Too bad it had a devastating ending. Iknow this is trivial but I had in my mind that there was not an “s” on the word Bandits as I remember them in the early days even as they were a group….one of the photos is how I remember the Arnett family cars and like Paul’s when they teamed up with him.
I don't know why but the fellow sitting in the car looks much more like Paul's machinist, Fred Lobello than Paul.
"The saga came to a brutal end in 1957 when George Barcout, at the wheel, collided with a confused spectator who drove a Chevrolet onto the track..." WTF!
I wondered how Paul acquired the struts. Thanks! The struts Schiefer used to build his frame were .0625 chromoly 4130. They affixed to, and moved with, the pontoons on the outboard edges of the Catalina's parasol wing. The major and minor diameters of the hydrofoil struts compliment the dimensions of the original Model T frame, but they are much lighter. I'm sure he had to gusset that frame all over. I have a full set of Catalina wing struts: they're m***ive but their light weight belies their size, as they're made of extruded aluminum, and there's no way they could fit under Paul's tiny roadster without compromising their integrity.
I may or may not have seen Paul’s roadster run at Paradise Mesa in the early fifties. I did watch the Bean Bandits and Speed Sport Special race there a number of times. We used to ride our bikes to Paul’s shop on Adams Ave and he would run us off!
The man in the photo is, indeed, Freddie Lobello. A few years before his death, I had the pleasure of speaking with Freddie while we thumbed through a few books like "The Birth of Hot Rodding", and he described the photographed scenes including his car and the Schiefer Roadster. Other hot rodders who blessed me with their time and input included Jack Osborne, Vic Edelbrock, Jr., Don Garlits, and Don Waite. Sadly, they're all gone
I have to correct what I said: they're all gone, except for Don Garlits. And he's always good for a great story
I’ve been in the San Diego Roadster Club for over 40 years and Fred was a mainstay at the meetings long before I joined. He always had a story of the early years for us.
The Jalopy Journal
