History Bob Rounthwaite '34 Coupe: Beauty & Excellence

That is a beautiful car, Zephyr Speed. I saw it at LARS maybe three or four years ago before its nose job and it stood out as one of the nicest cars at the show (you had it parked next to a pretty nice blue 33/34 coupe) and then when I saw it last year with the new nose I was blown away. You have a stunning car!

 

I thought that I would add a couple of more photos of Bob Rounthwaite's modified coupe. One photo shows a rear view of the coupe as it is ready to blast off at the San Diego drags on Paradise Mesa. The coupe was at the starting line ready for a typical standing drag racing start. At the time San Diego was the only drag strip here using a standing start. Both Santa Ana and Saugus were using rolling starts. There was much discussion about the merits of standing vs. rolling starts then. You can see the quick change rear end in this photo. The other photo shows Bob's coupe on the way back from Bonneville and covered with the salt. He had received some sponsorship help from Sandy Belond, as noted in the lettering.
Since my name is Montgomery, I believe that Montgomery Pass was well named.

Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com

 

Fantastic photographs, Rockerhead - if you have any more please share them.

 

A comment was made that the Rounthwaite coupe was not known to drag race. By 1951 commercial drag racing here was less than a year old. Although many of us were racing at the Lakes we all had some background in street racing. Drag racing was just legal street racing, so most of us jumped right in. It was gave weekly chances to tune the car and work out problems.
When Bob started to build his modified '34 coupe his transportation machine was a nice, clean '40 sedan. He put his hot flathead engine in it and ran the Lakes with it in 1950. The attached photo shows it starting a run down the lakes course on El Mirage. The lettering shows his Russetta Timing Assn. no. 46A (A Sedan class), Howard Cams, Glendale Motor Rebuilders ( lots of guys had their engine machine work done there; including me) and the club name - GCRC.
When the no.69 coupe was completed, Bob ran it at the drags and Lakes.
The 7/8 front view shows the coupe at the San Diego drags in 1951.The guys behind the car are( front the right) Bruce Robinson, Chuck Abbott and me.
The last photo shows the coupe at Santa Ana (Orange County Airport Drags). Bob is on the right and Bill Coleman is on the left. Bill was a member of the GCRC then and his roadster still exists today as beautiful street rod after passing through several owners. Most of the photos I have put on came from either Bob Rounthwaite or Bill Coleman. Unfortunately both are no longer with us.

 

Here are the photos Sorry having trouble loading them

 

Don, more incredible information, thanks!

 

try again. Here the last 2 are.

 

Outstanding, thank you Don.

 

Here is a photo of the Robinson-Zable roadster and the Rounthwaite coupe at the Saugus Drag strip. Both cars were in the Glendale Coupe And Roadster Club (GCRC). It was "standard" procedure to run at the Lakes and then stop off at Saugus on the way home. Saugus was roughly halfway between El Mirage and home (Glendale area).
The Bruce Robinson-Don Zabel '32 roadster was one of the fastest class B Roadsters at the Russetta meets in 1951. Bruce and Don were also active in track roadster racing. Some weekends found them running their T track roadster on Friday nite, moving the engine into the '32 roadster for Saturday and/or Sunday at the Lakes and finishing at the drags on the way home. Bruce worked for Phil Weiand at the time.
The photo shows the relative size of the Rounthwaite modified coupe as compared to a full size '32 roadster. In the 1940s most people did not think that a coupe could go as fast as a roadster, but as you can see the coupe's frontal area compares well with the roadster.
As you can see, in the background, the Saugus drags (at the 6S Sky Ranch) were really out in the boondocks. The guys behind the cars include Bob Rounthwaite (second from the right), Larry Shinoda (third from the right) and Bruce Robinson (in the pickup). Note that the roadster had Indy tires on all four wheels.
Saugus was a little primitive but it was a "racers strip" run by Louie Senter and Lou Baney (Baney was the President of the Russetta Timing Assn. at the time). We were treated well. The X marked on the roadster denoted the classification at Saugus on that day.
It is nice to see the nice comments on Bob Rounthwaite's creation. I am sorry he is not around to see them.

Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com

 

Thanks, Don. These pictures are great stuff.

 

Acmo Mclaughlin and Bob Rounthwaite.

 

The photo was taken at Saugus drag strip. Tom Acmo McLaughlin is the guy on the left and Bob Rounthwaite is on the right. The T track roadster was borrowed from Bruce Robinson or Yam Oka to go drag racing. They put a GMC engine that Acmo had been running into the roadster. Note the beer can air horns. Acmo did the lettering on the roadster, including the Chet Bigham Axles. The roadster had one of Chet's open tube axles as made for track use - sprint cars and track roadsters. The writing on the cowl said Weiand Equipt. Actually the days of the track roadster were over by this time as all were being converted or replaced by sprint cars. That explains why Tom and Bob were able to use this roadster for drag racing.

They were good times - Don

 

Bob Routhwaite is my great grandfather. It ia s so great reading history I can no longer get from him. My uncle Bill Floyd is planning on building a tribute to this car! https://www.facebook.com/bill.floyd.9231/posts/1768565773161237

 

favorite of mine since SRM did a "let there be lakes series" go uncle bill go !

 

Welcome Jennifer, will look forward to your progress,this place will be a wealth of info for you on the build.

 

Please can you post progress of the tribute car on here, Jennifer Flores?

 

Will do! Here's a few pics I don't think I've seen posted here yet. My apologies if any have been duplicated




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The combination of colors is outstanding (red and gold). Is this going to be part of the recreation? Please be sure to keep us posted! Thanks

 

Bad ass coupe for sure!

 

Well Uncle Bill hasn’t gotten around to the rebuild yet. Kyle Cummins pink 69 car is a sort of tribute to the pink 69 car he and gramps built in the 70’s. I got a box in the mail from Uncle Bill the other day. In it was gramps wallet, his Rusetta Timing Association membership card, and a box of negatives he had sent and got back from Rockerman/Don Montgomery (may he rest in peace ) having fun going through this old stuff


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Jennifer, thanks for the update and new photo.