Hot Rods Photos That Tell A Tale...

My eyes are up here buddy!!!!

 

Howza Bruthas-

DECADES ago, an older fellow handed me a stack of polaroids he took at Bonneville in 1952.
This one of them. Bill Kenz standing next to the legendary 777 Streamliner.

 

Well, shortly after I arrived up here in the Great Northwest, I learned of the p***ing of my old friend Jack Richards, on 7/11/2001.
Jack had done it all. He was a WWII veteran, raced at Bonneville from the beginning, was a member of the Roadrunners in SoCal. Was a test driver and mechanic for Kenz and Leslie too. Jack had a great smile, amazing stories, and was one of the greatest guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

 

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Hard to imagine a time when motorsports drivers and the general public thought it was safer to jump or get thrown out of the car in an accident. Or that you might not be able to get out of the car if it was on fire if you were buckled in.

 

Spooky, this little A needs to find one place to park and then put down some damn cardboard.

 

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

 

Dad at Mid-State Speedway 1970 leaning in talking to Bill Roese before he goes on the track.
Dad at Mid-State 53 year later leaning in talking to me before I go on the track.

 

At the end of the season, he must have been ahead in "points",

 

There are moments in a man's life...I'll just say Limpet was anything but that I'll bet at that moment...

Anyhow a story to tell...well it was around 1920 at GM and a couple riveters were putting these in...5/16 steel buck rivets in the 1/4 eliptical spring brackets to the frame of a 1920ish 490 touring and me and @Ziggster drilled them out...











https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-gn-cycle-car-tribute-build.1131795/

...most of the rivets we removed were dumped which happens due to numerous conditions...I won't get into that...but the more concentric the upset or bucked end is the better the integrity of the joint is...while some offset is typical some of these were upset to shank and beyond...I can imagine it was hell to rivet this stuff back then, cold install or hot...not sure but as an aviation guy I saw some issues. Yeah it fulfilled its mandate anyways but I would have expected better. That part we'll never know...but I saw a few glaring possibilities. It was a challenge and I like challenges and Ziggster did very very well for his first kick at some difficult drilling and removal of those rivets...

Ziggster is running 1/4 elipticals on his vintage Speedster and the springs and brackets will help get that project sprung and on wheels with a nice vintage twist...















https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Series_490

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here's the same car at the 2011 Ironstone Winery Concours in Murphys Ca

 

moo!

 

Me, having a bad day at the strip, about 50 years ago.
Somehow, I managed to keep it off the iron, and shiny side up.

 

Usually it's just the horns...

 

Easiest car I ever loaded that didn't roll.
Ready to head home.

 

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You don’t suppose the new brides name is Cad do ya?

 

Did you need a new racing suit...???

 

LOL me and that little car have been through a lot, both good and bad.

Still racing it ...

 

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All right, who forgot the damned bellhousing bolts!!!