Went to auction today and bought a 1952 Joie Chitwood program and found it a riot to read! It showed Ol' Joie in a nice looking 1934 Ford tudor sedan flying throught the air to crash into a 35 Ford flatback sedan! And then when I got to reading it I found this quote..."The epidemic of teenage hot rodsters burning up the roads, violating the speed and other laws is to be deplored." Dang Joie, what about the bunch of cool cars you destroyed while entertaining the folks? Check out the pics!
Between Ol' Joie and the dirt tracks,.. there was a huge amount of carnage inflicted on the supply of early Ford tin ! I had a 1955 Chevy Joie Chitwood banner a while back, but let someone talk me out of it.
I have a friend in Birmingham Alabama Named Chester Honneycutt who worked for Chitwood and other thrill shows. His main acts were the slide for life and the car roll over. But he did everything. He said the best car for the roll over was a 38 chevy. Reason was the carb would not flood out and the body's were strong and the tops would not cave in. He told me that many times the cars could do 4 different roll overs. I asked him how many cars he destroyed? his answer was a guess by him but he thought well over 600 but all were different brands.
law of supply and demand. The more of those that would up on the s**** heap, the more the present stuff is worth/costs. Still is sad to watch how little regard was given to old iron that was pressed into service for jalopy races and thrill shows.
Its a miracle we have anything to work with. Hey , don't smash up that old Vicky, it will be worth a small fortune in 60 years.
The Jalopy Journal
