Toying with the idea of building my 31 Tudor into a Bonniville salt racer, circa late 30's to early 40's. Will be keeping the banger, but will build it up in a way in which they would have run them back then. Any pictures of Tudors from that era, on the flats, would be appreciated. Thank you.
I may be wrong, I think that back in the day, the early dry lakes timing asociations didn't allow sedans to compete,only roadsters coupes specials and lakesters were allowed to run.
As I was informed by SUHR speed in the 30's they did allow for coupes and sedans (I think) to run until '37 when it was designated that only Roadsters were to run under the newly formed SCTA. Late 40's early 50's you could have run in the Russetta timing but that Banger would have been a bit tired. I say build it how you want with the Banger and take your influence from your favoite time period. Take a look at Doc's new sedanthe Silva special for a sedan done beautifully.
No coupes either until after about 1950 when coupes like the Pierson Bros started running better times than roadsters..... Here's how it really was in those early days, like 1947, for instance..... Just sayin'....... CB
even the coupes were kept seperate . they developed their own timing assc. i believe . im reading several books at the same time & read about it in one of them . maybe don montgomery's book . roadsters were an exclusive club ! coupes & sedans had to run in another timing assc. this is a socal thing , so im sure there are people in the know . norcal was mostly drag racing . socal was the big dry lake & board track place in the '20s / '30s . dirt tracks were hot also , for the common guy . this i learned from the vic edelbrock book . very interesting how racing populated socal ! im building a "pre-war" tudor , not popular then either , but built as cruzers . you can build a correct tudor for the salt (dry lakes) , just read & use '20s / '30s technology . as i was told , many of the roadsters ran fenders , except on the lakes . they would take them off to run , then put them back on . your tudor is really nice ! you dont need to chop / channel to be '20s / '30 correct . not alot of that went on then . just stay to the early technology . pm me & im most willing to try to help you . im learning everyday & its great stuff !!! ...................... steve
Uh......not entirely true.......Sir Malcolm Campbell had set speed records back in the '30's on the Salt Flats @ Bonneville........however..... It wasn't until Wally Parks and Ak Miller, et al, got permission to sanction the first SCTA Speed triasls in 1949........it has been sanctioned ever since by SCTA Here's some info on Campbell......note that he set his final land speed record in 1935..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Campbell CB
Thanks for all the great info you guys posted on this thread! Getting to read those rules was very cool. Norton
Have you ever been to Bonneville during Speed Week? If you have, Good! If you haven't, you need to go. It is so much different than you will ever imagine. Almost everyone there will answer any question you have about their cars. After you have been there & seen everything, then build a car. Good Luck. Lucky667
The Jalopy Journal
