Wonder how many where destroyed this way ?

You know I bet there is a lot of Resto guys out there that looks at a Rod and wonders how many were destroyed this way. Most old racers just utlized junk that nobody wanted execpt some guy that wanted to play in the dirt on Sat night. Personally I'ld rather see a real car racing, even today, then these tubed frame, flat sheet metal racers they call cars out there running now. The modern late model dirt car, and for that matter asphalt cars also, don't look nothing like anything you see on the roads anymore.

You could take this to the extream and wonder how many good engines were ruined just to last a few seconds between rebuilds and carry a car in a straight line. You need to view it more along the lines of "To Each His Own"
Don't fault someone because what they enjoy is different from your enjoyment.

 

This was NOT a put down of racing.......dirt or otherwise.....

NVRA #84 ..........ask Frank....he knows I have been involved with a lot of torn up sheetmetal.....on the dirt......back in the 60's and early 70's.

Chevelles, Camaros and the like.....
There is a old race car graveyard over close to Greg Porters....ask him to show it to you.....if you do not already know where it is.......

 

The amount of old tin used up for Modified racing doesn't bother me at all. I grew up with NASCAR Modified racing at Islip Speedway, Freeport Stadium, Langhorne, Trenton, etc. and enjoyed every moment of it. Besides, some of the modifieds, especially the coupes and sedans that were raced in the early 70's era, were some of the baddest looking son of a *****es out there!

 

Yes...it looked like this....a lot......

 

I plead guilty....

I ran this '34 cabriolet in 1966.

 

I'm with Seymour and Muffman 58.... Thats a great way for a car to go... I hope I'm that lucky and dont die in a rest home.

 

I had one of these old circle track cars out back for the past 30 years. I brought it out last year and have made it into a pretty neat "old timey, hard core, rat rod" of sorts. It was fun bringing it back to life as a Hot Rod with a period correct undercarriage, Flathead power(blower is in the works)...as a matter of fact, heading out to the shop right now to finish the door where it was welded up(tired of climbing thru the top, rehinged yesterday, latches today.....getting ready for the Lone Star Roundup)

 

I raced the old coupes and sedans back then and I still do. I probably cut up as many as anyone and had a ball doing it. I guess it's all in whatever floats your boat. I agree that some of the restored cars today are over done. Some are so far gone when they are found that you have to totally replace a lot of metal. [There go the dents.] The number 27 car is the one I race now in the Vintage Sportsman cl***. [Maybe over restored.] The other car is an original 34 Ford sedan from the fifties and if anyone sprayed paint on it I would shoot them. I have been guilty of saying at car shows while looking at a 32 or 34 coupe, "man that would make a great dirt car." In my opinion its all in what you like.

 

This one almost suffered the exact same same fate. Fourtunately is was purchased by my friend just before an other guy who wanted to use it for a modified. Now I have it.

 

My 3 window body was torched up for circle track racing. The floor, decklid inner skin , brackets to attach wood door pillars and windshield returns were removed to apparently lighten the car. Fortunately, for me, that particular racing cl*** didn't permit chopped tops. I wish I had access to some of the stuff that was thrown out such as the door tins and garnish moldings because I had to pay a small fortune to replace it.

My dad said that the local racers would take a really nice 33-34 coupe, which was worthless at the time and just torch off all of the unnecessary items including the fenders. After a few races or the end of the season, the bodies would be in the local landfill. Some ******** guys could have 5 or more coupe bodies in their backyard just waiting to replace the car they wrecked.

Dave

 

My uncle destroyed several 32-34 Ford coupes in the 50's dirt track racing. One of them was wrecked so badly that the announcer called it the "Bulgin Bessie" The right front wheel was laid out so far that it cornered better than it ever had and he won lots of races with it. After runnning out of earlier care he then he started on the 39/40's....This is one of them.
Ol Blue

 

Here's mine I "destroyed" three years ago and been enjoying the f__k out of it ever since!!!!!! Built as a somewhat replica of another one I "destryed" in 1954!!

 

No doubt a ton of them were destroyed by racing, but IHMO the majority were simply cut up and sold as s**** iron by the junkyards. When I was a kid in the 50's I worked in a yard owned by my older brothers. The typical price of any non-running old car was $25.00. Lots of times a car would have a decent body and interior but a bad engine. It just wasn't economical in most cases to get it running, so all the good parts were stripped and the rest cut up for s****. If memory serves, s**** iron brought a penny a pound, including loading on the buyer's truck. We ran several cars on a half-mile oval track and wiped out a few of them.

 

.."**** lane" that's what we called "mullhuland-drive"...I was raised up in that era also saturday afternoon at the "jalopy-races" even went there once."if you don't have dirt in your beer...it ain't raceing"...

 

I grew up watching those races on Sat. as a kid. It was my introduction to auto racing. I recently picked up a DVD with 4 episodes of "Jalopy Racing from Hollywood" (how Hollywood is connected to Culver City is beyond me), hosted by Bill Welsh. The quality is as you might expect for TV tapes from over 50 years ago, but it brought back a FLOOD of memories.

 

Back in my dirt track racing days ('70s) 90% of the cars I raced against were 55-57 Chevys. You could pick one up for $50-$100 bucks. I didn't get one, but cut up a (free) 66 Olds 442 and raced it.