Art & Inspiration Traditional images that need no explanation.

The simple days. This is when you could paint in your driveway, no overspray, simple single stage Lacquer. It would dry fast, and if you got a run, or dirt in it, it came right out. That paint and flame job is still on this car. The California Kid.

 

View attachment 5996864

 

Now, that's kissin'.....

 

Joe Amato

 

It is the Post office, not the tree office.

 

I though that Sting-Rays were in the ocean.

 

@40ragtopdown


Hello,

Every time I see a photo of one of the versions of the Sidewinder from Long Beach, I get the “chills…” Why? Well, as a young teenager, I was standing next to original Sidewinder at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1958-59. The Joe Mailliard revised Sidewinder was feared and started setting records at Lion’s Dragstrip and other So Cal locations. They traveled to Detroit in September of 1959 with several other So Cal racers and competed in the U.S. Nationals. The actual sound recording was taken from the races there.

at :16

The original sound when the Sidewinder fired up was different than the others. It was not until 1959 Fall season that a recording of the Sidewinder was made public. But, it was sound only and no films. My brother and I were able to buy a copy of the LP album and use the sound for our drag movies. It was on a tape recording we made and played while watching the films we took. At the time, it was just background sound and not always motion matched.

original sound 1959 September, films Summer 1959
Actual Sound recorded at the Detroit Nationals Sept 1959

Again, it took a lot longer (2015-16) to actually put the original Sidewinder sound to the original Sidewinder films in one version of what we always saw and filmed in 58-60. Back then even with the sound now on our own tape recording, embedding it was not in the cards. So, we listened to the tape as we watched the drag racing films at our teenager weekly gathering at our Westside of Long Beach house. It was as close to reality as it happened. It took until the digital age to get the films digitized and then get the original sound coordinated with the films.

Jnaki

Instead of a sleek silver aluminum body, perhaps, the next version could have been painted Orange. Then given a streamlined body and added, bubble top for Bonneville and the dry lakes runs. Now, everyone could hear the Sidewinder sound and actually see it streak across the salt/dry lakes with some resemblance of a sleek design going for the 200 mph mark. YRMV

Note:

Also, who could forget the chain sound of the Sidewinder motor as it fired up and came into the starting line staging area. As far as a chain drive is concerned, if you have ever heard one idling, or powering up in the pits, you might want to step back. The chain is deadly, but the casing helps. The Sidewinder was notorious for its sound, as it came up to the staging area or tuning in the pits. Standing near the race car while hitting the throttle was impressive. But, it was covered for safety.

 

Aussie car with early 70's Victorian registration. Typical East Coast style with heavy channel, no chop and Y-block power as that was about the only V-8 available as we got them in Customlines and Mainline utes from 55 to early 59 in 272 cubes.

 

Aussie car with Leo Spessot R.I.P at the wheel. Leo was one of the founding members of the Melbourne based Thunderbirds Rod Club which started in 1963 and was active in the club all his life.

 

Is this what they mean by chopped and dropped ?

 

Well at the time my dad was drag racing a new 409 Chevy and the cops didn’t like that idea so pop took them on a high speed chase out of the county and was leaving them when he hit a flat curve at over 140 and rolled his car 7 times wheels to wheels. It threw him out one time but sucked him back in to finish out the ride and when it all stopped the car was upside down and the 3 carbs caught on fire and he was crawling out when it blew up and tossed him across the median. Dad told me that he was laying there trying to inventory all of his body parts when the state trooper came up and kicked him in the ribs to see if he was still living. He told him “I wish you wouldn’t do that” and they hauled him to the county jail. My grandfather picked him up a couple of hours later and that was it. He didn’t even get a ticket. That was him standing next to it a couple of days later and somewhere I have the local paper that shows the wreck on the front page

Here’s a couple more photos of it