Hot Rods Need help with this old pic, what body is this??

Why does every picture ***umed to be 'shopped these days??? It's very easy to tell that is an original pic. The old film cameras took the best pics, anyway!

 

Amazing thread, hamb csi at it's best.

 

My guess is a '26-'27 T touring cowl with the rear section of the touring body used for more leg room, instead of just using the front section of the touring body.

 

Entaille...???? Is his name Virgil???

Considering T-Times persistance...I'd drop a twenty that it is!

Come on T-Time...you know something but your keeping it close...
Spill the beans to the unwashed m***es.

 

lol, sorry for the delayed response guys - not a daily lurker here! : )

if his name is Virgil that is news to me. I *believe* his first name is Joe but I will have to verify.. that is how disconnected we are.

that is AMAZING that you were able to find other pictures of it. I forwarded them to my parents will be blown away, I'm sure!

 

Like Doodlrodz says, the body on that car is a '26 or '27 touring car body with the middle section and back door section removed. What he didn't say is that the back section of a touring has a cut-out for the fenders. That has been filled. Quite expertly. Another testament to the quality of this car.

 

Is there a reference that the car number can be run against to get owner info etc? I've tried to find some stuff but all I seem to find is Aussie dry lakes listings.
Wish I knew more about the early North American dry lakes events....

What does it say on the #47 cowl? I can't get a clear image for some reason.
Looks like the intake is off in the second picture and the rear brake rod is repositioned...interesting!

Isn't it also interesting how in the lakebed photos the car looks kinda s****py but in the clear original picture its obviously very well put together and detailed to the max!?

Make you wonder if some of the old lakes cars were really as unrefined as we sometimes ***ume.
This one certainly wasn't!!!

 

It sure looks like in the second photo that the name on the cowl is PROULX maybe the car had changed owners during it's lakes history.

 

hey guys - random update to this. my parents were after a copy of that book 'hot rods as they were' by Don Montgomery (SP?), they couldn't find a copy after looking around for a couple of hours. they emailed the author asking if he had any stashed away, since the book itself was from 89 and out of print for quiet a while.

he told them that he didn't have any copies, so they replied back about the story of how we shared out my grandpa's picture on a forum and it spread to here, which in turn someone was able to link the car to being inside of his book. he went in to his attic and found a copy. he signed a personalized note to my grandpa and sent it to my parents.

they gave me the book and asked me to put a note in it too. in june they are going to visit him (he's now living in Arizona), and they are going to surprise him with the book. I don't think he's aware his car pics were ever in the book.

should be cool. if anyone is dieing to ask a question, you can get a list started here and I can send it up with my parents when they go to visit him.

 

Thats great! I love it!!!!
Guys like your Grandpa deserve recognition for basicly CREATING this hobby!
He was there building a car and running it right when it all started.
Awesome.

Question? Oh Man...Too many need to be asked....

Whats HIS story of the early years?
Some details of that beautiful Modified...frame, running gear...etc.
What became of the car????
Who was he friends with and who impressed him during those times?
Ask if he has anymore pictures of the car or of the drylakes racing itself...we'd love to see them scanned and become part of the pictorial history of the era.

Tell him he's looked up to by a lot of people around here.
People who know cars and have some idea of the effort it took to put that impressive ride together.

Tell him THANK YOU.

 

Looking at that car, I think the "old Skool" dipwads need to go BACK to school and see what (as previously mentioned) "traditional" means. That is exactly what a well-finished hot rod/gow job/street rod looked like 'in the day'...I don't see any ragged rusty edges, pisspoor welds or any of the other **** **** that seems to define the Hipster Doofuses of today's lowslung, dipped in dung, junkers....

dj

 

Relic Stew. I think your right.more than one year used there I think.It sure worked out nice.I wish there was a bigger picture,or my eyes were younger.

 

Sure would like an update on this thread............It's such a great story, but it needs an ending.

 

I guess ol' Entaille disappeared when this thread died down....
Last Activity:
05-07-2009 03:58 PM

 

that thing must have been a blast to drive.

 

I haven't heard from him on here or on the 350Z forum..... I wish I knew more though. What an awesome pic and an amazing car!

 

Propwash, you need to stop hiding your opinion and tell it like it is.
BTW, X2 on what you posted.............some don't have a clue.

Frank

 

Old thread, but I would really like to know what happened.
Astro Zombie, whatever happened to your friend and his Grandad?

 

curiouser and curiouser...

 

Your guess is as good as mine. I sold my Nissan (which is how I got to know him on a 350Z forum) and it looks like he hasn't been here either. I would absolutely love to know how this turned out as well. Sorry for getting everyone going and then have the thread die like this.

