Boring, No, this is our history, thanks for sharing it, adds to much of what is in your books. Until I read this post, I had no idea that I briefly owned Dave Deichman's 34 tudor, it showed up at Blair's in the early '60s when I was working there, it had lost it fenders by then, but still said "Pasagreen Body Shop" on the side, baby blue in color...we were going to put Ron McKibben's injected fuel Dodge in it, but McKibben decided to build a dragster instead so we sold the sedan. The Ardun is one that might have would up in my own dragster (see avatar), it was at Blair's in pieces, so I just gathered it up, rebuilt it and put in a TE-440 that Blair had sitting outside....it could have well been Diechman's Ardun (or maybe Sam Broillers, another Pasadena guy with an Ardun. These stories are what make this thread great, so hope that they continue!!!
At the risk of boring everyone with my memories I would like to add the following about this photo. Not a chance Don!! Those memories and stories are the best.
hi Don, i'm assuming that this is not the same Carl Johnson who ran Sterling Racing engines in Rockford IL and won the Div. 3 A/SR class at the US Nationals in 1957 and the (Cordova?) 1960 World Series of Drag Racing in A/Altered class?
Dave Deichman's '33 Ford sedan was also featured in the "Best Hot Rods" number 3 (1957), a Fawcett publication. The photos were "courtesy of Drag News by Don Nickels."
One of the great things about the HAMB is that guys can add more info to what was entered. 296Ardun It is nice to learn that Dave Deichman's '34 sedan passed through your hands. The sedan was a typical Fuel Coupe class car for that time. That is it was gutted out and had the engine back to a maximun of 25%. When fuel was banned the NHRA had also merged the stock bodied, full fendered coupes into the Altered gas classes with Fiats, Crosleys and other non-fendered machines. So the old Fuel Coupes would not be competitive in those classes. The other alternative would have been to drop back into the Gas coupe classes. But it would take a major amount of work to move the engine forward, reset a firewall, add upholstery and things like mufflers, lights and windshield wipers. The rules for the gas class cars required them to be totally street legal then. Thus the old Fuel Coupes had no place to go and had a low value. Dave's sedan was a very nice looking hot rod (you would expect that a car sponsored by a bodyshop would be nice looking). I suspect it no longer exists. Since Don Blair had the car it would seem that perhaps your Ardun was from the Deichman sedan. The Pasagreen Body Shop was on west Green St. in Pasadena, near Dave Mitchell's Muffler Shop. zig zag wanderer The Carl Johnson who partnered with Gene Mooneyham in the 554 coupe was from San Pedro where he had a body shop. He did some custom work in addition to repair. Carl chopped the top on the 554 coupe. After fuel was banned Carl dropped out of drag racing. When Gene brought the 554 coupe out again I believe that Al Sharp was the guy with the money. So this Carl Johnson was not with Sterling Racing Engines
Thus the old Fuel Coupes had no place to go and had a low value. Nice explanation there. It's really a wonder that we get to see any of these old fuel coupes at all. Worth more apart.
There was a layer of cinammon red which was the last color before it got the last coat of brown primer. The original paint looks like an olive drab. Anyone know if that was an original color used in 1932? 1. Olive Drab (original) 2. Black 3. Dark Blue Metallic 4. Medium Dark Grey Primer (Shinoda) 5. Light to medium Blue Metallic (Montgomery) 6. Possibly Yellow (unknown) 7. Cinamon Red Metallic (unknown) 8. Brown Primer Overcoat It would really be neat to find out more info or to find parts of the 302 or the Chrysler.
Don -- PM sent. Bradley won, as best I remember (which is not very good), 37 Top Eliminators at Colton one year. Pretty good if you figure some were rained out. Leithold's roadster is still running. After 52 years, I still hear it referred to as that. Stan Back
Karl,, Did this magazine come out of the Marvin Fillips archives? The picture of the cover seems to be etched in my mind from the hours I spent up in the "Office" at Marv's shop. That is the only place I can think of that I may have seen that cover. Just wondering,, Earl
Earl, I should have never bought all those magazines. I've still got dozens of boxes. That was massive.
x2 - I would love to see more Fuel Coupe photos. "Old Hot Rod Scrapbook" by Don Montgomery has a great section on early drag racing including fuel coupes. I would like to put together a list of cars that are still around. Ben Rizzo Don Montgomery Chrisman "A" sedan
The original 15 oz coupe has just been purchased by author/photographer Peter Vincent (Idaho). I understand that Peter Eastwood helped Vincent locate the original '34 Fuel Altered coupe. Peter Vincent indicated that he will get it running again but leave the appearance as it was when previously raced. He also indicated that he would like to make a few passes at Bonneville with the car. So another great old hot rod survives. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
This is great news, I know the original was fixed up enough to run Bakersfield a couple of years ago, but it was not the same...I used to crew on it, lots of used parts but Les and Lyle kept it running for years, first carburated baby blue, and later the orange version...Les once told me that they found the coupe in Bruce McDowell's(Bad News Coupe) driveway, already chopped. Later they parked the coupe as it was just too heavy to compete.....not surprised that Pete Eastwood was involved in finding it, he was from the area and once worked at Blair's...Les Hawkins bought his nitro at Blair's and did construction work when Blair expanded the shop...I heard from Les a couple of years ago, sounded good, I'm sure he will be glad to know that the old coupe is in good hands.
Couldn't have been hard to find the 15oz coupe. It has been in Les Hawkin's garage at the same address he's lived at in West Covina for the last 50+ years, about 3 blocks from the house I grew up in. Same for Ben Rizzo's coupe. It is still is, and has been, in his mother's garage in Pomona for over 50 years.
Dean Les is in Reno now, and the 15 oz. coupe had been at Gary Read's for a number of years. Now if we could just get Ben to bring his coupe out !!! Pete
I worked for Ben Rizzo for about six months, Pomona Muffler shop. He only took the car out a few times a year. But for the ones who remember it. It was incredible loud, Had eight, aprox. six feet long pipes under the chassie. Merek C
I was working at Pomona Drags when he brought it out a couple of times. You're right on the loud Merek
Never forgot it, saw it run at Fontana, very early '60s, think it was blown by then...the sound was incredible, he winged it several times on the line, left in a cloud of smoke, don't remember what he ran, was on and off it as it didn't go exactly straight...still yellow... Sure hope it comes out of the garage sometime soon!
I found this on another thread. 15oz in its earlier form? It would be interesting to know if it traces back to another form in the fuel coupe days or if it was built later. Karl
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wNHWxsebfMQ I can watch this everyday Might be all I ever get to see of it
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