Amazingly this car has been found and identified as the former Ed Pink '36. Dave Crouse is restoring it. Another one being saved. Anyone know anymore about it? Was it drag raced as a fuel coupe by chance? I know it was a lakes car. It is being worked on by Rexrogers and the photos are from his thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419846 Link to the car, Rexrogers
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367781 The Drifters Thread has more photos. The color picture was posted by Hemi32. Here are several from the thread. The black and white photos were posted by the daughter of one of the Drifters members.
Thanks for starting this thread Karl and for all the amazing photo's you and everybody else are putting up...proper quality stuff! Jay
In 1951 Ed Pink ran at the Russetta Timing Assn (RTA) meets as a member of the ARCs club (That stood for American Racing Club). Ed was running his chopped top, full fendered '36 5 window coupe. He was using a flathead engine at first but then he replaced the engine with Chet Herbert's GMC engine. Ed set the 1951 RTA Class B Coupe final record up to 137.93 mph. I recall Ed and Chet running the coupe at the Santa Ana drags. The coupe recorded a 109 mph time which was perhaps the fastest "Heavy Coupe" class time that year. At Santa Ana then, the "Heavy Coupe" class was for coupes made from 1935 and later. There was a "Light Coupe" class for 1929 t0 1934 coupes. The "Heavy Coupe" class was formed because the guys running the later cars complained about racing the lighter pre-1935 cars, so the fat-fendered cars got their own class. As we all know that the talented Ed Pink went on become one of the top performance engine builders. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
I have been reading this thread from the beginning and it has been one of the most informative threads on the HAMB, nothing can ever beat first hand knowledge of events and Don your contributions are priceless. Don, I have been holding off posting this photo, it is from 1951-52 Saugus drag strip I am wondering if this your coupe before Larry Shinoda had it.
It has a tube crossmember in these photos. They are grainy but it is really cool to see the inside of the coupe and the mechanicals of a fuel coupe. I can't tell if there is hand brake or a foot brake.
Jimmy, these are great pictures from Saugus, do you have any more? There are very few pictures from Saugus, as it closed early, maybe 56-57? (Don Montgomery would know, I'm sure he raced there). Saugus was an old airfield, where Lou Baney, I think, organized a drag strip around '51, which not attracted local hot rodders, but also guys coming back from El Mirage, who would stop off to race their lakes cars. If I recall, San Fernando Drag Strip, which opened around '56, drew too many cars from Saugus to allow Saugus to survive. Saugus footnote: I think it was the first track to host night races, with a huge anti-aircraft searchlight aimed down the track from behind the starting line...Her is a picture of the airfield:
Dave, yes I have a few more, I bought as many as I could missed out on a half dozen including one of Lou Baney presenting trophies and one of Lou Senter's Ansen '35-'36 pickup bed loaded with trophies. I will post a thread in the coming weeks. I will attach samples of what I have. Cheers Jimmy
Dave, yes I have a few more, I bought as many as I could missed out on a half dozen including one of Lou Baney presenting trophies and one of Lou Senter's Ansen '35-'36 pickup bed loaded with trophies. I will post a thread in the coming weeks. I will attach samples of what I have. Cheers Jimmy <!-- / message --><!-- attachments --> Incredible! Thanks! I don't think that any have been posted before; some interesting experiments with supercharging, looking forward to more photos! Dave
Hi Jimmy It is fun to see the photos that you have. I do not recall the '32 3 window shown in the photo you posted. As far as the question of it being the coupe that Larry had; I suspect that it is not. However Karl (KKrod) has a letter from Larry explaining how he got the coupe. Perhaps that would answer the question. Keep up your good work helping us to remember what the earlier hot rodders accomplished. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
Hi 296 Ardun and Jimmy B - Good job guys digging up these old pictures. I am enjoying them. It is neat to see the air picture of the airstrip where the Saugus Drags were held. It was a small strip called the "6 S Skyranch". The area is now covered with houses. I first ran at Saugus on April 1, 1951. I believe that was the first drag race there. My straight 8 Buick powered Hudson sedan came home with a trophy that day with a time of 95.10 mph. I returned the following week to win another trophy. I raced at Saugus typically 1 to 2 times a month in the 1951 to 1953 period. The other Sundays were usually spent at the drags at Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Fontana or Tracy. Saugus was a Louie Senter (Ansen) with Lou Baney (President of Russetta Timing Assn) and Bob Corbett doing the managing. Both Lou and Bob were members of the Coupes Club (RTA) at the time. Saugus was a racers strip run by racers. Almost all the drag racers ran at Saugus at one time or another. Drag Racers Inc. hosted championship meets there. Often the Bakersfield guys came down to Saugus. Saugus was one of the first to pay money. They would offer $25 or $50 U S Savings Bonds for special races. Lou would also buy you trophy back for $6. It does not seem like much today but it bought more back then. After winning a number of trophies I started taking the money as many others did (PS- Santa Ana paid $7 for the trophy. Unfortunately the facility was not as nice as the newer strips that opened in the 1950s, so it eventually closed. Many of the Lakes racers would drop in after a day or two racing on dusty El Mirage dry lake Good memories of drag racing at tha Saugus Drags. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
Don mentioned Jarvis Earl, who ran both a straight-8 and V-8 Buick. Tom Dyer, who went on to drive the Ansen and Pink fueler (ex Fuller, Zeuschel, and Prudhomme car) drove the V-8 for Jarvis. I lived in Pasadena, next to La Canada, but never knew that Jarvis lived there until this post. Here is a picture of Jarvis' V-8 Buick, by Norm Grudem, from Don Ewald's site:
and here is the straight-8, both cars sponsored by Quincy Automotive in Santa Monica: Sorry for the diversion, now back to fuel coupes:
Well, almost back to fuel coupes...Don mentioned Don Yates several times, for one thing, as the first developer of the Gilmer belt for a blower drive (though Don was the first to use it on a blown Chrysler, as this thread so aptly shows)....and Saugus. So permit me to post a couple of Saugus pictures with Don Yates, first the Vesco and Yates 4-banger, and second the Mikkelson Brother's Lakewood Muffler dragster, which Don drove to a disputed et record around 9.44. Both pictures from Don Ewald's site: I bet Don remembers both of these cars.....ok, sorry again, back to fuel coupes:
G'day Don, more great info & thank you for sharing your memories of Saugus. I will PM you when I start the Saugus thread. In regards to the '32 3w I thought I would ask as it has a chop that is very close to your old 3w. Cheers Jimmy Ansen shop truck
Lastly I bought 3 photos last year of a fenderless Willys coupe. This was of course Tommy Sparks 'Sparks & Bonney Automotive' Willys coupe these photos are after Tommy sold it, They came from Utah.
