History Bob Rounthwaite '34 Coupe: Beauty & Excellence

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Bob Rounthwaite '34 Coupe: Beauty & Excellence

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Bad*** hotrod. One of the all-time great HRM covers. Certainly belongs in the same conversation as the Pierson and SoCal coupes.

 

I am sure the nose helped in the aerodynamics department, wonder if there is any records how much his time improved from stock to chop and grill change

 

^^I was thinking the same thing.As for the look,I dig it.And I would put her right in the middle of the conversation with the other two.

 

Could someone post pics of all three to make a fair comparison? This one definitely belongs in the group! Thanks

 

Bob's coupe is a landmark hot rod, though I personally like the Pearson coupe nose better, Bob's is somewhat bulbous for my taste....Bob would go on to build one of the first dragsters with Tom "Acmo" McLaughlin, seen here at Pomona, maybe '53" GMC powered here, it would later get a flathead and a nose:



Both were members of the Glendale Coupe and Roadster club, and friends with Don Montgomery

 

One of my favorite 34's. Always wondered; is the car still araound?

 

Good point, the SoCal coupe got chopped twice, Alex bought it from the original owners with a chop, then the SoCal shop really whacked it...too much, I think, as they sunk the bottom of the rear window into the deck, and had to open the windscreen too far into the roof.....Bob's chop is much better

 

I always loved that car for the fact that the chop is much closer to what we could mimic today and have it on the street. It always looked a bit stubby to me and while I understand how cool this car is, nothing is as beautiful as the pierson coupe in my opinion. Level of finish was incredible for the time.

Next time lets bring. Doug Hartelt's 34 to the discussion. One of my favorites.

 

Mental note must illustrate Rounthwaite coupe.

Some more pics and full scan of the article. Also the how to chop a top article, lastly a colour photo from 1951 that I saved off FB.

 

I dig that coupe, but for me the Pierson Brother coupe is tops!

 

That last photo is a cl***ic.

 

I am glad to see some appreciation for Bob Rounthwaite's modified '34 coupe of over 64 years ago.
Bob was a good friend and fellow member of the Glendale Coupe And Roadster Club (GCRC); a Russetta Timing ***n. (RTA) member. When we both joined the club (in 1949) Bob had a nice '32 5 window street rod (by today's description) which was replaced by a nice '40 sedan. He ran both at the Lakes in 1949 and 1950. He ran the body shop at the local Packard dealer - Kelley Motors. It was there that he built his famous no. 69 modified coupe (his RTA no. was 69 that year).
The attach photos show the car soon after "breaking it out". Bob ran it at the drags. The view showing them working on the car was taken at Saugus. Bob is on the left with Tom Acmo McLaughlin on the other side. Note the lettering, which was neatly done by Acmo, showing both Howard Cams and Weiand for their support, his club (GCRC)and his job.
The other photo shows Bob racing the Gene Thurman- Fritz Voigt T coupe at Santa Ana. If you look closely you will note that Bob's coupe had a cardboard nose prior to getting the racecar style nose.
I am not sure but I believe the nose was formed by Art Engels who was doing race car stuff for Kurtis, about a mile from Bob's shop. Perhaps someone with a better memory can correct or verify this.
Note the horizontal cuts in the slicks in the car photo. These were tires used in track roadster racing. They were most likely borrowed from Bruce Robinson or Yam Oka, both friends who were active on the tracks.
Good times

Don

 

Great information as always, Don, I didn't realize that Bob ran the #69 coupe at the drags...I do remember an old photo of Gene Thurman racing the Pierson Brothers coupe at Santa Ana at about the same time, Gene's lighter T bodied car beat the Pierson Brothers that day...

 

Great thread...
I understand Mr. James' "stubby" comment but this keeps the nose a decent distance behind the leading edge of the front wheels - the longer noses of the other two (and Doug Hartelt's 34 that Mr. James mentions) are beautiful but their protrusion in front of the wheels does not help the visual balance of the car to my eye?
There was a grey track nose 34 at LARS last year that I could not take my eyes off that had the balance pretty much spot on.

 

This is the car at LARS in 2014 mentioned above:

 

The Bob Rounthwaite coupe is a three window while the car from the 2014 LARS is a five window. The nose looks different as well, so it does not appear to be the same car.

 

Thanks 22, not suggesting they were the similar or the same - just that the length of nose and its position behind the leading edge of the front wheels gave them both a balanced look.

 

For those who might be interested:
This photo of the Rounthwaite coupe was apparently taken at a 1951 SCTA lakes meet. Note that Bob's Russetta number - 69 - is lined out and the number 110 was added. Bob belonged to the GCRC which was an RTA club and did not belong to the SCTA. However, his friend Chuck Abbott was a long time member of the Sidewinders, an SCTA club. So the coupe ran at SCTA meets under Chuck's name and number. This was a fairly common practice back then. The coupe also ran that year at the Russetta meets with Bob's number 69. Also note that the coupe ran as a Cl*** D Coupe at the Russetta meets and as a Cl*** C Modified Coupe (CMC) at the SCTA meets.
My trivia addition for the day

Don

 

Do you have any more photographs of the cardboard hood with the car still (or a sharp picture of the hood in that state), Rockerhead?

 

That coupe at LARS is member 'Sinister Speed's fathers coupe, if I recall, and that black roadster to the coupes right is his.
Cheers,
Drewfus

 

The absolute best coupe.... Ever,..... Hands down!

 

I had this car in mind when I chopped and built mine.

 

Great thread.

 

Damn this thread got even better!!!!

 

Thanks for this thread and additional information on this tough looking coupe. I could stare at this car forever, but I better not 'cause I have other things to do today. It's been a favorite of mine for a number of years. In my opinion, of the three cars compared above, the Rounthwaite coupe's windshield, looks the best. But that has a lot to do with the greater amount of chop on the other two cars, though to squeeze a windshield into those. This car has great proportions and that bulbous track nose, while not as elegant as the Pierson's car, makes this car the stand out that it is.

Thanks to Jimmy B for providing the additional detail photos. From them we can see that this car is all business, certainly deserving of its "compe***ion coupe" cl*** label.

Pete, I have long admired the coupe in your avatar. I apologize, though it is obviously relevant, for the thread creep but would you please post some additional photos? Or, can you at least post links to HAMB threads where your car is covered and discussed? I want to learn and see more. Thank you!

-Carl

 

Who said a 4-bar isnt traditional

 

I would agree that I like it more than the So-Cal and Pierson coupes.

 

The nose on my coupe (the grey 5 window from the above post) was built my Dennis Webb. TRJ did a article on him as he is a old school aluminum shaper with a long history of accomplishments .Dennis is the ex brother in law of one of the peckerheads and on one of our trips to LARS we went to his shop and when saw my sons A coupe he said that he had a old buck that Art Ingles had given to his dad Marvin(as on Barney Navarro's car) and that nose would look good on Rory's car. We took some simple measurements and tried to give Dennis a deposit which he refused and said if you didn't like the nose you don't have to take it. 1 year latter he called and said it was done and the cost was a fraction of what we were expecting. We mounted the nose and built our own hood and sides and called Dennis to tell him how great the finished product was and I asked him if he ever thought about doing a 34 track nose. He said he would love to do one with his own twist and to send him some pics and measurements. Same story, no deposit and if you don't like it move on. A year and 6 months later we picked up the nose and said I could take the buck as its mine. I made him sign the buck and leave it there and if he ever had some down time build another. The nose was installed in 1 day only having to trim back the hood and sides. Rory and I feel very fortunate to have 2 of this incredible mans work on our cars.