History Specials

Rootie, that car is SO cool. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing from the herald on the radiator shell some part of it was Alfa Romeo, but the cam covers aren't familiar to me as Alfa. And I'm really happy to see the American oval track touches, Halibrands and the nearly-level school bus style sprint car steering! I'd love to know more...
Given the period dress and venue, my guess Gen Lemay was stalking the grounds. Gary

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/10/racing-heroes-general-curtis-lemay/

 

I would like to know more too. The cam covers are embossed "Young" which I'm not familier with, but may be foreign made (?). The background kinda looks like Moffet Field so it wouldn't surprise me either if Lemay was around.

 

It is a very tidy little car. The radiator shell doesn't say Alfa to me; it certainly isn't an Alfa-Romeo part. I can't make out the badge. The transverse-leaf front end suggests early Ford content. I wonder what those brakes are.

 

Looked around on the Racing Sports Cars site and came up with this, looks to be a one-off DOHC conversion for a Crosley.

 

I think that is the late "Doc Young" car. He lived in the Central Valley of Calif, near or in Lemore, I think.. Ernie Mendici, also deceased, had the engine.

 

Thanks, the RSC site shows he was pretty active with it until 1957 when he switched to a Lotus.

 

Amazing detective work. I wonder where the chassis went? Scrap, hill climbs, drag racing? It would be fantastic to find out it was still being raced with other vintage cars. Gary

 

I think the grille shell is an Austin Bantam. Cool car.
Cheers.
Stewart.

 

DOHC on a Crosley meant a new block also (integral).

Wonder if the bore size was increased--but cylinder centers are pretty close for much increase.

Herb Kephart

 

Could certainly be:

That suggests that the transverse-leaf front end might have been Austin- rather than Ford-based. The 15" rim size legible on a tyre sidewall in one of the photos suggests that the car is smaller than its proportions suggest, even with the benefit of human figures.

 

The 6 pin hubs and the size of the brakes make me think it came off a sprint/champ car. By the early 50s the oval track guys were swapping out their drums for discs. Probably picked up the whole setup for cheap.

 

A lot of the parts look like midget/sprint car to me as well. The front tube axle looks like typical m/s fabrication with the spring perches welded on top. The front hairpins, side steer, steering box and 4 spoke Bell steering wheel, all point to someone with access to midget parts, or even a whole car.
Cheers,
Stewart.

 

A great looking Ardun powered Allard that was at the show on the Boston Common very recently. Looks pretty Special to me? TEB

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Definitely an American Austin radiator shell.

 

Recently posted by Jive-Bomber: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=24350

Interesting early streamliner; though the camera car interests me more.

 

But what is it? Mercer? Stutz? Something else?

 

Camera Car looks bloody interesting - Essex bobtail maybe?

 

This one turned up in Wisconsin a few years ago.

 

I just spotted this image on the "As they were" thread. I had no idea so many specials were ever in one place! Gary

Photo: Laguna Seca, 2005. Featured players that year included Jim Hall and American Road Racing Specials.

 

'em ain't specials -- 'em are Allards!

 

As you subscribers of Hot Rod already know, the Feb 2015 issue has a very nice article on Ak Miller's Caballo II Spl. that is well worth the price of that issue alone. Also just for fun in the same issue, an Australian artist made a map of all the famous race tracks laid out in the same scale. Amazing. While I've been to the 'Ring and Le Mans and know they are big, the outer-most outline on the graphic is the entire circuit at the Isle of Mann, which encompasses them all. Very neat to see. Gary
Pebble Beach, 2014

 

Tasty Seven special:

 

Vicarage Jaguar special, 1960, courtesy of Hagen Kranz:

 

WOW. That's nice. I could look at 100 more pix if anyone can find them!!!! Gary

 

Here's a start. Again from Hagen:

 

Gawd, that's a wonderful looking car. Thanx, Gary

 

That is nothing short pure porn.

 

More from Hagen Kranz in Germany:






MG VA special with very interesting 2-seater coachwork.

 

Hey Terry,

You are absolutely right! Doctor John Young, an MD from Lemoore CA, was an active builder/racer of Crosely engines and cars in the Fifties. I don't have a copy of the photo in my computer; but in a book by Art Evans on the Pebble Beach road races there is a photo of "Doc" in one of his specials. That particular car, not the one depicted above in this thread, is currently owned by a friend of mine. This friend has at least one of the rough castings "Doc" made for the DOHC. I think the DOHC blocks were 950 c.c.'s. I think my friend told me that "Doc" also tried to get a 91 CID Offy to run in one of his cars. But, I know that I never saw one of his cars with an Offy in it.

Terry, I hope to see you at Monterey next August; and those "hooligans" that inhabit you paddock. I'm not going to wear my white coveralls over there, in that my wife liked to strangle me when I came back to our area after those guys put the greasing hands on me! Seriously, it's always great to see you and your guys at the races.

 

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