Classic rod, by all accounts! Like that he got the stance right, without a dropped axle. Would love to see a color shot of her. Thanks for posting it!
I've always enjoyed all the varying styles of flames. < my guess is red n yellow I love flames,kind of became my trade mark on my racecars for 30+ years of oval track racing.
Here's a challenge to my KC local HAMBers- Ray just died in Raytown 7 years ago, leaving his wife of 63 years, plus 5 kids and grandkids- Get ahold of some of them and find out if they might know anything... There could be Ray cars they actually want to sell! https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/kansas-city-mo/raymond-erickson-6229554
I met Ray through one of his “Misfit” brothers years ago before I had seen photos of his old cabriolet. I’ve got a couple guys I can ask...though, if the ‘34 is still around I would think we would know it (I would hope anyway!)
More Boner material...It reminds me of the Life of Riley 34 and the Northen Star wouldn't that be a epic photoshoot seeing those 3 together... Thanks For Sharing @Jive-Bomber and @Cactus for the colored treat and further thanks to those with other info potentially bringing this Hotrod back to daylight...
I hit the link that @Jive-Bomber provided and this is the first entry. Thought it was a great pic and I had no idea Dick Scritchfield was in the KCTA???
Ray was quite an accomplished man indeed...I've shared this Cabriolet a couple times that's for sure and it was kind of cool to see a link to a Hamb Thread at the bottom of his Obituary further highlighting his greatness... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=11334 So @Jive-Bomber after many years here and seeing these images over and over it's great to stop and spend a bit of time putting a face and more to these priceless few pics that remain of these classic Hotrods of the Yesteryear... RIP Ray Erickson
Here's what Ray told me in January 2010. I have most of our conversations on digital tape: "I would say '52 I bought the car [the '34]. I just bought a complete running engine, an oil burner, a '46 Merc for 35 dollars. And I drove it that way for a while and was acquiring parts. Had a Merc crank and all that stuff. A business had a fire and I got a crank for ten dollars, all it needed was polishing, and a Harmon-Collins Super Team for fifteen dollars, had a little water rust. And I channeled the body. The guys called me Radical Ray and I was always radical and i wanted the thing lowered so I channeled it myself, same old crap. I was driving it on the street, it was my driver all the time. We bought a house and went to get liability insurance and all the insurance companies said 'We do not sell insurance to hot rodders.' And you can't own a home and not have insurance. So, I took it off the street. Ended up, a buddy got the car, I kept the engine. The car is still going. It's restored, sort of, it's un-channeled and a guy over in Independence, Missouri has it. His wife drives it. Got a 302 with a C-4 in it, has full fenders. He's been driving it, I don't know, 30, 40 years." Then in January, 2011, he said this about the '34: "It had the soft 4:11 '34 rear end, '40 Ford front brakes. The parking brake was all four wheels because I hooked the master cylinder up to the original mechanical brake set-up. '34 radiator, '46 Merc flathead. Yea, when I drove it on the street, being a Cabriolet was handy because it had roll-up windows. That was my driver all the time, my wife drove the other car. the '52, Whistle Bait." Disappointed with myself for not finding out more about where the '34 ended up, before Ray passed away. Miss him, a real firecracker! And a car-building fanatic.
Let's see if I can answer some of your questions and bring this post up to date. We ( my twin brother) and I were personal friends of "Radical Ray" for many years and around in the early days of "K.C.T.A." Kansas City's first Drag Strip ( Hosted the 2nd annual "N.H.R.A" "National Drag Races " ) of which Ray was very much instrumental in getting it done along with the help & support of the K.C. Police Dept. to give us a safe place to "Drag Race". !! Ray was very much into the car scene, if it had anything to do with "Hot Rods" Ray was involved and gets credit for putting K.C. on the map. About the "34" "Brer Hair" your post and comments are correct. Rays "34" is alive and well and still can be seen on the streets of K.C. You wont recognize it, because as Ray shared with you , it has changed a lot by the present owners who Both drive it all the time.!! His description is correct as how it looks today. They are aware of it's history and proud to be the owners ( "care takers ") of the "Flaming'34" Hope that this helps you in your search of "whatever happened to."? Thanks to "Jive -Bomber" for posting this back in time. Ray is enjoying all of this. !!
