Danny Eames, a man who had devoted his adult life to automotive performance has died. He apparently succumbed to cancer in the early part of last December. He was 93 years old. His wife Doris proceeded him in death, four years earlier. I believe there are no known survivors. I don't have all my notes of my talks with Danny in hand; but, I'll give those of you who've not known, or heard of Danny, a brief sketch of him: As a teenager, growing up in Southern California, he began an interest in cars and machinery, enrolling in High School auto shop. After he finished school, he went to work as a mechanic. He, like many lads of the day, became interested in high performance automobiles; so, like most young so-inclined fellows, he built a "gow job" (later known as a "Hot Rod"). He was concerned about the safety of running fast on the streets; so he drove up to the"lakes" to go fast. The "Lakes", as many of you know, are dry lake beds, of which, there are many in Antelope Valley , north of Los Angeles. The various lakes had names, such as: Corum Ranch (later reversed and called Muroc), El Mirage, Harper's Ranch and Rodgers. Danny described the events at such places as "organized" (or perhaps disorganized) confusion. I think he told me that it was Harper's that the lads were first run out of. Then the government took over Corum's; and, hence changed the name to Muroc. Dan allowed that the lakes were a miserable place to go. Sometimes too hot; other times too cold. They were windy and always dusty. As World War II broke out, Dan joined the Marine Corps and served for four or five years. After the conflict, he, like many returned to "Hot Rodding". To finance his hobby, he went to work for a local Dodge-Plymouth dealer. In his off hours, he built and raced midgets. He told me that he soon realized "a guy could get hurt real bad or perhaps killed" doing that; so he got others to drive for him. His employer sponsored a Plymouth entered in some of the early stock car races in Southern California. The boss soon found that those running the Plymouth race car were not finding a way to success. He knew of Danny's talents for building race cars, so he recruited Danny to try to straighten things out. Under Eames' direction the Plymouth team started to win races. A regional Chrysler manager noticed the success of the dealer's Plymouth; and got the boss to lend Danny to Plymouth team that was putting together an effort to enter a car in NASCAR's events. The driver of the Plymouth was Johnny Mantz. Their first race, in 1950, was at Occoneechee Speedway in the strictly stock division. In September 1950, the Plymouth, with Mantz, was entered in the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington. Darlington was the only paved track on the schedule. Mantz brought the Plymouth in first, nine laps ahead of "Fireball" Roberts, in second. Eames was hired as Chief Test Driver and Special Assistant to the president of the Desoto Division of Chrysler. He was with Chrysler until the mid-fifties. His notable contribution was leading the development of the Desoto D-500. The car set many speed records in its class. Ford Motor Company had been trying to get Danny away from Chrysler/Desoto for some time. Finally, in 1955, Dan agreed to work for Ford. His first assignment was to prepare cars for the Mobil Oil Economy Runs. On another effort for Ford, Danny got Chuck Daigh and the two prepared, I believe it was a '56 Ford tudor, to go out to beat the record, set by two women in a Chevy, for time across the U.S. Dan prefaced the story with: remember the refrain, "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet"? Then Danny tells of flying along in a hopped up Ford, on a highway through the Ozarks, Chuck at the wheel, at about 120 m.p.h. As Chuck passed another vehicle, perhaps a truck, a car comes the other way. Chuck, quick as a cat, darts to his left, through the shoulder on the other side of the road; and comes back in a cloud of dust. As he straightened everything out, still at speed, Chuck turned to Danny and quipped: "Nice, huh?" As the other car makers were getting heavily involved in racing, Ford called Danny. They asked him to build a race car out of a Ford. They told him a Thunderbird might be a good start. He told them that the T-bird wouldn't be a good candidate. They told him to go build a "bird" that could be raced. I won't go into the details right now; but, suffice to say Danny took his ideas out to a Ford "shadow operation" in Southern California, DePaolo Engineering; and built two cars that "smoked 'um" on the beaches of Daytona. It seems to me the effort for Ford that Danny was most proud of was his around the world trip. He had a DVD of the film a Disney film crew had shot, as Dan and Phil Remington wound their way through many countries. It was a publicity effort to mimic the movie "Around the World in Eighty Days". He told us of many things. He was involved with Ford's NASCAR effort, from the start, He told us of his involvement with Shelby American and Holman and Moody, with respect to Ford's attack on the 24 hour race at Le Mans. He talked about his setting and holding the land speed record in a electric car that he designed and built. Jerry Kugel drove the machine. (photo below)
