I have a small collection of helmets, including a nice 'buble' face shield one. Out here in SoCal, vintage helmets are big business at the swaps. The days of finding cool vintage ones are getting far between. And as if I don't have enough 'collections'.
I have love these old helmets. I have 3 that were worn during the short existence of the Keystone Roadster Racing Association here in Central, PA. Holding them in your hand while looking at the old photos really makes everything seem more real.
Some old helmets have been recognized as art objects straight out of the box... MOMA, thr Museum of Modern Art in NY, has in its collection a classic bell Helmet manufactured in 1958. Artists are listed as Roy Richter and Frank Heacox, with Thomas Paulso listed as designer of the attached bubble face shield...I agree 100%, I think the design of the old bell is aesthetically PERFECT as a casing for the human head.
Many years ago while attending a Christmas Party a Mickey Thompsons house, we took a tour of the shop/garage, Hanging off the rafters were all the helmets that M/T wore
The Roy Richter biography is a FANTASTIC book and documents the development of the Bell helmet franchise. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in California hot rodding from the '40s-70s. http://www.amazon.com/Roy-Richter-Excellence-Art-Bagnall/dp/B0006EVBYE
"Safety Helmet (model 500-TX)" Artist(s): Roy Richter (American, 1914–1983), Frank Heacox (American, born 1923) Manufacturer: Bell-Toptex, Inc., Bell, CA Date: 1957 Medium: Painted fiberglass-reinforced plastic, nylon, and leather covered foam Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 10" (24.1 x 25.4 cm) Credit Line: Gift of the manufacturer MoMA Number: 265.1962
Tomorrow's New York Times: Helmet missing from MOMA! Picasso canvas, slashed out of frame and apparently used by thieves to wrap helmet, found in trashcan of Falafel vndor wagon on 5th Avenue...
I've owned several old Bell helmets,I've even contemplated adding them to the things that I collect since I read the last major thread on helmets a few years ago.When I was a BMX'er in the 70s,our factory team had Electro custom make individual helmets for all of us.I loved that helmet and the looks it got from the kids at the local track.When I changed teams,it got lost in the shuffle.To this day,I still reminisce about it and I've got a hard hat that I've done a lot of personalizing to.....I guess nothin' I ever get is exactly store bought
These are killer....check out the "Staff Serg." on the passengers goggle strap...I'd say that's authentic.
Great blog Jive-Bomber. The helmets of yesteryear sure have a lot of character. I have had these photos from the Tapiture site for quite some time. Kinda fun to look at them every now and then. Hope you don't mind me posting them.
The Bell is perhaps a classic because it is from a period when function, comfort, and safety seemed to be in a sort of harmony...after that time, safety became all-consuming and helmets closed claustrophobicly around heads, straps and tethers turned the driver into nothing more than a carefully bracketed control component, and pads and bars closed in from all directions. Drivers became genuinely safer, but all comfort and freedom were gone from the ride. It was something like aviation after WWII...the guy with goggles, cloth helm, and leather jacket found himself stuffed into a pressure suit, breathing through mechanical aids, strapped down, squeezed, and focused on a display of information rather than the world. He would have been dead otherwise, of course but hadn't comfort and coolness been nice? The Bell rings the same bells that make 1960 dragsters and 1940's Hellcats and Spitfires cool.
If anyone is looking to sell old helmets, I have quite a display. I'm looking to add to the display to make it bigger and better. You can text me at 507-384-1819 or email [email protected]
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