Little known fact,... hot rodding was around, alive and well from 1940-49,... with the war on, most boys gave their rods to their siblings or stored them in the garage while away. Still others that were either concious objectors or just guys who were not drafter or had enlisted who may have worked factory jobs were home still driving them around, using them as daily drivers. Boy,... what if we started talking pre-war hot rodding,...then the confusion would really fly then!
I for one as my Dad came home from the war sometime in 1945 or very early 1946 and I was born in November of 46. This a great thread with a lot of great photos even though some have been posted a number of times by different people. I found a lot of reference photos for the A V8 that I am gathering parts and pieces for and after taking my wife to the Portland roadster show last weekend I may have a hard time convincing her that we need a sedan instead of a roadster and will need to study the photo more intensely. For the guys building a period correct post war 40's rod the photos are invaluable. things such as: did they split the bones or not? What steering box as mentioned before. Dropped axle or not? Stance? Wheel/tire choices. As I have an 8BA it looks like I'll have to shoot for the early 50's look rather than the 40's look. My decrepit old hand hurts from all the right click and save today.
Don't know how I missed this thread but I'd like to throw a late cat amongst the pigeons for the roadster/coupe argument, sorry if I've missed the answer amongst all these pages. This car raced at an SCTA meet at Muroc in May 1938. The picture is taken from "MUROC: When The Hot Rods Ran" by William Carroll. At the back of the book it gives a full list of the contest rules for 1938 and under Body Classes it states "Sedans and coupes will run together". Which begs the question, when were closed cars dropped by the SCTA?
"At the back of the book it gives a full list of the contest rules for 1938 and under Body Classes it states "Sedans and coupes will run together". Which begs the question, when were closed cars dropped by the SCTA?" good question...
Oh,...you know what I mean by what I wrote,... (WWII, war issues 1939-45 in Europe, and the US's involvement, 41-45).... I know when WWII was,....!! hehehe.....
Very true indeed!!! now they just re-write history books in Japan as if non of their atrocities were ever committed, I have a Japanese friend that we have talked with about it... he said there has been a wave of denial around from way before he was ever born. Very sad, bizarre. So, anyway,.. back to the the hot rods!
Strange how there is such a "lack" of photos of closed cars from before the 1938 rules that did away with them?? A's and T's were easy to get,... either open or closed,... THis is why people need to realize that saving history is soooo important,.... now we're here wondering about such things when someone could have taken more photos and recorded the stories and such on paper for others to learn from later on.
So when in 1938 was the change made? Does anyone have a copy of the rules that shows the change? I'd be very interested to know how it was worded and if it explained why.
This is my friend Mike's car.I've been trying to get pics of this car for months to add to this thread.
Here is my Grandpa's '29 A-V8 built in '46 or '47 by a friend of his. He bought it from his buddy in 1952 and had it until the 1960s I believe. I am currently working on duplicating this car....and I have the original dash and induction setup from his car to go with it!
Whoa...I haven't seen those pictures before...you got a link for that site? Have those been reprinted in any books? I had to pull out my copy of "the birth of hot rodding"...they look like theyre right out of that book. Thanks for posting em'! Johnny
They are from Warren Durkee, no they haven't been printed in any books http://scta-bni.org/EM_1948_photos.htm
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