History The Clem Waske 29 Roadster #265B

With the passing of Bill Hines I figured that I'd do a post of another leaded vehicle.
Bill being the "Lead Slinger" extraordinaire and Clem's original build having a lot of it, I just thought that it was time to post a thread about this car.

About 19 years ago I was talking to a friend (Harry) and his daughter (Caroline). She was building a pretty cool original 32 Ford Roadster that her dad bought so long ago that I can't remember, It's since been sold as a body only and is in CO. At that time Caroline had acquired a pretty cool 29 roadster body that she wanted to build.

I saw it sitting on saw horses, thought that it would make a pretty damn cool roadster. It wasn't for sale. Well it seems that Caroline bought this off of a mutual friend of ours up in Nor Cal - Jim Palmer = (Pacific Gunsight Special 32 Roadster). She had intentions to build it. It wasn't to be. Lots of medical problems ensued with Caroline so she rang me up and said, "You looked at that 29 body, Well I think that it was in the 1st GNRS". I looked for it in the backgrounds.but didn't really see it.

She said why don't you become it's new owner, I thought at the time, Sure-I'll take it on. The deal was made and I now had to store it. (When I say that, I mean that I'm tight on space, not a whole lot of room with a angled back yard,I'm surprised what I fit back there).

When I really started to study it, I thought, perhaps Caroline was right? The cowl on this 29 was radically reshaped, but only in the A-pillar-windsheild post area where it appears that there was a DuVall or Hallock style windshield. I looked through Don Montgomery Books-Hot Rods of the Forties. In there I saw a car that was owned by Art McCormick. It had similar body work, but it was channeled and this one wasn't.

Art's 29 had filled rear wheel wells, and a V'd windscreen as did this one. His sat really low, and I couldn't tell what kind of dash Art's had. This one had a Hammer welded 40 dash in it. This one had a rear rolled pan, but the kicker was the tapered door tops.

This wasn't Art's old car…. Well I decided to take a bunch of pictures of the cowl where the mods were done. Took a while to develop the 35mm film. So I put it on a cart to roll it around the back yard and I was really studying that cowl again. I had a roadster cowl just sitting on an A-Chassis in the garage, it had a radiator on it and I had made a 3 piece hood for a pals car back in 1987, we changed that one out for a custom made Terry Hegman one so I had the old one to put on something down the road.

Well I'm setting the hood sides on the roadster cowl on the chassis in the garage and I decide to fit them up to the modified cowl of the complete 29 roadster body. WTH!!!? the hood sides are 4 1/2"taller in height than the side of this roadsters cowl. Got out the tape measure and sure enough, It was sectioned. That brought me back to those doors.

I remembered that I took some pix of it. While talking to Eric Loe-a fellow PRC member I mentioned the body-cowl, a couple of meetings later he shows up with a
4x6" B&W picture of a roadster with its driver sitting right behind the wood SCTA timing stand. He said "Take a look at this"-I'm like "That's It!!!! He also had a 3x5" Blue Index card with the name 'Clem Waske, So California Roadster Club May 25th,1947 (1st meet of 1947)=also the largest ever. 265B Roadster (Edelbrock Equip) 109.48.

Now I had a name!!!! It was an official 40's Dry Lakes Racer and had a history, now all I had to do was track it all down. Well that's a lot easier said than done. I was working on my 32 Roadster for the company and keeping the other cars on the road on top of working a normal job. Well, weeks went by with me asking if anyone knew Clem Waske. No one knew him. I know that I had never heard his name, perhaps I wasn't looking in the right places. Now months and finally years have gone by and I meet meet HAMBers Woodie Mike and paintslinger805 at our PRC Picnic in 2011. A few more years go by and paintslinger805 started his thread on the re-creation of his Grampa Elmer's 32 PRC car.

We started talking about things and he's become a pal. Through this build of his he's finding all kinds of great stuff. Other HAMBer's started to chime in and one just happened to post SCTA,CTA Lakes Programs. One guy in particular was h gasser from Ventura. I PM'd him and asked if he could look up a name in his programs. (I had Jim Miller = SCTA-AHRF look in Dec,15). Got a little bit of info, but h gasser really came through!!!!!

He sent the pages of where Clem and 265B was along even with an image with his whole club awards dinner w/special guests Veda & Karl Orr. Now there was a face.
If only I knew which one he was??? Well I decided to look in the San Diego,CA. area for people with the last name of Waske. I actually found where Clem had lived, but he hadn't lived there since 1992, Come to find out that he past away in 1993…

I continued to look to see if he had any relatives living in the area still, perhaps a son??
He did, so I put together a little package of what little I had for photos, the copies of the programs and a little history of where & how his dad's old car had been since 1972 when found in Gilroy,CA. by Jim Palmer.

