Here's my original CRAGAR on a B block with a BENDIX-STROMBERG intake from 1931. I worked with Art Bagnall at the old VAN, PICKUP & OFFROAD trade magazine.
When I was racing motorcycles in the 70's and 80's that was the ONLY brand of helmet to buy! Nothing else had the reputation of a Bell helmet. I still have my Bell Racing jacket but the helmet is long gone! <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From Bell Racing Jacket</td></tr></table> <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From Bell Racing Jacket</td></tr></table>
Oops. Sorry, I sorta skimmed once we got into paragraph form and overlooked those parts. It's tough to read a huge cut-and-paste tome on an iPhone screen. Plus, for some reason once dates after 1964 come up, I find it harder to pay attention. -Dave
I remember you telling me about working with my good friends dad,Dick LeNarz. My other friend Craig Wise,who's new here to the HAMB,CW's40pu,had an older brother who hung out with Richter. His name was Gary Wise. He worked for Mooneyham Blowers for many years. Their dad,Fred Wise was also known around the Hotrod circles back then. Maybe he'll see this and add to the stories...
ChopPop used to hang out there. I think Kenny Parks (wally's brother) used to manage the store for a while. I forget what time period, but can find out.
A little trivia in that pic. The '29 AV-8 (far right) is Wally Parks' car. So, that would make sense why his car (Wally's) is parked out front.
I worked for Bell Auto in '57-'58, then the Army. I'm still trying to remember what went on in that shop at lunchtime, like getting hit in the head with a thrown tomato... Duncan
Digging up an old thread here I know, but this history is just too cool. I’ve been fortunate to have some great conversations with people close to the Bell Auto legacy in recent years and here’s how it happened. So one day I drive my 34 pickup to work and park in the front lot. A new work colleague walks over and asks if that car is mine. I say yes and he starts asking questions. As sometimes happens, he says ‘my grandfather was big into Hotrods just like that and racing back in the day’. I’m thinking he probably had a 78 Chevy truck or a 90’s built fiberglass 34 with graphics or something. We talk some more and then he says his grandfather took midget racing down to Australia and he was part of the group of guys that originally started SEMA. My ears pricked up. Then he asks ‘have you heard of Bell Auto parts or Cragar?’ Ahhh, sure I’ve heard of them. ‘Well, that was my grandfather’. So here I am talking with Eric Richter, grandson of Roy Richter. Eric and I became friends and he often shares stories and photos from his childhood and his dads. Eric and I still work together and one day we are going to sit down and go through the boxes of photos, books, magazines and memorabilia he got from his grandfather, Roy. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Gartz was a grandson of Richard Teller Crane, RT was the founder of Crane Co. an early plumbing manufacturer. Crane became one of the largest suppliers in that field and Richard Crane Gartz led the life of a playboy/ amateur sportsman. He hung around with racers, pilots, and fast women and his friends called him Craney. When Fengler wanted to get the rights to the Miller-Schofield head Craney was the money man, and as mentioned earlier that was how the Cragar name came about. If you happen to use a urinal with the Crane Co. logo on it now you know there is a bizarre connection between racing equipment and relieving yourself.
The display Ford V8 flathead which sat in the window for many years is now in a garage in Orange County. It has no changed a bit and is still on the original stand. Sorry no photo as the China Virus has closed up my friends to visitors.