In case you haven't heard yet, Ray died this past Sunday.....I have been looking in the LA are papers for an obit but haven't found one yet, at least not online...... Ray worked for Eddie Meyer as a teenager and then went on to open his own speed shop and was a pioneer in the use of seat belts......he started out by making them from war surplus webbing and buckles......he later sold his company to Superior Industries for a lot of $$$.......I think he was still lited as a Vp of Something or other.... I sure loved his Sherwood Green Deuce roadster #99c......had the pleasure of seeing it in the Petersen Museum on one of my trips there.... Godspeed, Ray......a racer and an innovator! Brucie
Wow. Just last night I was reading Ray Brown hemi stuff in an early engine book and in a Dodge engine build in 1954 HRM...and I looked at my little collection of the two old magazines with the picture of kids working on that '32. Writer, builder, innovator.
So long Ray,.... you left quite a Hot Rod legacy,... ( learn all that you can from them now,... this important chapter of American history is closing quickly)
Had the pleasure of seeing the car up close a few years ago at Goodwood. They let some Journo type drive it, under strict instructions to "take it easy" with the car.... He smoked the tires all through 1st & 2nd... RIP Ray. Godspeed
That's always my Winter background photo on my Computer desktop........a great picture!! It's on my computer right now as the weather gets colder! Brucie
I've always loved his roadster. I think it was the pictures of it in the snow that grabbed me. A lost legend! Clark
Dug around a little last night and found a real early biog piece attached to his article in "Hop Up Magazine's Manual of the New Engines", 1953. Naturally, he did the article on Chrysler-DeSoto-Dodge hemis. "Ray Brown heads his own famous engine building establishment in Los Angeles. His record of speed achievements on lakes and salt is outstanding. Brown is past president of the Southern California Timing ***ociation. He is one of the first top flight exponents of speed&power to choose the Chrysler line of V-8's as owerplants for today's and tomorrow's hop up champions. In the 1952 Bonneville National Speed Trials, the Brown-Hooper lakester set a record of 197.88 mph. Its power plant was, naturally, a Chrysler." In this volume, his companion authors were Eugene Jaderquist and Griff Borgeson on the journalism side and Ak Miller, John McKusick, Clay Smith, Bill Stroppe, Nick Braje, and Chuck Daigh on the tech side...obviously, most of the "A" team. Are any of the others still with us?
The only one I am 99% sure is still alive is Chuck Daigh.......don't know about the others..... Brucie
I didn't expect to see this news this morning RIP Ray, a true pioneer. I have always liked Ray's '32 since seeing it pictured in TRJ #8, but I always liked his rear engined V8-60 T lakes roadster more. Mainly because he ran against the Giovanine/Spurgin '25 Chev lakes roadster in A cl*** roadster in '48. & who can forget Ray's battle with the So-Cal Speed shop at Bonneville in '52?! Ray with a Chrysler Hemi powered bellytank & Alex with the Trusty ol' Flathead bellytank. They battled it blow for blow with Ray coming out on top..... just! RIP
A picture of Ray next to his last 32 - one that I bought from him a few years ago. Tom Sparks built the Flathead. He was a hero to me, and yet I knew him for so little time and talked cars with him for only a day. But, it was a day I'll never forget. Larry
I never had the pleasure of meeting the man................my loss. You left your mark Ray and some examples of your work, now rest in peace. Frank
R.I.P... I caught the roadster years ago in Hershey. I was very young, but it left an amazing impression. Funny how the pix of the car in the snow show the fact they are JUST CARS... his family and friends have suffered a great loss. S***ch
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