Hey, Mitch Ain't this a cool thread?!! We'll have to talk about it some more the next time you make the HAMBreakfast. Pretty sure a couple of the Road Angels still hang out at the Frankfort Cruise Night. Joe Goglianese (first driver of Shake, Rattle & Run) was a member and he's pointed out a couple of others to me in Frankfort the past few years. Some of the survivors used to hang at the Frosted Mug in Alsip and all the usual southwest suburban haunts. I agree the plaque with the colors in the "No Name Shown" section is the same as the one you posted. It is also the same as the one in Joe's Nash sedan. It should be moved (or double-filed) to the Chicago Area section in the database. Hope some others stumble onto this thread and shed some light on the Road Angels.
Just found these at a antique mall in Virginia. Have seen the Royal Rebels before reproduced. This one looks original but customs was the most unique of the two.
The Royal Rebels plaque was made by Chicago Metal Craft and Dennis O'Brien has the original pattern. If your's has the CMC stamp on the back, it's probably 50 years or more old. The Customs plaque looks like it may have been made using the back of a chevron shaped plaque as a pattern with the letters and graphic added. I will add this one to our site on the No City Shown page.
Yup, they are still around. I went to their car show last summer. My father was a founding member and he cast up some plaques for the club. This is one of them: From what I was told, this is how they were painted back in the sixties. I have one too. This is the one my dad used:
Well that's really interesting because this pattern was in with the 8,000 Chicago Metal Craft patterns we acquired. So now that raises another question - did your father make the first ones and then when they needed a large quantity did they go to Chicago Metal Craft for more? Or......? By the way, that club ordered at least twice from Chicago Metal Craft af indicated by the holes drilled on the border and the ground off Chicago Matal Craft backcasting. Dennis O'Brien
I'd love to be able to answer your questions Dennis, but my father passed away last July. I don't know how many he made and the time period of when he was making them.
Here's one for you. My dad was in this club in the 50's. He had long since lost his club plaque though. For Father's Day a couple of years ago, I had O'brien Truckers reproduce the club plaque from a photograph. My dad was pretty happy to see it again. He can't remember why they spelled Centurions wrong. ****************************************************************** Saw a lot of that in the '50s. A club I wanted to join was full of 'undergrads' that couldn't spell. I was young, went to a private school. They thought I was 'gifted'... LOL
I'm sorry to hear that you father passed last year. I guess we may never know unless one of his club members might remember the sequence of events. Dennis
The first West Coast Kustoms plaques had So. Cal. "top plaque" because it was formed in here. As for the mark under so.cal. ??? They were made from a company called Possum. We then had members join from northern cal , so the next order had So. Cal. removed." bottom plaque" Soon after Possum was bought by O'Brian Truckers. We desided to clean up the Merc design and give it more detail. "middle Plaque" From that point the Merc was reversed and still the same to this day
There are a few Road Angels plaques on this Clubs with the Same Name page ..... Road Angels and a couple of them may be for IL clubs. Not sure if Sycamore or LaSalle are close enough to Chicago to be considered a suburb. Dennis O'Brien's website has a bunch more and a book I have lists IL Road Angels in Aurora, Mt. Vernon, Rockford and Staunton. Looks like it was a popular club name.
Here is a picture of my car and pictures of my car club plaque a friend of mine detailed a few days ago to match. Frenchy
which time produced CMC,Kohler,Speed Gems,Stylized Emblem and the other Casting Companies the Plaques? from 19?? to 19?? Regards otti
These were used by San Diego OTHG in the early 80,s along with the large ones. belt buckles were numbered and the toppers were not. Original San Diego plaque (12) said "The Over The Hill Gang" w/ "SCSRA" between the cars. SCSRA was later removed by new members.
Not sure what "Original San Diego plaque (12)" means but here is a photo of the plaque you mention ..... I was told that SCSRA stood for Southern California Street Rod Assn.
Well the earliest ads I've found for all three were in the 1955-56 time frame. I know that CMC was out of business in the late 60's because the foundry was taken by eminent domain when they enlarged the Port Chicago ammo dump. I've never seen an ad for Koehler - they made all the plaques for Stylized Emblem which advertised a lot. The original pattern maker for Speed Gems made patterns for Rick Stees into the early 80's till he passed. So as far as I know all of the big three were basically gone by the end of the 60's.
I just Googled Koehler Foundry History and it returned this page ..... KOEHLER FOUNDRY Could it be that the same company is still in business? Anyone in that area know for sure?
The San Diego chapter ordered 12 aluminum plaques on the first order. The "The" was removed from subsequent orders. Not all Chapters did this. San Diego did make brass plaques but none said THE after those first 12. SCSRA did stand for Southern California Street Rod Association, but was removed later by members that didn't understand John's vision.
The plaque I posted looks like it may be brass but it could be a re-cast using an original plaque as a pattern. The other "The" clubs I have photos of are ..... Apple Valley Lake Havasu City Northern California
My Grandfathers plaque from fullerton mid 50s thru the late 50's he ran this on his custom 1950 Chevy.He swears he had the loudest pipes in orange county and he runs this plaque on his car today and still has his club jacket.
When Jeffsled posted the photo of his grandfather's plaque, I kept thinking I already had a picture of it but couldn't find it ..... but I didn't give up and found this one that I was probably thinking about .....
Here is one I had for a while. The guy I got it from said he 'earned it' in Souther California. Quarter Milers Timing Association -Jeff
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