Hot Rods The Coupes and Sedans of Land Speed Racing

Rich, help me with this one,,, wasn't this the coupe that Jim Travis owned that was the famous So Cal Coupe?

 

That is the Jim Travis car. But Tom Bryant had the SoCal coup. Didn't know it for years until somebody told him.

 

I believe Tom Bryant had the Pierson Bros. coupe, Travis owned the So-Cal coupe.

Mick

 

That is true.

 

Getting old really sucks. I'm going to go along with these guys.

 

I thought I would add this photo to show that all the Lakes racers over 60 years ago did not race Ford coupes or sedans. The photo shows my '41 Hudson being fired up at a 1951 Russetta meet on El Mirage dry lake. The straight eight Buick engine drove the big Hudson four-door sedan to a speed of 129.96 mph. The was a good performance for the era, 64 years ago.
However, the most remembered today are the modified early Fords, such as the Pierson coupe, the Chrisman coupe or the So-Cal coupe with their unique styling. It helps that those lakes racers have now been restored and have been seen by the hot rodders of today. Don

 

Chuck Jones Tudor - "the Outcast"

 

Rad thread, thanks for the pic's guys!

 

GOOD SUBJECT!!!!!----I am still amazed by the Chrisman Coupe----Years ago I was blown away when I found out it was a MODEL A body and that Unbelievable nose was actually 2--- 40 Ford hoods top to bottom!!!! Nice post----really enjoyed it!!!! BILL RINALDI

 

Thanks! Yeah, its tough to beat the Chrisman Coupe. It was one of the big ones to really up the ante in LSR. Lucky Burton, of Lucky's Hot Rods has been building his own coupe that is highly inspired from the Chrisman Coupe the last few years. I'm excited to see this one come together!

 

Mickey Thompson's Bantam

Sharpe & McAdam Crosley C Coupe

 

Jim & Bill Lattin's 3W.

 

I forgot that Doyle Gamel owned this iconic coupe at one time, It's a great coupe, one of my faves, wish that I would've had the $30k to buy it a couple of years back in Burbank as it runs a Cyclone In-N Out Box and Cyclone Quickie- would have made a great company car .

 

Is that a '29 roadster with a coupe top ?

 

Yeah and it appears to have about a '30 Chrysler coupe roof? It also appears to be on a later, '34ish Ford frame? Looks like it was built using what was on hand. All in all it doesn't look half bad.

 

all I know it was powered by pontiac

 

In the mid '50s there was an article in Hot Rod that showed how to make the nose out of two '40 Ford hoods.

 

That's Tom Cobb's 29 roadster. Custom-built hardtop (removeable I think), Desoto grille, a very early adaptation of roots-style blower with a custom-built oiling system. At one point he drag-raced this car with dually rear wheels in an effort to get the car to hook up. Pretty cool.

 

Thanks for the insight @Spex84!



Ryan has a great write up on Tom Cobb on the Jalopy Journal:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=2687

 

Chrisman Bros

 

Great History, And we had FUN>

 

The Doug Hartelt '34 Coupe