History Eric Rickman photos for Hot Rod

Nice fire suit ….

 

Kent Fuller Chassis Co., The Man Himself Posed For A Series Of How To Photos That Introduced J&C Engineering’s Safety Hubs, Which Prevented Rear Wheels From Departing Broken Ford Axles.



Dean Van Lines Indy Car, Built By Wayne Ewing (from A.J. Watson’s Plans),




Because This Cool Neighborhood Scene Went Unpublished, We Can’t ID Anyone But Jules Marcogliese, Shown Installing A Plymouth Hubcap On A Shortened ’27 T. Cutting 8 Inches Out Of The Center Helped Trim The Weight To 1,480 Pounds.



No One Here Can Identify The Drivers, And No Coverage Appeared In HRM, But A Classic Gas Class Clash Between ’35 And ’41 Willys Is Our Favorite Frame From Three Rolls Exposed At Lions During The Mickey Brown Memorial.



“Yeah, It’s Got A Hemi” (but Not Much Else). We Know Nothing About This ’32 Ford Victoria Or Its Proud Owner

 

John Moxley Was Aiming To Alternate Chevy And Chrysler Engines For Two Different SCTA Classes And Hit 400 Mph. Instead, The Swoopy Streamline which Designer Alan McDougal Based Loosely On Fred Carrillo’s ’53 ’liner was Never Finished.



Rather Than Remove The Centersection Three Times To Drag Test Available 3.31:1, 3.91:1, And 4.55:1 Ratios, A Three Man Team Of “Dodge Trained Mechanics” Swapped Complete Rearend Assemblies, With Ray Brock Looking O in 15 Minutes!

Then And Now, We Wondered Why And Who Selected A 4,120 Pound, More Door Dodge Dart Phoenix To Take To Lions. Perhaps It Was The Only ’60 Model In The L.A. Fleet Equipped With The Dual Quad, Ram Induction 383. Its Best Three Run Average Was 14.99 At 91.64 With The 4.55


Fresh From Starring In The Movie Sex Kittens Go To College, Mamie Van Doren Was Reunited With Her Mechanical Costar And Its Owner, Norm Grabowski (who Had A Bit Part), For A HOT ROD Feature.



Teenager Jack Poetker’s First Car Was This All Pontiac ’39, Running A ’55 V8 Powertrain And Reversed ’53 Buick Wheels. It Appeared As A Rare, Single Page Feature.



Bell Auto Parts Came Up With A Novel Solution For Rodders Wanting To Run A Blower On The Street Without Attracting Undue Attention From Unsuspecting Fellow Motorists And Officers Of The Law.

The Offset Carb Adapter Carried Bell’s Cragar Brand. This One Was Installed In Jim Seaton’s Barris Built ’55 Chevy Custom.

 

He did have a great eye but, I'm really loved his Corvette!
Surprised nobody has cloned it yet.

Sent from my SM-G960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

For reference....

Sent from my SM-G960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The T tub of Grabowski's that Mamie is sitting in later became "My Mother The Car"

 

Dean....what type and size were the slicks you ran - were they always? the same size ?

 

Great thread LoudBang.......thanks for the effort !

 

Been through them all and no photos of the vette in this set.

 

Have gone through them all in this set and no photos of the roadster.

 

Those white walls were 8:20 X 15 Bruce slicks. When the M & H 9:00 X 15 came out I switched to those.

 

Eric sent me the out takes from the shoot, so I'm not surprised you didn't find any more. He took the photos in 1961, a full year before the article was published.

 

Master Of The Self Portrait As Lead Shot, Rick Used His Camera’s Timer And His Oldsmobile’s Carburetor Tops To Illustrate Installing A Set Of Replacement Master Float Valves, Which Reportedly Prevented Sticking Needles In Ford Holley Carbs And The Resultant Fire Hazard.



The Ohm Meter And “Kant Ker Rode”–brand Battery Hold Downs (on The Fender) Hint That Rick Staged Our Photo For A Tech Story In Some Petersen Magazine Or Do It Yourself Book.



We Strike Out Again On This Cool, 4WD Combination. Anybody Remember It?




