Bart - Speeddrome - on here.....helped put that auction of Indy stuff on Heritage Auctions together....might contact him....
The man that sold the wheel in the auction knows what he has. All his car items are fabulous. He is elderly and parted with some of his things....but you haven't seen anything yet! I bought one of his 1950's quarter midgets at the price it sold for in 1957.
Plot thickens... I think I've found the owner of the #98 car. He's one of us... I sent an email this morning to see if the car has the original wheel on it or not. If it doesn't, I'll just send this thing his way and make it his problem.
Sold a Bell 4 spoke wheel on the HAMB five or six years ago. Got it from a racer in Northern California. Interesting process, called him on a tip and he said he would send it to me and if I liked, would I please send him a check! Sent the check and a few extra bucks to cover freight.
Bell wheels, Bell helmets, MorDrop axels and Moon gas pedals. For their time they were the best available and were used by the best. Today you see them and the years fade away and put you back in your younger days. I guess that's why I spent 2 years hunting down a real MorDrop for my A coupe and I still have my old Bell racing jacket hanging in my garage. Great score Ryan. Build a car around it.
Great!! i just wished i had seen the auction. would love to have something from that great historical race. CONGRATS!!
Another update... The car was owned by Bruce Meyer. But I guess he sold it to the Indy 500 museum. I got in contact with them and as far as they know, the car has the original wheel on it.
The car that Bart owns is a Hillegass midget..black and silver,,#36 on the tail... Ryan.if you need a copy of the Heritage Auction cataog,I'll mail you mine that Bart sent me..
Nawe. I would have given the damned thing to Bruce if it belonged on the car. I was kind of hoping it didn't... In fact, I'm beginning to think this is just some cool old wheel with no historical significance at all. That card could have just been randomly grabbed when this thing was getting packed.
A 'mate' of mine, Mark, (from Australia) travels here every year to buy '55-'57 Chevys to take back to O-Z and sell. Back in 2005, he had me convert his '68 Chev pickup to disc brakes. He had 2 Chevys to take to L.A. to be shipped in a container, before he left I spied a 3 spoke Faux-Bell steering wheel (a close copy) in the front seat of the '56. He wasn't around, so I made a mental note to ask him about it. Missed him! He and the Chevys left early the next morning...I had given him a rare model airplane fuel tank to take to another O-Z bud, so a week later he calls, to tell me he'd dropped the tank with my pal. I mentioned the steering wheel, and he said "Your home address, Mike?" The steering wheel arrived, hand-packed in 3 layers of formed cardboard, and more than 45 postage stamps pasted all over it in a grid, to cover post! Enclosed was a note: "Thanks, Mate! The brakes are Great! Please accept this for a 'tip'."
Ryan...This wheel was bolted to Something from that era. Numerous drill patterns, and the taped spokes suggest something open, spokes taped to arrest reflection, during day races. 17" diameter discounts (most) Midgets, but Sprint car operation was a possibility. Now, given the 'origins' and 'bedpartners' of most stuff at this auction, the wheel could have Rutherford or Vukovich prints...or company of this stature... a DNA check would be expensive, though...
Yeah, the card is old for sure... but the staple isn't rusty, so... The way I see it is this: Apparently, the guy that owned all of this stuff was super knowledgeable. And, in my opinion, there is no way in hell he would have stood for the listing the way it was if this was some super significant steering wheel. I mean, I paid $60 for this thing... I think the chances are slim this thing is anything special. If it was, I would gladly donate the damned thing to the original car it belonged too. That would be proper. But as it stands, I'm just gonna assume this is exactly what it was advertised as (a steering wheel that was prolly used on some random race cars in the 1950's or 60's) and use the shit out of it!
The first round DNA application being as you sit in your office chair making high-pitched engine sounds alternating with squealing tire sounds and you crank the wheel hard right as you catch the slide as you back it into the first turn?
D N A test ? O.K. guys. Let's come back down to Earth ! ! ! Just joshing. It's amazing just how caught up in this "stuff" we can get. Occasionally, my sweet wife, who is as big a roadster nut as I, will leave the room because of a conversation with a buddy that has gone on waaay too long. Just love the meat of this HAMB. Thanks again, Ryan.
Very cool score and story anyway. That wheel could have seen plenty of duty on the Mantz #98 car. Who knows when it might have came off the car and another wheel used or previous owner installing a wheel not so well used. I have a steering wheel story myself , Its French though. I've been looking for the pics of the car when my dad raced it. The story starts. In 51 or 52 Renault built 2 small 750cc mid engine aluminum bodied cars to compete at Le Mans. I'v seen video of these cars at the start of the race. Anyway in the later 5o's one of the 2 ended up at a Renault dealer's race car stable in Alameda Calif, The owner of the dealership was Glenn St Louis. So in 61 my dad and his buddy drug my brother and me along to the Alameda dealership. My dad bought one of these Le Mans cars and raced it here in the San Francisco Region SCCA for a couple years. The gear box was crap and my memory of my dads story is it only stayed together for one race out of the 10 times he ran the car. The wheel is aluminum with a leather wrap. Very light and flimsy. This is the Original French wheel out of that car. I wish I could find the picture of that car because it was a very sharp looking race car. The story gets screwed up in the 80's though. I ended up marrying that ex Renault dealers daughter. She is now my EX thank God.
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