Input Wanted: Gowjobs and Speedsters

George is a great guy and a helluva craftsman. I went out to visit him in the eighties and was treated to getting an up close work at this cars and projects (he had bought the remains of a OHC Isotta Fraschini from my grandfather and was working on it at the time). I photographed his 14 GP Mercedes because my research shows that Packard copied one of these cars when they built the 299 Packard, the engine which I own. I ran into George at Pebble this year (I was out with another 16 Packard Racer) and he of course took another first. His stuff is always top notch. He always races all out and is not afraid of the rain for sure. He wanted to know if I would let him restore the 299 so he could get it out on the track but I told him I will be starting on the restoration soon. I am waiting on some steel shapes to start on the frame but the shop doing the work has been giving me the run around for the last month. Don't want to start over but I am also anxious to start on the project. May take me a few years but I don't have quite the time nor the money such as George but building the car will be more a labor of love anyways.

Like the Delage and as you know it is typical top notch Wingard stuff.- Jim

 

Thanks for the tip on the Mercer material what issues do I need to find? Took this photo in 1961 at the age of 10. The car lived on the next street over and was owned by the same guy fron the early 1920's untill it was auctioned off in the mid 1960's. I stood there and saw a close friend get out bid at $15,500. He was bidding with an approved bank loan of $15,000.

 

He used to own the Spencer Wisehart 35J...i dont remember who raced it other than Spencer, but it was like the who's who of racing (Tetzlaff, DePalma, etc.)

50 years ago the 35J was expensive, now they are just untouchable. Universally considered to be one of the nicest driving cars of its day. It had good speed, great road holding, decent brakes (didn't use them much), but the best part was that it could be shifted, which was an uncommon charactaristic of the day.

Those that own them never release them (unless they die).

 

The Bulb Horn issues are Jan-Mar, Apr-June, July- Sept 1990, Volumes LI No. 1,2,3. I am not sure but maybe Gordon Barrett from Indy may have ended up with that. Can't be sure but I think the last time I spoke to him he told me he sold it. After a while these cars start to run together in my head. Guess soome of the brain cells are getting fuzzy. Then again it might have been George, somewhere I think I have a later photo of that car.

 

I am sure with a bit of sleuthing thru my files I could give you the lowdown on that car. I just recently finished helping Gary Doyle on some of the Packard and Mercer stuff for his new book on DePalma and helped with two articles, one for Society of Automotive Historians and Cavallino and I have so much stuff still floating around in my head it is hard to zero in on one car without consulting my notes. I could spend a bunch of time on this stuff because I am hooked on it but I have to work(in fact I am supposed to be working now). Plus I want to get out to my shop and now this HAMB is kind of fun and it is taking up a bit of time (fun time mind you). I have boxes full of this stuff and my filing system leaves a bit to be desired. If you guys need something on these early cars I can try to dig through the boxes and photos. Fun stuff though.-Jim

 

Thought I would throw some photos other than the normal side static shots. The first photo taken from straight above is Arthur Duray's 183 OHC Peugeot that finished 2nd at the 1914 Indy. The second is Ira Vail's Super Six Hudson being loaded on a train headed for its next contest-1918 I believe. The third to show that these cars did like to go fast is DePalma on the boards at Chicago in 1916 with his 1914 OHC GP Mercedes.

Wouldn't mind any one of them-Jim

 

I heard it originally was used in horse racing. A horse that was given drugs in hopes of improving its performance was a "gow job". As cars replaced horses the term was tranfered.
"Soup" was used to describe custom mixed fuel. Things like benzine and acetone were added to pump gas to improve the octane for a modified engine. Thus it was "souped up".

 

37, were you close enough to hear it run when it was being judged? He got a standing ovation!! For those that can't see it, the bare aluminum is engine turned.

 

you wouldn't happen to know if any of the 3 Premier replicas of the GP Peugot survived? the ones comissioned by Indy shortly after the outbrake of ww1?

 

i found an early 2 main austin 7 engine when i was in college. i dissasembled it in my dorm room...i had it at the autoshop and the s**** guy came by and took it, along with my warford ******...if i ever find that guy i am going to...speaking of that, any of you Vallejo guys know the old s**** hauler that goes around picking up s****?

 

No I have never run across even a mention of them surviving. With so many of the 300 ci cars going to the state fair type circuit after the change to 3 liters in 1920 I think they got used up. I would hope otherwise. Somewhere I have an ad in one of the old magazines I will try to dig up that references them.- Jim

 

a 40 horse pope hartford was just disinterned from socal. it was sold as a touring, but from the accounts that i have heard when the car was originally purchased it was a race car. i am pretty sure that the new owners know that though...

i never thought about why many of the old 300 cu in cars dissappeared, other than the wars that used up so many great cars...

do you have any recomendations for any good books about pre-ww1 road or dirt track racing?

thanks

 

I will have to think on good books- I wish there were more. One that touches on it a bit is Jack Fox's The Illustrated History of Sprint Car Racing, 1896 to 1942. In my quest to find material, I have tried to collect every mention I could find in Motor Age, The Automobile, Horseless Age and some of Motor and Automotive Industries of the era from 1914 through 1921, which pretty much takes up a filing cabinet. I have a pretty archaic filing system but when I have to find stuff I generally can. Much of the off beat stuff just wasn't reported much. If you look through this stuff you will find mention of a racer that was close to the bigs but not quite by the name of Ben Gotoff. He am***ed a s****book of many of his cars and compe***ors during the twenties. I xeroxed the whole s****book by permission of the holder of the s****book and have a couple copies of the photos. A bunch of great cars, even some of the Millers from the teens. It kind of told me that more than a couple of the good 300 cars were probably used up on that 2nd tier circuit.

