Has anyone ever seen photos of Atkinson's Used Cars on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, CA.? The lot was owned by Art Atkinson, the famed jalopy driver. The family doesn't seem to have any photos of the lot. I had the address at one time but it escapes me now. The era that would be the most interesting would be the late 1950's into the early 1960's. I sure would like to see what the lot had to offer. Thanks in advance for the help.
I don’t suppose one his customers was a little old lady? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
^That doesn't look good!^ Checked the link to the thread, glad to hear Art survived and raced the next week! Would you buy a car from this Man?!
Sorry, I have no info on Atkinson's lot, but I do remember another used car lot on Colorado Blvd in that same era - Marvin Lee's Used Cars. (the actor's name reversed). He always had some cool rods and customs on his lot. Hopefully someone will come up with some photos for you.
My older brother Rich, was the " lot boy " at Marvin Lee's . It was just east of Pasadena City College. I believe it was one of , if not the first , "High Performance " used car lots ! Marvin ran a streamliner at Bonneville.
Art Atkinson's lot was on the south east corner of Daisy & Colorado St. I grew up on Mataro St. just 3 doors west of Daisy. Blair's Speed Shop is on the north west corner of Daisy & Foohill. When I was a kid, I used to go by Art's lot. He kept his Jalopy in a small garage , at the back of the car lot. When you are a 7 - 8 year old kid , seeing a "race car" that you watched on TV on Sundays "live from Gardena Stadium " with Dick Lane announcing, that was a pretty big deal !
Thanks for those memories Pete. I too watched the jalopy races each and every Sunday afternoon. Art Atkinson was my favorite driver. I have meet the Atkinson family and that was a profound treat. Atkinson's son Mike is the current Director of Competition at the oval Irwindale Speedway.
One more thing about that flip. That small black item above Atkinson's car is one of his shoes. One day in the 1990's I learned that the wife of another jalopy driver had filmed the whole thing from the grandstands with her color 8mm movie camera. I drove to Las Vegas to get it and it is spectacular. We transferred it to videotape and played it at a jalopy reunion. You should have heard the gasps of horror from 200 stunned race fans in the room. Art was OK though, thank goodness.
I saw some '32's destroyed at the Danbury Racearena in the 1960's, but they ran a lot more on the West Coast. Did Hot Rodders pick up the pieces back then or did the cars go right to scrap? Bob
That would have been my dream job back in the day! One of my first jobs was "lot boy" at a regular plain-jane car lot, I got to drive some nice cars over for gas, air up the tires, whatever excuse I could find. But Marvin Lee had some really cool cars.
Here is my brother , Rich in the '50 Ford he bought from Marvin, while he was working for him at the car lot.
The Jalopy Journal
