As a former FIAT owner and FAZA customer, sad to say Al passed away in 2012: https://hitthewave.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/al-cosentino-end-of-an-era/ He was a real character and I doubt there was ever a more passionate enthusiast for those cars.
That's BASS boat tail to you, Mister! I think I have a shot of this car from Bville, too, several years ago. Gary
Check this out! The Geisen Special for sale. Gary https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/...-the-day-1934-ford-geisen-special/?refer=news
Thought you guys might like to see some pix I took recently at Blackhawk Farms, South Beloit, IL during a National Triumph meet. I've no details. These beauts were racing in a pre-war class with a herd of mostly elderly MGs. Gary
Check this out!!!!!!!!! A thing of beauty. Gary https://petrolicious.com/articles/i...296391057&mc_cid=ee59a9a63b&mc_eid=4c22bf1aa0
A fellow I know acquired this car but he has little history on it..From the person in ME that he got it from it was [supposedly] built in CA; Crosley frame and running gear and gauges. The body is sheet metal; maybe all formed or various makes pieced together...Was intended for production with a GM 6cyl which would explain the hood [yuck] maybe in the early50's..It looks familiar to me but got no clue where I saw it, maybe in HR Mag..Any one know anything about this car?
And in a perfect world, we'd all have one of these bangers to run in our specials! Gary From a link in the Yahoo Racing History Group https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1119874841477825
Wow! This is an exciting thread! I have built a handful of specials in the past and many more bodies, but maybe I'm too old to build any more like the ones I've built in the past. From now on I'm excited about building cars that are a bit more wacky. You can see some of my creations on olympicspeedsters.com
The cars that were pictured at the start of this thread are what have led me to where I am today. My Dad worked for Greyhound in the 40s ,the porters knew he had a son and would wrap the magazines up for him.every Sat I would get new books. I don't remember the names but a 7/8 y/o would look at the car magazines and see the specials at hill climbs . That sparked my imagination to no end. Neighbor moved into the neighbor hood with a Whizzer and a midget. I worked around the house and he would let me ride the whizzer. I wanted to drive the midget,and he finally let me. Later found out it had a Koenig eng ,no starter and no clutch. He showed me how to spin it out and shut it off. I drove it in the pasture at 10/11 yrs old. I ended up with the whizzer years later.
In 1954 Bob Sorrell designed and built a car that he called the Sorrell-Manning SR-100. It was powered by a Chrysler Hemi. 4 Zenith Carbs topped a Cunningham Manifold. He kept one and built and sold 6 more. When Sorrell died the one here in the photo was found in a storage container. It was fully restored.
I haven't posted a photo lately of my SPECIAL.. For the new guys to this thread: We really don't know the original history of the all-American oval car as many or most don't have known facts for those found derelict. These cars were changed to remain competitive from week to week, when obsolete they were stripped of the good stuff or crashed and thrown away. But they were in their day, real Specials. .
I used to say, "I'm rarely wrong; My timing is sometimes bad!" But I was definately wrong in the case of the story that I posted on this thread a while back (at least a year) regarding Willis Baldwin of Santa Barbara CA and his Specials. I said that Baldwin designed and constructed a "Special" nicknamed "The Beetle". It was G. Thatcher Darwin (member of "The Throttlers Car Club of San Fernando Valley) that built the car.
John, I'm sure you remember seeing Rick Cannon run Darwin's Beetle at Monterey when he does not bring one of the Cannon Specials.
Terry, I don' remember that. The only one, other than the Mk I that I remember Rick brought to Monterey was that "Butt Ugly" Cannon MK IV Coupe (see photo). I'm sure YOU remember when Rick chased Buddenbaum around in your Parkinson Jag Special. I'm in correspondence with Dave Seely (son of Jim, the Cannon's cousin? and driver). I believe it was Dave who found and restored "The Beetle".
The Cannons and the Seelys are a long line of delightful renegades. They've been pushing the "norms" of automania (if that's a word) since at least the 30's. They jumped into the limelight in the 1st Pebble Beach races, what with their slicked back ("Duck-Tail") hairdo's, satin car club jackets ("The Throttlers") and white "Ducks" pants. Jim Seely drove the Cannon MK 1. It then had a flathead "Merc". It was very fast at Pebble Beach.
Here are some specials from South Australia.... 1. A little replica of a Kurtis car running a Daimler V8 that runs hill climbs. 2. This is a special that uses mid 30's Plymouth? as a base, another from the hill climb crowd.
The Jalopy Journal