I sent the package off last thursday after hesitating for a couple of days as I wasn't really sure if he'd even want to know about it. On Saturday after I returned from the Dry Lakes opener, I look over the the email and what do I see, but an enthusiastic reply from Clem's son-Doc. What a ride!!!!!! I decided to call him on Sunday afternoon and we had a great conversation.

In one of the programs it said that Clem started sketching a cartoon on a napkin at the awards banquet that stayed with the So Cal Roadster Club's Archives-(I wonder where they are now?) So I find out that Doc is also an artist, both were sign painters by trade.

This is supposed to be about building cars or traditional cars, but I really haven't said whats been going on with the body during all that time. Here's a very short synopsis.
The body took a trip up north to Santa Rosa with Keith Tardel and Rex Rods. Keith had a few changes going on, but we always thought that we'd get back on it again down the road-he provided a great core engine and a very cool dropped axle.

In 2015, I decided that the 29's time had come to be worked on, so a pal that I grew up with and I started to work on the places that warranted attention after 86 yrs. of its original build and 70 yrs. after its lead-if-cation. We have it in gray primer now and it still needs some work. Over all that time I collected pretty much everything that I need to make it whole again just as Clem had it save for the speed equipment.
I'm looking forward to talking with Doc soon in person and look over the albums and see the trophies and timing tags that Clem won, so follow along as The Clem Waske 265B Roadster comes back to life.

I know that I don't have all of the parts so I'll post what I'm looking for as we get to that point. It's been a slow build, but I hope that I can really get it moving soon..

 

Love that old stuff. Thanks for sharing that story. Its extra special for you being in the right place to acquire it. Should be an inspiring build.

 

I'm hoping to get it right, I could have just thrown it together, but since it was such a neatly modified body, I figured that I should do it justice and try to get as much history as possible..

 

Good luck with the rebuild, please post some photos of the body mods. Bob

 

On board sir !

 

Looking forward to this

 

Kevin,
Get this car done and we can take mine and yours out for a el mirage race. I can have my wife film it in 8mm and do black and white photos since she is a pro photographer... I hope you get a lot more info from the hambers. Can't wait to she her come to life..

 

Here are some images that I just went in the yard and took. I'll post some how I had it mocked up on a Model A frame as well as some pix when Jim Palmer had it. These aren't very exciting in gray primer, but in Washington Blue, the mods really stand out. Mind you, all of
the work was done in 1946......
Will try to post more later.
Bruce, that would be so cool to have
both of the lakes cars out there side
Getting filmed, will definitely
Turn up the steam on the teapot.
Thx,
CK

 

I'm in...but being the deuce whore that I am, I gotta see pics of that deuce truck

 

That's a cool project Kevin. Body kind of reminds me of Tom Vandenberg 29 hiboy. I'm watching

 

I'm on board for sure! I have the highest regard for those lucky enough to stumble onto an old lakes car and do the right thing by it. I salute!

 

Wow! I'm glad to see this, I'll try document it better than I have in the last 19 yrs OJ.

Dale, do you have any pix of the one that Tom had? I last saw him at Ed Newett's celebration of life a few months back.

3W Larry, I'll try to send you some pix of my BB Stake Truck. It's the short WB so I'm damn lucky that if fits in the yard.
If I had Eric Vaughn's LWB Stake BB, I'd never make the turn in the driveway.

 

This is where I was headed with "Clem's Ol 265B". The upper one was for the Clem version with a nose that can be fitted and a set of nerf bars front and rear as if Clem had continued to modify the 29. The lower image was based on a drawing that I did before I knew it was "Clem's Ol 265B".

It was going to be more for Cyclone Racing Equipment as a showcase for the products. Thom Taylor penned both of these up in 2006 so I can get a look of where it could be headed,-(we were supposed to change the image to match what has really been modified on the cowl, but I haven't as of yet).
In speaking with Zack Suhr, we tossed around sending it out to PA to have the Nose, Hood and Belly Pan done along with the rust repair.

The more we spoke as we looked at the image it was determined Why don't we just build it as it should be. Albeit with a couple of tweaks here and there. Early on before I saw the picture of Clem in the drivers seat with the Aviator Helmet and Goggles I'd refer to the car as the AV8R 29 Track Roadster, so hence the images above. It was just a coincidence that Clem was wearing those.

I'll post some shots of the mock with a Kurtis nose from Cyclone's Sprint Car (That still has yet to be restored). All of these pix was early on in its acquisition so bare with me as information comes in it may change a little more. I'd like perhaps a little input here, Would you guys build it with the hairpins that are in the conceptual drawing or the wishbones that are in the picture? (My guess is that the wishbones).

