History Vintage "Cageless" Midget Picture Thread

Great find !! I also have an original Solar rail frame midget that supposedly came from around Alta Iowa and I would have to look at my notes , but I think the name Erickson came up also.I also had a Kurtis Kraft chassis that I sold about 5 yrs. ago to a pharmacist in West Virginia. That chassis also came from the same area and possibly the same guy. Send me a message if you want and I will start digging thru some files.

 

Whoa...what did I miss here? How did this get to be a Solar? OP mentioned rail frame, that's all. Perhaps I'm taking the word "also" as pertaining to the car instead of Alta, Iowa.

I do not believe this is the midget Orv was running as he had another Chevy II as pictured below that he normally ran, but he did also have this other car.

If you are not in contact with Orv and/or Rosey perhaps I can help. PM for info.

 

Poor sentence structure on my part........never meant to imply that the car from the OP was a Solar.....a quick look at the pictures would not support that it is a Solar. My sentence should have read as follows:"I have an original Solar that ALSO may have come from the Alta, Iowa area and ALSO in my notes on history of the car, the name Erickson comes up.

I hope that you can help the OP as I remember you posting previously about some cars, drivers and events in that area.

 

That would be Great! I would appreciate any info on him. I guess the term rail should have been tube.

 

Hey Guys I'm looking for photos of Ciski's $ Midget, To Help with the Restoration We're doing on it...THANK'S In Advance.....................

 

If you haven't already, you might try to track down Ace Lane Jr. His father probably had photos that would be of help to you. I think Jr. is a Jersey boy.

Out of curiosity, any info about the sprinter in the background?

 

The 74 Stapp in The background is Mine, (No it's Not For Sale I get Asked to many Times)...Former Brewer 14 Out of Indiana...I know Ace, He's a Fellow Photographer and lives 20 minutes away

 

Making some progress on the Solar restoration. I am still searching for a fuel tank or some photo's of a tank so we can fabricate one if anybody can help me out I would appreciate it.

 

Thanks. I was just interested in the car, but couldn't do any thing with it even if you would sell.

I saw the cage and didn't think Stapp. I thought it might have been a Lloyd Shores car.

I started in sprinters in Indiana and the Brewer name has been around there for as long as I can remember.

Good to see you post again. Haven't seen around for a while.

 

Yeah , After A Fiasco with a Group I started on Facebook and Sprint Cars I just had to take a Break from Groups, Threads, Pages.....This was Steve's Last car with this type of Frame that He Built...I had a long chat with Him and He gave Me all the info about what it had when He Built it......

 

Rab, you might try Stan Lobitz.

 

Working my way through all the earlier posts, lots of great pictures. Raced micros in the 1970's, then 600 mini-sprints in the 1990's. One of my friends and fellow micro drivers was Paul Knierim who painted a lot of the cars that ran at Ascot back in the day.

Have a tube frame, torsion rear, cross spring front midget that I picked up in 1989. Casale rear end, no name box, Norden steering, engine was a Pontiac slant 4 with Hilborn injection. No numbers to be found on the frame. Had a bolt-on cage when I got it, which would kind of date when it last ran. Haven't done much with it in years, picked up a V8-60 to run with the WRA guys.

Pretty sure it ran at Ascot. My friend, now deceased, that was helping on the car had talked with a Norm Cole and was told it was built by Mickey Thompson, driven by Jim Hurtubise.

Would be great if any Ascot historians out there might have a photo or two of it back in it's heyday
.

 

Jim; The Car Belong's To Stan, We're Doing The Restoration For Him..........

 

Just wondering who wound up with the Twin Cam HAL midget project Dick Greene had in Stewart Florida? Bob

 

Did several guys run a $ sign in place of a number? I remember seeing one run at Danbury, Ct. in the early 1960's Bob

 

Back around 62 Herk did drive a Mickey Thompson built midget at Ascot. It appears to have had a Pontiac v8 in it that was probably a destroked/sleeved down motor that M/T had used when he was setting all those LSR records for Pontiac in various engine classes.