Great stuff Dawg. Thanks. Remember reading one of Dick Martin's great bios of Danny recently: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/thehistoryof/1106rc_the_danny_eames_story/viewall.html
A few years ago while on a run with the SLO roadster club , we had the pleasure of having Danny Eames show us a film of his "around the world " tour for the Ford Motor Co. The best part was having Danny doing the live naration as the film was showing . When I returned home , I was telling my friend Art Chrisman about my weekend , and then Art started telling me all these stories of his relationship with Mr. Eames . He was truelly a remarkable man. RIP
YEAH! You know, fellas, I should have found my notes; and reread Martin's piece in Rod and Custom, before I put my stuff up on the HAMB. For example, I didn't have Danny's early life complete. They moved the guys out of Muroc, before they went to Harper's Dry Lake. And, Danny went to the Dodge division of Chrysler, not Desoto. Sharp eyes will see a few other mistakes I made. I'll do better next time. I'll post some photos of Danny taken last year; and some more stories that Martin didn't come up with, as soon as I get my "stuff" together
I think I can remember most of the story on, basically, how the two cars were created; and how they performed on the beaches of Daytona. But, again, I gotta check my notes; and delve into the "dog eared" Rolladex of my mind. Soon as I figure that out, I'll post it.
As Danny told the story to me, The "suits" at Ford called him in and told him that some of the major car makers were going to run time trials on the sands of Daytona. This meeting was held a year to six months prior to the trials. Ford's prime competitors: General Motors and Chrysler were going to be there. Chevy, under the direction of Zora Arkus-Duntov, was bringing Corvettes; and Chrysler, through Carl Kiekhaefer, was bringing one of the big 300B's. Even Luigi Chinetti, the U.S. Ferrari distributor, through his North American Racing Team (NART), was bringing a Ferrari. The Ford people told Dan that they wanted him to take a Ford down to Florida; and, at least, beat the other big two. Danny replied that that it was a big, perhaps impossible order, given that Ford didn't have racing type products. They told Danny to put together two Thunderbirds; and make them go fast. And, as been said, Danny took the project out to California to DePaolo Engineering. Of the two, one was to be powered by a 312 C.I.D.Y-Block Ford; the other was to be fitted with a 430 Lincoln. Of each car, the chassis, including the suspension, and body panels were completely re-fabricated, or fabricated (the body panels out of aluminum). The engines were set considerably aft of the stock position. When they got to Daytona, the participants drew lots to see which order they would run. Danny told me that he drew the last slot. Danny was to drive the Lincoln powered "Bird". Some have reported that Marvin Panch drove one of the "Battlebirds"; but, Danny told me that Panch later drove one of the later "Birds" built for the road courses. At the time trails, I'm not too sure of the order of the other participants, nor all of the exact speeds. Duntov in the Corvette went out early and turned 155 mph, with a two way average of a little over 150. The Chrysler went almost 140 mile per hour; the Ferrari topped that by about 5 mph. Chuck Daigh went out and turned in a one-way speed of over 160. When Danny got his turn he 'BLEW' through the traps at OVER 200 mph!! I asked him why his car was so much faster the one Daigh drove. Surely, I said, there couldn't have been that much horsepower difference between the two engines. Danny, with a wry smile said: "I ran slicks". I was "floored". Danny said, "Yeah! it virtually flew over the sand!".
I love these stories of the early days. This gentleman, Carroll Shelby and Andy Hotten of Dearborn Steel tubing out of Detroit, were involved in some wild stuff for Ford. Great stuff. RIP Mr. Eeames
Last Spring, Jason Len, owner of XK's Unlimited, had his annual charity car show at his place in the outskirts of San Luis Obispo. I got Danny to come up from Santa Maria and show his DVD about his Ford trip around the world. A friend of ours Sherm Porter, shot these photos.
This photo was probably shot at that event in San Luis Obispo. The fellow next to Danny is his old friend Phill Whetstone. The place is Jack Dewar's Garage/Museum.
The Jalopy Journal
