Folks Of Interest Don Blair RIP?

My Nephew Cyclone Ian had the Rod & Custom Facebook Page up and a post said RIP Don Blair,Goodspeed. Any truth to this?????

 

Sorry to hear this >>>>.

 

I saw that also...if its true, weve lost another great one...RIP.

 

Hoping it's not true, but R.I.P. if it is...

 

It is true. Trying to get more details, but Don had been in failing health for a number of years, but it hadn't slowed his spirit much. Was still doing as much with the race cars as he could from what I understand. He was 90 years old - he had a great run
Great guy
with his signature "LUCK", Godspeed Don

Put my Blair's car back up as avatar in honor of Don

 

http://www.ahrf.com/pioneer.php?id=10017

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/thehistoryof/1110rc_the_don_blair_story/viewall.html

 

I also just saw that on FB...






May he Rest In Peace.



Malcolm

 

Once again, the ranks are thinning. RIP

 

Thanx 4 the confrmation. Very Sad Day in Hot Rodding .

 

Truly one of the greats. RIP.

 

Don was a very cool guy when i got into cars about 15 i wanted a bigger cam he spent a good hr or so explaining to me how to pick a cam and check spring clearance . R.I.P don

 

How many thousands of gear heads has this mans work inspired? In turn, his former employees who went on to do like wise. That is leaving a legacy worth mentioning. One of kind. A mecca of sorts that shop was. -God's Grace to this mans soul.

 

Sorry to hear this. I was one of the guys that visited "Uncle Don's" on a fairly regular basis after I found it. RIP Don.

 

Yes, the ranks of the "Greatest" generation are thinning too damn fast!. They volunteered during the worlds darkest days and were victorious, came home to raise families, and built the foundation of what we enjoy so much today!

God Speed

 

wow....another huge hole created that cannot be filled.

 

Sad day! A true Icon of hot rodding

R.I.P. Don!

 

Once more we lose a great one. RIP Don.

Frank

 

Wow-what a legacy - never forget the pioneers - God Speed

 

sad news, one of the greats. R.I.P. don.
Al.

 

One of the truly great stories of hotrodding. Thanks to Rod and Custom for its coverage and tribute. R.I.P. Don Blair

 

Godspeed

 

went into his speed shop every day for years, haven't talked to him in the last 40 years but it still leaves a large hole in my heart. he was a icon that always had the right answer for us young rodders in the 50-60's RIP ol buddy

 

My father was a machinist at Blair's from about '48 to '53, I grew up there under the counter, and learned everything I know about cars from my dad and by extension from Blair and the whole scene there. That's a picture in my avatar of the old man porting a flathead in the doorway of Blair's shop on Arroyo Parkway before they moved to the last location at Daisy and Foothill. These guys in the Gophers were founding members of the Southern California hot rod culture. There are few of these guys left. They were on the cutting edge of automotive performance, and many of their innovations were directly adopted by Detroit. An example is the porting of the '56 Olds head, which was lifted by Detroit from heads done at Blair's shop. Southern California was a hotbed of innovation in those days, and the automotive wave fed the aerospace industry as well. My father was hired by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1957, much to his surprise, and spent the next 34 years working on such projects as the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) which flew on the first Mars lander (Viking) in 1976.

Don was a scrounger who made things work out of what he had available. He would build his cars out of whatever he had lying around. He had no problem welding up a cracked block and stuffing it into one of his track cars. The important thing was that it worked and produced horsepower. None of these guys were afraid to try something new, because they tested it out immediately, and found out if it worked by experience. Duffy Livingstone was part of this group of innovators, and followed a similar approach. For his Eliminator, he acquired a GM cast-off 265 smallblock in 1955, which GM rendered useless by punching a whole in the side of it. Duffy was an expert welder, so he welded a patch on the side bored it and went racing. Most of you reading this know the result. My old man built and tuned that engine for him, though you probably won't hear that from him. The current iteration that Brock Yates runs around with has a 350 in it, and so is not really correct.

Anyway, to my knowledge, the only surviving Gopher is Tom Medley, and I hope I am correct in saying so (in Tom's case, that is!), because I haven't heard otherwise. Tom still has his old '40 coupe from those days, with the Gopher's plaque on the back, and was kind enough to include a picture of one of my old man's porting jobs in his first "Hot Rod History" book.

RIP Double Dollar -- you deserved triple or more!

 

Wow that is some great history.....RIP

 

Rest in Peace Don.

 

Does the Blair Special still exist? Has it been restored ? I would like to know the history anyone know it?

 

I got to spend some time on the phone with Don in 2009 while I was doing research on his old sprint car, "Blair's Offy". He was a wonderful man and willing to share stories about Colby Scroggins, the driver and Hank Henry, the builder.

Here is a quick board I put together to display near the car.


This is how the car looks today. A very, very nice example of a Offy powered sprint car. Yes, in 1959 he chose an Offy over a SBC.


Bart

 

Another legend gone. RIP

 

God speed Don Blair

 

Sad news indeed.

Heaven must need gassers.

R.I.P.