Vintage shots from days gone by!

A single shot from a BB gun may have saved one of the most historic 1932 Ford Deluxe three-window coupes in drag racing history from completely rusting into oblivion. (Sorry nothing in the article to explain the BB gun comment)

In 1954, Francis Fortman and Kenny Kerr decided to build a car for the 1954 World Series of Drag Racing, the first such event hosted by the Automobile Timing Association of America. The event was held at Half Day Speedway in Lawrenceville, Ill., about 20 miles from Chicago, none too far from Fortman and Kerr’s home. Other young participants included Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick driving a new Oldsmobile, Art Arfons in the Allison airplane-engined “Green Monster” and Fred Lorenzen in a Cadillac-powered Ford convertible.

Fortman and Kerr did not become big names like some of their fellow competitors that day. However, the 1932 Ford three-window coupe they built and raced for that event placed first in the A-B class with a 105.88 mph speed.

After that day of racing, Fortman and Kerr hung up their helmets and parked the Deuce for good. As driver, Kerr took home the trophy from the track. As the builder, Fortman took home the Deuce as his own trophy. He then parked the car outside until fate intervened and the car became a bona fide barn find in 2012.


Surviving pictures show the ’32 Ford at the 1954 World Series of Drag Racing. The car placed first in the A-B class with a time of 105.88 mph.














Now

 

1956 Corvette Test

In the mid '50s, Motor Trend wrote several road tests comparing the Corvette with the Thunderbird. These were the days when the editors wrapped the term sports car in quote marks when referring to these two-seaters, as if the writers just couldn't bear to put them in the same class with Jaguars, MGs, and other European models.




Yet when MT Editor Walt Woron put a '56 Vette and a T-bird through a head-to-head comparison for the magazine's June '56 issue, the balance was beginning to shift. In acceleration testing the two were in a dead heat: The Vette went from 0-60 mph in 11.6 seconds, the 'Bird 11.5; a tenth of a second also separated the two in the quarter-mile, with the Vette's 17.9-second pass just that much quicker than the Ford's 18.0.




Where Woron really noticed a difference was in the handling of the two. He called out the T-bird for leaning "considerably" through turns while the Corvette "...feels more like a sports car, with more steadiness and not as much apparent lean."

from here: http://www.superchevy.com/features/vemp-1110-1956-corvette-test/

 

We’ve often lamented that there’s not a lot of photos in the public domain showing the assembly of Corvettes from those early days. So it was refreshing to see an entire build of a fuel injected 1963 split window Corvette from start to finish in these photos.


The collection of over 100 photos was originally posted at DeansGarage.com (A VERY big collection of shots in the factory well worth a look) and we highly urge anyone interested in seeing how the Corvette Sting Rays were assembled 50 years ago in St. Louis to make the jump to view the entire gallery.









Not no masks or protection in this one and above.








from here: http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2016/05/12/pics-throwback-thursday-1963-corvette-pilot-build-photos/

 

hello,
it was 1959, our last vacation trip with the parents...finally...vintage mammoth lakes swatting the ever present gnats. no wonder the trout fishing is so good. if we counted the cars/wagons that we saw the most, it would be these 59 ford sedans and wagons. there were a lot of them. must have been those cool huge taillights. yes, the trout fishing was outstanding.
thanks,
jnaki

 

wow!

 

From Loudbang's link:

Wish I could have done this with my Trans Am:
Panels don't line up?
*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*
now they do.

 

OK, the pics over in the "Just some Chicks hanging out" got a little too salacious, so I found some more car hop pics:

 

This image keeps popping up - might as well post it

 

Snapshots in Oregon...















Liberty theater usherette uniform, 1942/43

 

An eclectic mix of photos in this group.
But that chebby pulling a wheelstanding hole shot on the street - yeah, the guy knows he's got a bad-ass ride!

 

Wow
No kidding!

 

Exit 11 NJ Turnpike

 

Here's a shot of my mother, grandparents and uncle after a deer hunt in Minnesota, probably 1936-1938? The second was in Chariton Iowa, about 1940, the last about 1940 in St Louis at a Cardinals game, grandpa was a Cards fan.