I love that picture, the dog is exceptional and I understand was a real ham. You can tell he is having a great time and loving being the center of attention. Thanx for dredging up that hip memory. I have that mag---someplace! ~Sololobo~
Dog was not exceptional at all; he never placed higher than 9th in that car, and Balchowsky did MUCH better himself after firing the dog.
The trans article isn't full fledged tech, just part of the story on the racer, which I think was manning's roadster. The article DOES give enough description of the conversion process, along with several pictures, for a real machinest/welder to duplicate. Basically they replaced rear fork with another front one, put syncro hub over cut-down slider, added a hub from a cut down synchronized gear to a hollowed first... From memory, I'm at work and this stupid library doesn't own Honk for some reason!
Great article that dog is awesome. I noticed no one has talked about who originally built the '32 it was Jimmy Summers. Jimmy built it around '46 and sold it to the Fred Vogel. notice the V in the front Nerf bar in the article? Thefingerisout Huge Stash of Early Doane Spencer Pics
@Ryan - Great post! ... Ted's a very cool dog! When I opened this Blog/thread up yesterday, I was immediately reminded of one of my High School Photography class assignments in which we were tasked to do a photo essay entitled "Out Of Place". The subject of my photo essay was our family dog ... I posed him performing various human activities ... including driving a car. Last night I went diggin' ... and found that old photo essay ... including the pic of our mutt "Thor" driving the Coupe: I also found this pic from my college years ... my Belgian Shepherd "Malia" loved going for rides in my O/T sports car:
@Jimmy B - You beat me to it! ... I too was going to post about the car being the old Jimmy Summers / Fred Vogel roadster ... I guess great minds do think alike I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention that Max Balchowsky is the same Balchowsky of "Old Yeller" fame ... and that @Ernie Nagamatsu owns the 1959 Balchowsky Buick Special known as Old Yeller II: ... as well as the 1925 Chevrolet Spurgin~Giovanine Roadster:
ever pond the thought that Dog is God spelled backwards, it's no coincidence. it's because Dogs are almost as forgiving as God.
Max Balchowsky was one of the few guys who split time between the rod and sportscar (I almost said 'tea bagger' - boy has that meaning changed in 50 years!) set. He loved to play with the uptight attitudes of the snooty guys he raced against: His car was painted yellow because school bus paint was the cheapest paint he could find- hence the nickname. He painted whitewalls on his racing tires so it'd look like he was running regular stock. He'd go out to the track the night before the race and with brand new sparkplugs that he'd gotten dirty and put them in a garbage can near his pit. Then, on race day he'd go over to the garbage can, rummage around, find 'used' plugs and then excitedly install them in his car. The ferrari owners laughed - until he left them in the dust later. There were a few versions of Ol' Yeller- one was destroyed, but there are a couple still racing. Great cars with great heritage.
I was just flipping through a 1950 "Life" magazine looking for stuff to scan for the "Vintage Photos" thread and found this...ha!.....
From what I've read, he painted the Morgensen Buick Spl yellow because it was Ina's favorite color. And then it became OY#1 He used whitewalls because he found some ambulance tires with a softer compound than the usual tires. And he turned the WW out to mess with the sportscar guys. Here are some pics of the Morgensen Special/OY#1 before it was yellow. First pic is after the fatal crash with Margaret Pritchard. Second pic looks like its after that, repaired but still with Dick Morgensen's racing number. Third pic is still with two tone bodywork but with Max' racing number ( the same #70 he had on the '32 )
I have a very serious interest in anything to do with Max Balchowsky, Dick Morgensen, and Old Yeller #1. Because I own the sistercar to it. The Morgensen Spl raced by Tracy Bird. Here is my buddy Buster, checking it out...
Just read this post. Very cool. It just seems natural that dogs and cars go together. Heck they're are best friends. Fryguy
I was thinking..........isnt that . Alchemys avatar now I see, I am right! Damn, I've been on here too much
Ryan, I had that mag. at one time in my life,I allways thought that was one of the coolest covers ever printed. Most of my early mag collection has been lost inn the last 60 years , I started to save them about age 10,the lost pile includes the first 5 years of Hot Rod, whichI got at a estate sale when I was 16. Enough rambling,I' ve still got the memories from the early 50's. Thanks............ Jack
Sorry to hear of the passing of such a neat "co-pilot." Please pass along my condolences. Dogs are the best!