Out And About Again!

September 4, 2012

I pulled a Willy Nelson this weekend and went on the road again up to Ventura to take in what they use to call the Primer Nationals. I actually went up Friday and stayed with some friends so we could attack the show early.

There was a great mix of cars and customs and I ran in to some old friends too. As usual lots of cars were in build so the primer moniker is still a good one for me. I’m still amazed that our car builders keep finding old rides to turn into art. Keep it up guys.

As usual a couple of rides always stand out and it seems we never have enough space to show them all so I’ll present only three for today. The ride that had my tongue wagging is seen in the first shot for today. It’s a ‘50 Poncho Streamliner Fastback Coupe Sedan (JMC_3812). Don’t know if it has a six or eight under the hood or an engine swap. All I know is that the frenched headlights, simple graphics and Caddie caps made my day.

Not far from our Poncho was another ride that turned my head (JMC_3815). Originally it was a Model A two-door sedan but not much is left of ol Henry’s rig. What gets me is you automatically think of ratsters as low buck rides but this one is anything but that Look real close at the top of the engine and you’ll count not four but eight dual-throat Webbers. These puppies aren’t cheap. Another nice touch is the way the pipes are laid out. All very artsy. Bet it doesn’t see much street time in this config as gas was only $4.25 down the street.

Another fun ride is seen in the last show shot for today (JMC_3815). It started out as a Model A of the pick-em-up variety. There are a couple of interesting details on this one. I especially like how the rear frame rails are tapered to a point and capped with some of the builder’s handiwork. I really like the gas tank too. It kinda reminds me of a leftover from some outboard motor. Up front the V windshield really worked with the cowl and an inline 6 bucks the V* and 4-banger trends. All very cool.

Next up is one of the great George Callaway shots that just got scanned (GCC_033). Its from ’62 and shows Bob Markley toy. He made a few changes from ‘61 like dropping a 260″ blown Chevy in the tail and running in Class D Lakester instead of Class C. The only high part of the meet for Bob was that the shooters from Hot Rod captured the car and it ended up on the cover of the December ’62 issue.

Now for some fun. Our next shot shows the Markley Brothers car from the previous year as captured by Fred Larsen’s camera (FLC_257). In ‘61 the car tank entered sporting the number 360. After running a 216.34 mph lap in ’60 against the Colvin-Holder-Purvid ‘59 record of 219.453 mph, the Brothers thought they were ready were ready. They up-sized the blown Dodge in the rear from 258″ to 260″ to squeeze every ounce of performance out of it to no avail. The best they could do was a slow lap at 103.56 mph for as lowly third in class. Double ouch for the boys.

Our next shot shows the same car but in ‘69 (GHC_052). Thanks to Gary Hartsock, our old friend Ernie Periera is caught being pushed off for a run at Speedweek. The Class X tank was powered by a 292″ GMC-6 and ran a quick 170.13 mph to grab first in class in front of the Beattie-Rogers-Grant ride at 159.01 mph. Ernie was a bit shy of the Lobello-Myers-Burnett-Ford 4 record from ‘66 at 177.980 mph. What’s even cooler is that I finally got to meet Gary at Speedweek this year and thank him personally for contributing some fantastic shots to the site. Better yet I ran into Ernie on Monday cruising the inspection area. To cap it off I did pit closing on thursday and who do I run into having a beer with his buds and doing a little bench racing, yep, Ernie again.

Let’s finish off this week with a couple more of George’s great shots. GCC_040 shows that even the best laid plans always don’t work. Such was the case at Bonneville in 1962 with the Alderson-LeSage Class C Fuel Roadster. They were after the Waters-Sughre-Edwards-Smith record of 209.249 mph set back in ’58. Seems they had some problems with their blown 300″ Chrysler (seen on the hoist) and were a little peeved when the Cobb-Morris Roadster went home with a new record of 215.957 mph.

Entered as the Positive Power Blower Drives-Quinton Richards ride in Class B Altered Coupe and Sedan, this chopped Deuce three-window was powered by a 302″ Olds. They were after the old record of Ed Gale-Tom Beatty set in ’60 at 159.412 mph. All the cards fell into place as they upped it to 171.608 mph. Being good B-villers they did a class change and ran the number 1139 instead of the car’s original 139. They also changed the B to an A with the installation of another engine (a Chrysler). They didn’t have any luck trying to grab the Simonson Cut Rate Gas record set in ’60 at 185.473 mph because the Cut Rate boys just happened to up their old record to 208.394 mph. Oh Well. Starter Bob Higbee stands behind the car in his cowboy hat. On the right is the Joe Dudek owned, Bill Johnson bike liner powered by a 40″ Triumph that became the world’s fastest bike on fuel at 230.269 mph and on gas at 205.785 mph.