Absolutely killer car - I also hope to see it at the NHRA museum in Jan. Here's another thread about it with some auction details and more great photos: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272506 Malcolm
Cars reflect their owners and likewise. You can still see the attitude present in the coupe when you meet Art. He is cool as shit and to see him with that car must have been one hell of a perfect day.
Worth every penny. It will never be any cheaper than it is right now. Good for that guy! Hope he enjoys it.
...on a rare (for me) trip to California a few years ago, I bought a Hot Rod mag to read on the plane. It talked about the opening of Joe's Garage in Tustin and I thought that it would be a nice visit. The inside of the building was nearly finished and the exec. assistant took me on a tour. The European mural workers had gone home after spending a year on the fabulous walls. Among all the cars in the place, the Chrisman Coupe nearly made me pee my pants. Just to be in the presence of 'greatness' and a true hot rod icon made my trip....I could have gone home right then and there, a happy guy just seeing it. Fortunately, I didn't. The next day I went to So-Cal and saw the 'Shine' pickup behind the welding curtains in the shop (before it became famous)...nearly pee'd again.......
Here's a few pics from earlier this year when RM auctioned off Joe's collection... ...and the beautiful artwork that unfortunately stayed on the walls when the building was sold!
Art = ruler. one of my heroes as long as i can remember. Ryan, we were talking about relevancy last night... this car is always relevant. going fast even sittin on the trailer, now thats what its about
the history of this car also backs my theory of GEORGE BARRIS WAS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS TO EVER HAPPEN TO HOT RODDING.) i totaly agree .he could screw up a good hot rod
God it's nice to be around people who realise what a hack Barris is. It seems like people who are really into cars get it, but it makes me sick to see people at shows falling all over him like he actually did something great. Everyone know's Sam is the one that had the talent and George had the mouth. And the Chrisman Coupe...What can be said that hasn't already? Simply an amazing car and unbeliveable tallent that built it.
The Chrisman Coupe is currently at the Peterson Museum getting ready for a permanant display. Its sitting down in the basement. They are spending a grip of cash to build the display. (I heard from a first hand source).....Lucky
In my opinion this is the baddest HotRod ever!!! I have pictures of me sitting inside the car and believe me I had chills crawling into that thing.It was at Arts shop last year,he was tuning it up just before they were going to auction it off. You should of seen the way he would look at that coupe and I would just ask him about anything I could think of just to get him going on some old stories about that coupe and the salt. If there was ever a time when I wish I had a tape recorder that was it.Art is a WALKING LEGEND and a GREAT MAN!!! I am very proud to say that I am a friend of his.
Heres some times from the 54 Bonneville Nationals it ran in both B and C class. The year before in 53 it ran with Merc engines and set records. My great grandpa Harry Duncan owned a few motors that the Chrismans ran in this car that were built by Wilcap (Tony Capanna ) He then bought the car outright, I havent been able to set an exact timeline to it yet. He sold it and then the buyer hocked it to Barris. My grandpa has tons of pictures from Bonneville he was a teenager and his dad (my great grandpa) had all these great cars ( according to my grandpa he was possibly running 6 cars at one time) Im tryin to find some pictures of it in the purple paint because it seems nobody has much record of it in that form. According to my grandpa the car was still having success. Ill post whatever he copys for me, he said hes gonna be sending some pictures down maybe Ill get lucky. Although id have prefered to have gotten the car, ill have to settle for copys of pictures of it
You guys should have heard Arts' story on what Barris did to his coupe. Let's just say that George Barris probably won't be getting a christmas card any time soon ! I've known Art a long time and he is definitley the real deal .
Now where did I put those pictures Just a few days late but I thought I would add these two. What a great looking car.
Here is some good art chrisman--in the hustler (he still owns it) n.d.r.a. Autumn nationals 1985 LOADED WITH NITRO!!!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ESxx2AsK-8
Heres the pix i just got from my grandpa from the time when my great grandpa Harry Duncan owned and raced it. He marked them 1954. I hope you enjoy them. As far as I know Art was still doin the driving. Check out the bronze colored helmet. I dont know alot as far as shop talk but i do appreciate a nice car. The car was an eggplant purple with white and VonDutch striping. Check out the truck he towed it with, I wouldnt mind owning that either. Hopefully you dont find the look of it too offensive. According to the captions my grandpa wrote for me his dad ran it in classes B, C and D. One engine was a 258 cu. inch Ardun-Merc in class B, a 257 cu. inch DeSoto Hemi V-8 in class C and a 258 cu. inch Dodge V-8 Hemi in class D. This car took plenty of records. My grandpa seems to think his dad may have paid $5,000 when he bought it from Art. He shouldve kept it! He sold it to a guy who then hocked it to Barris. I cant promise that all of this info is 100% accurate, I mean 1954 was a long time ago and my grandpa was about 17 back then. I wish i had the car but ill have to settle for photos. Let me know what ya think!
Nice pictures of the Chrisman coupe. It was spectacular, I thought it the coolest car at Bonneville in '53. I have a pic of it somewhere taken when I was 17 and went to Bonneville with Stanley Betz to run his A modified Roadster #199A, the "Betz Louver City Special" a 25 T with a flathead 180 cu. in V-8 "60". set a record @ 127 mph. See pic. L-R, that's me in the checkered shirt, Bill Watters driving, Stanley and Bill's dad, all of us from Anaheim. Don Hartman from Santa Ana walking away I also saw the Reed Bros belly tank with the Ardun OHV run with Leroy Nuemayer driving in '53. The car that Art's friend John Donaldson lost his life in when it went upside down in at Bonneville in'55, a terrible accident. I just went back to Bonneville to the World Finals on Oct 8-9, '09, first time back after 56 years. Great experience, still the same informal atmosphere as in '53. Nothing else like it in motor sports where you are free to go right up to the cars at the starting line and chat with competitors in the pit area. BTW, I remember your grandpa Harry Duncan too, saw him and Art at Bonneville and many times at Santa Ana drags in early 50' Dr Jon R Wagner Pensacola, FL
I belive that it was sold to Dana Mecum, the man that owns Mecum Auctions. I was there today and the coupe was sitting just outside the shop , still looking awesome !!
Those pictures are not well circulated, they were copied from the Originals which are hanging in my Grandpas garage. It's a shrine to his Dad's cars. He has an amazing collection of newspaper/magazine clippings from santa ana, bonneville etc. and some great framed photos. Whenever I get a chance to see him we talk cars for hours.
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