Man... I would do anything to have some concrete context to all of these images. It's so damned difficult to figure time and consequence. Could the last roll be from 1959 as well? And if so, what were all those Porsches doing at Pikes Peak? Some kind of rogue German invasion? I am fairly certain this roll was taken in 1959. Unser told me that Louis didn't have the Raybestos Special at Pikes Peak in 1960 because it was torn up in the 1959 race... and records support that as well. I just wish I had the ear of someone that was on these trips. It’d calm the static in my head. Hell, it might even let me sleep.
Man o'man the vein of gold just gets deeper with every folder you share. And that photo you chose as your lead photo for the post is photo journalism at its finest.
Beautiful stuff. I'm sure, glad you are able to share it with us. It looks to me that it was shot by a discerning and sensitive photograper.
Another round of great photos! I just read that the F-94C Starfire was trailered to the top of the peak in Sept '58, and was removed in '64 due to vandals. It was buried on the mountain for 40 years before being unearthed and scrapped. Pretty cool.
I had no clue. That’s a killer story… Right now, I’m white-knuckling my way through the urge to crack open Trip No. 3. The curiosity is eating holes in my skull, but I’m holding the line. Serious willpower on display here—Olympic-level restraint. And to think… we haven’t even touched the Bonneville stuff yet. Or the dry lakes. Or Indy. Or the drag strips. Or all the other sunburned, fuel-soaked vacations Tom wandered into. If the quality keeps coming like this, I’m just gonna have to shit myself on principle. No excuses. Oh—and just about ten minutes ago, I confirmed it: Tom's weapon of choice was a Leica M3. Got my hands on a photo from this very trip—Tom in a compromising position, grinning like a lunatic, rocking nothing but a Leica... Mystery solved. Sort of.
The finest images of all the many presented on the HAMB. Taken from the perspective of a racer even the tourist pictures are great. Composition is excellent, time was taken to set each shot. We are placed in the scene each capturing forever what must have been a thrilling trip. How lucky are we to get the see the result of the natural eye that Cobbs had. Can you imagine what he would think his thoughts on the pleasure his photos would bring to a large audience so many years after the exposure?
Let’s put this in perspective: the man was shooting with a manual focus lens, on a meterless camera—flying blind and wide open half the time. And what you’re looking at here? This is one roll. One single goddamn roll. No accidental shots of his own feet, no black frames from a forgotten lens cap, no nuclear whiteouts or inky black failures. Just one blurry frame—and even that one carries the swagger of intentional motion blur. From a technical standpoint alone, it’s enough to make most modern shooters curl up in the fetal position, clutching their auto-everything rigs like pacifiers. Tom did plenty in the world of hot rodding—hell, his fingerprints are all over it—but this photography? This is next-level. This is the work of a man who saw the world through a sharper lens than most ever will. And if it’s not more impressive than his hot rod legacy, it’s damn close. I just can't overstate enough how impressive this roll is. I've seen rolls taken by Nat Geo photogs in similar conditions and their success rate isn't nearly as high. It's just... Well, it's fucking crazy.
This is the shot that proves it. He shooting into a bright sky with the slimmest of dynamic range (kodachrome) and two levels of foreground - the rocks, and the cars. And somehow, without a meter or without bracketing, he exposed it well enough to not silhouette the rocks or the cars. It seems like a simple photo, but it's not. For me to get this photo on my Leica M6 with a meter... Well, I would HAVE to bracket and it would take me at least three frames to get the exposure Tom got in one. I hope Coonan is reading this... and if he is, I hope he speaks up. He's the best photographer I've ever been around and could speak far more intelligently about how impressive this is.
Also, I feel like I didn't make this clear enough. You aren't looking at the outtakes from several rolls of film here. You are looking at one roll of film. This is 30 frames from a 32 frame roll. You lose half the first frame and half the last frame with a speed roller on an M3.
The one with the car jacked up, with all of the jumbled piles, of various brands of wooden, soda pop, bottle boxes, is my favorite, pure random composition that is honest and unique! That picture just by itself, as a giant bill board along the roadside, would have been amazing! The ultimate in unplanned, product placement!
@NoSurf is right. Those are intakes. Radiator hose wouldn't last an hour as exhaust. Ask me how I know. Also in the same picture of the car jacked up, what are the 2 levers at the driver's left hand? One looks like it links back to some kind of hydraulic cylinder, the other goes forward to the suspension. Are they some kind of one wheel brakes that only crazy sprint car drivers know how to use? Something else?
Great Article...many many cool photos, my favorite is the overhead of the curve! Also like the F94, which I thought was an F84 very similar. Cog railways are also very cool.
That car may be a Miller (any Miller experts please chime in) I'm guessing that what looks like a quickchange is actually a 2 speed rear that's shifted by the hydraulic cylinder.
What he see! 2 speed quick change. Hydraulic actuator, which explains the lever inside connected to a cylinder.
Even more interesting than the first batch. The technical close up shots are an amazing history lesson. The man was on his game, that's for sure.
@Ryan , the rocky car pic is amazing. I'm useless with pics, and even I get that a rock in shade and bright light plus the clouds and nothing is lost is not a common feature of even modern stuff. The rear axle shot has every bit of it in enough focus to pick out details. I gotta ask, the shot with just the camera, is that why you mention no light meter? That was pretty standard around the neck stuff back then. Tore one apart as a kid. https://www.ebay.com/itm/403371610331
Ryan, I'm really happy for you. You sound like a kid waiting for Christmas morning who knows he's got something really special coming, but he doesn't know what. Your self-restraint is amazing and I'm looking forward to the next batch. Wonder what engine was in that car with the four SU carbs? Texas Hardcore, thanks for your pictures as well. Pretty cool stuff.
I know he was shooting a Leica M3 now... and the M3 didn't have a meter on it's shoe. He more than likely carried a meter with him, but the hand held meters of the day were spot meters and mostly worthless in a back lit situation. I’ve found myself in a lot of wild and surreal situations over the past 31 years doing this gig—but I don’t think I’ve ever been quite this fortunate. And I sure as hell haven’t ever been this fired up. Not like this. About ten years back, there was a thread kicking around: Which hot rodders from history would you most want to hang out with? My answers were simple. Mal Hooper and Tom Cobbs. Mal was the wild card—creative, fearless, borderline unhinged. The kind of guy who’d drive a refrigerator if it had wheels and salt under it. Tom, though? I always pictured him as the quiet technician. The engineer. The lab coat type. Creative, sure—but only within the neat lines of physics and metallurgy. A man ruled by equations. These photos? They prove I didn’t know shit. Tom wasn’t just an engineer—he was a visionary. There’s an artist buried in those photos, a madman with a lens and a plan. He saw the world differently and he captured it like a guy who didn’t just understand speed—he felt it in his bones. Mal and Tom are still my picks. And something in my gut tells me those two had to be thick as thieves—cut from the same cloth, just stitched on opposite ends.
Cobb's composition in this shot, is cool. I wonder if @Ryan noticed the cool, vintage "Kodak Hawk-Eye" point and shoot camera, that the kid on the left of frame has tucked under his arm! Only appropriate to point out, since this is a camera/photo, related thread!
I don’t know jack shit about photography, but even an uneducated like myself can see these photos are something special. And the man that took them, well , just the little that I’ve read about him, I’m beginning to learn that he was more than special, a man that could do most anything. Thanks @Ryan for sharing all this with us, and I’m glued to my chair waiting for #3.
The Jalopy Journal
