LA car clubs in the 50's

Does anyone have information on the Autocrats car club in the 50's.
My uncle was in the club and I would like to find information and pictures from the club.

Thank you

 

im trying to find members of clubs around the detroit area (late 50s-early 60s) Flag Jumpers, Farmington mi., Spark Plugs from south lyon, The BlockBusters from wayne and my dads own, Chuggin Chariots from wayne mi. also. ive got minutes from the meetings, alum. plaque, club business checks, and what not. no jacket(shit) but im having one made(silva sportswear) the old man never told of this stuff stashed in the basement and he is no longer here. so, good luck and keep diggin.

 

Come on I know someone has to know something??

 

Here's two of their plaques ...

1) Russetta Timing Association:



2) Southern California Timing Association:



NOTE: Images from Bill (@Bullet Nose) Junge's CAR CLUB PLAQUES website.

 

Not from the '50s ... but I did find a bit of info on the "AUTOCRATS L.A." car club in the '40s ...

__________________________________________________

Hot Rodding pioneer Tommy Sparks (who passed earlier this year) was once a member of the AUTOCRATS.

Here's a couple photographs of Tommy's A-V8 taken October 7, 1945 @ Rosamond Dry Lake:

images from the Dave "Monk" Thormin collection

__________________________________________________

Dave Thormin was also an AUTOCRATS member ... here's a pic of his '27 Roadster on an A-V8 chassis:






images from the Dave "Monk" Thormin collection

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Charles Dimmitt was once the president of the AUTOCRATS car club.

Here's a couple of pics of Dimmitt's '39 Lincoln Zephyr at an SCTA El Mirage meet in 1948:


Warren Durkee image from the Jill Durkee-Burgoyne collection


photographer unknown

Charles whacked off the top of the body, stretched the chassis, and stuffed a
Caddy V-16 behind the driver's seat! ... Fastest speed was 107.52 mph.

__________________________________________________

Lee Enfiajian joined the AUTOCRATS in April 1948 (but ran with the Road Runners in June of '48).

Here's a pic of Lee's '29 Roadster on the Dry Lakes:



__________________________________________________

George Rubio was also once an AUTOCRATS club member (with his good friend Tommy Sparks).

Here's some (circa 1949) pics of Rubio's '29 Roadsters:




images from the Bob Morton collection

__________________________________________________​

 

There was also a club called the "Aristocrats" in the 50's.----Plaque consisted of a top hat & cane, in the L.A. area---Mostly customs as I remember.

 

Thanks Hemi 32!! The pics are great!! You would think some of the older members would be on the HAMB..

 

First time I've seen the car in color, sometimes it is best to remember things in black & white. Bob

 

@56gasser -

My pleasure ... I'm just sorry I couldn't find anything about the club in the '50s.

Unfortunately, the gents I posted about (Sparks, Thormin, Dimmitt, Enfiajian, & Rubio) have all passed ... but fortunately, quite a bit about these "pioneers of our hobby" has been documented in Hot Rodding "history books", magazines, & films ... and/or posted on websites (e.g., @Rockerhead's books, The Jalopy Journal, Kustomrama, Hot Rods Of The Dry Lakes Era, The American Hot Rod Foundation, Society of Land Speed Racing Historians, etc.)

It has been my experience that the "old-timers" still with us aren't very computer savy ... there are of course exceptions to this ... 88 yr-old HAMBer @TraderJack comes to mind.

 

Bob (@The37Kid) -

Your comment made me laugh out loud!

After performing so poorly @ El Mirage, Charles transformed his (Zephyr-based) "Dimmittmobile" into a 1930 Cadillac "Custom V-16 Hot Rod Roadster".

This version of Dimmitt's car was recently discovered:

​

More pics of it can be viewed HERE.

 

56gasser,

I have patterns for plaques for these AutoCrats clubs

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 331pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=442><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 221pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 10788" width=295><COL style="WIDTH: 110pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 5376" width=147><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 221pt; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 height=20 width=295>Autocrats</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 110pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 width=147>Albuquerque</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 height=20>Autocrats</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63>Aurora</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 height=20>Autocrats</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63>Lebanon</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 height=20>Autocrats</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63>Plano</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 height=20>Autocrats</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63>Red Oak</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63 height=20>Auto-Crats</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 0.5pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: windowtext; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 0.5pt solid" class=xl63>Lincoln</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


You can view them by going here on my web site:

http://www.obrientruckers.com/plaques_search.php

Hope that may be of help in your search,

Dennis

 

I am not sure if theis would help you but there is a club plaque for sale on ebay right now for them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTOCRATS-C...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item43adbed9c4

Good luck with your search
Mark

 

It would help to know where your uncle lived when he belonged. In addition to the Autocrats - Los Angeles plaques shown above, I also have these on our website .....

​

A book I have also lists Autocrats clubs from Albuquerque, Lebanon, OR and Redlands, CA and Dennis has patterns for some of these plaques.

 

Looking for info on Autocrats car club of Redlands CA. I belive they were more customs than hot rods and dry lakes cars. I think they were started around '49. Any help??

 

Anyone have any info on the road runners out of compton?

 

Actually, that link to my site is dead. I moved everything to a new server and the new link is CAR CLUB PLAQUES

Here are the photos. If you look at the RTA plaque, you can see where it originally said SCTA.

 

Looking for info on the Deacons car club from Long Beach CA

 

Road Runners was a popular club name back in the 50's. My Hot Rod and Custom Car Clubs book does not list a club from Compton. There were a couple of other Road Runner clubs in that area and this page on my website has 92 different plaques .....

ROAD RUNNERS​

 

I have two versions of Deacons plaques on my site and the bottom one may be a new one. Could be they are still going or have been restarted .....

​

 

I came across this and was trying to find info on the club

 

I asked 1 of our original members if he remembered them. He said definitely. He just couldn't give me any years when though

 

here is my father in law Tom Sparks Autocrats plaque

 

It is always nice when an old thread comes back to the top. Here is a black & white photo and info on the Dimmitt V16 Cadillac powered Zephyr from CT News November 1948.Bob CT News November 1948

 

Thanks Hemi32. We have this picture of Tom with the timing tag from that days race.

 

Here is the photo

 

Charles Dimmitt's (V16 Cadillac powered) Zephyr Roadster at the June 1948 El Mirage meet:

image from the Don Cox Collection

Autocrats Car Club President Charles Dimmitt behind the car in his driving gear was entered at the June
1948 S.C.T.A. races at El Mirage with this jaw-dropping Class D Roadster but didn’t run it. It was based
on a '31 Cadillac chassis powered by a V-16 that displaced 455”. The body was a Lincoln Zephyr that
Charles removed the roof (making it a roadster). Up front was a '38 Ford truck grill shell. He was back at
the July races and ran 107.52 mph for a fourth and last in class. First in class was Fred Woodward who
ran 127.29 mph. Charles entered the August races, but the car never showed up again as it was way too slow.​

 

The Jones & Dimmitt (V16 Cadillac powered) Zephyr Roadster at the 1949 Hot Rod Expo:

​

 

It’s been a minute, but I’m assuming the membership card I just picked up came from you. Did you ever find more history on the club?


Yes, I am aware this is an old thread.