Art & Inspiration The Friday Art Show

Happy " FAS " Friday to all of you. A reminder that Speed Week is coming up and an acknowledgement that Oshkosh is going on this week. A few of my older pen and inks.
Hope to see any local HAMBERS going to the Good-Guys car show in Puyallup on Saturday
7/29/2023.

 

Hello,

With the salt flat season coming up soon, it felt apropos to include one of our favorite builds and people we met while living in Long Beach. When Mickey Thompson Enterprises moved into Joe Mailliard’s old shop on Cota, we knew exactly where it was, since we had been going to that old shop at 1410 Cota. It was a short bicycle ride away and we were very familiar with that original shop.
The shop was set up perfectly for all types of modifying hot rods and race cars. We could bicycle over there from our house in the Westside of Long Beach, if the 58 Impala was not around or available. We had gone over there with the 51 Oldsmobile sedan many times for parts and accessories, as well as our weekly fix of the Drag News paper.

We had seen various Pontiac race cars and building phases as the MT years rolled by. We got to know the manager, Jack Ewell, an old time drag racer, at the shop, when he became the manager. When we were partially finished with the 671 SBC set up for the 40 Willys coupe, we towed it over to show it in its stages and ask for some help in the design phases.

But, when Joe Mailliard moved his shop closer into downtown Long Beach, near our high school, it was just as easy to drive a short distance to go to the new shop. After school it was on the way home.


Jnaki

When Mickey Thompson moved into the Westside of Long Beach shop, it was easily accessible to us. All in all, he expanded his shop to another larger unit a short block away and then finally, moved everything to Santa Fe Avenue, right next door to our favorite Italian Deli and Sandwich Shop. (Santa Fe Importers is still there in the same location.)


We have always thought the streamliner was deep inside of the Cota Avenue garage shop. We never got to see it up close in that location. But, our plastic models were painted and detailed just like the real thing. YRMV

This version was what we thought was the best looking. It was smooth and nothing stopped the flow of air from the ground up and over the top of the body/cab in the back. The squarish rear created less turbulence for a great design.
During this time, he was always roaming around the whole dragstrip and was one of the friendliest people we got to know. Even for a couple of young teenagers, he had time to stop, say hello and told us some things we could possibly use for our build phases.
Thanks, MT... YRMV

 

One of my favorite streamliners

 

Good Fri. Ya all

 

Better stop for gas !

 

Ah, speed week...
Well, been too busy to do much so. for now, here's the in progress sketch for this weeks sketchbook sketch.
Imagine it's setting on the slat awaiting it's go at the century mark.

 

Wow, what a great start!

 

Jnaki it's pretty awesome that you got to hang around Mickey Thompson and his shops when you were a kid. There must have been some really cool stuff happening there at the Times

 

Hello,
Thank you for the nice words. Yes, we lived right around the corner and down the street a block or two away. He was a hard working guy. I am sure he liked that we were a couple of teenagers building and getting involved in drag racing almost every week at Lion's Dragstrip from the Fall of 57 to Summer of 1960. But, he ruled the roost at Lion's Dragstrip. To us, he was a cool guy and never showed his anger or power show, just because he was the manager of Lion's Dragstrip.

He saw us weekly in our 58 Impala trying to win in our cl***. Then after those years, we showed up with a home grown 1940 Willys Coupe and a carburetor powered SBC 283 motor in the Willys' first stage. We were having fun and did not win all of the races when it counted. By the March 1960, we began our rebuild of the 283 to a larger blower spec motor to 292 c.i.

When most of the stuff was formally put together for phase 2, it was still in red primer. We took it over to show our friend and manager of Mickey Thompson's shop, Jack Ewell. He/they were all impressed with what we did to make the big changeover. Then, as we got it running and competing, they came over to the Lion's Pits and gave us some words of encouragement.
Similar motor set up...
Jnaki

Finally, our last days at Lions came with some amazing results for us. We were .20 seconds off of the National Record in C/Gas and it was still in phase two. (6 Stromberg carb 292 671 motor and a LaSalle transmission stage.) Then, what we had saved went toward what we thought was going to be the finished stage. We had ordered a two port Hilborn Injector system, larger M&H Slicks, a set of Halibrand Mags and had a C&O Stick Hydro install/conversion already on the reservation books.

This was our U.S. Nationals stage. If we had time, a full upholstery and paint was also reserved, ready to get going. In our final elimination race at Lion's Dragstrip, all things looked outstanding from the large lead my brother got on the cl*** champion in the next lane. Then he increased the lead until just before the lights, it blew up, shutting down the drag strip early around 9:30 p.m.

Note: Sorry to the folks waiting in the staging area and in the stands to watch the 13th round of Top
Eliminator race consecutive wins for the Albertson Olds A/D with Leonard Harris at the helm. They had won 12 consecutive weeks of Top Eliminator trophies and were next to us in the staging area waiting their turn. No drag racer in history ever won 13 straight victories anywhere. They were prepped and ready in the staging area.

So, goes our almost two year recovery for my brother and me. The rest was gone by 1961-62 and we started our next phase of our teenage life's adventures. We still remembered the words of encouragement from those top drag racers with a ton of history, taking the time to talk to us, just mere teenagers with a goal in mind. A possible future in auto mechanics and race engine building... as we looked to the future along the way.

 

A couple Bonneville themed pieces I did back when.

Mick

 

wow Mick !!!!! JUST WOW !!!! excellent !!!!..

 

I have nothing new right now but I thought you guys might like an oldie. where are my manners, I forgot to credit the artist. Shame on me.

 

A tanker out of wood and junk bin parts.

 

Me likey.

 

Thanks.

 

You’re welcome.

 

Another excellent FAS this week, thanks to all for showing your talent.

 

Appreciate that. Much younger then.

Mick

 

Having a rough day...