What’s In A Name?

February 13, 2012

Flivver, Gow Job, Soup Jobs, Hot Rods, whatever you want to call them, they’ve been around since day one. Before WWI when cars were still an oddity and mucho dinero, almost every brand was modified in some way for racing.Usually by tossing the original coachwork and replacing it with some kind of abbreviated body. You’ve probably heard of a couple of them, Marmon, Case, Lozier, Stutz,Maxwell and Duesenberg to name a few. Even right after the war the big clunkers were still showing up with more familiar names like Packard and Hudson but that was about to change thanks to two men, Henry Ford and William Crappo Durant.

One reason above all that Ford’s Ford and Durant’s Chevrolet became the backbone of our modern day rods is that they were cheap. When they got used up they were parked behind the barn, went to the wrecking yards, were given away and best of all a lot got turned into gow jobs and race cars.

Behind the scenes we’re been working on adding more special sections to the AHRF site. Our working title for one of them is “Recommended Reads” and will consist of lists of reading materials of our favorite subjects, go fast machines. A couple of titles fit right in with the old Ford versus Chevy debate on which is best. Our first image today (JMC_3599) might be considered the Bible for the Model T guys as it covers just about everything you need to know about hopping up a Flivver. The author is/was Murray Fahnestock who wrote his first story about the Ford as a Speed Car back in 1917. I bought this copy published by Dan Post in the early ‘70 for $6. If you can find a copy you should grab it.

Our first picture for this week shows you what one of old Henry’s T’s turned into that could most likely be found in every berg in the states (CKC_1306). Behind the wheel is Merrill “Doc” Williams who was born in 1912 and lived to the not so ripe age of 69. He must of been good enough thanks to the Ford’s teachings to drive in four Indy 500’s. As you can see in this Frank Smith photo most of the T’s converted to race cars were pretty junky. The upside is they gave us the beginning of the aftermarket race car parts industry.

That’s a good way to lead us into our next shot of that other car, the Chevrolet (CKC_1315). Unlike Henry’s flathead, the Chevy 4 had overhead valves and came into existence in 1914. In this car we see Ernie Eisler behind the wheel at Oakland in February ‘33 with the then new and improved ‘25 Chevy engine in the car (the ‘24 model had an exposed flywheel and clutch setup and the ‘26 model had a distributor on the other side of the block). Showing it’s age, the Chevy had pushrods exposed on the outside of the block and no valve cover. Another bit of trivia garnered while searching out our hot rod history is seen in this picture, the three exhaust port head that was borrowed off an Oldsmobile. Durant’s General Motors used an earlier version of this motor called an FB in both the Olds and Chevy big cars. Seems the FB had a longer stoke and a higher lift cam, which by the way was the only one that Ed Windfield would grind on. Again this car is pretty junky.

To give equal time in the book department too, here is another one you might like to have if your into the inline sixes (JMC_3608). This one was published in ‘51 and written by Roger Huntington. Best of all is that our buddy Dan Warner’s dad’s handiwork is featured everywhere in it in with his Wayne Manufacturing Co. go fast parts. How many of you know that Juan Manuel Fangio became famous in South America driving Wayne equipped Chevy’s before going to Europe and becoming a 5 time World Grand Prix Champion? This is another must have book.

On Friday I took a little time off from being at the keyboard and headed out to Pomona for the 61st edition of the NHRA O’Riley Auto Parts Winternationals, etc, etc. John Kilgore, Julian Doty and myself cruised around causing trouble and were hanging with Mike Drake’s Top Alcohol Funny Car. We even got to ride in the support vehicle when they made their run. To bad the clutch went south on the first run and a rod decided to exit the pan on the second.It always a pleasure to get a different view of the happenings so thanks to Mike and his Barnett Transportation Team.

Naturally one has to snoop around with the camera so here’s one for the nuts and bolts fans (JMC_2622). After making a pass during Friday’s qualifying in his Top Fuel Funnycar, Todd Lesenko no sooner got his ’12 Impala SS phantom (this is for the Chevy fans) to the pits than the body was off and a horde of his crewmen attacked the motor. Literally within five minutes what you see is what’s left of the 500″ BAE motor. And yes they put it back together just as quickly. Team owner Jim Dunn had Tap It Brewing Company for a sponsor so no doubt the boys were in a hurry to get their work done so they could have a sip or two.

Meanwhile across the way the Automobile Club of Southern California sponsored Mustang of Robert Height, after making it’s first qualifying run, hot footed it back to the pits where the crew stripped the engine-drivetrain down to nothing even faster than Dunn’s crew. Waiting on the sideline were replacement parts laying everywhere like this clutch plate (JMC_2627). The John Force owned car was running what they call a Ford 500.

So as to not alienate the MoPar fans here’s a shot of Ron Capps Dodge getting ready to turn into his stall (JMC_2628). His team did likewise in the stripping department with its TFX 496 (easy boys). Every year the body work gets farther and farther away from stock and I especially like the heavily radiused front inner wheel opening to go with the narrow front track width on the Charger. Look closely right in front of the mini-zoomies and you’ll see a little aero device not spotted on those other brands of cars mentioned. Out back you can see the new rear spoiler design that was noted on most of the newer cars.

For the folks in the audience that just like different get a load of this one (JMC_2623). Peter Bothe out of Long Beach, CA showed up at the 2012 Edition of the Winternationals with a 1978 Porsche 924 stuffed to the gunnels with a big old Chevy 427″ to compete in the Super Gas Class with. The car is real small and light compared with the competition and is as slippery as it looks. When new with the little peanut Audi motor that came in them they would top out at 117 mph. With the big brute in it I bet the wheelie bar gets a workout. By adding all the accessory sponsor’s stickers it didn’t leave any room for Pete to advertise his own Porsche Repair shop. All we need now is a cool name for the car. How about Porsche + Chevy – rsche and vy + a and r = Poacher?