This 1950's club is newly revived here in town after being defunct for who knows how many decades. Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In 1960 my friends and I started the Journeyman car club in Wilmington CA. The club only lasted a couple years. After that I joined the Laymen car club. We had great parties and dances. At our dances no one wanted to bring their 45 records because sometimes they would get broken or stolen. We found a jukebox co. In L.A. That would load the jukebox with the records we wanted and deliver it to where the party/dance was gonna be. No money was needed, just push the buttons. Then pick it up on Monday. It was great. Those were good times!! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Repop or one from way back when... Is there any way to tell if a plaque is from way back when or if it has been newly made?
Well if it says O'Brien Truckers on the back it's been made in the last 40 years Probably the same goes for a plaque that has Chicago Metal Craft Port Chicago Calif. cast on the back although a decent foundry can easily copy that backcasting. Note, of the 8,000 CM plaques that I have about half have no backcasting so you could have an original without the CM casting on the back. More likely to be original is one that is stamped with an oval with Stylized Emblem Los Angeles inside or stamped with a triangle with Koehler Foundry Bell Calif stamped inside because it's very difficult to copy a metal stamp imprint and have it look like a stamping. (FYI, all of Stylized Emblems were actually manufactured by Koehler - hence both of them using the stamps for marking.) In the case on Speed Gems, if their marking was on the back it wasn't a stamping on the plaque but rather a stamping on the back of their matchplate (the board that the pattern is mounted on) and as such is not a crisp stamping like Stylized or Koehler and also is much harder to determine as an original since a good foundry can duplicate it on a repop. Plaques with a backside like in post #1175 above looks like a repop and the plaque in #1177 above is probably a repop - no good foundry would send a customer a plaque with that defect above the "N" left like that. Bill Junge has pictures of several different back casting on this page: http://carclubplaques.pairsite.com/Cities/Stock.htm Thousands of plaques were made in small local foundries (like the one that has made our 160,000 plaques) and thousands more were made in high school shop classes which were much more prevalent in the 1950/60's than there are now. If you send me a close up picture of the front and back of your plaque at info@obrientruckers.com I'll be glad to take a look at the pictures and give you my opinion. Dennis O'Brien
Dennis,I saw this on your site and I'm curious,is this one you made in the last 40 years or is it one that was purchased when you bought out a company?. I've lived in Anderson my entire life - 67 years and never heard of them. HRP
That is one of the 8,000 Chicago Metal Craft patterns I bought from the original patternmaker and I received no paperwork with the purchase of these or the 4100 patterns from Speed Gems. All I can tell you about this one is that it was made in the 1950/60's and they only ordered plaques once. Could be that you were still in short pants when the club was formed (and maybe when they disbanded if they didn't last long.) Any old time motorheads (like 80-90 years old) left in town? Here's better pictures of the front and back of what I have. I think you should get one and hang it on your car to troll for people who may know about the club - could be an oldtimer or a son/nephew/grandson/great-grandson. What do you say - we're up for a small world story
I've got one from Carl's speed shop in KCMO that I need to make an impression of and start making copies for the masses
I'm going to guess the club was based in Bridgeport, TX. That's because of the TCMAA on it and it looks like a lot of other plaques on this page on my website ..... TARRANT COUNTY MODIFIED AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION I'd guess the BPPD stands for Bridge Port PD who was probably a sponsor of the club. According to Wikipedia, Bridgeport is in Wise County but I'm not sure if that's near Tarrant County. My Hot Rod and Custom Car Clubs book has several Chaparrals clubs listed and six from these towns in Texas: Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, Hale Center, San Angelo and Whitewright. It also shows one in "Odessa" but doesn't list the state.
The club started in Dallas in 1949. I’m not real positive on where the early club members lived but from what I understand most were around the Dallas area. I’ve showed KKrod our club “historian” , and all around swell guy, and we couldn’t come up with much more than you just described. Maybe somebody else will chime in and know more details. BTW, There is a town in Texas by the name of Odessa. Thanks for the info!! CFFC
I have to dig out my San Diego plaque - it is one of the original 12 as I was a member. EDIT: I didn't remember "SCSRA" on it. However, here is my original T shirt obtained at the same time, which refreshed my memory! .
Probably because it's a bogus plaque. I think the original plaques had WN instead of WA, like the one you have. Notice that the "A" in WA on yours is a different font. The NWTA could have been added to a plaque that was used as a pattern. Is there a list of NWTA clubs somewhere? Compare yours with this one that I believe to be an original .....
Taboo's original club plaque still with the car. The club was all customs originally in the early 60's
I'll be interested in hearing the response you get to your question. I'm guessing you purchased that plaque on eBay from a guy who has sold a lot of his family's "Estate Items" there.
The Jalopy Journal
