Old Race Car found. HAMB Historians please help...

I hope this is enough of a Hot Rod for me to post about it on the HAMB, but maybe somebody can help me find out more about the history of this car.
I found it on Ebay, hardly anybody was bidding on it and there was no reserve.
All the history I know sofar is that the car was raced in the Boston area in the early '50s, brought to Arizona by the last guy that raced it when he moved.
He started restoring it and then he died.
His widow had everything hauled off and thrown away at the dump.
All that is left is the rolling chassis.
It has a early Ford I beam front suspension with F100 front brakes, an early '50s Ford rear ( it is seized solid, so there is a truck rear end in it now to hold the ass end up ), it had a straight6, and probably a simple flat aluminum body riveted or screwed straight to the frame.
The frame itself is made out of thin wall 1 3/4 round tubing, the roll bars are 1 5/8.
The workmanship on the frame is really nice, who ever built it knew what he was doing. And I would be really surprised if this was the only car he ever built.
The modifications are not that nice, and probably not done by the same person.
The frame seems to be made out of mufflermoly ( exhaust tubing ), but if it is chromemoly, how would I test that?
I am really happy that I was able to buy this car, It fits my tastes so well and it is a perfect stablemate to my other cars.
If any body can help me find out more, or tell me where to look for info, I would really appreciate it.

 

Front suspension

 

Mocked up with some parts I had lying around...

 

Muffler tubing will have a seam, unlike chrome-moly, and be more prone to rust.

That roll bar could only be the work of Sir Edward Valentine, who later emigrated to Canada and did the logos for rhe Vancouver-based rock band Heart.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

That looks like one of those old"build your own roadster" [from plans] in popular Mechanics and some other books in the fifties and sixties....you know what Im talking about?
Maybe more of a "sports car"-than hot rod.....

 

A wonderful piece of history.Too bad we don't know more.

I bet Brock Yates,or Chris Economaki would know this car.
Brock still does work for Speed channel,you could reach Chris through Speed Sport News.

 

Any chance the widow or family still has some pics?

 

I have just been reading a book called: American Sports-Racer-From Kurtis to Cobra by Rich Taylor ( which IMHO is a fantastic read and actually does include quite a bit of hot rod relate stuff.)

To me it looks like chassis is a copy of a Devin, but this is just a wild estimation which should be discounted immediately.

One thing that is a FACT is this: I'm jealous as hell!

Moonbeam



Adam F

 

Someone in your Phoenix area posted some pics of some sports cars a few months ago. They were driving and racing them. Weren't much more than what you have plus a nose nad rear and some sheet metal on the sides of the frame.
One of them had the Ford axle modified into a twin I beam setup. I don't remember more than that.

 

METALSHAPES- Is that rearend mounted on top of the rear springs? I'd like to see some detail on that, please.
Great find. It does look like a "build it yourself" chassis.
There's a few like it in the Hot Rod "Spotlite" books from the early 60's.

JOE

 

Roadsters, The roll bars ( hoops ) have a seam in them.
I have not found one in the main tubes yet, there is surface rust but no thin spots or rust through.
Is that the only way to tell?

Choprods, It is no DIY kit.
The welds are absolutly flawless, and I would like to shake the hand of the guy that layed them...
I see this car as equal parts Hot Rod and Sports Car.
Like Allards, Old Yeller and the Eliminator, but maybe not as fancy...

Uncl, Isn't this a great find?
I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am about owning it.
Would it be hard to get in touch with Brock Yates or Chris Economaki?

Tman, The guy I bought it from is going to try and get the name of the widows husband, through the guy he bought it from.

Adam, A couple of years ago I had a Devon body in my back yard.
I dont think it would fit this frame very well, but I could be wrong...

Doc, That was probably me posting pics of my Mallock...

Junkyard, The rear leafsprings run lengthwise with the axle on top.
It has a trample bar on one side under the spring ( I dont know if there was an other on the other side )
If it needed that, it must have had some decent horsepower...

 

I watched this car sell and could not believe,there was not much interest at all.It really is an unusual set up,and I liked it the minute I saw it.I would say you done alright,and I bet some history will turn up on it.If you get in touch with the original owners wife,bop her upside the head once for me,just for trashing,a very cool piece of history.Good luck with it and by the way loved your top post on the roadster!I had to reply here to that post,so much interest in it,if I tryed replying there,with my slowboy comp-utr I could click on it and go on vacation for two weeks and it might be loaded,when I got home!

 

Very cool Alex! What are your plans for it? I don't think the car could have found a better home as you are a very talented craftsman. Keep us "posted" on the progress!

Spike

 

That's a cool piece!! I'm jealous. I want a 50's Detroit powered sports car of some kind. Have you given any thought to building the body? Aluminum?

Are the front radius rods running forward or am I seeing things backwards?

