Anyone have any idea what this car is?

Size looks about right for a Crosley Spl.

Maybe it started out as one, and got a V860 swap later.

( maybe when they found out a steel body with lead wasnt that light...)

 

Anybody spent time at Tam's Old Racecar Site?
Lots of old road racers and one-off specials...

http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/

 

yeah, I get that a lot!

 

Thanks to everyone for their input and interest. In response to a few of the comments:


I agree that the front end looks a bit strange without any fenders for headlights. After looking at the sheet metal fab work the builder certainly had the talent to do something else. I have not had a chance to get inside and look at all of the panels but the rear section seems to be made from surprisingly few panels. Having handformed a few panels myself that was one of the first things I looked at. The headrest pods look to be handmade.


Hopefully this link will work. It shows some Hmod cars from the past with similar front styling. Not exact but the builder may have been influenced by that at the time.


http://ferrariexperts.com/etceterini%20my%20favorite%20hmods%20hmodcars.com%20cars%20scca%20racing%20cars.htm#ART


I agree and I doubt that Ford had anything to do with it as it is too basic of a design. And the build quality is just not there. It was probably not a race car either as it is heavy for it's size. The tire size is a bit too small for race cars at the time. My guess was it ran about a 23-26 inch diameter tire.

If I get up to look at some Crosleys next week I will let you guys know if the frame matches.


aircap Thanks for the link to Tams Race race site. Very cool stuff.

 

This was on the Tamraz site. Quite a bit of similarity to this car . The article states Baldwin built 4 of these . Could this be one of the others ?




Bill Hanssen's Baldwin Special

The Baldwin Specials were main event contenders in the early days of California sports car racing. Stu Hanssen, son of racer Bill Hanssen, is looking for info on his dad's car. Your webmaster has never heard of this car and he's very interested in learning more about it.

<CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=760 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>"Hello, I am Stu Hanssen son of William Hanssen who drove this car at Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, the road course at Pebble Beach where Ernie McAfee was killed, and also at Hanson Dam." </TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

<CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=760 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD><TD>"My Dad sold this car to Jack McAfee in approx. 1960. This car was built by Willis Baldwin in Santa Barbara and sported the Baldwin name on the front of car above the grille."</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

<CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=760 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>"The car had an all-alloy body and I think a 'Nailhead' Buick V8 with a 3 speed trans. and drum brakes.
As far as I knew we called it the Baldwin Special. There are a couple of other cars that he built and I have never seen this car since it was sold but I really would like to know what happened to the car"
Thanks, Stu Hanssen (If you can help Stu: [SIZE=+1]Please email me![/SIZE]
</TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

 

Looks like the critter to me!

 

that Baldwin car is what i was thinking. Any way, worth a rebuild. Be a cool vintage road racer or ralley car. Try posting on the vscda.org forum

 

Maybe it was the 1st baldwin car as it's done in steel and the other(s) were stated to be built of alloy.
Wonder if they ever had intentions of pulling a mold from the body to knock off fibergl*** bodies?
At any rate it would be a fun car to put on the street. You'd have to come up with some hidded headlights in the grillework (think RS Camaro,etc. mechanisms) or end up with somewhat goofy early Nash look headlight in grillework designs, to make it street legal.

 

That's a Crosley steering wheel and post. looks like Crosley shocks. Need a picture of the frame.. John

 

Hmmm, kinda like a Nash-Healey, like the one they used in the original Superman TV series:

 

I will try to get some frame photos to post in the next few days. Stopped by a shop today that I had seen a Crosley PU at a couple of weeks ago but it was gone. I did find out it had a V8-60 in it. I was hoping to get a look at the frame and suspension. They did not have the owners name but gave me a lead to track it down. After seeing some pictures on a Crosley web site I think a Crosley frame does look really similar. I may be hunting for Crosley suspension parts and a v8-60 next

 

I now believe that the ch***is was from a Crosley as we suspected. A local in Fullerton, CA has a number of Crosley's and was kind enough to let me look at some of the cars and ch***is to take pic's and some measurements. The front steering box is normally in front of the axle but was moved probably to give room for the V8-60. Other than that I think I could bolt in a Crosley suspension.

If we build this I will post pictures.

 

That's an interesting body. I'd have to think that it was a one off sports car built by a pretty decent bodyman in the early 50's. As it appears to have been built on a Crosley ch***is it might have been raced in one of the lower cl***es at some road race events. Tire changes wouldn't have been much of an issue as a lot of those smaller cars could probably run a season or two on one set of tires.

 

A Crosley Hot Shot or Super sport frame would have the steering box behind the front axle and a single rear leaf spring with a coil spring.

 

Looks like a couple oil tanks hammered out a little...

 

man, thats really cool. front looks like a bar of Life Bouy but the cars pretty awesome!