Wonderful pictures, with captions to explain what's happening. Is this the same family that made Giovanine Camshafts? Rayin CT
Great pictures. I have a head full of new ideas for what I want to build now. Thanks for taking the time to post them and thanks to whoever scanned them.
great pictures... i can see that last pic framed on my living room wall. any way to get the pics scanned on to a cd and sold to the public? the streets that are written on the photo are in South Central Los Angeles. i grew up there and you can find a lot of good cars in back yards. if your not scared to drive down dead end alleys.
These are some of the best I've ever seen. Love this one dated 9-28-41 127.65. Wow! Hope these get published in book form.
I posted the post WW2 photos in the thread below, Thank you all for the great response http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149761&&showall=1
FANTASTIC! I felt my heart beating faster and faster as I was scrolling in anticipation of seeing the next photo. THANKS so much for posting. A five star post for sure!
Thanks to good 'ol JimmyB....I just lost an hour and a half of my life. Dial up sucks but I got 'em all. Thanks again. I just can't gwt enough.
There's an interesting story Dad used to tell about that car pictured in the last picture posted. It's the same Hudson powered job shown two pictures before. The Hudson engine was one of two or three that the car owner, don't know if it was Jim White, had purchased from a failed Indy 500 effort. When Dad took the car out for its first run, it developed a cooling system leak and sprayed water making it impossible for Dad to see where he was going. He brought the car back in to fix the problem. The way the car was built made it very difficult to remove the sheet metal in a timely manner. The owner decided that since they were only making short runs with cooling time between the passes that he would use a quick fix for the problem. He crawled under the car and poked several holes in the bottom radiator tank with a screwdriver. After the coolant had drained onto the lake bed, he sent Dad out on his first pass. The car set a record. On the return run, in the middle of the pass, coolant came from somewhere and hit Dad in the face. Along with the dust, the muddy mixture made it impossible for him to see the course. I can't remember whether he said the spectators were to his left or right, but I'll use left. He steered to his right to avoid the spectators while he wiped his goggles with his free hand. After clearing his goggles, he could see that he was to the right of the trap and made a quick correction to make it through the finish line. The subsequent correction put the car into a sideways slide as it passed through the finish line. He said that someone got a picture of him sideways at the finish and it exists somewhere. I haven't come across it yet, but hope I do! I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed the post. Thanks Jimmie! I can copy the CD for any of you that would be interested. All I would ask is for enough to cover materials and mailing, say $10.
Curt, welcome and thank you. Jimmie , thanks for taking thhe time tpo post this. You guys just gave me the best Christmas present this year!! Please let me know if these ever make it into print, I'd buy at least 2 copies! I know I'd wear one of em out! jerry
Nice completion to the pics, Curt. I am astonished over the guts some of these racers had during that period. Storys like this nourishes my ever growing lakes fever. Must have been a tremendous trill taking a small homemmade jaloppy free of safetyequipment to those speeds. I NEED TO GO THERE SOME DAY. Paul
Funny you should mention the safety equipment. Dad's goal was to make the 557 car lighter than the '25 Chevy that weighed 1650 lbs. ready to run with him in it. With the roll cage, fire bottles, fire suit, helmet, harnesses, arm restraints, etc.,etc., the 557 car came in at 2000 lbs. with him in it, (the Ford 9" rear end didn't help either, but it was cheap). He used to say that on his first run he was going to pull up to the starting line and say, " Now that you've got me all strapped in to this thing, who's gonna drive the son-of-a-bitch?"
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