Please be patient, I plan on writing a few lines about my times with Don Waite. This is a subject close to my heart and with his recent passing makes it a bit more challenging. I am going to do it in bite size stories. I am doing this to try to capture as much of the story as possible. The first installment will be about the 500 car. Photos and thoughts and history over time. It started in 1998 when I was sitting with a friend and we were talking about our favorite cars and which ones we wish we could find or own. The internet was pretty new and using Anywho.com I found Don's phone number and I gave him a call. He did not hang up on me. He was glad I was not selling something. We had a nice long conversation. I told him I was calling to see if he still had is 1927 rear engine modified roadster. He said he did not, and we talked about that for a bit. He did say he had many parts for it but was quick to move off the topic. He had something else that he thought I would be more interested in. He talked to me about his 1929 Ford roadster that was on the cover of Hot Rod magazine in September 1962. Again we talked a bit longer. I called back in a few days and planned a trip to visit him. With a trailer of course and some money. Over the next year I went through it in preparation for the GNRS in 1999 the 50th anniversary held at the Cow Palace. Charlie Markley brought me one of his old Desoto hemi blocks for me to put in the car since the motor was missing You can spot him and his buddies in my little garage at the time. The motor was stolen when he was having some construction done on his home in Temple City. The Desoto motor was the one that was in the 27 rear engine modified in its later build and during its demise in 1958. The photos I am showing are from my collection and from Don and his family. One of the photos is Don and his wife at the Cow Palace. Don rarely attended car shows and this is the first one in a very long time (last one in about 1955). I tried many times to get him to go to the GNRS with me but he always turned me down. The 500 car with the flag over it was at his memorial. He was a Korean war veteran and was honored with the Military funeral honors. I have many photos and I am going to add some more at a later time.
Thanks for your post. Look forward to further stories and pictures. The 500 roadster is a fine car, one of the best.
I’m looking forward to seeing the photos and getting more of the history of Don and his experiences. The ‘29 always struck me as extremely well thought out, impeccably designed and built to race, and was a show contender too.
The GNRS in 1999 was the first time I had a car in a car show. I did not know what to expect. My mother- in-law lived in Burlingame and the family came up. After setting up the car at the show I noticed most of the other vehicles had some type of covering on the ground that the car was placed on. When I went back to the house I mentioned that and my mother-in-law said I could cut the carpet out of the sewing room. She wanted to expose the hardwood floors anyways. So I did that and the next day went back and rolled the car around and put the carpet underneath at the display. The most exciting part of the event was that Don and his wife came out and were happy to see the car. Don was not a show off kind of person. He built nice cars for himself. He was just that way. Everything he worked on was done with precision and care. This was a big turning point in our friendship. He was pleased that I completed what I told him I would do and I believe this was the opening of the doors for future projects. The 500 car was built when he worked at Western Gear. He made up the tube chassis in his garage, he was a very good welder. He brought the chassis back to work and put it in the giant oven used for heat treating and stress relieving. He stress relieved and normalized the complete chassis. He told me that his friend Gene Ohly had built a 29 with a tube chassis and he used that for some of the ideas on the development of his 29. One thing Don was good at, was utilizing the expert knowledge around him. He lived in Temple City which is part of the hot rodding mecca of Southern California. Fran Hernandez who was a very famous tuner for Edelbrock and driver of Vics 32 roadster at Bonneville, and future builder and turner for Carol Shelby with the Cobras, helped Don over the years and worked on the tune of the Desoto and Don's FE motors and in the past on his flatheads. Don Borth did the aluminum work which is amazing. You must check it out sometime if you make it to the NHRA museum. One of the photos includes his white Chevrolet push truck the family called Brutus. If you can ID the race track let me know. Either it is San Gabriel or San Fernando? It is around 1962/63. It is interesting to note that the Hilborn injected Desoto was the engine that was in the 27 roadster when it crashed at Bonneville in 1958. Don was always planning ahead as to what he was going to build and he saved parts from the cars as they evolved. He never really threw out bits or pieces (which I discovered over the years). He had enough space on the family property and he had garage space and attic space to stash things. The 27 crashed in 58 and he began and completed the 29 soon after. He used the Desoto from the 27 initially, but having access to Fran Hernandez who was now leading the racing division of Lincoln Mercury, and supplier of FE motors to Bill Stroppe and his NASCAR attempts, Don had access to Tunnel Port FE Ford/Mercury engines. This came to light when I got in contact with Fran Henandez's son (Randy) on the HAMB. The contact with his son was brought about by Ryan Cochran of this awesome website, who posted pictures of unclaimed timing tags that Randy had from his father. One of them included a Russetta tag from 1949 El Mirage when his dad was helping Don at the lakes. I have included the picture of Don's first AA altered (Mello-Yello) with a thank you note to Fran Hernandez. This is the Tunnel Port FE motor that was in the 500 car in its later life and thus the lettering of the car with MERCURY. Thank you Ryan Cochran and Randy Hernandez and the HAMB. The 427 tunnel port is the very same motor that is in Don's last build his 1932 roadster that was at the GNRS 2025 and is currently in the NHRA museum. More about this later. .
