Hot Rods From the net - "The Black Widow T"

From the net - "The Black Widow T"

Mart3406
---------------------------
www.hotrodhotline.com/blackwidow

<table width="806" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"> <td width="6" height="175"></td> <td width="800"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table width="802" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"> <td height="7"><style></style>

<style></style>“THE BLACK WIDOW”

Builders: Wally Olson (1952), Bill Scott
(1954) & Richard Riddell (2005)

The garage find of the century! How long
have you been hot rodding cars--since the
1950’s? Many of us got started in the 50’s
and 60’s. (For you real old birds out there
that remember hot rodding “T” roadsters
with Roto-Faze ignitions, Ruxtell 2-speed
rear axles, Riley 2-port heads and Laurel
lowering kits, well what can we say you’re
a generation before us and we take our
hats off to you ‘original’ hot rodders.) BUT
for all of us “The Black Widow” is a serious
piece of 1950’s hot rodding annals and a
benchmark for the industry!
.</td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td width="802" height="26"><table id="NavigationBar3" width="802" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4"><tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"><td width="110">
</td><td width="110">
</td><td width="110">
</td><td width="110">
</td><td width="110">
</td><td width="110">
</td><td width="110" height="18">
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table width="798" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"><td><table width="372" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"><td width="44" height="16"></td> <td width="323"></td> <td width="5"></td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td colspan="2" width="367" height="263"></td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td colspan="3" height="35"><style></style>

In an article in Hot Rod Deluxe, July 2008 entitled, “Tangled Web” the full-story of Richard Riddell’s quest to restore the original Black Widow had its public debut. Hot Rod Deluxe
reported the car’s winning the 2008 Grand National Roadster Show which was a dream come true, taking “Best Early Altered T Roadster”. (See also Rod & Custom, June 2008.) It was also
a contender for the Bruce Meyer award at the ‘Grand Nats.’

</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"><td colspan="2" class="TextObject" width="328">-----------------------------
Additional info and pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caharley72/sets/72157616873977866/

<style></style>The Original Black Widow restored by Richard Riddell Built in 1952

“THE BLACK WIDOW” Builders: Wally Olson (1952), Bill Scott (1954) and Richard Riddell (2005) The garage find of the century! How long have you been hot rodding cars--since the 1950’s? Many of us got started in the 50’s and 60’s. (For you real old birds out there that remember hot rodding “T” roadsters with Roto-Faze ignitions, Ruxtell 2-speed rear axles, Riley 2-port heads and Laurel lowering kits, well what can we say you’re a generation before us and we take our hats off to you ‘original’ hot rodders.) BUT for all of us “The Black Widow” is a serious piece of 1950’s hot rodding annals and a benchmark for the industry! In an article in Hot Rod Deluxe, July 2008 entitled, “Tangled Web” the full-story of Richard Riddell’s quest to restore the original Black Widow had its public debut. Hot Rod Deluxe reported the car’s winning the 2008 Grand National Roadster Show which was a dream come true, taking “Best Early Altered T Roadster”. (See also Rod and Custom, June 2008.) It was also a contender for the Bruce Meyer award at the ‘Grand Nats.’ Why do guys like Richard Riddell (and the rest of us) spend years (3400 hours in Richard’s case) restoring a car we found in a barn? Answer: ‘For the love of the sport!’ All of us remember some other cars with similar names, for instance the ‘Black Widow’ Monogram model car (“1/24 scale model/Ford ‘T’ Pickup Rod/removable top” by Mattel quality hobby kits). Also, we remember General Motors/Chevrolet coming out in 1957 with their first racing version Chevy called “The Black Widow.” But predating both of these historic cars is the “The Black Widow” built by Wally Olson to help keep his kids out of trouble in 1952 and first débuted in Hot Rod magazine, September 1954 in an article entitled, “Lil’ Beau T”, which read, “Wally Olson, Fresno, California, automotive machinist, is the lucky owner and builder. Duane Taylor was called in for the body work.” It added as to why he built the car, “What with so much current upheaval in the teen-age ranks, Wally figured that a sure-fire way to eliminate those free-time, nothing-to-do troubles would be to interest them (his 9 and 12 year old sons) in a rod. So far the idea has worked like a charm.” In time the family moved on to other projects and Bill Scott purchased the car and redid it with fenders, headlights and all the stuff to make it ‘street legal’—as we used to call it! The first documentation of the car being called “Black Widow” is found in the magazine Rodding and Re-styling, August 1957 issue. That article reported Bill Scott’s changes to Wally Olson’s car, “The front end was revised to incorporate a tubular axle and tube shocks. The new owners also equipped the car with a new power plant. The original mill is a ’41 Merc bored out .100 inch over stock, ported and relieved…includes 8.5-to-1 Offenhauser heads, a Weber full-race cam, and an Evans 3-caberator manifold.” [Note: The several engines that were housed in this car later varied; see final Merc build details below.] Don’t you love the sound of that “ported and relieved” and “full-race cam”—when’s the last time you used those terms? By the time the 1959 Hot Rod Annual was published the car-title stuck for all time “The Black Widow.” Riddell’s 2-Year Renovation! According to long time race car builder Richard Riddell’s log he states, “Sometime in 1955 Wally sold his roadster to Bill Scott. Bill again called on Duane Taylor to turn the car into a bonified street rod. With the additional of windshield, head lights, tail lings, and fenders it was finally able to jump into his little Hot Rod and go crusin’. The pin stripping was done by none other than Dean Jefferies with the familiar cobweb and spider on the turtle deck.” He reports that the car’s first win was “…a five foot trophy at the Sacramento AutoRama in 1957 for ‘Best Roadster’. Yes, Bill’s car was having the time of its life being one of the best looking early California street roadsters of all time.” Richard states, “Bill Scott died around 1987...for several years the car languished…getting worse and worse…as is so often the case for old Hot Rods.” The garage find in 2005 notes, “At a glance the roadster didn’t look that bad.” But the Naugahyde and carpet were shot, fenders, original wheels and hub caps to name a few problems for the yet to begin restoration. Riddell notes, “Under a somewhat decent body and paint job lurked a mess that went beyond your worst nightmare.” He adds, “I began wondering how I could salvage this little beauty in the rough. Not that many people have restored an old Hot Rod but, those who have know what I’m talking about. It’s much harder than building a rod from scratch. But the roadster was begging to be restored and I’m glad that I was chosen to do it.”and#9472;Richard died shortly after finishing the project but happily he was able to see “The Black Widow” win the ‘Grand Nats’ and have a feature center-spread article in Hot Rod Deluxe. Here are a few of the Riddell-engineered refinements to this original car. and#61692; Recessed pockets had to be built in the frame rails to accept the front motor mounts which double as water pumps. and#61692; New front radius rods were built out of heavy wall chrome-moly tubing. The original ones were so poorly made that they were unsafe. and#61692; The correct master cylinder banjo fitting was not available so, he fabricated a new one from scratch. and#61692; The tooling mandral had to be CNC machined to facilitate metal spinning new brass tail pipe end bells. Hey would you agree? Hot rodding is an art form and some Hot Rod Artists have mastered the craft and Richard Riddell is one of them!!! Reconstruction points of interest: and#61656; Original steel body and doors welded shut and#61656; ‘42 Merc 274 c.i flathead (current engine) and#61656; ’39 Lincoln-Zephyr******* and#61656; ’34 Ford rear with Halibrand quick-change center and enclosed drive shaft and#61656; ’39 Ford hydraulic brakes all around and wide “5” 16-iunch wheels and caps and#61656; ’37 Ford tube axle and#61656; Engine by RPM Machine and#61656; Chrome by Ace Plating and#61656; Frame done by Capps Powder Coat and#61656; Body/paint by Showtime Customs and#61656; Upholstery by Brents Why is the car being sold? To quote his wife Pat, “Unfortunately, Richard passed away on March 18, 2008 and will not get to enjoy seeing the new owner drive away with a piece of automotive history.” Richard’s loyal wife Pat grew up around racing since she was 9 years old. Her maiden name was Rodriguez. If you grew up at Lion’s Dragstrip, as she did, you may remember her father’s rail? He and his brother ran an old top alky rail under the name “Rodriguez Brothers”. Pat said, ‘As I was growing up I often wondered how I would ever meet someone to marry, since all that our family ever did was go to the drags. Then one day Richard came along and met me at the Winternationals.’ Well the rest is history. For Pat after Richard’s death there are just too many memories attached to all the memorabilia, race cars and hot rods in their storage—she would like to sell “The Black Widow” to some deserving hot rodder. Terms of sale: $145,000.00. Please contact Don Burdge at DreamRodLocator or call him at 619.804.8033. You should call me before Leno does! We have hundreds of additional photos and several 50’s and current magazine articles available to seriously interested buyers.

