In the above qoute, it sounds to me that Mr. Montgomery could of been referring to the S.C.T.A. at the time. Nothing wrong with what he wrote, if he did in fact write it. Unfortunately the meaning of the phrase HOTROD will go on and on without a correct answer. Bill Kenz also built a Model B engine with a reverse head Cragar for Lloyd Axle's '31 Ford roadster. In 1934 Axle finished 6th at Pikes Peak. Later he would enter the car in IMCA races at Dupont Speedway where it had some success. He did defeat Joel Thorne's Indycar in a match race. In 1940 the roadster was sold and sold again after WWII to Dick Issac of the Colorado Roadsters. In '47 Issac would lose his life after flipping the car. It is not known what became of the car after this but it is fact that Bill Kenz did build two reverse head engines.
Just let it die... this thread SHOULD NOT be cluttered with self righteous opinions of how things were by people that didnt participate in the southern california racing/hot rod scene during the 1940's. Let pictures do the talking.
I'm not picking a fight with 29nash and i'm sure he's intelligent enough to know that. I'm just quoting him from the top. If he wishes to go into depth about the Lloyd Axle roadster or Kenz & Leslie that would be fine too. Plan9, i'm sure Erlomd won't mind if we speak about the past. Pictures are great but stories are better.
Nah, fuck being polite. That's a ridiculous statement, mate. Don Montgomery was telling it like it WAS. I ain't no history expert, but even I know that the Russetta Timing Association allowed coupes to run at their events. It was just the SCTA that had certain rules. They soon changed them though when guys like the Pierson Bros started running serious speeds in their coupes. Do some research. Saying Don Montgomery is full of shit clearly shows that you don't know shit. Great thread by the way.
I posted this photo here some time ago. It was sent to me by a friend with some famous names written on the back. The fellow third from left i believe is Jack Mickleson, a famous hotrodder and a founding member of the Gophers club. Apparently he had a hand in the Nitti roadster at some stage. Nitti was also a Gopher early on and later joined the Vultures club along with Gil Ayala. If anyone is interested i did a small piece about the Gophers Club with the help of Richard Parks and Michael Brennan here: www.traditionalspeedandkustom.com/thegarage/index.php?topic=2431.0 in the hope that someone could indentify the photo and put a name to the faces.
Yes, calling him full of shit was harsh. But this thread isn't all about SCTA, or only what one man knew. His world was merely a 'smidgen, compared to the aggregate of 1940s hot rods. To suggest that if he didn't think it, it didn't exist is laughable. I don't need to do any research to refresh my memory. I assert without reservation, that the statement attributed to him is (part) fact, (part) a load of crap, ......................."Hot rods in 1946 were roadsters. Coupes and sedans were considered as family cars. SCTA did not allow closed cars to run at the Lakes. Real hot rodders ignored them." I have deleted my harsh assertions, hoping to clean up my act, I offer this in place of all that. 1) To anybody that think the only hot rods in the 40s were roadsters; You are wrong. 2) For those that insist that the only hot rods in the 40s were from So. Cali.=; They are wrong. 3) If you can’t fathom that some of us were old enough in the late 40s to relate what we actually saw on the street, and ignore the facts because you want to re-write history and eliminate coupes and sedans from the mix, then...; You are wrong. [/SIZE]
And, I'm not excusing anybody posting Street Rods with Radial Tires, featuring pictures of cars with Hemis, and such, on this thread. They simply don't belong. Period. What is it about "1940s" that these guys dont understand?
I took the Warner roadster post off. My apologies for the Ardun and radials but that's the way it was restored. The car was built starting in '38 and was a testbed car until the sixties.
I'll look. There may be something somewhere. Best I can do now is this 1952 issue of Hop Up. Considering the car first got a GMC six in '47-'48 it probably didn't change much.
There's nothing I love more than a good lakes racing hot rod. But being that this thread is about 1940s period correct hot rods, I wanted to add a thought about regional movements in hot rodding and motorsports, For instance, NASCAR was formed in 1948. that was hot rodding born out of moonshining. The Indy 500s biggest attendance year was 1946. and people were coming from as far as New York and Ohio to race on the California Dry Lakes. I would love to see some shots of other 40s period correct hot rods, those that are more regional to areas outside of Southern California.
That can't be the 1940's...there're coupes in that pic! LOL. Makin' fun of myself... Good post, Frank.
I thought the Ardun conversion was first available around 1947. i always thought they were '40s , post war . radials , who can tell . put the car back up !!!! .......................... steve
Harry Warner (Wayne Mfg) roadster. Started 1938 and had a hot flathead until around 1947. GMC six-powered for decades. Sorry resto included radials.
H&H Flatheads - The Aluminum Ardun An All-New, All-Aluminum Ardun From the November, 2008 issue of Rod & Custom By Kev Elliott Photography by Randy Lorentzen Much has been written about the legendary Ardun Flathead conversion over the years-some truth, some myth, and some hearsay. A very brief history goes something like this: In 1947, years before his involvement with the Corvette, Zora Arkus-Duntov, along with his brother, Yura, designed an overhead conversion for the Ford Flathead V-8, marketing them as Ardun-an acronym of their second name, originally manufactured in New York and later assembled in England and fitted to many Allard sports cars, hence the confusing differences in the script cast into the valve covers. Whether they were or were not intended for use on Ford trucks, and whether they were or were not copied from the French Talbot design, and why they are so similar to the early Chrysler Hemi are all points that have been argued before. Likewise, the exact number of kits manufactured is up for debate, as well; for the longest time it was thought to be around 250 but now seems more like 400. Whatever, originals are rare, which explains why a select few individuals have looked into reproducing them.
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