ttt Does anybody on here have any info or photos of Samoa Drag Strip in Eureka, CA back in the 50's or 60's ?
very cool pictures and thanks for sharing My dad's old pictures consist of boats and fish. I grew up in the wrong family.
Cool pic's, bitchin three winda! She's runnin' some rake, you'd have to stay on the gas just to keep in the seat.
This is the car that started it all for my dad back in 1950 when he was 10 years old. His Uncle Frank enlisted in the Navy and was stationed in San Diego. He bought the 30-31 Model A Roadster and started turning it into a hotrod. The first time Frank drove it north for a visit it was just an original looking roadster, but over the next 2 years he had it modified by a shop in SD (don't know which one). When Uncle Frank got out of the Navy in '52 he came North and stayed at my grandparents house for a time. By that time the roadster was transformed into the purple hotrod in this picture. It featured a slanted back windshield, one piece hood, 32 grille & shell, white padded carson top, and a detailed flathead with heads and carbs. The blonde lady is Frank's Navy buddy Jay's wife, quite a looker! It looks like maybe they were working on the engine when the photo was taken as the hood buckles are loose, or maybe just showing it off. Dad got rides and watched his uncle work on the car and got hooked. More pictures and history to come...
Thanks folks! Glad you like, I do too! Anybody have any general info on the car? I was painted dark purple. It's obviously running rear fenders and the front bobbed with bumper is interesting. I wonder if it has a Dago axle under it?
Yea and it looks like its got one of those HO HUM SBCs in it. Pretty slick piece of hot rod history. You're a lucky man.
There are more shots coming, but for now here's what I know about the 283 cubic inch Small Block Chevrolet in the Coupe The engine was originally a 265 which came from Sachy Chevrolet in Arcata. It was a '56 or '57 model warranty engine that one of the mechanics had bored 1/8" over to 283 and rebuilt with 13:1 Speed-o-motive pistons. Dad ran the engine over a 5 year period racing it in the coupe and later in a friends direct drive dragster. The coupe and car were later sold separately. Dad said he flattened the first cam immediately because he didn't know how to break in a cam. Eventually he ended up with the following setup: Ported heads, Harmon and Collins roller cam kit with super light weight roller lifters, Harmon and Collins Dual Coil Ignition system which really brought it alive! And I already mentioned the Weiand 4 carb staggered intake manifold (one carb over each set of ports) running Stromberg 97's later changed to 48 bodies. And of course the zoomie exhaust. He ran in the low 13's and was trying to get into the 12's with the coupe when he got tired of it and moved on The Coupe was a club car, the club had disbanded, that he found sitting in someones driveway while out driving around south of Eureka near Fortuna or Rio Dell. He thinks he paid $75 for it. It was pretty much a roller and was already chopped and channeled. He said the body work was done very nicely. He remembers having to go and get the radiator from another club members house because it wasn't with the car, but he was persistent and hunted it down finally.
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