This is one of the Bobby Walden Speed Shop chops. I believe his are chopped 3 1/2" at the rear and angles forward to the front some small amount.
This '32 3window was run by Don and Harold Nicholson, if my memory is correct. It had Don's GMC engine in it. The picture was at the Pomona drags about 1955. They only ran it for a short time before moving on to other efforts Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
Karl, the chop on my 1950s drag/race coupe is about as low as any that I've seen, but it still has all 3 hinges. I think the 1950's and later builders just found it much easier to do the chop with only two hinges. Probably there weren't many builders skilled enough to keep all 3 hinges back in the day. That's why I wondering if Bob Lee wasn't the guy who did mine too. Yes, Karl, the floor WAS mostly cut out of this coupe, but it still fits the 32 frame right. I doubt that it had center steer, because that would have gooberd up the cowl side panel, and the cowl is nice. When I got it, there was no steering column in it. It's very nice (and helpful) to see the posts by Rockerhead and the others from back in the day on this thread.
This '32 3window coupe belonged to Dick Winfield, who was in the Glendale Coupe and Roadster Club (GCRC). He initially ran it with his flathead engine but then the car was really brought to life when Bill Fisher (California Bill), who was also a GCRC member, put his GMC engine in the car. They ran at both the RTA lakes and the drags. My memory says that the car hit 138 mph at the lakes. It was most successful at the drags where the GMC torque seemed to blast the coupe "out of the hole" quicker than the even faster cars. Remember that there were no ET clocks then so a victory over a faster car was a surprise to most of the spectators and racers. Dick drove the coupe. In fact when I brought out my '32 coupe the first time at Saugus, I was having trouble getting off the line without bogging a little. Dick made a pass in my coupe and showed me how to get it done. The photo shows the car at Pomona, probably in 1953, where it won a major drag championship.
Talented sculpture artist Paul Nesse was commissioned to make this sculpture of the Shinoda coupe, by the new owner, while Dave Crouse was rebuilding the car. As you can see Paul did a beautiful job. Don
Southfork.....Your car definitely has history and hopefully someone will run across a picture of it or know something about it. I am still looking but haven't found anything. I am not sure how the competition coupe class differed from the altered class? , and how they differed from fuel coupes and sedans . I think it is possible that your coupe may have run in any one of those classes????
San Pedro Muffler Service. "A" fuel coupe. From Drag News, 1956. Notice the tire smoke. The engine was a blown Dodge.
Well, Karl, I do hope somebody eventually recognizes my race coupe. The 1947 publication that I received today from California Bill's widow didn't shed any light on its history as I had hoped it would, but it sure is interesting reading (including a 1946 recipe' for making an "AV8" hotrod). You know, at one time --- years ago, I thought that I would update the coupe from its vintage race configuration by re-installing metal inner door panels, the chopped '32 windshield frame that came with it, a deck lid, the deck lid opening drip channels,etc, etc., (in fact, I picked up those '32 coupe metal pieces over the years to do exactly that), but I just can't bring myself to alter the race configuration that the coupe has been in for the last 55 or 60 years. I am convinced the coupe has a drag history, from the original builder's heroic efforts to lighten its body, and from its from its wicked chop. The guy who brought the coupe from California to Idaho decades ago said the California seller (who is now unknown) told him it was "regularly raced on the dry lakes" back in the day). So the coupe probably has done it all. Interestingly, the guy that brought the coupe out of California also told me that it was bought "sight unseen," with an understanding that it was an modernish "street rod." The Idaho buyer was disappointed when it turned out to be an 'old race coupe with a boat-anchor flathead.' That's why he sold it to me, I guess, all those years ago. Of course that was long before traditional rods, racing history, and patina became what they are today.
Has to be an uncommon name, and maybe from me....a dumb question......but after trying to research on my own...I HAVE TO ASK....is this Larry Shinoda the same Shinoda that worked on the Boss 302 program, and the Corvette stuff???? This thread is incredible.
