Hot Rods Aircraft Inspired Hot Rods

This is a Thread related old post I did some time ago...Wonder if the Hotrod is still around?...any of them...Update I just saw it looks as if its still around...I am interested in what Troy Ruttman's Hotrod looked like back in the day as this Hotrod may be reminiscent of it...The Car is still up for grabs it seems...cool

Troy Ruttman Tribute...This is up for grabs in the cl***ified by Hamber @TWO9FORD on behalf of a ill friend (not good)...But all this misfortune aside its a real throwback to the rawness of the lakes racing...

Not sure of the Ruttman Connection but many Pro Racers climbed the ladder right from the birth of Hotrod and Ruttman saw that action...Perhaps TWO9 can shed some light on the connection...











More pics and info at link below...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1925-ford-model-t-lakester.1153710/


The Troy Ruttman



https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/august-2002/60/fall-troy




https://ahrf.com/blogs/jims-news/posts/sixteen-posted-and-thousands-more-to-do


https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...enized-hotrods.1002926/page-108#post-13125208

Credit to Photographers, Owners

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Further to the Video with Hamber @onekoolkat1950's Belly Tank Racer here are some pics highlighting how it connected in element and process to aviation...

1 again the Drop Tank itself...2 the precision given to the integrity of the processes and design and 3 the materials and Tooling...4 and perhaps the background of many in that 1940 to 1955 window of wartime and postwar racers all make these some of the most relatable to Aviation...

I must commend Koolkat he did this riveting on his own...that shooting and Bucking rivets...Good Job Kat...don't believe me check this craftsmanship out... below...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-belly-tank-racer-build.1076441/page-8#post-12548834

...first off...His Build Thread at the link above...I mean it never gets old just Kooler...











Credit to Photographers, Owners
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Hamber @sailingadventure crafted an Incredible Belly Tank and again although not a Hotrod proper, it still possesses highly relatable and influential elements to the topic at hand...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/belly-tank-build-update.555655/page-3









Credit to Photographer, Owner
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Hello,

Not only was Atts Ono’s 1940 red Willys Coupe, aircraft tech inspired, but he actually got his aluminum blocks and sheets from the local supplier. That supplier just happened to be Douglas Aircraft Corp. next to the Long Beach Airport. There was a “famous” surplus yard located on E. Carson St. near the Long Beach/Lakewood city limits.

This surplus yard had the most unusual stuff coming from the building of the airplanes and whatever else was in those huge warehouses and hangars. That was the location of many hot rod parts and things made into hot rod parts. The cost was usually less than the military surplus stores and definitely less than the new metal sheets/block suppliers.

We all spent our time at the Douglas Aircraft Surplus Yard over the years. But Atts Ono used those blank blocks of aluminum and sheets to create things normally not made for hot rod motors. The notable thing on this Willys construction was the abundance of Allen head bolts on almost every place they could be used. That meant using that small “L” shaped tool to install and remove them. He finally cut down an Allen Head tool to fit into a hand held drill for faster removal and installation.

The motor mounts, brackets for various parts of the motor, small cover plates, and other usage of aluminium blocks/plates were all over the Willys Coupe. With his accurate machining skills everything looked pristine and fit perfectly. As a machinist by trade, his work was impeccable. A show car detailing, but fast at the drags, too.

Jnaki

So, an aircraft inspired hot rod/drag racer, using raw materials from an aircraft builder, to the final usage on a hot rod /drag race to complete the build. Not much more aircraft inspiration is possible from that industrial yard.
1964 Lions Dragstrip
So, as sad as it is/was, after running all over So Cal, the 1940 Willys Coupe was sold by his two brothers. It was loaded onto a moving van and disappeared into drag racing history, some place in the eastern portion of the USA in 1970.

The question remains for 50 years, where is that pristine 40 Willys today and why did we not see it in the drag racing news reporting over the years, after it got sold?

 

Well here’s my 32’, battery box is an old nicad battery case with quick disconnect, battery will go inside, pit pins instead of cotter pins (the pins will be safetied with copper safety wire so nobody can just pull them out). I have a bulkhead p*** thru for the main power wire, and a box of aluminum aircraft wire for the harness. I also have a box of AN hardware which I use everywhere. I just retired from 50 years in aviation, starting on A1E Sky-raiders in 1969, with 35 years in General Aviation. I plan on doing an aviation switch panel using covered switches on primary circuits. I will also plumb the entire car using AN hard lines and a few flex lines as needed. If all goes as planned!

 

Some stuff gets misunderstood a bit,an it bothers me.
Being a war baby{1942}an my Dad was Navy an worked for Bell,I was very into the way WW2 had added to stuff in the 1950s. Before the war,Dad had a Whippet roadster he built into a jalopy hot rod he junked be for Navy,but after talked about how much nicer he would of done it,knowing what he did now! Plus looking around my self an starting building things my self in the 50s.
After WW2;
#1 is bomber seats,yes they were used often in RACE CAR*=lite small an cheep,but few used in street driven car really,were riding for a long time was real too your ****.
#2 Engineering got a boost in know how,most guys payed more attention making things work the right way=Didn't just copy what they saw done in the past{ so stupid **** like poorly done cowl steering was done a lot less,an aero took a jump in planning.
#3 Finishing things clean,making stuff shiny an painting shiny=knowing that clean and shiny keeps things working better as well ,added to the guys had enough of flat paint in the WW2= other then a just built test run pics,or or photo of car just before it got shiny paint add. Should not be thought of as,that's how the car looked.
If you understand that each nice shiny done car,also had a short time as primer an highly likely got a photo done at that point too. You should not see it in primer as finished {some may of not ever got to shiny for a number mishaps,but that shiny was the plan.
Yes,WW2 did reshape much of hot rodding.
But now I see a bubble of BS formed around misunderstanding of times from end of WW2 up to going into the 60s.
Some of that bubble BS started a little as early as late 60s an grew from there. Took a big jump in the 70s n 80s.

One of the funniest things I was told,a nice young guy I had talked too a number of times at some car shows,who has a pretty cool primered 64 truck,it's nice,but he calls it "Hot Rod Black" We had talked about my shiny old rod an his truck,I told him how cool his truck was. He asked what I thought would make it better? I said finishing it would add to how nice it is.
His reply was, it's done like they did them in the 50s.
So he comes by the next show,with a old little car mag he found from 50s ,an starts to show me how all the cars in it are flat paint to make his point?. His life has been all in a world of color every thing,TV,photos,phones,and printed mag.,ya he know s about old black an white movies,but never watching any,said they are dull.
Anyway he said they put the color cars on the cover.
I pointed out that all the photos inside were black white,do to it being a lot lower cost then color,and yes they do look kind of flat but are shiny cars,an most all the old mags were that way at the time. So cars in those inside photos were shiny an just looked flat in black an white to him. A small bit of shock happened,but really nice kid,just real young an just getting started in older cars= really great. I didn't LOL,that would of been real wrong of me,but he could see a smile I could not hide all of. That was odd,yet made me wounder , how many were that young at one time too,me too likely about something ?.

 

@dana barlow the more you post, the more I learn. So keep talking, I need the help.