 

Rootie,
Thanks for the picture.
Looks like the same version of the Pontiac 194 four cylinder that I have. https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2010/08/1961--63-Pontiac-Trophy-4/3632031.html
If it was a sleeved V-8, I would expect to see more stacks. The one with the car I got had the pan and pickup modified so that the engine sat upright like a normal 4 cylinder engine.
Would be great to see more of this car.
Thanks again,
Les

 

TQ's in Southern California. Last year picked up a reel of 16mm home movie footage of TQ's in SoCal. Finally got it digitized, up on YouTube here:
Don't recognize the track, think it may be in the San Fernando Valley, definitely not El Toro where I started in micros.

 

Most were South Gate's "Trojan Speedway"

 

Just saw on another board that Aaron Willis who was a major player in the Chicago area midget scene for years - UMRA / UMARA - passed away New Year's Eve.

 

One of the Good Guys.

 

Sad to report the passing of Johnnie Dudevoir a charter member of N.E.M.A and a fine midget driver. He joined the Navy in 1943 when he was 17 years old with a letter from his mother. he saw action in the South Pacific on the air craft carrier the ' HORNET '. He drove midgets from 1949 to 1964 including a 250 lap race at Trenton where he finished 17th first Ford at finish. Johnnie got involved with the old timers in 1982 , a member of ACOT , Bay State Old Timers and Eastern Old Timers later named National old timers. He was a colorful character with GREAT stories and even greater advice , a real common sense guy from the Great Generation. He died in his own home at the age of 92 years exactly the way he wished. good friends Richie Brassard and Tommy Caruso tended to his every needs until the end. The memories will last forever for the ones that were lucky to know him. R.I.P.

 

my set-up from years past

 

Lost another one yesterday.

Mike McGreevy died at age ninety two. Two time USAC champ and many other midget accomplishments.

 

Hello guys
I juts found this thread and am loving it .
I bought this midget about a year ago .
I have very little information on the car

It had a chev 4 cylinder engine , with a 2 speed back axle , The same that was used in a model T ford ...

The car has been sitting for 40 years .
Any information would be great

I have also just bought another car but I think it was built here in south africa .
Replicating the chassis in the pictures

 

^^^^^ Very nice find, do you know were it raced? Welcome to the HAMB. The steering is Franklin if you didn't know that. Bob

 

Hi
Thank you for the information
It was raced in South Africa by Allen Shires ..

 

This is the second car I have .
The chassis looks like it has been made of a top side and bottom section and welded together . .
The body finish and construction does not match the hap hazard construction of the chassis .. .. And the steering box is of modern origin. It has a 4 speed Volvo gearbox with a model A ford back axle .

 

The first car might well be fairly original, probably home built. I am assuming that is a Chevrolet OHV 4 cylinder but would like to see a photo of the right side to look at porting. While there were a few Model A engines run in early midgets in this country, I am unaware of any Chevrolets and would imagine they might have been outlawed because of the OHV or, worse yet, categorized to run against Offies in later years.

I'm not into Ruxstall or Columbia two speeds but I'm thinking it may be a Columbia, but suspect would have been done sometime after the original build.

The second car appears to have a Chevy II engine and would certainly not be what might have originally been in the car. The body is typical, but not recognizable by me. The cowl seems to have a very rounded shape that doesn't blend to the body neatly.

My limited knowledge suggests that these might be typical of South African build efforts in the late 30's, early forties, and is why Jim Culbert (CAE) ultimately built and sold a significant number of midgets and/or parts into that market

 

I LOVE that car ! I have several of the older Chev engines and a 1927 rolling chassis in hopes of building a speedster....but an original midget would be even better. Sitting next to my old era Chev 4cyls. are a couple of the newer Chev II engines like your other midget has......both are fun little units. Best of luck with both your cars. Keep us posted.