=============================</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td><table width="426" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"><td width="30" height="20">
</td><td width="16">
</td> <td>
</td> <td width="10"></td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td>
</td> <td colspan="3" class="TextObject" style="background-color: transparent;" width="396">
</td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td colspan="4" height="9">
</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td colspan="2" height="262">
</td> <td width="370"></td> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table width="645" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"> <td width="117" height="25">
</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td height="4">
</td> <td valign="top" width="528" align="left">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"> <td width="73" height="20">
</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td>
</td> <td class="TextNavBar" style="text-align: center;" width="691">
</td></tr></tbody></table><table width="644" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"><td width="3">
</td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td colspan="2">
</td><td>
</td></tr> <tr valign="top" align="left"> <td colspan="5" height="25">
</td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td height="4">
</td><td colspan="4" valign="top" width="528" align="left">
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

Nice bunch of gathered history. If I may, I'd like to add something:
Wally Olson first sold the Black Widow to Ray Anderegg, (before it got a windshield)
The Widow was displayed at the '55 Oakland Roadster Show, right behind and to the left of Ray's yellow "Coupester". (there are pics on Slopoke's HAMB post to verify this)
When Rusty passed away, the car had been entrusted to a friend of his in Atwater, a KKOA lieutenant who bought the car for an undisclosed amount. The rear end was out of the car, and was hastily refitted...the car had a 312 T-Bird engine, with an adaptor to the Lincoln right-side shift box.
I asked the lieutenant what kind of box was in the car, (I hadn't seen it since '55, when Jeffries striped it) he answered, "LaSalle. Four speed." I laughed, and asked if I could see the car...he said it was in Stanton, "in a guy's shop"... That was prior to Richard finding it.

 

Hey Mike, great to see you on here, and thanks again for the opportunity to "visit" the frame....we should do it again sometime, I would love to know how close I got on that perch

Anyway, actually that photo, come to find out, was from the Valve Burners Display at the 1955 Merced County Fair. Ray's Roadster, the Black Widow that Ray did indeed own at the time, the AMBR trophy and the Cotton Chopper dragster were all displayed in the corner of one of the buildings towards the end of August.