Toward the end of 1928, Harry Miller teamed up with George Schofield and a few other cronies to form Schofield Incorporated of America - otherwise known as Miller - Schofield. They planned to produce and market high performance parts for the new mode... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Definitely a cool story Ryan. I love to hear how things came to be in Hot Rodding. Wasn't the Bell Auto name and trademark etc on ebay for $65k a month or so back? Wonder if anybody acquired it?
I was searching for some history on them over the last couple weeks... you must have read my mind! Thanks, Ryan.
Great story. I am sure you know that Don Small has the rights to the Bell Auto logo and has built a 32 and 33 hiboy with the Bell Auto logo. Being 70 years old I love the history of Hot Rodding and how it has maintained a following all these years.
Too bad all the history classes I had to take in school weren't as cool as the history lessons on the HAMB. I would have paid attention to stuff like this.
I like this post! My original Miller/Schofield is one of my favorite posessions... and man does this little roadster gitty up. Can't wait to get it completly finished, but I sure am enjoying terrorizing the streets while I complete it. Always sneaking out and chipping away. Hoping to tear up Latimore this Saturday if I can... baby's got me tied to the house, but no complaints here as long as I can read and baby sit my co-pilot !
I beleive it was on Atlantic Blvd and the building is still there, it was, as of a couple years ago a Western Auto..........I think?
My favorite place to visit is the Peterson Auto Museum in L.A. They have a recreation of the Bell Speed shop. These pictures were taken October 2009. Guess what kind of engine is my favorite! Love the Bell Special Midget! I have dreams about this car...is that wrong?
Thanks Ryan! Still so many things to do... too little time these days. Got me a little project taking up my time.
NEVERMIND. I did a google map and it looks like the building is still there, we need MAZOOMA to go by and get some pics
I was loving the story already then it got to the part of him dying in WWII and the "kid" taking over the yard and turning it into a million dollar brand...wow, movie script material. Atomic Industry Productions in association with Touchstone Pictures...
Here's a couple more pics of Bell Auto Parts: ... and a somewhat recent Street View of the building:
I was lucky enough to be a part of the Bell Auto Parts Family having worked there from January 1966 until August of 1969. The address was 3663 Gage Ave, Bell, California. It was one of the "highlites" of my life and I still keep in touch with some of the survivors. It was a wonderful place in time and a wonderful place to be employed. Steve "Wolf" Doll
I was fortunate to know Roy Richter and sat at his table at the very first SEMA show banquet,before it was called the SEMA show...was promoted by Noel Carpenter...and his idea formed what is now the " SEMA SHOW"
I regret selling both Cragar heads I've had over the years, a Schofield and a cross flow "Improved" Cragar. It would be interesting is all the different rocker covers could be posted. Mel, those wing nuts were originally Buick items, I've always wordered if the rockers were Buick as well.
Don has assembled a great website that's dedicated to the legacy of Bell Auto Parts and its history. You can see it here: http://bell-autoparts.com/ Check it out, there is a nice chapter on the early catalogs too. Here is the history that Don has assembled on his website. "The Early Years" (1923-1945) Dean Batchelor, in his book The All American Hot Rod, says "First there was George Wight, then Lee Chapel, then Karl Orr and then everyone got into the act." In 1923 an enterprising character named George Wight established an auto wrecking yard at 3633 East Gage Ave. in the city of Bell near south east Los Angeles. In the twenties half of all the cars on the road were Model T Fords. There were hundreds of companies making accessories and performance parts for the T Ford. George would scavenge these parts from the damaged old cars he would buy for his yard and developed a business refurbishing and reselling early speed parts. It is also important to remember that during this time that stripped down Model Ts were running on dirt tracks all over the Los Angeles area and Legion Ascot Speedway was in its prime, drawing huge crowds, just a few miles north near Alhambra. In 1928 George built the original brick building. He would sell parts, offer advice, take your race car on consignment and generally entertain the racing community. He sold new and used Miller and Winfield carburetors, along with overhead valve conversions for the new Model A built by George Riley and Crane Gartz (CRAGAR). Crane had purchased the patterns and tooling for the Cragar head from the Miller-Schofield Co. Late in 1932 the Cragar Corporation, Ltd. failed after making a good name for itself in racing. The name might have been lost except for George Wight who made Crane an offer for the patterns and inventory. George was much more than a horse trader. It wasn't long before he had "improved" the Cragar head in to a cross flow design for better breathing. Bell Auto Parts was one of the most important speed shops in the country when the war came and all racing activity was put on hold. George died in 1943 and his widow kept the doors