Doane Spencers backing plates

Since this photo has come up again, it seems like a good time to ask. Does anybody know anything about the air scoops on the backing plates in this photo?



Are they cast aluminum? Or steel welded into the backing plates and plated? Anyone?

 

Look like fabricated steel and maybe welded, or bolted on after chroming.

 

let`s see if this works.

 

well... that last post didn`t come out as expected. i did enlarge the image as big as i could on my computer and what it looks like to me is `39-`40 lincoln backing plates and the air scoops appear to fabricated from flat material and there appears to be three bolts holding them on.

 

Doane could (and did) make almost everything he wanted. He was an amazing craftsman and engineer. His attention to detail tells me that those scoops were fabricated in his typical perfectionist manner.

 

I built those scoops when we restored the car at So-Cal for Bruce Meyer

Pete Eastwood

 

Was there something on there before? Or were those brakes even on the car?

 

So general consesus is sheet steel plated and bolted to the backing plates. Thats pretty much what I figured. Grills are probably 1/8 rod I guess. They are BEAUTIFUL. And I WANT some.

 

Pete, I was wondering if you could elaborate further. Material thickness? 18 gauge? Did you form them over a hammerform? Any clear photos?

 

As far as I know, I believe that photo dates from an article in a mid fifties
R&C. It was originally posted in the Brian B*** thread on the Spencer car, or that was the first place I saw it anyway. I have had it saved to my computer for some time now. I kind of figured a time would come when I would want to do something at least inspired by those scoops, but theres a hell of a lot to look at in that photo.

 

Nope that pic is from the R&C article from 1996.

 

1952

 

Without getting too far off the subject of how they were done, heres another shot where the scoops are visible, this appears to have been shot in the late sixties, although judging by the R&C logo, published much later.


Jimmy B, Alchemy or Pete, any idea when these brake scoops first appeared on the car? Is the first photo I posted of the ones Pete built? On close inspection, the first photo does appear to be more recent. Did the brake scoops appear on the car after he started converting it for the La Carrera? That would be my guess, as brake fade would be a big issue in that race. The scoops are not present in the 1952 pic.

 

Heres a link to the B*** thread. Note that the air scoops and the V8-60 axle are present when Whineland owned the car, but in the Southard photo after Neal East has the car, the air scoops are gone, and the car has an I-beam in it. This could be why Pete Eastwood made new ones, looks like the scooped backing plates went missing when Neal East had the car. I REALLY wish you could see the front backing plates in the engine swap photo, or the 1960 R&C cover, but they arent visible.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=536915&highlight=doane+spencer

 

Also take a look at post #6. According to that, FWIW, the V8-60 axle was added while Whineland owned the car, and Spencer did alot of the work. So were the scooped backing plates added while Spencer was building the car for La Carrerra, or when he installed the V8-60 axle for Whineland?

OK, Post #33 appears to show the brake scoops in the second photo, says its from 1960?

 

I'd bet money, the photo in the first post looks like the scoops I built at So-Cal during the restoration

Pete Eastwood

 

Heres the second photo from post #33 on the B*** thread. To me these look to be welded to the backing plates, not bolted. I hope Pete can come back and clarify some of this.

 

Looks like? No doubt. Isn't that the point of a restoration?

Someone told you to make them look like they were in the old pictures.

 

If you dont mind my asking, are they bolted to the backing plates, or welded? How did you form them? A similar air scoop is PERFECT for what I am working on, both from a function standpoint, and in terms of fitting the overall theme very well.

 

I'm not sure what your point is. There was no standard for Hot Rod restorations when we did this car, we were setting the standard. We've learned alot since then. That photo was not made available to me when the restoration was being done. Today I think things might be done different.

Pete Eastwood

 

I saw Neal East yesterday and asked him about those scoops.

He said that Doane made those out of sheet steel and welding rod when he was building the car for the Mexican road race and he drilled the holes in the Lincoln backing plates at the same time.

When he sold the car to Bruce Meyer in '95, Bruce had Socal restore the car and those backing plates were recreated. Why you ask? The car had to be perfect in order to win Pebble Beach and the original ones probably were just not perfect enough.

To clarify, that pic from 1960 was from 1960. Lynn Wineland had Doane work on the car after he bought it from Doane and they used a lot of those pictures as how to articles in R&C.

There's a how to article in the Sept '59 R&C called The Quick Way Out which was written by Doane and it shows him making headers for a Y block eng in a '32. The '32 in the article of course is his car which had a Y block in it at that time and Lynn had Doane make the headers.

One other interesting piece of info I should p*** along is that the teardrop shaped bubble that conceals the pitman arm on the side of the cowl was not a Doane Spencer creation. Neal East had that done to match the teardrop shaped brackets that hold the front radius rods to the frame.

 

Thanks, I kinda gave up on this thread too soon, I thought the "food-fight" had killed it. Thats what I figured, that the air scoops were done for the road racing make-over. I still REALLY like the scoops Pete made. Going to try to copy those as close as I can.

 

Dude, do you know anything about Pete Eastwood? Are you trying to insult the man?

He's a pretty talented guy and has built some really important hot rods on his own.

I don't think he's anyone's boy like your post implies.

"Someone told you to make them look like they were in the old pictures." Wow, ballsy!

 

Thanks for the follow up. Good info.

 

its true what you say...he is an awesome builder...but when I read Petes replies I (for one)didn't think he was answering the questions that were asked ie how they were made. Just sayin....

 

I was kind of hoping for some feedback on that count, but this kind of took off in another direction. Think I can manage, but its still nice to hear how someone else did it.