OK.!! Your "challenge" has been accepted & met. I contacted Dennis & Diane McKinney here in K.C. who own the "Flaming '34" and told them about your request and asked if they wanted to provide some information and be a part of this challenge.? Dennis was excited, and said "The timing of this couldn't be much better, because on the 25th of this month we will have owned the 34 Fifty ( 50 ) yr's.!! On 11/25/71. we purchased and brought home the 34.! They couldn't believe that this request was real. They are delighted.!! As they say on the H.A.M.B. "if there aren't any pictures, then it does't exist" so he also sent along some pic's of it and the changes that were made during it's 50 yr's. The last pic is how it looks today and on the streets of K.C. No.!! "Jive-Bomber" it is not For Sale.!! See what you have brought back. Oh.!! the power of H.A.M.B. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/kansas-city-mo/raymond-erickson-6229554[/QUOTE]
Hello, Nice looking find of a 34 roadster. Those flames bring back plenty of memories from that time period, but earlier for us. When we were little, we tried to draw flames on our plastic models, our Pee Chee notebooks and school papers that had margins on the sides. At the time, there were no fancy curves and cross tip flames. If anything, there were flames that looked like our Cub Scout Campfires at the beach. It was enthralling just sitting there watching the variety of flames shooting up into the night sky. It was a time of experimenting with our drawing talents or lack thereof. Later on, as we got older, the same flames from the beach barbeques and later campfires just made us want to draw what we saw. We could get the drawing on the rough sketch of a coupe or roadster, but it never looked right. The fat tipped flames looked like spearheads, even with some curves in them. When we saw other custom hot rods in the magazines, we still wondered how they got those designs. Even though this Kansas City based, 1934 roadster was from the Midwest, it still had similar fat tipped flames of the Westcoast hot rods that had flames. Nothing resembling the current curvy flames was around and the earliest curvy flames were shaped like lobster claws. Pacific Auto Body Roadster from San Pedro, CA with their early fat tipped flames. These are the most difficult early flames to draw and color. One day, I will finish the early fat tipped flamed roadster from San Pedro. But for me, it is just draw, erase, draw and it still does not look right. A definite learning experience for sure. Jnaki old FRIDAY ART Leland Kolb and Fritz Voight with their early lobster claw flames Trying to draw those early fat tipped flames on hot rods is a frustrating project. As little kids, somehow those fat tipped flames came naturally with what little skills we had. They looked like real flames. But, today, to draw what we were able to do back then, is an exercise in frustration. The Pacific Auto Body Group from San Pedro, CA had a variety of early race cars at the local Lion’s Dragstrip when it opened in 1955. We saw different versions as it became our time at the drags. The flames always flowed well from the front to the back.
Holy cow! I have a few posts to read to be fully caught up but that’s the same 34?!?! They brought the car to a ton of the cruise in’s we put on! I really enjoyed the car knowing nothing more than this version. That’s outstanding! I’ll see if I still have some of my photos of it!
Yes, it is the same "34'" that "Radical Ray" Erickson built ,drag raced.and drove as his daily driver on the streets of K.C. As mentioned before Ray was very much involved and deserves most of the credit for getting K.C. on the map in the early days of Hot Rodding & the Street Scene.!! Here it is some 70 yr's later and still on the street and enjoyed by it's present owners & caretakers, Dennis and Diane McKinney. They were thrilled to hear that it was being asked about and happy to share some of their memories of their 50'yr's of fun and driving and being a part of this "survivor". I am still waiting for some kind of response from "Jive-Bomber" on this find, since he's the one that started all of this search & rescue "Where is it Now" This has been fun and one of the reasons that we enjoy the "H.A.M.B." "Ray" is liking all of this and so are we.!!
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