While leafing thru my old H.R.M.s looking for something else, I stumbled on an article in the June '54 issue on Max Balchowsky and his nailhead powered, channelled '32 Roadster road racer. The car had a distinctively modified '32 radiator shell-the lower half bulged out about 3" on each side (kinda pear shaped.) and the nerf type bumper was encased in the "fat" part. It was a well done but not particularly attractive modification. Further, one of the pictures in the story showed the car with a Flathead Cadillac engine; obviously prior to the installation of the Buick. I remembered the car as being a predecessor to his string of Buick powered "sports cars. However, the reason for the posting is to ask if someone remembers the story of the car before Max got it. I've seen a thread on here about its original builder-the bumper has a "V" built into the middle of it. 'Seems like it was built in the N.W. but I can't remember the thread well enough to say that for sure. I'd like to know who built it and who owned it before Max. Can anybody help?
That photo session was repeated, in part, in the article I referred to. But it doesn't shed any light on the car "before Max".
If you follow the link I posted, you'll find this in a post on Pg2. "I noticed no one has talked about who originally built the '32 it was Jimmy Summers. Jimmy built it around '46 and sold it to the Fred Vogel. notice the V in the front Nerf bar in the article?"
I never knew about a car prior to Ole Yeller .Urban legand around here is that Max once lived in northern Idaho .The pics I have seen of Ole Yeller show it with an Idaho plate with an "I" on it that stands for Idaho county .Grangeville Idaho is the county seat .That might be a place to look .I'll be watching this thread .Thanks
Sorry; I didn't follow it far enough (I got bogged down in dogs). Summers and Vogel were the names I was trying to remember. Now, can anyone say whether or not they've ever seen a picture of the car with headers (coming out of the topside of the LaSalle engine) thru the hood? I know there were other cars with FlatCads which had fancy headers but somehow I keep thinking I;ve seen them on this car.
There's a Yam Oka tie-in here. Believe he built the LaSalle engine ... in one of the Don Montgomery books ?
Hope someone can help me out with a question I have had for years. I cut this photo out of a magazine Dad gave me around 1960, Popular Mechanics or Popular Science it was an old magazine even then. I've always thought it was Max's '32, but it has a much larger grill. Text states the car was designed in a Japanese POW camp by Pat Leighton, channeled '42 Merc powered car turned 117.84. Were is this car now? If someone has the full magazine I cut it out of please let me know. Bob
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