 

Check out this site:

http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/

Old sports car racing, including sports racing specials, and a couple of pages of "mystery cars" that they're trying to identify.

Neat chassis -- I'd be sketching up a body or looking for an old Devin or Bocar body if I were you . . .

Steve.

 

Scarliner, Wasn't that weird?
It sat at $2.25 for days! I am glad it went up from there, cause I felt guilty enough to the seller, when I picked it up.
Thanks for the complement on the Hardtop.

Spike, my plans are to undo the chassis mods.
The split bones run forward, and are welded to a swaybar as a pivot point.
And one of the X members has been bent out of the way, for a bigger Tranny, or Scattershield. I know some of these cars ended up on the drag strip. ( Didn't they used to have a class for sportscars? ) I know a guy who scored very well a couple of years in his Bocar.
I have a spare unrebuit '57 SBC ( incase I blow the one in the Roadster up...) that is almost a straight bolt in in the Special.
And then put a simple lightweight body on it ( something a lot like my Mallock. )
Unless I find out what it really looked like, then I might have to recreate that...

Tommy, Aluminum body... definitely.
Supposedly that is what it had before.
Yes, the split bones run forward but it is a later mod.

Grim, Ain't It cool?

Steve, thanks for the site.
I have thought about building something nice and swoopy for it, but right now simple and light weight is winning.

Thanks for the help sofar guys.
If anybody has anything more, please let me know.
I will keep you posted on any progress...

 

I have an old Hot Rod Magazien from the 60's that has a few modified sports cars with Chevy v8's in them...
In fact, one of them reminds me a lot of your frame there.

I'm just guessing, but I believe it is on of my Hot Rod Yearbooks... there was like a Bug Eye'd Sprite with a Chevy v8 and some other cars...

I'll look and let you know... but I think you got something cool there!

Sam.

 

Should we assume, from the double roll bar, that it was a two seater?

Are there tabs or mounts where the body bolted up?

JOE

 

There are a couple of guys in the Boston area who might knowne is Ken Duclos who ran K-D engineering and the other would be Peter Sefferian(sp)who has a car dealership(Sefferian Motors in Cambridge I think).Both were into sports car racing back then.Sorry I don't have their numbers anymore.
Ray

 

[ QUOTE ]
Would it be hard to get in touch with Brock Yates or Chris Economaki?


[/ QUOTE ]

If Speedvision didn't have the absolute slowest Fucking website I have ever seen,
I would look there for an E-mail address.
He used to write for Car and Driver,I think the same guy does their web site too.

 

Sam, if you could find it, that would be great.

Junkyard, yes, its a two seater.
I looked at it some more today, and it looks like the rollbars were put on later. But maybe not by the same weder that did the suspension mods.
There are seat belt tabs behind where the pass seat would be, and there used to be some at the driver side too, but they were ground off ( Maybe it was about to be upgraded ).
There are no tabs or brackets for any body work, but there are small holes drilled in the frame, spaced about 8" apart ( some are 4" apart ),
So I guess the aluminum was riveted or screwed straight to the tubes, and it must have been fairly thick to be able to space them that far apart.

Safari, I will try and track them down, so I can contact them.

Uncl, I will try and find that adress.

Thanks again all.

 

HR Yearbook #1 has a Bug Eye in it, I see no car like yours.

 

Now whats this doing way back on page 3? Oh no....that will never do!
Alex...more pictures, info and the buildup. PLEASE!

NOT a Hot Rod? Oh yes it is! Just the EUROPEAN version.
That thing would spank a buckets ASS...and its made from muffler tube...and powered by aa early small block! DAMN!
THATS a hot Rod folks.

Bill

 

Hey Hackerbill,
I thought you might like it.
I am going to have some fun with this one...
Whoever built it had some experience or some good cars to look at.
It looks like a simple machine, but it has some good tricks done to it, like offsetting the engine and gearbox away from the driver to even out the wheel weights...
It seems to be built when the school of thought was Flexible frame and Rock hard suspension, I'll find out what that was like.
One thing is for sure, it seems to be made for high speed powerslides. And since I like doing those, chances are good that this puppy will travel sideways again!
BTW, I think this is probably an American built machine, with just enough European influence to give the Imports a hard time...
But we will know for sure if and when we can find some more History...

 

metalshapes,when I saw that frame,my first thought was this little jewel that Dick Kraft built,more hot rod than sportsrod.

 

Here's the frame.

 

Then you stated you'd probably keep the bodywork simple and these came to mind.Ted Cannon's,circa '51.

 

Dick Seifried's from '51.Can't wait to see how this turns out,I'm sure you'll do it right!Hope someone comes up with some history on your car.

 

Thank you Lowlife, those last 2 pics are a lot like what I have in mind.
But maybe with fenders like Ken Miles' MG Special " the shingle"