Here is what Larry Shinoda shared with me in a letter about his coupe. "I was surprised to see pictures of my old 32' three-window coupe. I purchased it from a Chinese guy, Bob Lee who was working with me at Weiand Power and Racing Equipment. This had to be 1953 early spring. It was a full fendered car without a rear axle or any drive train." "Bob Lee, was sort of a jack of all trades, he worked at a Ford dealership as a automatic trans expert...plus he was a fairly good body and fender guy. He chopped the top on the 32' coupe." It would be nice to know more about Bob Lee and how he did such a nice job on chopping the coupe. And about his success with the car if he ran it. I was able to find out that he worked at Weiand for years and was close friends with the Weiand family and that he is now deceased. Maybe with the power of the HAMB someone will share more about him.
This is the car of Pink and Yates circa 1957 or earlier. Anybody know about this car. It is interesting that it has split rear radius rods. I am curious how well that would have worked at the drags. Most cars were using closed torque tube.
Karl, When I posted the pictures of Don Yates, I was wondering about the "Mask," which I never saw run, but remember the pictures of the step-by-step top chop at Barris, recently saw a picture of Sam Barris working in the air scoops on the side of the top, but don't remember where I saw it. I did know Don Yates (quite a character!!) when he was driving fuel dragsters (Dick Goss, Garren & Madden, Jim Ward, etc.) but never asked him about "the Mask," wish I had, it really left an impression on me.
I thought it might be the same Yates (Don) that you were talking about in previous posts. Maybe "the Mask" is a mystery car. I am guessing that the Pink involved was Ed Pink. Since it is running without fenders I am also guessing it ran in the altered class. Wow, on the 8 cylinder Buick dragster. That must have been loud.
296 Ardun, No problem for the diversion. I am quit interested in the Buick straight eight engines. I am curious about why they made such good racing engines early on and how their development progressed in the 50's and what were the advantages of the Buick engines. How did it compete with the flatheads, Don? I have really enjoyed all the posts on this thread.
I was able to find several pictures of Russ Palmer's 35' A fuel coupe. (Rodding and Re-styling Mar' 56.) I wonder if this car made it to live again after it's racing days. If it has let me know!!
Bob Woods '36 Ford - GMC fuel coupe (heavy). I think a car like this sans engine setback would make a cool car to take to cruise night. I'm not sure why 35' and 36' Ford coupes are not built in this style today.
I really like hot-rodded '35 and '36 3-windows also. I would love to have a '36 3-window, dropped a little in front, and raised up a little in back.
This picture of Russell Palmer's 1935 coupe appears to be at the first one or two outings with the new car. It first raced with Don Waite's Bonneville Desoto V-8 (injected) engine under the hood. Soon after, Russ built his own injected Chrysler engine. Russ built a very neat car. It was painted "Mandarin Red" which was supposed to be a Maroon color. Unfortunately for Russ the color came out as a metallic brown. Russ received a lot of "ribbing" about the color; but it looked fine. Tom (Acmo) McLaughlin usually drove Russ' coupe Russ lived in Altadena then and worked for Don Blair (Blair's Speed Shop). He maintained Don's Desoto powered sprint car a part of his job. He was a good friend. When I was building my '32 coupe I shared a space in a garage with Russ and the sprint car. Don Blair owned the space. Russ ran the car for maybe a year +/- and then sold it to a fellow I believe named Johnson, who was around Blair's then. Perhaps 296Ardun can add the full name. Later it was sold to Don? Demuth who took it up to the San Luis Obispo area, I believe. Russ did not stay with drag racing after that. He eventually went into the family's publishing business and ran several industry publications. Years later he moved to London, England to coordinate and operate the publishing business. Like so many of the hot rodders then, Russ did his own work and was a talented builder. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
Don, I wish I could remember the guy who bought Russ Palmer's coupe, but that was a couple of years before my time, I started working there around 1960. Was the garage that Don Blair owned at 2065 North Fair Oaks, right north of Montana? If so, I built my Desoto powered B-Fuel dragster there, right next to Gil Hayward's Monkey Motion fuel altered. It was there that I met "Acmo" McLaughlin, who along with you and Gil had been a Glendale Coupe & Roadster club member. Don is exactly right, Russ, Acmo, Gil, and of course, Don, all built their own cars. You fabricated most of the parts, and if you didn't know how, these guys would teach you. I am forever grateful to the pioneers who still hung around Blair's for what I learned. More than just the skills, it was the attitude that it was not just about how fast you went, but how good a builder you were. You see that attitude in every picture of the Don Montgomery fuel coupe.
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