Does anyone know the history of the flame paint job. Did they do it much in the 50's or did it start in the 60's after the space capsules re-entered the atmosphere? the look is timeless, and I've always just wondered.
I think I read somewhere scallops evolved into flames, and Larry watson was the pioneer. Not sure how true that is.
The pic of the roadster is awesome, now thats history and more so pre war. Any more info about the pic or the place and guys there.
If you do a search on here for "George Rubsch" or Skipit you'll find some more info, I robbed the picture from a great post on pre-war activety at the lakes. The car also shows up in a couple of the Montgomery and Drake books a****st others. From memory it was on an A frame, banger powered, scratch built body by his father and a 30's Olds grille.
Anyone remember the cartoon in Popular Hotrodding, I think it was, called "Arin Cee?" They had a really funny strip one month about flames.
Hmmm, something about a burning bush?....... I dont recall ever seeing flames used on early aircraft though scallops were pretty big in the late 20s and 30s, mainly in the air racing circles. Doc.
From what I heard in WW11 some of the fighter pilots had their crew paint flames on the cowl. when the boys got home they started to paint flames on their hot rods. also their love of the sound of those engines got to them so they opened up their exhaust systems to get back those memories of planes roaring past them.
Grand dad had pictures of a fairly new mid teens T that had flames on it. There was also a shed involved in it.
Taken from the Gilmore Record, October 20, 1938; "During the running of this program a most spectacular thing happened. Fred Friday, working his hand pump, sprayed fuel onto his manifold from a ruptured fuel line. The car immediately burst into flame. Friday stayed with the car and pulled it off the track and out of the way of other cars but not before an alert photographer had sanpped an incredible shot of the flaming car. This picture became auto racing's most famous picture for a good many years even appearing on page one of the London Times. It inspired and continues to inspire countless thousands of "Flame" paint jobs. Friday escaped serious injury." The above quotation is from "The Gilmore Record: 1934 through 1950". This publication is long out of print, it was published by Pressly R. Keays and contains the statistics of all races and a complete list of all winners from 1934 through 1950.
This is Gabby Garrisons 'T' gow job in 1933 here in Long Beach with some crude flames on the hood that he said he was trying to copy from a race car. Not a great picture, but I think flames go back farther than most would think.
I was watching that movie "Fly boys" about the escadrille, American Pilots that flew for the french in WWI and it made me think this too...
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