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Vintage shots from days gone by!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Dog427435, Dec 18, 2009.

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  1. That's a "babe" in anyone's book !!
     
  2. noboD
    Joined: Jan 29, 2004
    Posts: 8,662

    noboD
    Member

    I never knew any of these existed as street cars. I wonder if any still exist.
     
  3. gnichols
    Joined: Mar 6, 2008
    Posts: 11,393

    gnichols
    Member
    from Tampa, FL

  4. loudbang
    Joined: Jul 23, 2013
    Posts: 40,324

    loudbang
    Member

  5. loudbang
    Joined: Jul 23, 2013
    Posts: 40,324

    loudbang
    Member

    Note push car board

    1.JPG

    A few T birds

    2.JPG

    3.JPG

    Black Bird


    3a black bird.JPG


    4.jpg
     
  6. loudbang
    Joined: Jul 23, 2013
    Posts: 40,324

    loudbang
    Member

    flatty.JPG

    Louisa Dragway

    Louisa dragway.jpg

    M&H

    M&H.jpg

    Mickey Thompson

    Mickey Thompson.jpg

    again

    Mickey Thompson1.jpg

    the man himself working

    Mickey Thompson2.jpg
     
  7. Rootie Kazoootie
    Joined: Nov 27, 2006
    Posts: 8,130

    Rootie Kazoootie
    Member
    from Colorado

  8. George Klass
    Joined: Dec 31, 2007
    Posts: 1,076

    George Klass
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    24313140_1486787038024449_6436789684175684196_o_zpswyc5tcy7.JPG
    I've been staring at this photo ever since Gary posted it. It has definitely tripped my trigger. Not just a photo of a couple of dragsters, but of (in my opinion) the zenith of the Top Fuel Dragster. Hoover's car with the neatly formed body, and the yellow car, basically the same but a little more bare bones.

    Almost from the very beginning of drag racing in the early 1950's, there have been dragsters. They may not have been called dragsters at first, maybe "rail jobs", signifying a Model-T or Model-A frame, an engine, and a seat for the driver. Crude would be putting it mildly, but little by little, the concept of the all-out drag car evolved. The stock frames evolved into a dragster frame, the engines evolved from the flathead Ford or Jimmy-6, to every engine under the sun, Buick, Olds, Packard, Lincoln, etc., even aircraft engines, dual engines, one in front of the other and dual engines side by side, even three and four engines. Engines in the front, engines in the back, engine in the front and one in the back, engines mounted sideways, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

    The old saying, everything that goes up must come down, I guess this is a scientific fact. But at some point in all of this, there is a zenith, when whatever is going up stands still in time, just for a second, or just for a billionth of a second, caught in time before if starts to come down. This photo captures that moment in time for me. For me, probably 1964 through 1966 is that moment in time in the evolution of the Top Fuel dragster.

    Look at these two cars, simple is as simple does. No wings for down force, no bill-board ads for sponsors, nothing really "professional", a push-car was required to start the engine, a hobby at it's zenith. The evolution of the chassis became almost a standard configuration although each chassis builder did their own little "thing", maybe the shape of the roll cage, or maybe the length of the wheelbase. The evolution eventually settled on three primary engines of choice, the 392 Chrysler Hemi, the 426 Chrysler Hemi, and the 427 Ford SOHC. This was "IT". For me, it never got better. The ultimate dragsters, before they started their downward slide into what we have now.

    Thank you Gary, for posting that photo...
     
  9. indyrjc
    Joined: Nov 8, 2008
    Posts: 1,008

    indyrjc
    Member
    from Indiana

    Thanks for another great midget photo, Rootie! I don't know who the driver is but he must be part of the crowd running at Gilmore since there always seems to be some movie star type hanging out with the drivers. And is that a muffler on the exhaust? Or maybe it's just a heat guard?

    I could be wrong but the second photo seems to show the George Metzler car on the Bear Rack at IMS in 1947. The car is listed as having a Clemons engine which I really don't know much about. Poor Metzler never had any luck and ended up being killed in the ex-Shaw 1937 500 winning car. His family had been involved in racing before he got started and his uncle Ed was a well thought of mechanic that worked for the Boyle team as well as several others. Here's a photo of Ed.

    http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu/cdm/ref/collection/IMS/id/7607
     
  10. Rootie Kazoootie
    Joined: Nov 27, 2006
    Posts: 8,130

    Rootie Kazoootie
    Member
    from Colorado

    The midget driver is Fred Friday at Gilmore and I suspect the babe is a Hollywood starlet getting a photo op. Friday was a pretty good midget driver but is probably best remembered as the subject of a famous, well published photo of his car on fire at Gilmore one night. I believe they were required to run mufflers at Gilmore as it wasn't far from a populated area. Another track they ran the mufflers like that, back then, was Balboa Stadium as it was pretty much in the middle of town.

    12x-4-f-friday.JPG

    You're right, that is Metzler's car at Indy 47. Here's a shot of Metzler and the car in 1948 as the Glessner Spl.

    12x-4-g-metz.JPG
     
  11. Marty Strode
    Joined: Apr 28, 2011
    Posts: 9,374

    Marty Strode
    Member

    George, 64-66 is my favorite era for Dragsters too, when a couple of guys could pool their money, weld up a chassis in their garage, and go racing ! The other thing about this shot is the variety of push vehicles. That is also the era that Tom Prufer and Brian Burnett were trying to emulate when the nostalgia drag racing movement really got going, at Fremont in the mid-80's.
     
  12. 1gearhead
    Joined: Aug 4, 2005
    Posts: 464

    1gearhead
    Member

    Don't know what it is but it is not a latham.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  13. RichFox
    Joined: Dec 3, 2006
    Posts: 10,020

    RichFox
    Member Emeritus

    Actually I believe it is a Latham. You may be confused by the non over the counter carburetors on it. Not everyone is content to stick with what is in the catalogue. It looks as though this owner used his ingenuity to try to improve upon what was commonly available.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2017
    loudbang, chryslerfan55 and redo32 like this.
  14. unkamort
    Joined: Sep 8, 2006
    Posts: 1,014

    unkamort
    Member

    I read somewhere that this photo (or one very much like it) was the inspiration for all the Flame paint jobs that came along...
    upload_2017-12-4_15-25-21.jpeg
     
  15. yellerspirit
    Joined: Jan 11, 2010
    Posts: 4,364

    yellerspirit
    Member
    from N.H.

  16. yellerspirit
    Joined: Jan 11, 2010
    Posts: 4,364

    yellerspirit
    Member
    from N.H.

  17. yellerspirit
    Joined: Jan 11, 2010
    Posts: 4,364

    yellerspirit
    Member
    from N.H.

  18. zeph4057k
    Joined: Nov 28, 2011
    Posts: 475

    zeph4057k
    Member

    too bad they cut all those 2000 year old trees down....for what, some greedy logging company....sad....
     
  19. KRB52
    Joined: Jul 9, 2011
    Posts: 1,077

    KRB52
    Member
    from Conneticut

    Other guys get a magazine to read...
     
    Gary Reynolds and chryslerfan55 like this.
  20. zeph4057k
    Joined: Nov 28, 2011
    Posts: 475

    zeph4057k
    Member

    look how rusty that Plymouth wagon is !!!!!wow, they rusted fast back then didn't they ?
     
    loudbang and chryslerfan55 like this.
  21. joemac05
    Joined: Jul 29, 2006
    Posts: 469

    joemac05
    Member

    Anybody know if there is a better copy of the original available somewhere. Google didn't come up with anything.
     
    Karfever and chryslerfan55 like this.
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