History The Mystery of Ran’s Auto Works

I ran across this and said to myself "HHMmmmmmm". Cowboy movie star Buck Jones and his 1930 Cadillac built by Harley Earl. Earl and Kurtis where doing some similar styling ques.



It still exists. No info on current owner

 

Auto Forensics. HAMB exclusively.

 

One can just imagine what the spindly fella with the dingle ball hat got up to car wise...

That threadstart custom/hotrod hybrid resembles the cartoon balloony looking depictions of the thirties. The suggestion of it being a pushcar is very valid and it has additional bars up that possibly were used for that very reason.

 

Yeah cause there's no beating a red or black '32. This is in line with what was being built in the mid to late 30s even into the early 40s. Look at the cars Frank Kurtis was building add to that George DuVall, this was of the times. Very art deco, not the best representation, true, but still a cool custom.

 

Might look ok as a Firechief's car.....but as a 5000 lb looking Model A custom, no.

 

I suppose they look the same, if you're looking through a fish eye lens.

 

Ok, back to roadsters with an Art Deco look, the Eugene Von Arx special reminded me of the Mike Lopez/Ray Lisea T roadster that HAMBer lucky_1974 owns





https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...dster-from-1958-oakland-roadster-show.628433/

 

Pretty darn cool that is......and its still around...and a thread to boot...thanks for sharing that @Jimmy B

 

I don't think the Ran's car was a pushcar. The pushcar reference was in regards to the white Chevy in the background. As seen in the 1940 pic I posted earlier, many of the pushcars at Ascot South were white.
Incidently, the pic was taken near what is today Tweedy & Burtis. There's nothing there but a fenced off vacant lot.

 

Thanks for the pushcar explanation...they were light cars and that well could have handled the chore especially with a larger engine which could have been a possibility. Did pushcars have a more visible mod to the front such as a board like addition?

As for the former hubbub of activity a dusty memories with a reminder of the past which happens alot as the times are constantly changing.

 

The trestle like structure can be seen in the original photo background.

 

paging @J.Ukrop

Well I was just snooping around the Hamb and being the treasure trove of Hotrod/Custom everything I have Found a piece of the Ran's puzzle. A thread on the Car itself posted by Hamber @Bob Lincoln some time ago...Many answers are within the Document he posted which ran in a publication called...October, 1937 AUTOBODY TRIMMER AND PAINTER magazine...Anyways here ya go...He only had 9 posts...Glad you posted this Bob...



https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/picture-from-the-past.930489/#post-10483799

Credit to Photographer, Owner
& Hamber @Bob Lincoln
​

 

Good result Stogy. The mystery solved.

 

Very nice @Stogy and Bob! Thanks for sharing

 

Stogy's the man! Thanks

 

...Just spreading the Gospel fellas...Thanks......it is great to find something to connect the dots...and as the story goes he built it for a role of a shop truck...including towing Midget Racers as alluded. It would be nice to see what else came out of his shop back in the day. 1937 that A Bone was still a relatively new car.

 

Thanks Stogy.... VERY interesting.
I came across another small article on the same car a while ago. It was published in the January 1951 of Ford Times magazine in their ‘Custom Conversion” section. The owner and builder is Ran Wilbur of Los Angeles. And it looks like the photo used in the ’51 magazine was also taken in ’37, same license plate is showing as the original black and white photo from this post.

 

Thanks for sharing that @Rikster it definately got some press...this was a standalone and a very polished one at that...I wonder if he just ran the 4 banger...it doesn't explicitly say... in 37 the V8s were out already...

 

Great detective work, Stogy. You have a mind like a steel trap.