open throughout the war. "Racing's General Store" (1945-1954) If there is a "Top Ten" for the personalities that had the greatest effect on the development of racing in America Roy Richter would certainly be included. Art Bagnall's book, Roy Richter, Striving for Excellence (out of print) is the definitive work on Roy, his accomplishments, and Bell Auto Parts. This is a must have for your library and if you see a copy used take it home with you. It was the inspiration for this site and this pursuit. Roy was a wining driver and an accomplished chassis and body builder. He built some of the most beautiful midgets, sprints, and champ cars. He won the National Championship with his "Richter Streamliner" (Rail and Tether Cars) that he manufactured and sold before the war. He already had a strong reputation in racing when he purchased Bell Auto Parts from George's widow in 1945. Roy had a great sense for business, he had experience selling through the mail with his tether cars, and placed himself in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. There was a huge burst of racing activity after the war. The HOPUP market (that had really begun before the war) was exploding. There were many racers and craftsmen that had developed speed parts. They made heads, cams, manifolds, flywheels and other items. They would be successful if they could just "go to market." Roy placed Bell Auto parts between these "manufacturers" and the huge demand that was building. He signed up many of these companies and became a distributor for names like Iskenderian, Edelbrock and Wieand. In 1946 Roy stapled up the first catalog of racing parts and "Racing's General Store" was born. The second huge effect that this strategic decision had was it made it easy for small shops across the country to deal with one company and add a full line of speed parts to their available inventory. Local racing got a huge boost and a whole industry was born. By 1948, Bell Auto Parts had thousands of independent dealers and was a national catalog business. The customer or reseller could choose from some 10K items to support his racing interest. Roy and Bell Auto Parts never stopped developing products in house. The famous Bell steering wheel and the "Dural" hand pumps are among the most recognizable. In the early 50's the Cragar name was used on many parts, like transmission adaptors. In 1952 Roy started a foreign car dealership for British cars. He sold MG, Austin Healy, and Jaguar. "The Product Years" (1955-1987) It was really success that changed the outlook for Bell Auto Parts. This came in two waves. The first was the huge growth of the speed equipment and aftermarket business, that Bell Auto Parts was instrumental in developing. It became so big that more traditional ways of marketing and distribution were needed. The multiple rolls of Bell Auto Parts as a retail store, catalog store, warehouse distributor and manufacturer were confusing for customers and employees. In 1955 Roy Richter incorporated the Cragar Equipment Company reviving the old racing name that George Wight had purchased from Crane Gartz in 1933. The Cragar name was used on most new parts that were developed. The second wave of success was the explosive growth of two products, the Bell Helmet and the Cragar SS wheel. In 1954 Roy began to manufacture the Bell Helmet. Bell Auto Parts was already selling many Anderson and Cromwell (British) helmets through its distribution network. Roy knew the potential for this business. This is quite a story in its self and again I will refer you to Art Bagnall's book Roy Richter, Striving for Excellence to learn more. The Cragar SS wheel was not a copy but a new innovative way to manufacture custom wheels. Roy's team had created a very strong and truly attractive wheel that was suitable for racing. By 1964 the Bell Helmet operation had moved to Long Beach and the Cragar wheel business moved to South Gate and it would soon move again to Compton. In 1965 the demands of these manufacturing businesses was causing cash flow problems for Bell Auto Parts. Then in 1967 Roy legally separated the businesses and created a holding company called Roy Richter Enterprises. The businesses were later sold off. In 1971 the Wynn Oil Company purchased control of Cragar Industries and Bell Helmets. Later in 1978 the remaining companies were sold to long time employees. Desert Dynamics was sold to John Glew and Jot Thorne. The Bell Safety Distributorship was purchased by Kenny Parks. He then started Bell Motorsports. Bell Auto Parts and the remaining inventory was sold to Chuck Strader who ran the business from a location in Huntington Beach for another 10 years. Through all of this Roy was dedicated to taking care of his team. He passed away much too soon in July of 1983. Don has recently offered the trademark, domain name and the rights to the Bell logo for sale. You can contact him through the website if you are interested in it.
Theres are some great reads about Bell Auto, Cragar, and Horne ive found on the internet, id read one and find a link to another, i must have sat in front of the computer all day just reading all the stories about the Company (ies). very cool read JEFF
The old Bell Auto building is right around the corner from our factory on Salt Lake. I go by every time I visit the factory just to take in the history of that place.
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