This is a picture of Larry Shinoda with his "Chopsticks Special IV"roadster (unknown photo credit). This is the one he had in Detroit. The engine used was a merc Ardun which was owned by Jack Powers. They entered and won their class at the first NHRA Nationals in Great Bend, Kansas in 1955. The trophies look like they were from the Nats. To make a long story short, a friend of mine was at the Nats as a spectator in 1955 and took a couple of nice photos of Larry's car in the pits. I mailed a copy of the pictures to Mr. Shinoda in 1996 and he replied. "I don't have too much on the old '29 Roadster It was great seeing the photos. They brought back many memories. The guy facing the camera at the nose is Jack Powers, he was my partner and owned the Ardun Mercury engine. He is also the guy that left the oil ring expanders out of the engine. That is why it smoked so bad. We were burning thru all the oil. I ran 80% nitro to fight the oil and some hot sparkplugs. Ones that were way too hot for the 80% application. It worked and we one our class. We actually qualified for top eliminator, but couldn't make the runoff in Arizona later. We could not have beat Calvin Rice's dragster, anyway." ".......I built the roadster. It was all steel and aluminum. It was very light and ran very straight. It weighed 1,570 with the Ardun. It ran in in the high 130's here in the midwest after Great Bend,when I finally sorted out the oil rings and sharpened up the valve gear. It even beat the "Green Monster" of Art Arfons, at the "Rubber Bowl" in Akron."
I really like this car. It is running in the Altered class. It has an engine setback and it has window glass in it. Don, was this the same Taylor as Taylor Ryan?
Well, Karl, I do hope somebody eventually recognizes my race coupe. The 1947 publication that I received today from California Bill's widow didn't shed any light on its history as I had hoped it would, but it sure is interesting reading (including a 1946 recipe' for making an "AV8" hotrod). Any chance you could share that recipe' ? Would Love to see that! How long have you been actively & with effort seeking the history of your coupe ?
The 'AV8 recipe' is just two pages long in the 1947 publication (long out of print): California Bill's Hotrod Manual (revised edition). Technically, it tells where to mount a 1932 center crossmember in the Model A frame, and where to weld in the flathead motor mounts (with picture diagram), etc. I don't feel comfortable posting copyrighted published material, and it's too long to type out here. If you have access to the Bishop/Tardel AV8 "bible", then you have way more AV8 tech info than is in the 1947 California Bill Publication. However, to me, this is very cool stuff being that it was actually published as a 'How-to-do-it' AV8 recipe nearly 70 Years ago! 31Vicky with a hemi, in answer to your question as to how long I've been seeking the history of my 32 race coupe, I have to admit that I haven't really given it a lot of effort --- yet. I'm hoping that somebody on the HAMB might recognize it from pictures, or published books, etc.
What a great sto What a great story!. I never knew that Larry Shinoda ran Jack Power's Ardun until now. When I wasted the Herbert lifters in my own Ardun, I wrote to anyone who once had a Ardun, including Jack (who lived in Iowa, if I'm not mistaken) asking if they had any old lifters. Got a very nice letter back from Jack - "no, I don't, try Harley roller lifters..." which I did, and they worked! I think he later went into partnership with Riley (forgot first name), and ran an altered Crosley and later a series of top fuel dragsters. And did they develop the first reverser?
I am not sure if this would have been in the altered class or in the competition coupe class. The combination of the chopping and channeling is greater than 10". The chop is certainly unique. The cars in the background look like 1959-61?
This is an amazing picture. I wish there were more color images from the 50's . I am sure there are some great Kodachrome slides out there sitting in boxes waiting to be discovered. Kodachrome was used from the mid 30's but really became popular in the 1950's. Kodachrome did not color shift over time like Ektachrome. With the advent of scanner technology the great images could be viably digitized and enjoyed. Don I would love to no more about the car. It is running in competition coupe class. Their is a 1955 chevy in the background. Did it run fuel? etc.
The very neat no. 99 1933 Ford coupe was Frank "Ike" Iacono's, from San Pedro. It was initially Wayne Chevy powered and then GMC powered. In the 1955 period the car ran in the Striped Fuel classes ( different drag strips had different class names). The car was not only beautiful, but it was consistently very fast. Even as the big OHV V-8 engines were starting to dominate the classes Frank was still winning races. In 1956 the GMC coupe was turning speeds in the 127 mph area. There was a feature article in Hot Rod Magazine on Frank's coupe. It was an impressive car. Frank later put his GMC engine in a very nice orange/black dragster which I believe Pat Ganahl has now.
296Ardun Do you think it was the same Jack Powers?? He lived in Detroit area at the time he partnered with Larry Shinoda. Of course he could have moved sometime after that. I know that there couldn't have been all that many Ardun engine owners out there.
The "Drifters" 2nd or 3rd car in 1958 at the Oklahoma City Nats. The final edition of their famous "heavy fuel/gas coupes. I got this picture off of the Drifters Car Club thread previously mentioned. Too bad that fuel was outlawed at this time. I wonder what happened to this car? .
Pat Ganahl does own the Iacono GMC powered dragster. He has done a complete 100% correct restoration of the car.
The Jalopy Journal
