Advertised Bardahl at ASCOT in the 60's. Figure 8 cars probably all used it. That and Wynn's friction proofing made the engines purr.
HAMB member Johnny Sweet was the pilot of the unlimited hydroplane that was sponsored by Bardahl. I got this info on the what were trad rodders doing in the 70s..
The Bardahl family has a house here in the Methow Valley, I've done several plumbing repairs on it for them. There is lots of "Old" Bardahl memorabilia through out the place!
I lived in Mexico for a few years in the 70's and Bardahl was a very popular brand all over..lots of metal and painted signage everywhere. http://www.bardahl.com.mx/navigation.do?action=forwardHome
Sir Muttley posted the 'vette in the drag cars in motion thread. Here, http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228509&page=1089 More Hielscher, Green Elephant Miss Bardahl 2010
Hey!!! Thanks for posting those pics. Behind the Green Elephant Funny Car is Hank Johnsons AA/FD trailer. Hank J. was the original owner of my old, 120" W.B., FED; he ran it in 64. I had it from 79-84, and sold it to Terry Seaholm (RIP) to step up into a RED for Super Comp. The "Ballard" area of Seattle is the "****" of a lot of jokes, and was a target for the local TV program, Almost Live (a loose takeoff of SNL). Memories! Butch/56sedandelivery.
I was in Mexico City between Christmas and New Years Day and saw lots of signage then. It appears to be alive and well in Mexico still.
Brings back old memories. They sold a product called "Top Oil" in a small can . You used it by punching holes in the lid with an ice pick and held it over the carb with the engine on fast idle while dribbling it into the carb. There was a lot of smoke as the stuff burned but all kinds of black carbon chunks blew out the exhaust. Supposedly it was the carbon built up around the valves. The cartoon character in their ads was "Blackie Carbon" , a guy in a trench coat sneaking around the inside of your engine spraeding carbon build up.
As a retired snake -oil rep. here is what we used to say. Bardahl was bad-oil. STP stood for **** tiers and piss. And you can't lose with wynns. And as a oil rep. now I say you don't need that ****!! Just some fuel products!!
yup, used it in the early '60s, even had a Bardahl decal, but did it work? Blew up so many engines with my engine-building skills that nothing would have kept them together....but I used it because the "big guys" (the Top Fuel guys who got all the girls) used it, never got me any girls either.....
During the 1960's Ollie Bardahl was the owner and supreme king of speed. He had the fastest unlimited air racing plane, Unlimited hydroplanes that won five Gold Cups, and six national championships , and a champion Indy race car all at the same time. He also sponsored many drag, and sprint cars around the world running on all kinds of tracks. Most of you guys are familiar with Nitrous Oxide Injection, well Bardahl was the first to use it along with the miss Exide hydroplane. His guys like leo Vandenburg, and Jerry Zuvich designed and developed the mixtures and the process that made it work and others that came along later used these same designs in cars and at the same time built there company's, and made a lot of money. If it wasn't for Ollie Bardahl's money and he spending it on the development of Nitrous Oxide injection for his hydroplanes, and airplanes it may have never been discovered or used in drag racing. It's just something to think about, and yes I do know that it was first used in the German fighters in WWII. Then adapted by our side on the P-51's. Bardahl product in there day were bigger than STP, and all the others combined. Did the **** work? Who the hell knows, but they sure sold the hell out of it, and in doing so made Ollie a very wealthy man. He didn't have a son, but a daughter, and she ran the buisness after his death. Now as far as me driving the Miss Bardahl hydroplane. I owned the Miss Bardahl from 1976 till 1983 when I donated it to the Unlimited Gold Cup Hall of Fame and Museum in Seattle Washington. The hydroplane that I owned was the 1963,64,65 Gold Cup and National Champion called the Green Dragon, and driven by the late Ron Musson. I had a total of fourteen hydroplanes during my racing career, but I didn't get to drive the Miss Bardahl, but owned and maintained it for seven years. It was my intent to race the Miss Bardahl, but in the end the politics of the Unlimited Hydroplane Commission made it imposable. Today my Miss Bardahl is owned by a private group and it's been restored and runs at different vintage hydroplane events on the West coast. On this thread there are a few pictures of how it looks today. Back in the 70's when I had the Miss Bardahl sitting in my yard with all my other racing hydroplanes, and race cars a newspaper reporter came by and decided to do a story. That was quite common at that time in history because I've been New England's fastest man on water, and counting up till now for thirty seven years. Anyways when the story came out he had me piloting the Miss Bardahl to some world record and so many championships. We called the paper and asked for a retraction, but you know how that goes. So we spent more time trying to explain to total strangers that I never drove the boat, that I was in one of my other boats. You could never explaint it, because they would alway say "no we were wrong because they read it in the paper", Go figure. So for the record I owned the Miss Bardahl, but never got to race it, and yes I did race other World Cl*** hydroplanes, but not the Miss Bardahl. Thanks for reading Johnny Sweet
Johnny, where in MA were you. When I was a kid growing up in Norwood, I lived next door to a house that was supposedly owned by the Bardahl company. The first family I knew that lived there was named Kirby, The 2nd guy that lived there was named Welland. They both worked for Bardahl. It was Welland that took me to the Bardahl plant in Norwood one day and Miss Bardahl was there in storage and I got to climb up on her and explore the boat. I couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 at the time. Mr. Welland made sure I had an endless supply of Bardahl products but warned me that "there are no tools in those cans". I also had plenty of Bardahl stickers, one of which I placed strategically over a crack in the bondo on my first car! All my Bardahl stuff is gone now including my Bardahl jacket
That product was the "STP" of it's day. We used to watch the hydro races on the Niagara River in the early 50's..."Miss Bardahl" was a consistent winner. 4TTRUK
i had sheets of bardahl stickers all over my walls along with STP ones. one of the local gas station owners asked me if i wanted some stickers one day when i was showing him the latest bicycle i had just ***embled, he said come back with a shopping cart from your dads store. needless to say he FILLED it with just about any kind of stickers you could imagine. 2 days later thw walls in my bedroom were covered and my mom blew a head gasket when she seen what i did! HOLY **** BATMAN! After a few choice comments she told my dad and he said "could have been ****"!
In 1964 the Bardahl rep came to my dad's gas station. to prove how good the stuff was he drained his oil and drove 30 miles to the next town. Must have been a ruse but we thought it was the cats*** after that.
55 Dude,.... Cool dad...... Mine was kind of like that,...Got Mom settled down after i did something she didn't like! (which was often....) 4TTRUK
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