I have wanted to put a spotlight on this little track nose T roadster for a while but have put it off. Recently I came across a second article so I thought it was time. This is such a cool roadster, made even cooler by the fact that the roadster survives and was undergoing a restoration back in 2009 to the Chet Carter v8 version (body was still wearing a 70s psychedelic paint job). Does anyone know the owner and status of the restoration? One cool tidbit in the R&C article was the prediction of Fibreglass T bodies in an article written in 1954.
I'm in. Any hot rod with a stovebolt from that era interests me. Nice find. I wonder how many quick change rears Pat Warren produced?
I too love track roadsters, but I can't get past the nose on this one. With the cowl being an earlier " low cowl" the top of the track nose needs to be low. In my opinion the nose needs to come down a couple of inches. It looks broken at the firewall. I like that the body sits on the frame, that it isn't channeled. Those radius rods are great. Wild paint in the 2009 shot. Cheers, Stewart.
Very cool little hot rod. Little more rake, please, otherwise spot on. (Geez, we all have to get in our .02, right?) I am also a sucker for track nose hot rods, A's, B's, and T's.
Funny. Track roadsters make me weak in the knees but don't seem to attract much attention here on the HAMB. This car obviously has a dirt track lineage but may not have been fast enough to be competitive. The actual racers were evolving very quickly - sometimes weekly - in the early days of dirt track roadster racing so this one might have been obsolete before it was finished, but might have been the perfect candidate for conversion to a street-driven hot rod. Not many cars with any real track time survived so this one was one of the lucky ones, apparently. For anybody who's interested, Tex Smith published two volumes of "Roaring Roadsters", penned by Don Radbruch who also published a similar book himself. These can still be found and are wonderful sources of history and appreciation for this great but very short-lived era.
where is the car now? ..and was it ever in the basement of a furniture (?) store near San Mateo Ca. ? reminds me of a car me and a buddy went to look at 30 years ago.
Missysdad I'm with you, My Dad raced roadsters in that era and Don Radbruch got pictures from him for the book. worth owning for the library.
This style doesn’t do much for me personally, but I’d love to have seen it when it back in the 70s with this paint job! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
O.K., some info on this roadster: 1976, San Jose, CA.: My old shop partner Gary 'Merc' Mylar spotted this 'T' in the garage of fellow sheet metal worker, Jack Workman. Gary asked to buy the car, Jack said his girl friend owned it, Gary offered her $1700 and bought it. Car had a SBC, adapted to the '39 box. Modified V8 Ford radiator, '24 'T' shell. Racecar nose was long gone. Aluminum nose was said to be shaped and finished by a gent named 'Amaral', around 1952? Gary and I chased leads for the nose for 4 years, no luck. <<Flame paint job was indicative (proof!) of flame paint popularity in San Jose from 1952- around San Jose, as Al "Boof" Marceline's '32 Highboy also was black/red flames>> Gary joined the San Jose Roadsters in '76, but then-prez Chuck Corsello insisted he 'update' the '24. That was when Gary tore the car down, had everything chromed. Sal Alessi (from Santa Clara, ran a custom paint shop in Hayward) paint the Himsl-styled 'nightmare in green'. Von Franco and I rode Gary hard about that damned paint job, but Gary said it cost him enough that he was going to 'run it' for a year. I had Teddy Halibrand make a new lay shaft for the early Quickchange, the old one was cut, welded, and beyond use. Frame was badly damaged at left rail, from a clutch explosion at San Jose ("Little Bonneville") drag strip in '56. The big flathead Chet Carter had built disintegrated an aluminum flywheel, severing the legs of an ambitious 16 year old 'pilot'. (the youngster was 'sponsored' by Frank Wright, a drivers ed teacher at Santa Clara High. Bad news story then, as now...) Car was in my shop for 2 years, I made a frame from 1-1/2" X 4" rectangular tubing, shaped to follow the cowl line, (recent pic shown looks like someone cut the beauty out at the shiny lines, near where steering box might exit) Gary also had an original BELL dropped tube axle, from Roy Richter's Bell Auto Parts, also an original Bell 3 spoke wheel. Those 'pretty' hairpins were rusty inside, very weakened over the years...Gary chromed 'em anyway. All these wonderful freshly chromed parts & pieces were laid out, and we partially assembled the T. But that paint job.... Gary had some Life tragedies, and sold the 'T' in 1982. His wife, Dusty, had passed away from internal problems. Car supposedly went with a young fellow that looked for history on the car. Last I knew of it was around the time this last pic was taken, but a little more history, if you guys will pardon the POOR 'editing'! AFAIK: 1948 or? Joe D'Angelo & Joe Catello built the 'T' in San Jose. 1954 sold it to Chet Carter (Starter at Fremont drags for years) Chet Carter and an older friend drove the car to Bonneville in '56, didn't run it. One night they got drunk and Chet went 'off-road' chasing jack rabbits. Broke mainleaf of front spring, used a leather belt wrapped around axle to drive home to San Jose! 1956 Chet sold car to Frank Wright, who 'sponsored' the young driver at the drags. 1957 Car was sold to someone in town (San Jose) who fixed the body (from clutch/pressure plate damage) replacing the cowl and right hand door. (I showed Gary the sub rail where it was welded back) Sometime after that the roadster lost its nose, flathead, and stock '34 front axle. The Bell axle was installed in that time period, and am not sure when the Chevy small block came. It was a 283. Jack's girlfriend bought the car in '74, according to Gary. It was just as he bought it, but chrome was green, interior old, (tuck & roll) and paint was old and cracked. (nitro lacquer)
Thanks @Atwater Mike...thats a pretty thorough history and you had a hands on relationship with this gem. You also highlight hows dangerous the sport can be within the small confines in extreme situations. From what I gather it still remains in the Carter Collection in care of the son Jimmy? So perhaps the Son or someone that knows Jimmy Carter may chime in. It really would be nice to see it put back to it's vintage glory. A correction to my above statements...in the document I was reading on Hotrod hotline I think it was historic pics and info were supplied by the Carter Collection...they don't have the hotrod. Sorry about this. It is interesting how elusive this stuff is...
Spencer Simon, Jim Palmer, Tony Lloyd and Chet Carter these are all fellows that are mentioned in 2009 blurb below... https://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/heroes/landspeedracing/2009/09newsletter121/ This site is very informative but terribly laid out...
@Jimmy B...Happy New Year...do you know of the current whereabouts or status of this Hotrod... @Atwater Mike certainly added some interesting info thats for sure.
Its cool to see the evolving of stuff purpose built but also a form of functional mechanical/artistic sculpture Credit to Photographers, Owners
Still waiting Hamb historians where did the "Lightning Bolt" '23 T Track Nose Roadster land? Hopefully still under roof somewhere waiting for a rebirthing...
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