It’s A Hard Job But Somebody’s Got To Do It!

January 23, 2012

The hardest part of our job at the AHRF is keeping up with the past. We’ve finally got all our old DVD’s loaded into the system and along the way we’ve been updating our keying system of the old shots. It also means revisiting pictures and realizing “Oh we forgot we had this cool shot” or the discovery of an early acquisition never seen before. Put it all together and we’ve got a good start towards saving our history thanks to all of you that have contributed.

After looking at tons of shots and digging through tons of documentation we’re inching closer to getting a handle on our wonderful sport that we call hot rodding. And the best part of it is everyday we find out more but it also leaves us with many new questions left to find answers for. A good point to illustrate this our first shot for today from the camera of Bay Area shooter Mario Baffico (MBB_158). His shot was taken At Bonneville in the early ‘50’s and shows the inside details of a flat-motor powered tank. We see a few spectators admiring a 24 studder with four Stromberg 97′s. We’re also lucky enough to be able to zoom in and really check out the quickie third member using Model A housings. It also begs us to ask the question who made the rearend. The end plate has the readable letters L O on top of each other but there is a hidden third one below them. What or who do the letters on the backplate stand for and who made it? a possible solution boils down to if we find a zillion more photos and start mixing and matching them we are hopefully going to find the answers to this mystery and many others. It will also help us figure out who ran the 5-window C coupe in the background. In the meantime check out the cool ’36 Ford 3-window coupe with the ’40 Olds bumper on its rump.

Our next shot (KYC_001) comes from fellow Sidewinder Keith Young. Thanks to George Eastman’s company, Kodak, the back was stamped September 1963 that steered us to the right program and found that the 1938 Chevy was run in Class C Altered Coupe and had a 348” shoehorned into the engine bay. It was run as the Young-Grey entry and cranked out a lap at 139.96 mph for a fourth in class. The car next to his was a little more of a problem to figure out as Keith now lives above Sacramento so you just cant show him the shot and get an answer. Another zoom in revealed a bunch of names written on the inner panel and an Sc followed by some more unreadable characters. A look through the results and the program put it all together for us. The Sc ended up standing for the entry of the Scavengers Car Club-Mike Dincau Class C Altered that was powered by a 354” Chrysler. We also found that the car spanked Art with a run of 157.89 mph and a second in class. Our last mystery to solve was what kind of car it started out as, A Cord or a Graham. A little digging revealed it was a 1937 Cord in its first life. By the way they were both chasing the 164.238 mph record set in ‘62.

Here’s a challenge for you car guys (and gals), what is it (EDE_170). The only thing we can figure out is that the front bumper is off a ’31 Studebaker and it was right next to another shot that was taken at Muroc in 1933. The car carries the latest in styling gimmicks like the V shaped windshield and skirted front fenders. The modified grillshells contours don’t follow the hood so we know some swapping of parts has happened. All in all a fascinating car and we have to thank Vic Edelbrock and Family for sharing it.

Our next shot from Tommy Davis is a whole lot easier to figure out or is it (TDC_122)? It was taken in 1945 thanks to the plate on the chopped 3-window on the left. Now the fun, we don’t think its Rosamond because of the mountains and it’s not El Mirage because of the road. That leaves us Harpers but we don’t have any matches for race dates so we’re not making a call on this one yet.

Hopefully we’ll get some points for this one (TDC_153). From Tommy again we have this backyard shot taken at Arnold Birner’s joint showing a Ford banger out of his car from before WWII. It runs a Riley 4-port head with 4-carb intake manifold. The trophies are really cool but they most likely distracted you from noticing some chrome and a second breather he added to the side of the block.

Ed Scheller of the Road Runners Car Club is captured at the lakes in 1941 in his Arco headed V8 powered Deuce and comes to us from Doug Hartelt’s collection (HAR_226). At the June 15 meet we have Ed running a quick 104.65 mph. In July we have him turning a slower 96.45 mph. We have him entered in August but there is no record as to him having run and in September he wasn’t entered or in the results. This is one of the rare ones that still has the original chrome trim in the shell but note the headlight wiring holes have been filled in. The hood side panel tells us it originally came with a banger in it. One also wonders ho tall the windshield was as he’s sitting low in the saddle in this one.

Racer Jack McGrath made the transition to buzzing across the lakebed to the big time and is captured (CKC_1280) in the City of Tacoma Kurtis-Kraft 2000 at the Trenton International Speedway, New Jersey on June 19, 1949 for the 100 mile AAA Champ Car race. Jack started the race down in sixth spot in the Offy powered car and could finish no better than 14th. During the year he contested three other races, Indy on May 30 where he started third and finished 26th, Milwaukee where he started 11th and finished 8th and Arlington where he started in 6th and finished in 3rd to finish tied for 44th in the standings that year. Not to shabby for the former alkali fan.

Here’s a little peak at what the packaging for our “Slingshot” DVD looks like that we’ve been talking about. Behind every project there is tons of work that we don’t usually even think about as end users. It took over 145 separate elements to make up the artwork not counting hunting down the pictures, shooting the products, modifying the layered artwork to get the type to read and the massaging of the copy to bring you the story in an intelligent manner if their is such a thing. You’ll be the second or third or fourth after us to know when it will be available.

After a fantastic S.C.T.A. Banquet this weekend we’ll be at the Grand National Roadster Show next weekend searching out yet more unusual rides that never make it into the magazines. Hope to see you there.