Ray Brown Lakester... More details.

[Jive-Bomber]

The HAMB History post What happened to Ray Brown's 27 Lakes roadster? by Jimmy B had some great images of the car, including a rear 3/4 shot with the turtle deck off that I had n...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

[JeffreyJames]

I love center steer competition roadsters and this one is no exception. In the cut away drawing i noticed the radiator still being utilized up front with the water neck tubes traveling all the way back to the engine. I wonder if that was to increase the water capacity for cooling? I am not sure if my understanding of the principles are correct so any help there would be cool.

This car is definitely all business!!!

[Chaz]

That was way over the top thinking for "back in the day".. What a beautiful piece of work! How did it do?

[sololobo]

Captain "R", one of my fave cars of the era, cool to see these rare photos! Muchas Gracious!! ~Sololobo~

[Labold]

So simple yet way ahead of it's time.
....well, maybe not so simple....

[scottybaccus]

Ingenius setup! I wish I knew more about setting up for the salt. My mind snapped to the question of unsprung weight right off the bat, but with so many successful cars running no suspension at all, I can't reconcile this in my head.

Nice shots to look back in time.

[Kevin Lee]

Hey, that drivetrain with the 59AB is from a completely different car. Don Waite's roadster

[lorodz]

question how was the clutch engaged and the tranny shifter in these rear mounted motors and trans ??

[blitz]

i love that car, i started my love for the model t, and every time i see it it just gets worse

[autobilly]

Originally Posted by Kevin Lee

Hey, that drivetrain with the 59AB is from a completely different car. Don Waite's roadster

So it would seem and important to note. Still gives a good indication of the design principle and set up of the Brown car though.

[catdad49]

Things were so much simpler back then. Many purpose built cars of today are simple,but way more complicated. Dig? Cat

[jangleguy]

I just read the chapter on Ray's car last night, in the Edelbrock book. Always loved it and now I want to marry it! Thanks for posting this, Jay!



Scotty

[Jive-Bomber]

Originally Posted by Kevin Lee

Hey, that drivetrain with the 59AB is from a completely different car. Don Waite's roadster

HA!
No wonder I had never seen that pic of Ray Brown's car-- it isn't his!! Thanks for the correction & and the scan, Kevin- The Don Waite 27 is a GOOD LOOKING car!

[Jimmy B]

Originally Posted by lorodz

question how was the clutch engaged and the tranny shifter in these rear mounted motors and trans ??

These rear engined roadsters used an in and out box like sprint cars. They were pushed up to a certain speed and the box engaged.

Originally Posted by Kevin Lee

Hey, that drivetrain with the 59AB is from a completely different car. Don Waite's roadster

As you say that is Don Waite's drivetrain. Ray Brown's roadster had a solid mounted rear and engine. Ray later converted his roadster to a cradle setup similar to that of Don Waite's.
1948

As you can see above Ray did something other lake roadster builders didn't do, he retained the body subrails. To channel the body Ray simply built the chassis on top the subrails.

1949-50
Below you can see how Ray built his cradle.






There are great construction shots of Ray's roadster on the AHRF

[Paul]

two very cool cars for sure,

I know if you really break it down there is very little the same between these two examples and Josh's car

but it sure makes me think of it

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=3948

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=363432

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=416353

[Jimmy B]

Originally Posted by Jive-Bomber

HA!
No wonder I had never seen that pic of Ray Brown's car-- it isn't his!! Thanks for the correction & and the scan, Kevin- The Don Waite 27 is a GOOD LOOKING car!

It is an amazing car, Don raced it for around 10-11 years. It started in '47 with a Crager 4 in front. In 1948 the roadster was converted to a rear engine setup with the same 4-pot Crager. 1949 it was rebuilt again with the Merc in the cradle, channelled and track nose added. Early 50s saw the track nose replaced with what Alex Xydias called a knife nose and the flathead replaced with a hemi by 1953
This pic was posted on the HAMB about 5 years ago of how Don Waite's car looked at the time, restoration was under way, a few members questioned the car as being the original & called it a clone, that offended the owner and nothing else has been posted.

1949


Back to Ray Brown's roadster

[sr]

Here is a photo of the Hemi that was in the 27 roadster when it had, what Don called the "canoe" nose........... It was removed from the roadster when rear engine modifieds were banned and it found its way into the 29 roadster that he built.

[Retro Jim]

Doesn't mater who's picture it is . Just shows you how they used their heads to figure out how to make something work better !
Both were very smart in the design !

RetroJim

[Jimmy B]

bump

[fab32]

The installation of that hemi is about as sanitary as any I've seen. One of the things I've noticed about the guys back then is that they are as capable of terrific engineering and execution as any one around today. They were able to do thier magic with hacksaws and SAE bolts and without the "advantage" of a plasma cutter and heliarc welders. Their accomplisments were truely amazing.

Frank