If you want some of the photos or are really interested PM me and I will tell you who has it.

Would really love to see a racecar Pope stay a racecar Pope. Researching Mercer I ran across stories that during the fifties when stock Mercers were the rage that some racecars (including a rumor that one of the Indy cars) were reconverted back into stockers. I cringe with the thought of it because racecars other than the written word, have a place in the whole history as well. Will still think on books and will keep searching on that 03 LSR.- Jim

 

i am sure as you have found out many old race cars ended up in socal...including the s-61 FIAT that had a Pope motor dropped into (this car eventually went to the Indy museum, though i heard that Bill Evans bought it recently)

Also the Ono, which was raced by the last owners father, was also a FIAT that had a 50 hp pope motor dropped into it. It may also have been glombed onto by Evans (not confirmed) The Ono was stored in Pasadena for many years. It ran at the Shell hill climb (the popular one for model T's) it broke the course record early on, leading to the banning of any non-model T. It was also run on many early soCal HCCA events.

Herb Prentice, the owner of the Ono (recently deceased) had one of the best collections of early racing footage (all pre-ww1) including many films.

There was one more Pope racecar that floated around soCal but it was made into a touring and has long since disappeared.

 

There was certainly a lot of interest in Popes all over including California. Plez Nance down in San Diego was also big on that stuff. I went with him back in 82 when they were putting that green Pope together in San Diego, I believe the same one you posted a couple of weeks ago. It was the first early racecar/speedcar that I saw with a powder coated ch***is. Know of the Ono although I woudll like to know more.

Do you know if any of the pre WWI films are available?

 

I don't think this photo will look too good, from a kids racing s****book that was started in 1910. As I go through it I think of what it was like collecting the magazine articles at that time and pasting them in with notes about the cars & drivers, a far cry from today with nonstop coverage. The fact that the kid grew up and owned a 122 Miller in the Indy 500 makes it even more interesting to me.

 

Told you I would try to find the ad on the Premiers- I have a full copy of the ad- made this photo some time ago for easy reference.- I'll give em $10,000 if they still have it (by the ad I think they would have even taken less by the sound of it)-Jim

 

If you had $10,000 in December of 1948 Andy Granatelli would have sold you TWO Miller/Ford Front Wheel Drive Indy cars.

 

Who da thunk it would fetch today's crazy prices? But then if only we could all go back- we all have war stories I suppose. I shake my head in disgust with myself on numerous occasions-Jim

 

did you read the article in the HCCA gazatte a while back (last year i think)about the college kid that when to a whole bunch of races in 1912? i think i have a copy...

there was a picture of Dave Bucks Pope just before he was killed, i think it was taken at Elgin...

what else do you have...i guess i will pm you, great stuff. (but just as a curious who was the kid...)

i think that there was a book just released on the Elgin Road races, i think i am going to have to find it.

 

wonderful history, now if i could just find it today...the premier sohc air cooled hemi four banger in the indy museum is awesome though...

 

That's the car that took lightening holes to a different level isn't it? This thread has got me going through files I havent looked at in years, just found sone Harry Pulfer stuff, that should help you date them.

 

it had one or two, would make some of the guys on here cringe, it wasn't designed as a straight line car either, i think it was built in 1905? so what else do you have to tickle our taste buds...

are you familiar with the savannah grand prize Case that was buried after it crashed?

 

Not to necessarily bttt but I thought it best to correct my own error. I didn't have this photo labelled and thought it was Duray's small Peugeot at the 1914 Indy (saw the bricks) and it came to me today that the bricks were a bit large and what was the deal with the single seater? It got me thinking.I have read that there was a streamlined car to set records at Brooklands in 1913, probably one of the original larger L76 cars outfitted with a single seater.

Whatever I liked the photo but didn't want misinformation out there if I could help it-Jim

 

you wouldn't happen to have a copy of the "history of brooklands" would you...

that is an interesting photo, it is cool to see the really old streamliners from the late teens and twenties that were running at montherley (in know it is misspelled) and brooklands. and compare them to what raced here at the board tracks...and move forward a few years to the late twenties and see how different the cars had become.

 

No I don't but I wish I did. Have some books on autos or racing from over the pond but nothing that is that good. I have looked on occasion but have come up dry. Now I will have to try again. There are some pretty good records from Brooklands as I understand. Back in the eighties I corresponded with TASO Mathieson and truth be told when I first corresponded I had no idea who he was, I just wanted some info. He told me he had access to the Brooklands records and looked some stuff up for me and then I finally asked someone and they told me he raced there I think if my memory serves me starting in 1930. I apparently have a lot to learn on Brooklands. I quess he has written some stuff as well and so one of his books or writings might be a good source.

Iam sure some of the UK or European HAMBers might know of some available and well written Brooklands literature. Jim