Thanks for reading. I will eventually be going back to about 1946 with Don and family archive photos. I am using my life time line and lacing Don's racing time line within it and my experience with him and the family. It is just something I have to do while I have my wits sort of intact. I think the folks on the Hamb probably have the most interest and understanding of the historical importance.
The 500 roadster rested in my mother-in-laws house for a few years. It was becoming a challenge for her taking up space. Thus I had to find it a new home. I brought it to a few shows and Dave Krouse convinced Steve Memishian to purchase the vehicle. He was a collector of Nautical items on the east coast and decided he wanted to get "into" hot rods. When he bought Don's roadster he asked me what I would do regarding hot rod history. I told him I would video tape and record all of the old timers and document what they have done and gather the history. Well, I guess he thought that was a good idea and he set up the AHRF. The 500 car was in the NHRA museum for a long time and then he donated it to the museum, thank goodness. Perfect home for it. It is on display in the Land speed racing section of the museum. The 500 car never ran at the dry lakes, Don built it to do so, but the SCTA told him he had to remove (cut) off the shock covers on the beautiful Don Borth aluminum work. They said it was streamlining. Don said a few things and he told them where to go... He never went racing with SCTA again and took up drag racing with this car and later with a few other AA altered cars he built over the years. One of the photos is of Don's AA altered vehicles. Vita C and the Edelbrock car. They are owned by the NHRA museum. Thank goodness Steve Memishian bought them from Don and cleaned them up for display and donation. For Don's memorial, held at the NHRA museum, the cars were brought together. His 32 roadster, the two altereds, the 500 car and his 27 roadster. It was exciting to see all the cars together. The family was very pleased. One photo is of the 32 with Don's amazing daughter, a cut out of Don and the team who helped build the 32 and prep it for the 75th GNRS which would be happening the following week. The next part of this little write up will be about some of the other cars and history that may be a bit more interesting.
The time frame from 1999 to 2025 brought about many things. I finished the 500 car and was gathering from Don other items for the future. We were in conversation on a monthly or weekly basis. He would update me on his projects, and he would help me with mine. He was always a phone call away when I got stuck on the 500 car and on the next challenges that he provided me with like the dune buggy and the 27 roadster. There is a car the family called the Water Pumper. It was a tube chassis (heat treated and stress relieved) chassis with a Bill Stroppe 406 medium riser, cross bolted Ford FE that he got from his Fran Hernandez connection. It had a 4 speed top-loader. Now this was a rig he would takes his family down to Glamis dunes on the weekends. They would all pile in "Brutus" their 64 Chevrolet pickup and head out for a weekend ripping in the dunes. Don would drag race any challenger up the dune hills and leave them in the dust. He was a bad ass competitor. It had a dual paddle tire set up in the rear on a corvette independent rear suspension. It had VW front torsion bar set up. Dual Moon tanks, Jones tach, Bell helicopter seats. It was a monster. It looks like something straight out of a Mad Maxx movie. I had to purchase the water pumper from Don because it sat on the very same trailer he used to transport his 27 roadster to the salt flats and lake bed. The only way he would let me have it was to buy the package. I was gathering the bits from him over the years for the 27 roadster and I saw this as a super cool piece to have and to keep with the roadster. You can see the trailer with the 27 on it in a few photos. I recently used the trailer to take the 27 down to the NHRA museum for the memorial just before the roadster show, and left the 27 in the museum. More about that later. I used the Buggy a few times with my family down at my parents Pismo place. It was fun but, it was really made for smooth dunes and drag racing. We had some great experiences with it that my kids still talk about. Don's family still have some exciting stories to tell about Glamis dunes. Again, I was storing this one in my dads garage and from the photos it was taking up too much room. I was busy with kids and racing and other things and the buggy had to find a new home. I really wish I could have held on to it, but you know how it is raising a family and there is never enough money or storage space. You can see the trailer in the old photos with the bent spoke Kelsey Hayes wheels which I still have for the trailer. The trailer currently has the steel wheels from later use. Some mods to the rails were made to fit the tire width of the buggy. It was painted orange to go along with the buggy, though the picture makes it look like it is rust. One thing that happened in 1999 when I picked up the 500 roadster, Don gave me a box with the Waite egg company logo on it. I kept if all these years and for his memorial Jimmy B from the HAMB, when I told him about the memorial and what we were thinking about in terms of a family shirt, had a brilliant idea. He had a drawing of Don's 27 already and we worked out using the label together. What a blessing he was to the family. The whole family about 35 folks and other friends were all wearing the shirt at the NHRA museum memorial. That little label I held on to for all the years, and had planned on one day making a team shirt finally was realized. Thank you Jimmy B it is incredible what you did for us. Thanks for reading this far. I know there are errors in grammar and I will go back over time and work them out. I wanted to get this written down as quickly as I could and not fret over format at this time. Reading takes time and my format is a bit challenging, trying to maintain some sort of time line. Much of this is significant to me and the family. I have 27 years of involvement and I had to get this down at least once. There are a few more sections coming as we move along the time line. Actually, I will take a big jump back to 1946. I do not know much about his drag racing years in terms of details, but I know the year he won the championship and got his Wally. I am a Bonneville and El Mirage racer and the dry lakes history is my greatest interest and I will share what I know. The story is coming out a bit faster than I thought it would. I have been thinking about it for a long time. I have been working with Julia, Don's daughter on many details and history, with their photo archives and family stories. The family has been amazing and we are actually having a great time of discovery together. More to follow. If you are near Pomona and the NHRA museum, you should visit. Don's cars are in there now. The 27 will be moving out on the 1st of April and the 32 roadster will be heading out as soon as the weather is clear. The 500 car and the other cars are owned by the museum at this time and get to rest peacefully inside.
Incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe combine Hot Rod Building with a few books on the subject..............I have some spaces in the library for an autographed copy when you are ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep the flame burning bright!
Don Waite's 1927 Ford rear engine modified roadster: I want you to think back to when you were 18 years old. What were you doing with cars or life or anything? I am going to lay out a time line of Don's roadster life starting in 1947 when Don was only 18 years old. Now some of the photos are actually a little before 1947. I started writing this this Sunday 3-30-3025. I realized many of the family photos I possess, are not in my computer files. I will have to come back after I get them in place. You can think about your 18 year old life for a moment.
Don started his journey with his 27 roadster when he sold his model A sports coupe. Here are some photos of it and when it was sold this was about 1946 and earlier. He then had money to buy a 27 roadster. He proceeded to put it on a 32 chassis. There are a few photos of it being worked on by an unknown friend at the time. It looks like he is doing some metal work for Don. This was run though the 1947 season as number 332 both at Russetta and SCTA events. This was the front engine configuration. He has a different motor and head combination in the later racing version. I am sure someone can identify the head types. The early one had the exhaust on the left side and the later head had a larger pipe running out of the right side. I could probably find out what they are if I scoured the web and or looked closely at the race results.
The front engine roadster on 27 rails ran at El Mirage and we only have one saved timing tag from that car. Here are some photos of the car as number 332. I got a kick out of that number since my Moon coupe was number 532. The next write up will be about when he made it the FIRST rear engine roadster to run at the dry lakes, using a variety of 4 bangers. The bent spoke Kelsey wire wheels were the ones used on the trailer at a later date, which he saved and gave to me.
I’m sorry for the loss of your friend. I carefully studied the 29’ roadster at the 99’ roadster show. So many details to take in! I’ve read everything I could find about Don in print. My favorite story is when he picked up the T’s track nose from Whitey Clayton’s shop and was t-boned on the way home smashing up the nose and Clayton charging a few bucks to straighten it back out. Really looking forward to more great stories!
Cool. I am glad you are taking time to read this. I can only do it in small chunks. I am in Monterey if you want to see the photo proofs of the 29 or the 27. I am picking up the 27 from the NHRA museum this Tuesday. It will be in my shop for the next phase of development. Stay tuned.
From the shape of the valve cover and the stud (or bolt) at the arrow I’d say that is a Miller Hi-Speed Head. When Harry Miller had some financial trouble it later became known as the Miller -Schofield.
Thanks for that info. Keep an eye open on the next series of photos when the later version is shown. I see the 332 number car has a different head. Maybe a Cragar?
Good eye! AHRF profile on Don lists his T with a Miller head, Pierre Bertrand cam and a Wico ignition.
I took another look at the photos, this earlier one shows a factory exhaust manifold going over the intake. Don likely got it running with that before the tube header was made. Here’s a photo of a car with the same head but it has a beautifully cast header by Duke Hallock. And yes, the Miller-Schofield later became the CRAGAR. Craney Gartz was a rich guy, an heir to the Crane Plumbing company. CRAney GARtz- CRAGAR and I guess he knew some hot rodders/racers. When Schofield folded his tent Craney lent money to fund the head business but I don’t know if he gave the money to George Wight of Bell Auto Parts or someone else before George started producing them.
Fordors and Pat, thanks for your input. I really like hearing about the history. Don told me he was getting most of his parts in the early days at Bell Auto parts.
The Jalopy Journal