 

You CAN'T be serious!?!?

THANK YOU for starting this and if you or ANYONE comes across info like this PLEASE post it without a second thought!!!
THIS is history...and even knowing a part of the puzzle is better than knowing nothing at all!

 

You know it's sad we don,t have the rest of the story, on this roadster. I found
this post today and I think My heart skipped a beat. At least we have a good photo
and that speaks volumes. If you guys would indulge me I'd like to share what I
see. First we start with the distributor. It has a dome coil, that means late 32 to
early 36. We look at the head, 21 stud with water pump, Thats 32 to 36. We look
at the block and see about 1/2 inch of meat between the front of the head to the
front of the block. This tells us 32 to 36. Remember 37 and 38 have 1&1/2'' here
for the block mounted water pumps. Right bank is over 2". Now a quick look at
the pan. With a notch it's 35 or later. 33 & 34s are full length flat on the bottom.
From all this we can probably glean it'a a 35 or 36 block. The manifold looks to be
early Thickstun. Our good friend here on the H.A.M.B., Jay Fitzgugh. [writer] tells
us that Tommy began producing this manifold in 1936. I also see a block off fuel
pump plate. Hand pump or electric , what do you think?

In Don Montgomery's book [Hot rods as they were] Page 98..Is stated the heads
were chrome plated. My best guess would be that this is either a 35 or 36 LB
[ large bearing ] not babbit engine. With 36 dome pistons and heads. They
used to call this a police special. I also think the car could have been built in the
late 30s. Simply because it has a cut out on the generator, rather than a voltage
regulator of the 39 Deluxe model and later.

There is no way around it, this car is simply Beautiful..... And would have gone from
life size to two inches tall, in about 5 seconds flat. I can't think you guys enough
for this post. Rich.

 

You're absolutely right. It's kinda like hot rod blueballs though! Thank you for the kind words, I really hope he gets an email notification when this thread pops and he's like "Oh yeah, I need to let those fine HAMB guys know just how innovative and plain frickin' cool my grandpa was!"

Thanks Rich! You sure do know your stuff! We must find out more info on the car, the build, the man, who he ran with etc!!!

 

I think the engine might be a Ford.

I like the car.

 

Hahaha...Man, I NEEDED that laugh! thanks!

NOBEY...impressive knowledge bud! Pretty obvious you know your way around a Flatty.
HAMB CSI

Amazing how something this sweet has seemingly fallen right thru the cracks of time.
I can't help thinking that this Mod is stashed away somewhere.
It's just too nice to routinely accept that it was tossed away like yesterdays trash.

This car was known at the lakes. It was a quality car for the day and there has to be people in the know about its story and fate.
The HAMB collective just needs to dig a bit deeper....

 

His last post on this topic over at the 350Z forum says"

"hard for me to get details. not directly in contact with my grandpa, going through my dad, and he likes to drink a lot.. lol

the only new info I got out of him is that the engine is from '37, and that they maxed the car out at 130mph"

 

hey fellas - sorry I didn't hang around. life gets busy and I just didn't become a regular here so I didn't check in with new details. it's on my favorites now - hopefully that doesn't happen again. Astro reached out to me again so I wanted to post a little update -

my father ended up delivering the book to my grandpa in person, along with the signed note etc. he was thrilled and amazed how this all came together.

he ended up mailing us a bunch of cl***ic photos from the same era.. cl***ic pictures of a lot of cool custom rods that used to race out on the salt flats with my grandpa. a couple even celebrity owned. I don't think a lot of these pictures have even been seen or posted online anywhere so you should be in for a treat!

I should be moving here in about a month - I told myself I'd buy a scanner so I could share them with you all. I left astro my email in case I flake out and forget once more.

in other news - I moved on from my Z a while back and started building up my 5.0 for track days and car shows - I think she's coming along nicely, although a farcry from the work involved in a custom rod

 

yes please scan the photos and post them i as well as many others would love to see them

 

Entaille...so glad to hear that contact was made between you and your Grandfather....and glad that more info has come to light because of it!
It's especially good to hear that the interest we have in his story brightened his day.
Thats icing on the cake!!!

Any old pictures you can scan would be fantastic!
Any new photos available of the Dry lakes era can only serve to increase of knowledge of the cars and the people.

Really looking forward to this.

Judging by your interest in cars...its pretty obvious the apple didn't fall far from the tree!

All the best and keep in touch. Please!

 

Man oh man, I'm glad I stoked the fire and got it going again!!!!! If I lived by you I'd scan the pics and upload them NOW!!! Does your grandpa happen to know where the car is now??