hot rod nats 72...

figured some of you guys might like this. my boss was cleanin out his father in laws grarage and came across an old photo album. i scanned a few pages...(i'll have ot see if i can scan a few more). the book starts in the late sixties and goes to around 74. these pages ar from the hot rod nationals (or atleast thats what the book says) june 72. and thats his green '29..it's not quite the "hayday" of hot rodding in mosts oppinions, but it's kind of a cool throw back anyway....lotsa metal flake, chrome and bad hairdo's. enjoy...

 

Thanx for the pics. Traditional isnt always the fiftys

 

Those are pictures are so cool. The cars are so ugly but there so cool lookin. Thats the first time ive ever seen a 32 with a model A grill shell. I bet those guys had fun.

Nick

 

that yellow T with the Ardun i believe was built by a guy named Cotton Werksman from Illionois..it was very well engineered for it's day.it was featured in issue of Rod & Custom... think he died at an early age...it would have been interesting to see what he came up with if he had stayed here longer

 

Here is a LaSalle built in the 60's by a friend of mine then in the 70's he repainted it. He used to have a blower on it too. Whenever he drives, he drives it too, no trailer. Its so ugly but i love it.

Nick

 

thanks for the pics!!

 

Thats interesting. The sign on the motel says webers inn and thats on the west side of ann arbor ,Michigan . Was this a nats North event?
I dont remember a main event being held near ann arbor? I used to live not far from there and im not that much farther away now... Cool pics too....
Dave

 

I think Cotton is alive and well and still living in northern Illinois.
Recently saw picture of T Roadster with Ardun he built.

 

I am kinda digging the silver 32 sedan with chrome steelies... Not sure why but I like it at first glance

 

Hey Nick is that car owned by Ed Leapold (spelling??) Also has a Mercury?

 

Great photo's.
Quite "ugly" rods, but very intersting to see. We need to see more of these old "privat" photo albums.
Thanks for posting

 

i think you are right , a google search shows him live and well as of 12-2004

i guess i heard wrong , what has he built in the last 30 years?

 

Not sure of that. Were you thinking of Tom Senter? Old Ardun guy who
did die very young. Did you know Cotton was one of original founders
of NSRA?

 

The late 60s, early 70s produced some of the coolest T-buckets.

 

yes , that i did know.....that T was featured in December 1968 Rod & Custom, the work was outstanding..i'd like to find out what he has been building the last 35+ years

 

I am pretty sure the mid-engine 27 roadster is also by Werksman. As I recall, it was covered in Rod and Custom as "Project 200 mph." Very cool stuff. I think the event was probably sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine; they did some of that back in the day.

 

Thanks for the pics, Cotton Werksman also built that 200mph rear engine 27T in the pics, did it as feature in Rod and Custom. Don't recall which issues.
Back then there were no repo steel grille shells. I ran a 32 truck shell on my channeled Model A.

 

I will try to find out what Cotton's been up to. We were both ***ociate
members of a West Coast Roadster club in the 70's. As I get older I've
been trying to contact some of the old guys still left.

 

the NSRA street rod nationals were held in Detroit july 11th to 16th 1972....i wunder what event this was in june `72 in ann arbor?

yes, i remember the mid-engine `27 T now, that was done by werksman

 

me too, wonder what he did for cooling.

 

The T sedan bottom center was (and still is) Vernon Walker's.

 

The NSRA nats not the Hot Rod nats was in Detroit in 1972. Back then there was only one Nats a year. I think it was 1974 for the first Nats East, the first regional nats.

One thing I find interesting about Werksman's T was the wide tires all around and the low stance. Back then they had a compe***ion called streetkana (or something close) at the Nats. The owners drove their cars through a driving course where cornering and braking were probably more important than HP. His cars were built for more than straight line performance. It was and still is a much different T bucket for a reason. That's one T bucket I'd love to drive on a closed course! I bet it handles like a go cart.

When you look at these cars and see the wide tires hanging out, lots of them were done that way for performance. Remember..G-70 and H-70 polygl*** tires were state of the art.

Later it became a beauty pagent with lawn chairs.

 

I drove my 40' Coupe that year, can't remember the location, can remember
how rough the damn roads were!

 

Anybody remember Don Kendal's lowwww T from that era? Don was from
Chicago I think. Last I heard he lives in NorCal doing metal sculptures.
A lot of guys from the pre-mail order era were pretty talented. I've got
to get off here, time to take my medicine.

 

Where can you find blue streaks like on the yellow T in the second set?

Suedesled, you listening?

 

When I saw these pictures,I had a feeling that they were from the Street Rod Nationals in Detroit. A couple of friends of mine attended that meet.One of them flew out and bought a 34 Plymouth 2-door sedan;two-toned GREEN with a SBC in it for $1500 and drove it home.Our friend Don had a 32 5-window(Olds powered with a chrome grille shell)that he drove out from M***achusetts with his wife and 2 kids in the rumbleseat!Also had a Turtle Top carrier on the roof!
Vito took some great movies of the event and later transferred them to video and sent me a copy.
There were so many cars thereon Kendall's ultra-low T,Andy Brizio's wrecker with all the murals on it,Mickey Himsl's abbreviated touring with brother Art's fantastic paint.I like to look at it every now and then and remember what a crazy time that was.

 

It sure is Mel. Hes got so many awesome cars. His Merc is probably the nicest merc i have ever seen, last year it was on the shirt for the James Dean run. Hes also got a 50 somethin ford truck thats flat black that incredibly nice and now he building a 40 merc convertible. Ill go over to his house one day and get some pictures.

Nick

 

You guys keep saying those cars are ugly, but I think most of them look pretty cool and hadn't quite evolved into the grotesque 70's look yet.

Nick32vic...any side shots of your friend's car? I would like to see more of the paintjob!

 

I dont have any more, i actually dont even have my own pics of the car, i had to steal these off some website. He lives about 15 minutes away. Ill try to get up there sometime this week and take more pictures, and pictures of the rest of his cars. He said before this paintjob he had like 70 coats of candy apple red on it.

NIck

 

great to see that these pictures have awakened some good memories. i'll have to see if i can snag the album from my boss again and scan a bunch more. i think there's pics from the 74 event too.