Folks Of Interest RIP ... Jack Hagemann Sr.

Our hobby lost another great one on Monday ... Jack Hagemann Sr. was one of the most talented craftsman I ever had the pleasure of meeting ... RIP Jack.

@John D posted this obituary on the GOODGUYS website:

Bay area metalshaper and master craftsman Jack Hagemann of Alamo, CA passed away Monday, December 6th. He was 94.

A popular fixture in the bay area speed circles, Hagemann first burst on the scene in the 1930s when he hand built a midget race car; chassis, body and all. A highly skilled, self taught metal shaping master and body designer, Hagemann was northern California's "go to" metal man for decades. Over the years he shaped and designed literally thousands of parts, pieces, hoods, fenders and panels for the who's who of motorsport as well as complete chassis and whatever else he could think up. During the many years he spent bending and forming aluminum into automotive works of art, his magic touched many different types of racing: Midgets, Sprint Cars, Indy Cars, Bonneville Streamliners, Hot Rods, and Sports Cars - all receiving the Hagemann touch.

Hot rodders like Dick Magoo, Bill Burnham, Tommy Walsh, SRTEET RODDER editor Brian Brennan and hundreds of others turned to Hagemann to shape their rod's hoods and fenders. But before the street rod surge of the 70s and 80s, Hagemann was a fixture at sports car and oval track events. Famed Indy Car mechanic George Bignotti recruited Hagemann to work on Indy roadsters at the Brickyard. Among his many accomplishments were some beautiful sports car bodies for racecars of the 1950s and 1960s which included the Leson Simca, the David MG, the Gillespie MG, the Barneson-Hagemann Chrysler as well as beautiful polished-aluminum bodies for the Webster team of the United States Road Racing Championship circuit. There were countless other projects. Hagemann's favorite of all the cars he ever built was a handcrafted RSK-Type Porsche Spyder roadster with a tube frame, aluminum body, and Porsche running gear. He frequently brought that car to the early Goodguys events in Pleasanton.

One of Hagemann's favorite past times was driving fast. Really, really fast! One day many decades ago the California Highway Patrol blocked off both ends of Crow Canyon Rd (a windy stretch between Castro Valley and San Ramon in Northern California) in an attempt to catch and arrest him for driving at dangerous speeds. Just a few years back at age 90, he was stopped by the Highway Patrol near the border of Oregon and California doing 130mph in his Turbo 911 Porsche.

In recent years, he had been slowing down but was still tinkering on a coupe to match his Spyder roadster. Steve Moal of Moal Coachbuilders in Oakland became a close confidante of Hagemann's back in the 1960s. "As a guy who wanted to do metal work as a youngster, Jack Hagemann was THE guy I wanted to emulate" Moal said. "You couldn't help but look up to Jack and what he did. He must have punched over 2 million louvers for California hot rodders. We became close over the years. Fortunately, some of us were able to take Jack to Andy Brizio's Holiday Dinner in San Francisco recently. I'm really glad we did. It turns out it was the last time we got to spend time with our friend."

Ron Covell of Covell Creative Metalworking echoed Moal's sentiments. "Jack brought an extremely high level of craftsmanship to everything he did, and his designs were quite elegant" he said. "Jack was the premiere metalshaper in the Bay Area for many, many years."

A celebration of Jack's life will be held in the Bay Area next spring.
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Let's not wait 'til next spring ... We can help to celebrate Jack's life by sharing stories and/or pictures of his work right here on the H.A.M.B. ... I'll start ...

Our coupe still proudly runs the aluminum half-hood that Jack fabricated in 1963-64:

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... and will continue to wear a "HAGEMANN" badge:

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Jack also built beautiful dragster bodies ... including all of the aluminum panels on Tom Prufer's circa 1964 "Power King" FED:

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RIP, thoughts and prayers from our clan.

 

Damn, That's a sad thing. He was pure Hot Rodder, Crafstman, and Human Being.


Sorry to hear this,

Tim

 

I will never drive Crow Canyon road without thinking of him. He was inspiring to say the least.

 

RIP Jack

 

RIP to a true master!

 

He's gone to a good place.. Hot Rod Heaven... He's got lots to do up there to keep him busy... I just hope "The Man" can deal with him banging metal..

 

Jack passed the torch - what a great thing. God willing wouldn't we all love to take a 130 pass at 90. RIP Jack.

Charlie

 

Sounds like a pretty cool guy....I hope I am around long enough to get a massive speeding ticket at 90 yrs old !! R.I.P. Jack.

 

R.I.P. Sir... And I hope I can rightfully claim to have punch 2 million louvers by 95 or so too!!!

 

Been a bad year.....R.I.P. Jack.

 

Damn.

Jack did the body on my old man's Ogden built rail. RIP jack.

 

Shit we are losing all the Craftsmen. RIP

 

R. I. P. I've admired his work since the first time I picked up a Hot Rod Magazine on the Bookmobile. Metal work by Jack Hagemann meant you had the best of the best.

Yep Royalshifter, we seem to be loosing a big bunch of our real hot rod heros all at one time.

 

R.I.P. to a man who made a big difference in the automotive world.

 

rest in peace!

 

R.I.P. Working metal for the big man now.

 

I've read about his work all my life, RIP, wish I could be as good a tin bender as you.

 

R.i.p

 

Rest easy, Mr Hagemann

 

I'm to assume that his son is a metal shaper also? You see "Jack Hagemann Jr." noted in a lot of magazine coverage.

Frank

 

WOW. Rest in Peace. Slim

 

Clocked at 130 mph at the age of 90..........

 

R.I.P what a year !!

 

One of Jack's finest, Al Dal Porto's roadster.

 

What a shame. Seems like we are losing too many great ones the last couple of years. But, sounds like he lived a pretty full life and we here can be grateful for that.

 

R.I.P.

Let's hope Mr. Moal & others can carry on with the legacy of the man.

 

Sorry to hear about his passing...when I lived in NoCal in the 60s, it seemed like most of the fast cars and Oakland Roadster Show winners had his tinwork...RIP

 

I still have the gloss black, aluminum, 3-piece, Jack Hagemann hood from my '36 3w in the attic.
It's a beautiful piece.
Thank You Mr. Hagemann.

 

Another car Jack wove his magic on

Frank Rose's 1954 AMBR winner,