History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Kind of cool. Then and now.

 

The " Old Mission Race track."
Before my time, anyone know if this was an early version of John Hawkins "Crazy Hawk" ?

 

Anyone know what this is or have any info?

 

That's my old c/gas willys.

 

Love the Pic!
Man, you were way North of Home on this trip Eh.....
Or am I just plain wrong, and that is not Mission?

 

That is a Mk 7 Bolwell GT with a chop top, Samson ('Magnum') rear wheels. Car is at the old Surfer's Paradise (Queensland, Australia) strip c. '74, '75? Rooman may call the shots clearer on this.

Google Bolwell. Bitchin' cars;
http://www.bolwellcarclub.com.au/

 

Beat me to it mate! Sorry I can't fill in any more details on that particular car. The Bolwell was a kit car (manufactured in Melbourne, Victoria) that generally used six cylinder Holden (GM) running gear. Following the Mk 7 the company started to build complete cars. The Nagari had 302 Ford power and came in coupe and roadster form. A few of them ended up running at the drags but I could not find any photos of them to post



Roo

 

Jay was involved in building just about everything in Detroit that did not come out of Logghe's shop (before he went to work for them). Here is some background:
http://www.mmshof.org/inductees/jay-howell/

Roo

 

Both pics are the same (Mission) place and time. I'm a Seattle transplant to Texas.

 

Saw that car about a month ago at a Gasser Show in El Segundo where my Anglia was displayed

 

More early pictures from the Screwdrivers Car Club site:



Saugus, early '50s


Saugus, back when street driven street roadsters were still competitive...


Saugus


Saugus, 36 fuel coupe


Saugus...these competition cars were close to street-driven cars back then, an indication of how drag racing evolved


Probably Santa Ana, Otto Ryssman, Crosley-bodied competition coupe...Otto would remove the somewhat crude body and run the car as a dragster...Later he would have to quite drag racing after losing a lawsuit filed by the family of a spectator at Santa Ana who died after being hit by a piece of shrapnel from Otto's car......Otto died earlier this year.


Detour to San Gabriel, not from the Screwdriver's file...Steve Gibbs was one of the managers here, and ran the place very professionally...never forgot that drag racing is about the racers and the spectators...(note what appears to be some kind of early Christmas tree starting system, maybe for lining up the cars...but the flag starter remains.


Santa Ana...I am pretty sure that Don Montgomery is driving the Hudson -- as Don tells the story, his parents did not want him to own a Ford because they feared he would hot rod it...so he hot rodded his parent's Hudson when he got it...but it was not competitive, so he went on to other unique hot rods (a Cord, a Buick, etc.) before getting Larry Shinoda's deuce coupe and building a very competitive fuel coupe from it...Don is on here as "Rockerhead," though have not seen him post recently...he is also, in my book, the country's premier hot rod historian.

Cool custom in the far lane...8 portholes, no less.


Saugus...dragsters were pretty minimal back then.

 

The 3 bulb tree at San Gabe predates the full on tree by about 6 months. It was supposed to eliminate the possibility of jumping the flag. If you look on the centerline, about 10 yards behind the flagman, you see a little box. The box had a button on it that the started depressed with the tip of the flag. It was linked to the clocks, and if one car left before the flag stick completely raised the button, a red light came on in that lane. It was actually pretty effective. The drivers who had learned to "read" the various starters were not pleased with the system.

 

Man, that purple Dodge wagon sure has that 'in your face' look. Any info?

 

Gabe, I'm fairly certain that is a newer build.....for some reason I am thinking some shop in New York or New Jersey had two or three similar builds out of cars that normally you wouldn't see built as a gasser. It looks more like a 70's street freak style car to me than a gasser.

 

Yep,
I think that most of those new east coast "gassers" are associated with the guys at Radir wheels. They don't do much for me in the way of nostalgia, just street freaks as you note.

Roo