black. However, I've seen a scale model at one of the reunion shows, and the model had a red engine block. I may have a photo of the model somewhere. Also, I'm pretty sure Zajac used Edelbrock heads, not Offy.
Also, as I recall the maroon and white paint job on the #14 .... The maroon was a very dark shade and more on the brownish side than red. The color on the last restoration is not correct.

 

@Al Consoli Black would make sense I think for the block? Red would be cool too! I may leave it green until I find out for sure.


According to this great pic you sent it had Offy heads?

 

I think either red, or maroon like the car itself would be good on the engine block. I liked the idea of silver on the transmission, would make a sharp combo.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Hmmm.. I suppose Gary got the reject motor with the Edelbrock heads.

Here is a photo of the scale model display. It looks like Russ Delp and Bobby Hersh signed their models. The model builder has the color right, but he used a '32 body.

 

Wow!!!! How cool!

 

When and where was that picture of the models taken @Al Consoli?

 

June 2009 at the Reading Municipal Stadium........ It was at the Reading Fairgrounds Racing Historical Society's first Hall of Fame induction ceremony. There were a lot of restored race cars there and many of the old drivers and car owners. I didn't take many pictures, but if you want to see some of them I'll post them.

 

I would love to see them! Post away please!

 

I've been watching this thread with great interest. I am in the same situation with a "Modified Stock Car" out of southern Minnesota. My car was the state champion for a couple of years in the '60's and was driven by a driver with a great reputation named Jack McCorkell. I think we're lucky we have these cars intact, because they were usually "cannibalized" to make the next generation of race cars. I believe mine survived because it was of the last generation of the old "Modifieds" that had running gear mainly made from stock components. My car was Minnesota State Champion if '65 and '66, an also-ran in '67, and by '68 that cl*** of racing had morphed into "Super-Mods" that were essentially sprint cars with roofs. Over the years I have ac***ulated a lot of do***entation on my car; it's amazing what some of those old race fans collected. Keep looking, and if you can, go to all the vintage races in the original area. That's what I did, and a couple of times, I was approached by some locals who had been fans back in the day and had saved programs, etc. from back in the old days that they gave me. One of my most prized possessions is a "pin-back" ****on with a picture of my car that was sold as a season p*** for the track for 1966 by the American Legion, who sponsored the races back then. A guy just walked up and gave it to me!

Good luck, and I hope you get half the enjoyment out of this car as I have had with mine.

 

All this, and not a single picture of your car? Gene

 

Gene,

Look in my albums. There are several there. If you can't find them, get back to me and I'll post them here. I really don't want to hijack the OP's thread. BTW, my avatar is the engine in the car. This car was so well known in the day that ERTL issued a model of it; not a very accurate model, but it did have the proper colors and lettering.

Tubman

 

Thanks for posting @tubman! It's so exiting to get all this info on these old cars!

 

All I can say is keep looking. I started out with a hulk out of a farmers field knowing nothing, and now I have a file folder about two inches thick of do***entation. I will say however, that I got most of it it 10-20 years ago when the car was only 30-40 years old. I hope you're half as lucky as I was. You sure are off to a better start than I had.

 

Thanks! I'm lucky to have my own historian here in @Al Consoli! He's already come up with more than I could have ever dreamed so thanks again Al! (But please don't stop digging,ha!)

 

I haven't made a bunch of progress on this as I've been screwing around with an old brake lathe that I picked up but I did finally gather all the pieces to convert the open drive trans to closed drive.
I may have to shorten/bend the shifter but I'll wait until it's in the coupe before I do any of that.



I also have a line on some 5" wide wheels for the rear and some old beat up Offy heads. Stay tuned!

 

I have a question for those that were there in '61. Would the flatheads still be running stock mechanical fuel pumps or would they have switched to electric by then???


Also, can anyone identify this carb??? Appears to be a 2 bbl but looks kind of squared off compared to a 94/97.

Looks like two filters stacked!

 

Here is a photo of the scale model display. It looks like Russ Delp and Bobby Hersh signed their models. The model builder has the color right, but he used a '32 body.
View attachment 3478144 [/QUOTE]

Ray Vodden of Southern California is also a prolific model maker and I took many photos of his fantastic collection just like the display above, and posted some of them on "Sunday's Models" on the HAMB a few years ago. Would you like to see them again?

 

Ray Vodden of Southern California is also a prolific model maker and I took many photos of his fantastic collection just like the display above, and posted some of them on "Sunday's Models" on the HAMB a few years ago. Would you like to see them again?[/QUOTE]

Hells yes!

 

Can't help on the carbs, but when did GM come out with the G2 carb? It was kind of square around the float bowl, and probably flowed a little better then the 94/97s. By 61 a lot of manufacturers were building big cu in overhead valve V8s with high flowing carbs. Even the early 4bbl carbs were square looking, not a lot bigger on the outside then a 2bbl carb. One would expect a team that ran consistently at the top like those guys did to be running the best stuff, and trying different stuff to keep the edge.

Double stacking the air filters was pretty common on dirt tracks, helped a bunch on a dry dusty track so you could be sure you were getting enough air into the motor, and keeping dust out of the motor on those long special races that paid well. In the late 60s, the guys around here would use electrical tape to tape around the top rubber base of the bottom filter and the bottom rubber base on the top filter. Several guys would also put a thin coat of suspension type grease on the rubber pieces that would contact the metal lid and base to seal out the dust. Gene

 

Hey Gene if you mean the Rochester 2G I think that was in '55? I run those on my 283 in my '34 (Chevy) but they are really square. I was thinking maybe it was a merc intake and 4 bolt carb but it doesn't look like the teapot on my '50 either. Was there a different carb offered other than the teapot on mercs and Lincolns I wonder?

Thanks for the input on the air cleaners. I definitely want to do that! Even when they switched to the Chevy engine it looks to have them stacked with a sheild in front to keep the big chunks out!

I'm learning a lot here!

 

It's kinda hard to see the carb reference in the pictures, but I'd bet it is a small base Rochester 2GC. They would bolt directly on a Mercury 4 bolt manifold. "Ol' Ron" on the "Ford Barn" says this was the way to go back in those days. From what he says, they won a LOT of races. Back in those days, the rules said a single carb and stock (looking) heads. Weiand sold a lot of "cheater" heads back then.

 

Mr. Ray Vodden: Jalopy and hot rod pilot, model maker.

 

The HAMB is acting funny. Sorry for the double photo posting

 

Given my previous mix up on carb ID, you probably don't want me to name off a bunch of carb numbers. LOL! But the carb the guys ran doesn't necessarily need to be a Ford carb. On the 54 Chrysler and big GM cars used a 4 bbl carb (Carter WO something?) that was squarish. That picture really isn't clear enough for me to see the carb.

As to the fuel pump, did they even make an electric fuel pump in 61? Gene