before the war they called them......

i have a friend named Bill Farren who raced at the dry lakes from 1938 untill right after WWII
i talked with him on the phone today for a while
I asked him what they called their cars...hop-ups, soup-jobs, gow-jobs, hot rods....
his answer.....

"some guys used the term "gow job" as a slang term but me and the guys i ran with just called our cars hot rods, thats what they were hot, rods"

i also asked what size tires they ran usually.

"we usually ran the 7.00x16's in the back and the next size smaller 6.00x16 on the front. the wider 7.00 tires were really good for drag racing on the streets but didnt make too much damn difference at the lakes. the main concern at the lakes was a taller tire and a skinny tread patch was better because of the friction"

i'm trying to figure out my tire sizing for my car and i didnt really want to go with those tiny 5.25/5.50 fronts as i thought they were too new....
so 7.00 & 6.00 it is!

just figured everyone would like to hear his thoughts on these 2 subjects...
Zach

heres a picture of Bill at MUROC at the last lakes meet in 1941

 

awesome. Thanks for the research

 

cool....i like talking to old guys....

 

way too cool
old guys are great (to talk to that is....)

 

Great tale and great pic...

 

i get goosebumps talking to bill. he wasnt famous but he was a real pioneer. and he did over 100mph with a 4 banger before WWII.
hearing him talk about running at the lakes and differnt goings on at muroc like they were yesterday...its just awsome!!

heres a good quote from bill when i asked him about the fuel rations during WWII

"they'd give you a sticker with some letter on it..A B or C...then youd get cupons for gas. well when you'd run out of cupons you couldnt get any more gas, unless you had a big bucket and a hose in the middle of the night"

his car had a flywheel cut down to 18lbs with no ring gear or anything...cut right to the pressure plate bolts..."had to make sure you parked where you could push it" he said...and this was his daily driver!!

I'm glad i can call him my friend...just hope i can meet him in person soon
Zach

 

That aint what I heard!

thanks for sharing your story and fabulous pics.
Dont wait too long to meet this fellow. You may someday kick yourself in the **** for not jumping on a plane and meeting him.

 

Just remember, we're slower than the young guys......and if we forget what we're doing, we start from the beginning.........

('course, some of us would be charged with ***ault with a dead weapon, too)

Thanks for the story SUHRsc.....

Mutt

 

Its always a mix up- Some of the original Hot Rod guys can't remember what they ran, or how things were really done. Old age tends to make you forget some of the details. Thats whats great about AHRF- they are actively going out and recording these guys before the info is lost forever.

I've also learned more from Don ****omery books, vintage magazines and Hop Up articles than any other source.

I was at a small car show one time and an 80+ year old guy walked past the whole row of cherry red, flamed show rods- right up to my lil' crusty A Roadster. He looked it over for a good 15 minutes and then said, "You know, this is JUST how we used to build em'". Best complement I could have ever gotten. Turms out he worked at Mor-Drop axles from the 40's- early 60's. Turns out he might have bent my front I beam!

 

I may have posted this before....

Grandpa said he had heard other guys use the term "hot rod." So, the first time he used the term, he asked some girls, "Wanna take a ride in my hot rod?"......he got slapped. He was pretty niave young man and couldn't firgure out for the life of him why he got slapped. A buddy explained it to him later. The girl must have had a dirtier mind than my grandpa did...

 

Girls ALWAYS do. HaHaHa!

Sweet car SUHRsc.

Gas rationing......I've seen a few old coupes and shortened sedans at various auctions with PU boxes. Modified back then to buy more gas.

 

yup- it's nice to hear that. The other day at lunch an old guy, about 70-75 was telling me how much he like my Model A, saying that's the way they used to be like, and about his and his brother's 30 Model A with a 354 Hemi. I never would have guessed, because the guy kind of just stared when I first pulled in, I nodded and smiled but he didn't respond. But, he came up later and struck up a conversation. You never can tell what kind of cool old stories you'll hear.

 

heres some examples of the ration stickers for the windsheild...
Zach

 

I just love history! Thank you for the article.



jerry

 

Cool info & pics, thanks for posting it Zach!
Also in the background of the first pic is Bob Rufi's Chevy streamliner (#9)

 

Zach,

Thanks for sharing Bill's views on the way it really was...I learned at an early age to listen those who where there and to ask questions on how to do things right.

When you meet Bill in person shake his hand, look him in the eye and say thank you for all of us!

 

awesume zach...your lucky to have an aquaintence like that..

 

There is an older gentleman up the road from me and he has an original '50's style '32 ford race car with an 8RT merc flathead. he used to race it back in the day. he was a two time nascar winner. it's always cool to shoot the **** with him because he has so much history to talk about. i'm only nineteen but i could only hope to do half the stuff he's done with hot rods

 

"heres a picture of Bill at MUROC at the last lakes meet in 1941"




Might be the coolest picture ever.
Thanks for sharing Zach

Soda

 

im glad everyone enjoys this information
heres a shot bill sent me of bob rufi
he wrote
"belly tank with grin "bob rufi" 3 port olds head on 4 cyl chev, i believe ran 143 for A record"

 

A few years back at CHRR , Ernie Hashim related a dry lakes story about him making a run , burning a hole in one piston . He figured he was done for the day and was trying to arrange to get his roadster towed back to Bakersfield as he drove it to the lakes . Along comes Ed Iskendarian and asks "What's the matter Ern?" So he proceeds to tell him he was done for the day . Ed says "we can fix that Ern !" An amazed crowd watched as Isky peened a hunk of aluminum into to the small hole caused by a lean out,and dressed the piston with a file . "She'll be OK now Ern , richen it up a bit and make another run !" He did and ran better, even made it back to Bakersfield !

 

Great thread, great info, awesome photo's........any more hidden in the cupboards to look at? Would love to see/read more..

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

You never know what an old person is going to say. We were at an old folks home several years ago putting on a little display for the residents. A little old lady about 90 comes along, bends down at the front of my buddies car, looks down the side and says "pretty straight". We almost fell over. Pat.

 

My 80 year old neighbor calls them old dry lakes cars Cut Downs.

 

Thank you for posting that.
Yep, that is Bob's streamliner but is after he sold it, the canopy & diff flaring have been removed, the Chev has been replaced with a Ford.
Bob set a new two way record of 140 mph with the 143 mph p*** it took 8 years for the record to be broken by Stu Hilborn.
cheers

ps I have a '25 with 3 port head it is posted in this months banger meeting thread this will be dropped into a '25 Chev roadster.

 

Jimmy, what sort of wheelbase was that streamliner? curious to learn more about it....

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

An old guy came up to me at breakfast in a restaurant and told me how much he liked my '34 truck, and how it looked like cars were when he was much younger. He told me his dad had built him a car using a '32 Ford frame and a model A roadster body. He used those exact words and told it to me as though I had never heard of the combination before. Very enjoyable conversation.

 

G'day Drewfus, I will email you the info I have tonight, I don't think I have ever seen any reference to the wheelbase though.
Cheers
Jimmy

 

Great post, I'm glad Ryan mentioned it or I'd have never found it. I just can't get enough of the dry lakes stuff.

-Dave

 

Cool stories. Thanks. Old guys rule!