Hot Rods Hank Negley's "C" Class Deuce Roadster 123.79 in 1947 !

Alright guys,....

I have been looking at this picture of the Hank Negley "C" Class Roadster for some time and just love this Lil' Deuce Roadster,... The peak on the filled Radiator shell is very sharp and stylized for the year this car ran,...

I read in another forum that Hank retired as a L.A. Court Judge,.. But I don't know anything else. Anybody have any more information on this sweet lil' Deuce ?,..... Pictures? Details ?,....... For 1947 it looks pretty refined,.. The louvered hood, peaked grill shell, tube shocks,.... welded and finished spreader bar (Hank Negley is given credit for building the "V"ed' front spreader bar in the Joe Nitti Car),..Dropped axle.... does the car still exist ?,... where is it's last known whereabouts ,.. is it restored ?, lost ?,... Who is it's current owner?... I would love to find out anything I can about this cool Deuce !

 

One classy car.

 

Thanks Tman,.... Sometimes a car has all the correct elements that really come together and just nail it !,.... This is most definitely one of those cars.

Like I said for 1947 it had a lot going on !

 

Exactly, put it in the context of two years after the war, hell, guys were still serving overseas at that point! And here is this perfectly refined hot rod!

 

In those days, the classes were the reverse of what thay are now. ie, Class C had the largest cubic inches, and so on down to class A with the smallest. Pretty sure it was a flathead in '47. Flathead X class roadsters today run in the 150-160 range.

 

This has always been one of my favourite roadsters along with Nelson Taylors, I agree even in black and white you can see the visual clues to it being a nicely finished ride.

 

Bump for the evening crowd.

 

Harms Way, I seem to recall that Hank Negley's daughter joined the forum a couple of years ago and her first post was looking for info on her dad. Maybe you could dig her up in the archives. Jim

 

I found this bit of info on Hank snooping around on the net. It's about Swing dancing of all things. I know the rodders back in the day would go down to Balboa Island and rent beach house's in the summer months, must have been when this happened?

"What is Pure Balboa?

Pure Balboa is a style of dance which began taking shape in the late 20's & early 30's in Orange County, California to the big band swing music of the day. Specifically, it's birthplace is said to have been in or around the Rendezvous Ballroom on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach, California, thus giving the dance it's original name, The Balboa Shuffle, and later just The Balboa. Early innovators/influential dancers of this style include Bob & Marge Steinbrenner, Jim & Izzy Hignett, Gordon & May Almas, Dean & Nancy Raftery, and Hank Negley.



The dance is characterized by a very close upper body connection with your partner, and efficient, smooth, rhythmic footwork, often fast and with fancy syncopations on today's dance floors. In its original pure form, the dancers would never break away from each other and would rarely even move off the spot on the floor where they started the dance."

 

Harms Way, found a little more info on the Web, probably not much more
then You already have. I'll keep looking tonight. Also maybe Jimmy B. can
probably shed some more light....


Hank Negley's Roadster
http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Hank_Negley's_1932_Ford

 

How about it Jimmy B. ?,.... got any info on this Roadster ?

 

I know that you probably know this, but in the first Don Montgomery book, Hot Rods of the Forties, there are several pictures of the car. Seems to me that it is mentioned in there that he and someone else built very simular "sister cars" with some of the same details. Might have been Taylor?

 

hank Negley's roadster is also one of my favorites. Here is the link to the thread where his daughter responded, but apparently never came back.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7097&highlight=negley

 

Sorry, I have no info or know the current whereabouts of Hank's roadster. It is either a Street Rod or someone has it stored. Hopefully it will surface one day.

 

Are there any interior shots of this car ?,.... or anybody with some actual knowledge of how the cabin and dash of this Roadster was set up ?

 

Yep!----I posted the pix of Hank's '32 as you see it at the start, a couple years back, I still have the photo somewhere in my album.
Yes, its true that he became a judge in L.A. County, my good friend Dick Scritchfield gave me the pix of Hank & when I became a "HAMBER" I thought it should be on this site. Scritch's wife Marian retired as Chief clerk in the L.A. Court system & they moved to Kona, Hawaii in 1985, enjoying life until her death 10 years later.----Don

 

A neat looking roadster for sure! Good luck on your hunt. I will follow this thread and see if any new info pops up

 

Harm's Way, do you have the Don Montgomery books? I have been thinking about this car and your search the last couple of days now, and sat down for a bit and dug through all five of the books. I thought I had seen several pictures of the car in all of them, but I was wrong. In the very first of them "Hot rods of the Forties", Hank's car appears on pages 24,25,26,39 (engine shot),41 (dash), 70 (shows a bit of the interior), and 71. I haven't had time to go through my Tom Medly books or any of the others I have, but i will in the next day or so. I'm sorry I can't scan and post these, my scanner won't reduce in size to anything smaller than the side of an ocean liner, and I flat forgot to have kids to take care of such technical difficulties. Might be able to e-mail them to you though...

 

Well Guy's ,.......

Thanks for all your interest,... I am actually trying to find out as many details as I can of this car. no mater how insignificant it might seem..... I was told by somebody,.. that wasn't 100% sure,.. but they thought Hank's roadster was sold to Louie Shell of the Gophers at some point in time,... Is there any truth to this rumor ?,...

I tried to contact Hank's Daughter with no luck as of yet,... Did anybody know Hank or have any first hand knowledge of this car ?.......... Thanks Guys.

 

I lent out my "Hot Rods of the 40's" book and it never came home,.. I looked through "Hot Rod Memories" ,.. and no luck,.... Can anybody scan and post these pictures ?????

Thanks for all the help guys,.....

 

If I have any time tomorrow I'll try the scan and post deal again. I'd really like these photos to be out here for reference.

 

I know that Hank Negley did some work in the Joe Nitti Roadster,... And he is given credit with a couple items that are not identical,... but of similar theme on both the Nitti and Negley car,.. This is what it said in Kustomrama,....

Speaking of the Nitti Roadster

"Bodywork on the car (Nitti's) included filled door hinges from a 1940 Dodge, a peaked and filled grill shell with a custom front spreader bar built by Hank Negley, a shaved deck lid, 1939 teardrop taillights"

With the exception of the door hinges,.. these details are the same between both cars,... as well as the dropped axle and tube shocks.

I know Hank Negley was in the Gear Grinders, and Joe Nitti was in the Vultures,... but apparently they knew each other and there are a number of things similar between both cars.

 

I think there are more photos in one of the two Tom Medley books. I'll have to take a look.

 

Still looking for more detailed information......

 

Nothing in either of the Tom Medley books. I tried to mess around with the scanner today, but had no luck.

 

I know he ran a 37 Lincoln Zephyr steering wheel...the number 1 reason I have one in my RPU. Hank's car is one of my favorites.

Neal

 

OK,----I dug out my old books, Pages 70-71 has Hank's '32 hiboy, then I included my pix of Hank with the hand printing at bottom.
The other book is "Flat out"---Lots of 4 bangers!------Enjoy!---Don

 

Thank you Don! I hate to ask, but there are engine and dash shots of the car too. The dash in that car was neat, is there any way you could scan those as well? I listed all of the page numbers on the previous page.

 

"Sure", long as I have the book open---Here they are!

 

Well I cant see the dash pictures from Don,.... Can you describe the dash while we wait ?