History Vintage Bonneville car pictures

Jacks far from a kook Monty. His soundtrack is just a little more eclectic than the rest of us.

 

Dean doesn't like them that straight!

 

i didn't mean to make it sound like i was saying he is a kook, but his emails sounded like a kook had written them.

 

Searched and couldn't find this already posted -
http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums.../?action=view&current=Gurney20Story20001A.jpg
Midnight at Ruby's Drive-In 1950 HS Graduation


photo by Dan's mom from story in 'cardevotion' Legends have to start somewhere, and Gurney's started on a warm evening in the summer of his 19th year. It was 1950, a time of slow cars and streets so straight and empty they called to a generation of post-war speed demons the way the Wild West called to their grandfathers. But while racing between stoplights and sliding sideways on back roads slick with sap and orange blossoms was enough for some, to Gurney it was high school -- and this is his graduation photo. It's midnight, in the parking lot of Ruby's Drive-In in Riverside, California. He and his velocity-struck, bleary-eyed cohorts are on their way to the University of Bonneville, flat-towing their science project; a twenty-year-old Model A that, appearances to the contrary, would graduate on the far side of 130 miles an hour. Gurney is the grease-covered scarecrow in the T-shirt and ten-gallon hat; already head and shoulders above his peers, not merely unafraid of his future, but waving to get its attention.

 

I thought this was cool ........

 

Many of you have probably seen this photo before, but I'll post it anyway in case some guys haven't seen it. In case you haven't noticed, there's a girl sunbathing in the foreground.

 

Do not know the exact year mid eighties possibly

 

any pics of the mid 60 corvettes that ran there I thonk they were Bardahl (spelling) sponsered?

 

these are from 1950 - not sure of the nice car in the foreground - that's my uncle's '31 roadster behind it....and a shot of his built flathead....

 

Yes, Toby, I noticed the girl sunbathing. I also noticed the streamliner is Ells Lohn's blown Morris powered Wee Eel.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1275394&d=1300824445

That car is Seth hammonds original 77 lakester I sat in that car when I was seven that car holds the record for getting the most people in to the 200 mph club

 

Great pics. Lots of history documented here. Does anyone know what year tarps were required under cars in the pits?

 

Toby.....THANKS for all your research, I love all the old photos.
La Blanc Streamliner: I was there when it blew a tire and came apart at 200+, a friend of my brothers was driving, Glen Pingry, he lived but was never the same after.

 

This may be El Mirage, but it's still a cool picture.

 

Earl Evans and Wally Parks. Two giants in hot rodding. Earl's shop was about 2 blocks from our shop in El Monte. The F1 behind the lakster sat in front of Earl's shop until Gene Ohly bought the operation. Never saw Earl wearing anything but the tan work shirt and pants he's wearing in the pic. Some of the biggest names in early hot rodding were the most humble.

 

works for me!

 

Great shots, don't recognize the flathead tank at the top, second is the Vesco tank (well, it says so!, duh), and the bottom is Ermie Immerso, (I think)...Ermie not only ran Bonneville but built an AMBR winning AMBR, his fendered Ardun powered deuce roadster.

 

If my memory serves me right, thats the Garat entry 1958 or so. I went to school with Benny Garat in Riverside, it was a beaut.

 

This pic is also in Don Montgomery,s 'Hot Rod Memories' book. The guy in white was Ray Torres, with Ted Bear(L) and Skip Hudson(R). Rubies Drive In, was one of our
cruising hang outs.

 

More to come, but first, I'm pretty sure this is the powerplant for a Bonneville car. Who is he, what is it, and what was it in???

Could this be Bob McGrath's 1962 Redhead engine?

 

gosh. it does look a bit like bob, but that is definitely a jack lufkin engine; i'd recognize that bosch fuel injection anywhere!

with jack being from socal (originally from gloucester, massachusetts) and bob being from norcal, that doesn't seem like a very possible photo op.

i'm wondering whose engine dyno that is.

btw: there has never been a turbo in the redhead and i think the only time a chevy was ever in the redhead was after bob stopped driving and don hammon took over the driving chores. i think that must have been in '67 as bob drove it at a one-way speed of 331 with a chrysler "b" motor and the car had a 156 daimler hemi in it in '69 and '70.

 

Monty, always dig your experience. I was reading my 2011 program the other night and didn't realize how long ago you got your hat!