Hot Rods In the beginning..The Byron Schroeder Photos

I have a friend who told me he had some Photo Slides that his Father-in-law had taken at a car show. He didn't Know where or when ,they were taken. I told him I would love to digitize them to make prints if he would loan them to me. It took him a while to locate them but one day he showed up with 4 small boxes containing 50 slides. Some were labeled on the slides and I realized they were a Gold Mine! The first half were from the 1948 First Annual Hot Rod Expo in L.A. (probably the first major Hot Rod Show held in the country) The second batch were from the First Oakland Roadster Show held in 1950.
The kicker is they are in Kodachrome Color....Enjoy!

 

Special Thanks to HEMI32 for encouraging me to post these and helping with re-sizing photos.

 

I like the hiboy cabriolet.

Thanks for posting the Vintage photos.

 

Is this you saying mama don’t take my Kodachrome away? Hehe.

 

Ron -

No, thank you! . . . the Byron Schroeder images are simply amazing!

I can't wait for you to share the rest of the collection with the H.A.M.B. community.

NOTE: I only re-sized these images so Ron could post them here . . . no cropping, color correction, or brightness/contrast adjustment was performed . . . these images are exactly as they were when Ron scanned these (circa 1948 & 1950) Kodachrome transparencies . . . except they are now all 1600 pixels wide (vice 4603-5728 pixels wide).
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- Todd

 

Thank you for posting these here Ron, amazing photos can't wait for the others.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Great pictures. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

Thank you for posting these! That Vic Schankenberg 29 roadster has been an elusive favorite of mine for many years. I always assumed it was black. Looks like it’s a beautiful metallic green.

 

Special photos from a Special time in hot rod history and In Color!! Thanks, Ron. Looking forward to more of “the way it was”. Kudos to Todd, too.

 

What a Goldmine. Thanks for taking the time ,

 

Fantastic. Pure gold!

 

Oh wow!!! thank you.

 

Here are more Kodachrome Photos from the 1948 Hot Rod Expo.....



The Reg Scheimer Roadster- 136mph at the lakes-Cover of first issue Hot Rod magazine.





Jack Calori Roadster



Art McCormick Roadster



Art McCormick motor

 

Thanks Ron

 

Thanks.

 

Walt Rose roadster from the 'Road Runners' powered by a supercharged Cord V8. Never knew roadster was Bronze metallic until this pic, always assumed it was black. Amazing!

 

Absolutely amazing photos, thank you for sharing!

I don’t think I’ve seen this one before, and if I had it didn’t make quite the impression it does now. I think I’m in love.

 

Jack Detners owned it at time of 1st Hot Rod Exposition. It was built by the Granger bros prewar, Dick Ford owned it pre war then it was later owned by Johnny McCoy during the war. Dick Ford purchased it back and later sold to Jack Detners, car is a narrowed 1927 Chev roadster powered by a flathead V8. Some of best pics are in Albert Drakes "HOT RODDER! From Lakes To Street".

from HOT ROD archives

 

Thanks for taking the time to post these pics. There were definitely some very skilled craftsmen building hot rods in 1948. The quality of these cars is amazing and to see them in color is unreal.

 

Great photos of the start of it all for us!

 

Excellent pictures.

 

Now this...THIS is what I absolutely love about the HAMB. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

This thread is sticky worthy
Great stuff, foundation of the HAMB

 

Thanks to everyone who has replied and enjoyed the photos. A big thanks for providing additional info on the cars, I'm trying to document as many as possible . Does anyone know if there was a program for this show? Time for more photos!

 

Del Baxter / Troy Ruttman track Roadster


Jack Morgan 34' Ford-Navarro Manifold -Meyers Heads


Seymour Meadows -Evans Manifold -Edelbrock Heads


Hank Begley Roadster?




Stan Jones Cad. V-16

 

Bob Weinberg roadster. I believe it was built by lakes racer Bill Edwards and the body was formed by Indy car builder Lujie Lesovsky. I read the chain was prone the coming off at high speeds. I think the current owner has that worked out. The car has a real presence! I got to see it at Pebble Beach a few years ago. I had a great chat with the current owner. Albert Drakes book “Hotrodder” is how I first discovered it .

 

Hank Negley


This looks to be Jack Detners '27 Chev (I adjusted photo to see details)

 

There was a program for the event,


Also a good theard 1948 SCTA HOT ROD EXPOSITION MARKETING