 

Any idea what lakes she ran???? I think it should be built back as close to the picture as possible. Start looking for a sectioned 32 grill....

 

She ran El Mirage for sure, will find out more from Doc a little later this week.

Bruce, You're the guy who can find me a cut down shell, you have the best skill that I've seen ever finding cool old parts.
Years ago I had the very same cut down shell, I thought it looked kinda weird, so I gave it back to the guy that I got it from, little did I know 10 yrs later that I'd get a car that had used that exact same type of shell…...

 

Well I just seen one but I can't remember where it could of been today at a local hoaders shop. I did get acouple of parts but boy does he have a hoard. I will search one out for you as I think a cut down 32 look goofy but it's what this car needs. I can't wait till you meet up with his son. It's gonna feel like the day I meet mike mcnatt. Good luck cant wait to hear her running.

 

Me either, it was nice meeting Elmer, Mike and you a few years back
Keep looking for one if ya can, it's gotta have to stock radiator hole/fill in it. His wasn't smoothed out.

 

Thanks for this terrific ongoing story of collecting and saving history

 

You're welcome, more to follow as I discover it and can relay it here. I'm pretty excited!!!!

 

Kevin, I probably do. I will try to look. It was a hiboy with a Chrysler hemi, filled wheel wells, Buick wires on the front and early Halibrands on the rear.

 

Would dig it. Sounds like a great build.
The wheels would be great!!!!!
I haven't seen Mike Martinez in a little while, but normally he's doing Taco Tuesday in Pasadena .

 

He was just up here a couple weeks ago. Said he was going to taco Tuesday last week.

 

Ok, One has to ask themselves why we just love this history? For me it entails kind of an escape to another time,evoking the imagination of how roads were traversed,routes taken, colors of Hot Rods and Kustoms, and then The American Hot Rod by Dean Bachelor comes out and later The Birth of Hot Rodding by Robert Genat and "Carlsbad Oiler" Don Cox and these images "are brought to us" in Living Color (anybody see a peacock around here).

I didn't live during those times, but I like the look of the architecture, style of cars,clothes and all that it entails as well. It's like building something really special, putting together a puzzle or running a marathon (which I have never done on my adult life, but did do as an adolescent).

It's about accomplishment, so this is what I'm up against. This car has been a part of my life for a very long time, but its really just parts waiting to be reassembled back into a running car. I'm hoping to get more images to share as well as info as this progresses.

1st goal will be getting it back on its 32 V8 chassis, Luckilly I have the Engine, Trans,Closed Driveline. I still need to be able to see images in order to get it as close to what it was in 1945 to 1949. I only wish for an original So Cal Roadsters Club Plaque. I haven't researched it as much as I should. So if someone knows more about that clubs history or even it's archives, let me know.
Thx,
CK

 

Restoring a Race Car with known history puts one in a special place, not every one has the chance to find and rebuild one. Finding as much info and photos before you start the rebuild is the first step. Rebuilding to what it was and not over restoring it is an important goal. Look forward to more updates on the project. Bob

 

Thanks Bob, I'm gonna do the best job that I can on it. This is Clem's racer that he squealed around La Mesa-San Diego in and took his then 2yr. old son to the airstrip drag strip for testing and just out seeing what it could do.
I only hope to do it as it was. Hoping that I get more pix soon.

 

Ok Guys,
Clem's son is on his way to T.C. He's bringing some trophies, timing tags, pix and his history of Clem's roadsters. Hopefully I'll get some images of this car that I've owned for years. Can't believe that this is going to happen and perhaps the pix will tell a story.

 

Awesome I can't wait ask him if he has any of car number 370b and 390b as well in any of his pictures. I can't wait to see what he's got Kevin.

 

Ok, Clem's son brought his wife over and some books, trophy tons of artwork that Clem did even prewar.

The car went through a metamorphosis. We're talking extreme changes..... It went onto a 32 V8 Chassis, Then got a Hallock W/S, filled rear wheel wells=(hammer welded), a rear rolled pan and a great big CA. roll for the seat back.
It always wore the Kelsey's and a dark color blue.
View attachment 3233809
So it changed quite a bit. He also had the best low above rails deuce that I've ever seen. This sucker is perfect!!!!!
Here is his timing tag, but it's on his sons dash board right now SCTA stamper transposed the car # though, Dyslexia existed even back then.
And his trophy
I have more to say, but trying to absorb as much as I can, showed his son the body, frame, engine, trans and steering.
I've got to get to work on this....
Stay tuned .

 

This is amazing Kevin when you get this car done and give Clem's son a ride in it I bet he will be over joyed. Even the trophy looks sectioned like his car. And it's on duece rails. Wow

 

Any rear pictures or inside pictures??