History Battle Lines and the Brutality of Sport

The vast majority of hot rods built for the road follow the drag racer theme more than any other. You could make the same case for early lake racers, essentially designed to go fast in a straight line. For a short time in the late 50s thru the early 60s there was a small blurr in the line as some hot rods got their body work influenced by sports car styling on key elements. Drop down doors and heavy channelling seemed to bring elements of both together. Even today the drag theme tends to dominate the majority of builds, especially on our early cars. A "Pro Touring" early Ford would look silly, right?

 

Most of those Devin bodied sports cars were more hot rod than sports car usually being built in someone's home garage and then raced against high end at the time sports cars on the track.

I traded for a raw Devin body in the early 80's that I ended up selling to a friend because it caused me to itch so bad every time I moved the pieces around the yard. He and his son are just now getting it ready to go on the road.

 

The lines tend to blur when you see a Healy with a small-block, or some of Ak Miller's efforts, or Duffy Livingstone, or possibly Max Balchosky's "Old Yeller"series!!

 

Blurred from the opposite direction, this Jag powered T was said to meet many a challenger in the Bay area back in the day.

 

The 'sports car' bunch has always been disdainful of the 'crude' American performance approach with it's substituting of brute force for the elegance and sophistication of the European model (in their eyes). The very public spankings they've received over the years at the hands of 'hot rodders' like Carroll Shelby, Ak Miller, Briggs Cunningham, FOMOCO with it's GT40 program (to name just a few) have been huge embarrassments, generally causing them to even-more-loudly proclaim how crude we are... LOL.

To be fair, the maze of regulations/tax schedules the European performance industry has had to navigate makes the American model impractical over there.

 

The whole debate of being hot rodder or sports car is wasted on me, because there is a little of both in all of us.

To me, the drag car is instrument of fearsome power, but handling is junk.
A race car is a god on a track, but a PITA in normal traffic.
A muscle car is faster in a straight line, but doesn't match handling to raw power.

But a hot rod is capable of high speed, handling, drag racing and daily duties.
You can even claim that it's fast in a straight line, fun in the bends.
Sports cars is more plug and play. There is a lot of il-handling, slow driving, loud and unfinished sports cars around, as well as hot rods.

What appeals to me is the rough, simple to the point of crude, and most of all going fast cheap.
It is the same thing that speaks to me in a Austin Healy 100 as in a fender less A-bone.
To me the Austin is a stylish 32 for people that are two-open-end-spanners-from-a-full-set, and not in the intelligence part.

But there is also a bizar part of me that loves two see a ford galaxie 500 going side to site with an angry little cortina barging at the door. Going head to head, seeing the cortina out brake the galaxie, and then hear the big roar so loud that the cortina goes silent for a minute, and fighting all over again in the next corner.
And this tells me that handling ain't all, but neither is displacement.

 

The same with my family.Porsche's,MGA's TD's,Jags Auburn's to Lead Sleds and Drag cars,we cover it all.The thing is,I can't imagine life without either.

 

The Devins and the Astra bodied cars were very memorable cars to me. I' d be willing to bet that only a small portion ever reached completion in any form, whether on the track or the street! I remember one from upstate Vermont that was nicely finished powered by tri-carbed Pontiac. The history of this one is out there, keep diggin' boys!

 

Cram a mill like that down a sports car's throat . . . looks like a hotrod to me.
Seems to me that a majority of HAMBers appreciate cool cars regardless of the pedigree, especially the Go-Fast type. The fact that traditional hot rods and customs are atop the Cool Meter does not negate whatever coolness sports cars (or what-have-you) possess. Which, depending on the sports car, is beaucoup. A Devin, granted, is down the food chain, but well, there you have it.

Good stuff Joey. Anyone who has driven the crap out of an MGB on mountain roads cannot possibly say that sports cars are not cool. Let the haters hate.

 

When I was in high school, I saw a Devin-bodied drag car at Dave White Chevrolet in Sylvania, Ohio (where I grew up). It was in the back, and they let me look at it... it was worn, faded, and all original... small block Chevy with finned Corvette valve covers, but I don't remember the induction. The shop guy showing me the car was telling me some bullshit story that made no sense, so I just shut up and ignored him while I looked the car over. Manual trans, quick-change rear and pie-crusts.
I've since seen published pictures of one of the original Gran Sport Corvettes racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona, identified as then being owned by Dave White Chevrolet in Sylvania Ohio.
I always liked the Devins, and the other sports rods like Cunninghams, Scarabs and Cheetas.
Here's some interesting reading on Devins.
http://www.devinspecial.com/featured-cars.html

 

That is a really neat car! Hope someone steps up and rescues it.

 

No blur in this shot from the link above. There's a pantload more in there and worth a look. Several sinister drag versions and a German one with a wicked hard top fixed to it, but this one? Holy butt munch!

 

Just as an aside, for what it is worth today. Bill Devin's shop in Lancaster, Ca. is now the Sheriff's substation. To be exact, I believe it is the parking lot for the patrol cars. How's that for a brutality vs humanity irony?

 

Is that a current picture, is the car still around, for sale perhaps?

 

No, I robbed that pic off the net a few years ago and it was some indeterminate age then. Sorry.

 

Thanks for letting me know man, I was having visions of a Jag powered T roadster, set up as a road racer, kind of like what Ak Miller ran in the Carrera Panamericana, probably better this way though, I have enough projects.

Back to Joey's original topic, I'm pretty happy to walk the line between hot rods and sports cars, I have a sbc powered Healey and just picked up a Buick 215 alum v8 to go in my MGB daily driver.......

 

What a great thread!RE the Jag engine T- I have considerable experience with the Jag DOHC six.My father had several XK120 through early E-type cars and I did a lot of the engine work on them.It is a pretty engine and a reliable one,but it is heavy and doesn't really make a lot of power.It is EXPENSIVE to rebuild! (at least by my standards).The old 3.4 liter was usually rated around 225-250 hp depending on year.The 3.8 in Dads 62 E was iirc rated at 265 hp.If you can get away from the factory carbs and distributor the engine is an anvil.The later 4.2 was the end of the line displacement wise for that bore center in that block.You can often pick 4.2s up cheap by buying the junk XJ-6 sedan they are in.I bet one would be great fun in a T.If anyone decides to build such a car I still have a set of cam covers from a 52 120 that are marked "Jaguar type C" I would be glad to contribute.I had an XK- 140 years ago that I picked up for very little-like 200 dollars(1972 dollars) no engine or trans.I put a 340 hp 327 and Muncie 4 speed in it-easy job-you lose 100 or so pounds,pick up 100 hp and it doesn't care about rain anymore! Dad wouldn't speak to me for a month.

 

A Hot Rod/Sports Car is my goal with my '61 Bugeyed Sprite. A 289 with a Holman Moody tri-power, manual trans and a 9". It will also have a narrowed 60s Jag front suspension, chopped down windshield, custom grill/opening.

I want this to appear as if it was built in the early 60s. I have a few magazines from that time period that showcases cars that were built like this. It was somewhat common practice.



BloodyKnuckles

 

That sounds like it will be pretty much uncontrollable.....I love it!
But did the poor little Nash Metro really have to die to contribute it's hood bulge & scoop?

 

I'm thinking it may be interesting to control but I cannot wait.

That scoop is from a donor parts Metropolitan. Mine is still complete and 99% rust free. You looking for a project?


BloodyKnuckles

 

Not looking for any more projects thanks, trying to stay focused on a couple in process now until they're done. (Although..... I could easily be distracted by a chopped A-V8 coupe project.)
Always had a soft spot for Metro's, had one when I was about 12, used to race around the back yard in it.