I remember reading somewhere how Jack Gallivan got into trouble with the law and spent quite a bit of time in jail.That maybe what lead to the patterns being auctioned.
Thanks for the website link, you are now one of the "Top Six Guys I Have to Meet" ! The Don Lockwood info is priceless, are you a writer by trade? I meet Don at Hershey in the early 1970's, and he did mention having the Barber-Warnock INDYcar, glad you are the caretaker of it. I know there are a few recreations out there, but having "The Real Deal" is what it is all about IMO. That Indian Oil car is a a great one too!
I have H. S Houpt as the entrant for the 60hp Thomas that Monty Roberts drove on Long Island Sep 23 in 1905 (Vanderbilt elimination trials). Carl Limberg drove a Houpt-Rockwell in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup. Three Herreshoff cars ran at various Indianapolis Motor Speedway races in 1910, and one at Elgin in 1912. They were probably stripped touring cars.
I believe reports of his death in 1936 were greatly exaggerated! I don't have much on him, but yes, he raced with a patch on his left eye most of the time, it seems. Hometown was mostly given as Galesburg (IL), but also Joliet, Chicago and Los Angeles. Ran mostly IMCA, it seems, but also AAA and CSRA, midwestern and southern tracks. 1924 IMCA?, #3 "Fronty Special" Sep 4 Central City (IA), ? Oct 5, De Witt (IA), ? 1927 IMCA, "Grange Special" Aug 20, Davenport (IA), 4½ m, ? Sep 14, Topeka (KS), 5½ m, 2nd (3rd in TD, 3rd in H2, 2nd in H3) 1929 Dec 8, San Antonio (TX), ? 1931 IMCA? Sep 3, Ord (NE), 12 m, ? (4th in consy) 1932 IMCA, "Duesenberg 8 Special" Sep 2, Des Moines (IA), 7½ m, ? (2nd in consy) Sep 24, Spencer (IA), ? 1933 AAA Sep 15, Huron (SD), 15 m, ? 1934 AAA, #7 "Fronty Special" Oct 3, Atlanta (GA), 10 m, ? (3rd in H1) 1935 AAA Jun 30, West Allis (WI), 25 m, ? Aug 25, West Allis (WI), 25 m, ? 1940 IMCA & CSRA, "Frontenac Special" Jan 30, Tampa (FL), 5 m, ? Jun 2, Dayton (OH), 50 m, ? 1947 IMCA, #5 blue "Hal Special" Sep 14, Hutchinson (KS), 5 m, dns (QP 17, 5th in H3, 3rd in consy)
Ivan, When the last owner asked me to restore the car we took the paint off carefully and found the green paint and stripe. When it raced in Tacoma it was called "Italian racing green Yes it still has the pope motor in it.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> Bill<o></o> <o></o>
Photos of the complete May 15, 1929 Fronty Catalog. If you study the cover you will notice the name was changed. The Arthur Chevrolet Aviation Motors Corporation is crossed out by a combination stamp that renames it Chevolair Motors Inc. in red with a red slash mark across the old name. I tried to upload all of the pages in order but some of them failed and it was impossible to get them in the right order, sorry...... Enjoy it, T-Head
T-Head, Thanks for posting the catalogue! would you happen to have page 4? Or do you know if the only "Chevrolet" head was the one for passenger cars on page 16?
Thanks to Michael Ferner we know that a Houpt-Rockwell was entered in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race. Based on Michael's lead I found that it was car #26 driven by Carl Limberg and it was in the race thru the 19th of 22 laps when it went out because of loss of brakes. I would really like to see a photo of this car as it came from Bristol Conn. a town I have connections with having been born there and having grown up in an adjoining town. Old 16 the famous Locomobile was also in Bristol from the mid teens thru 1941 when Peter Helck bought the car after Joseph Sessions death. My grandmother worked for his family. The Houpt-Rockwell was built by the New Departure Ball Bearing Co. which made a very successful coaster brake for bicycles along with the manufacture of ball bearings. They became a part of GM later as they were one of the best ball bearing companies in the world. Half of my family worked for the company which sadly is gone today a victim of ball bearings that could be imported at less cost. Two more Houpt-Rockwell photos here, one showing the beautifully finished 570 CI four along with an illustration of what they called an experimental roadster. This body may have been built by Brewster in NY, I have seen this style of body on other cars of the era. The race car could have looked similar?
I wonder how many catalogs the Chevrolet Brothers published, Number 81 came out on February 15, 1927, and had an add in two page section on the SHOC setup for the SR head.
Mac..... I thought you would like it because of the Chevrolet heads. Page four is there, it is the last in the second batch. It was a big job to upload all of them and some failed and could not be put in the right order because of it. The catalog is complete and the three pages at the end had all of the Chevrolet speed equipment. Do you know of any other companies that made Chevy racing parts?
Geez Bob- you've been holding back! T-Head, thank you AGAIN for posting the Fronty catalogue- it is greatly appreciated! Hate to say it, but my early Chevrolet 4 research is still in the "woefully ignorant" stage, but hopefully that will change soon. From what I have seen/heard so far, early Chevrolet and Dodge speed parts were fairly rare partly because they were more expensive brands- the Ford was so cheap and plentiful... bigger market/bigger profit.
... and of course, now that I actually LOOK at ALL the pages do I realize just what a fool I can be. Sorry for asking for something that you already posted
Geez Bob- you've been holding back! T-Head, thank you AGAIN for posting the Fronty catalogue- it is greatly appreciated! Hate to say it, but my early Chevrolet 4 research is still in the "woefully ignorant" stage, but hopefully that will change soon. From what I have seen/heard so far, early Chevrolet and Dodge speed parts were fairly rare partly because they were more expensive brands- the Ford was so cheap and plentiful... bigger market/bigger profit.
I WON! I made a bet with myself that you'd have a reply with in 30 minutes, you did it in 14!. Send me your address again in a PM.
Betting against yourself, huh- next comes talking to yourself, which is okay... unless you carry on BOTH parts of the conversation!
The dummy can't type, so I guess I'm the ventriloquest. In my search of Chevrolet speed equipment I found a Laurel Motors letter dated April 7, 1926. No mention of Chevrolet parts, so i'm guessing they droped the line they had. They mention Dodge and OVERLAND speed parts in the letterhead. Is there any crossover stuff Overland to Chevy? I know the Oldsmobile head is a bolt on and gives better flow.
bought this...the current owner , thanks Senor Isotta, is taking the car that it was one back to it's original form. I am very happy. The body came off of a Pope Hartford powered FIAT chassis. Not often you get a chance to acquire most of a pre-ww1 race car body with racing history. It is wonderful to be able to preserve American history. My father asked me what I am going to do with it, I said, "well...I am 28, figured I have atleast 60 years to figure something out."
The Olds head I picked up on the way home from Hershey is a HUGE improvment over the stock '28 head- smooth curves compared to 90 degree angles. However, the Olds rockers were 1:1, where Chevrolet's were a better ratio. ebtm3 (sold me the head) suggested milling off the shaft bosses and finding better ratio rockers (Gerber used Nash), so the Fronty aftermarket rockers/mounts the T-Head posted are really neat to see! There was a post on a different thread (maybe a week ago) about someone finding a Dodge firetruck with an aftermarket head- Doug was getting a drooly even WITHOUT any pics...
Don't know, I do know it went from (in San Diego) Lonnie Reed to ER. Bourne, to the Indy museum back to San Diego and that the car is being returned to it's original FIAT guise. As to the history prior to Lonnie Reed, don't know, except that the chassis ran in the Savannah GP. Maybe the current owner might fill us in the history of the car prior to it's arrival in socal.
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