Vintage shots from days gone by!

This is the USS Tautog a world war 2 submarine with a very brave history during that war. My old man served on that ship during the WW2. She was tied up at Ford Island on December 7 when the Japanese attacked and is credited with shooting down one of the 29 Japanese planes that were shot down that day. She was decommissioned right after the war and later sold and scraped in 1960. Some of the cars that we all love so much just may have a little of her steel in them. Very cool picture of a great lady that did her part to keep us all free.

The Submarine in the background is the USS Sargo SS188 another WW2 Sub with a great battler record during WW2.

A orginal copy of this Picture hangs in the Naval War College.

 

Bob Leverich near lane takes his first dragster ride at Motorcity Dragway in New Baltimore Michigan in the early 1960s before the christmas tree was even invented.




Bob Leverich Injected Nitro Grand Bend Dragway late 1960's



Bob Leverich note safety "T" Shirt



Hawaiian drag-racing legend “Safari Char” lines up against a rival at the old Hawaii Raceway Park in Honolulu.



CT Strokers at San Fernanado

 

1954 Bonneville racing



1954 meet Bonneville Outcast with Von Dutch pinstriping POSSIBLY Ed ISKY was connected with this car.



1954 Meet Bonneville lakester



Bakersfield decals

 

Hody’s North Hollywood,CA
Lakewood, CA

PCH and Anaheim St. Long Beach, CA
“Hody’s Family Restaurants (8 in all) were an enterprise of Sidney Hoedemaker, (after he resigned from the presidency of the Pig ‘N Whistle) and Wayne McAllister, an architect who designed the restaurants. The Los Altos in the lower left corner refers to the cocktail lounge. It was part of the distinguishing name of this particular site on Pacific Coast Highway.”

Hello,

Hody’s in So Cal hits home on more than one point. It was on our list of cruise spots in Long Beach and Lakewood during the high school days. Yes, Grissinger’s and Ken’s were our Bixby Knolls primary cruise hot spots, but in order to see other parts of Long Beach, Hody’s was the place. There were cruisers, hot rods, customs, trucks and a ton of teenagers from the other area high schools.

One summer night in 1962, we got a wild idea. We decided that we would cruise to all of the Hody’s Drive In restaurants that we knew of, in So Cal. So, we started with the one in Lakewood, CA then drove south to Hody’s on PCH and Anaheim St. So far, we only ordered fries and a Coke, hung out and had a great time.

Before we went into the Los Angeles valley, we went by the Hollywood Hody’s, but it was just a corner restaurant, but on Hollywood and Vine St! (at least we were in Hollywood) Finally, we ended up in North Hollywood at the Hody’s.

Jnaki
Gas was cheap, teenagers with nothing to do but to cruise, love of fries and Cokes, etc. all played a part of cruising So Cal in the early 1960s.

 

John Wenderski and the "Black Beauty". I met John in 1962 at San Fernando, he was racing his new 409 Chevy in S/S. He crashed and died in this dragster in 1964...

 

I'm quite sure this is Larry Robbins from Portsmouth, NH. He and the car are still around. He doesn't own it anymore, but I know who does, and it was recently and may still currently be for sale. I've driven it before, with the current pontiac motor in it and it's a fun little ride. Still has the original diamond pleat interior.

 

Wentworth by The Sea, Newcastle, NH - Cool

 

Looks like a diorama and not a real vintage photo.

 

That's because it's part of Michael Paul Smith's model diorama collection, Elgin Park.

 

Sadly, no longer.
I attended the last asphalt race here and witnessed the ceremony of Hershel McGriff putting the first jackhammer strike into Portland Speedways' famous racing surface.

 

One last trio from Burris HS of Muncie, new to the H.A.M.B. of course:





Off to the next school...

 

Rootie, I'm not recognizing either driver in these two photos. Do you happen to have their names?

Thanks.

 

Sepulveda tunnel at the East end of LAX.

 

The driver of the #20 car is, I believe, Bill Murphy a SoCal Buick dealer. The car is a Buick powered Kurtis Chassis with a custom aluminum body. A bit of trivia is that Sam Hanks worked for Murphy and was his head wrench and shakedown driver at the road races.
The fellow standing next to the Chenoweth Indy roadster is Bud Tinglestad who was going to drive it at Indy in 63 but they couldn't get it up to speed and ended up withdrawing it and he found a different ride.

 

A little known story, that I verified with a Hoover Motor mechanic, is that Curtis Turner had just picked up the Hoover #54 Epperly ride when Jack Turner did his series of flips down the main straight in 1963. He had previously wrecked Smokey Yunick's car. Turner was strapped in and ready to go out when the crash happened. It took quite some time to clean up the crash and when the track went green again no one could find Curtis. After hearing about Jack Turner's flips he apparently decided that Indy just wasn't for him and left. Bud Tinglestad happened to be standing nearby with his uniform on so mechanic Joe Langley told Bud to get in the car which he did. He qualified the car a few days later. I don't think Curtis Turner ever returned to IMS.