Judi Nelson, Where Are You Today? Rickman Devoted An Entire (12 Shot) Roll To The Lady With The Customized ’55.



When Rick Returned To His Hometown To Cover The Oakland Roadster Show, He’d Start Shooting On Setup Day And Keep Shooting Until The Arena Emptied On Sunday Night.

Among The Last To Leave In 1960 Were Gary McArthur, Dwarfed By The Trophy Awarded For America’s Most Beautiful Competition Car, And A Few Workers Who Look Like They’re Good ’n’ Ready To Go Home.

The Olds Powered, Royal Blue Slingshot’s Fully Enclosed Body Was Built By The Recently Deceased Jack Hagemann And Scalloped By Tommy The Greek. Note The Polished Palamides Mags.

 

Oakland’s Biggest Winner Was Chuck Krikorian’s Barris Built ’29, The Emperor (now Owned By Blackie Gejeian).

The Ever Sharp Greg Sharp Recalls How Chuck’s Brother In Law, Richard Peters, Removed His ’58 ’59 AMBR Winning Ala Kart From Competition To Enhance Chuck’s Chances.

Unique Features Include A Handformed Deck, Rolled Fenders, And Tapered Tubing Fins Molded To The Fenders. Kirkorian, 21, Boxed And Channeled The ’31 Frame 8 Inches And Built The Cad Engine. He Went On To Help Build Three More AMBR Winners From The Fresno Area.







You Wouldn’t Believe How Many Rolls Of 1960 PPC Film Are Devoted To Go Kart Features, Events, And Track Tests. John Christy Was The Lucky Staffer Who Got The Test Pilot Job And A Cool Leather Jacket.




The Expression On John Christy’s Face Tells Us That He Might’ve Gotten A Little Too Much Air Under This Kart. That Landing Had To Hurt.





Several PPC Staffers Traveled To Baja For The International Grand Prix De Tecate, A 100 Mile Endurance Event. Factory Racer Faye Pierson (front), The Only Woman Entered, Shocked The Troops By Winning The Prestigious A/Super Class. Faye Is Still Winning Races Today, At The Wheel Of Tom Medley’s Vintage Go Kart.





Is This The World’s Smallest Engine Dyno? HRM’s John Christy Takes Notes While Tom Spalding (of Dual Coil Ignition Fame) Tests A West Bend 580 Go Kart Engine On His Custom Dynamometer. The Tiny Powerplant Put Out 4.5 Hp At 6,000 Rpm.

 

Thanks Dean....on those tires - some pics just make them look pretty big.

 

what awesome pix, thanx

 

Don't book mark many threads, this one is an absolute ruler.

 

What Was Presumably The Original V8 Falcon Was Created When Bill Stroppe (left) Stuffed A 320 Inch Merc Into This One (which Reportedly Went To VP William Ford).

Assisting For HRM’s Cover Story Are Bobby Strahlman And Don Edmunds, 1957 Indy 500 Rookie Of The Year, Who Worked At Stroppe’s Before Launching Autoresearch And Building More Than 500 Race Cars.






Back At Stroppe’s, The Same Three Heroes Who Swapped In That Y Block Look Like Three Guys You Know Who Can’t Get A Hood Open. Rick’s “grab Shot” Did Not Appear In Print (duh!).



Other Motorists On Signal Hill (Long Beach) Must’ve Wondered How A Lowly Falcon Economy Car Could Possibly Punish A Pair Of 6.50 13 Rear Tires Like This.

In Addition To The Bored 312 Y Block, Stroppe’s Shop Installed A Posi Axle Assembly From A Fullsize ’59 Ford, Re-drilling The Axles And Brake Drums To Retain The Falcon’s Four Bolt Wheel Pattern.

 

Here’s How Indy Cars Were Built In 1960, As Demonstrated By Bruce Crower For HRM’s Cover.

The Laid Over, 254 Inch Chevy In The Helse Special Was One Of Two Stock Blocks That Earned Headlines For Challenging The Offys And Threatening To Put Detroit Back Into The 500 For The First Time In Several Decades.




The Late Jack McAfee, A North Hollywood Porsche Dealer And Veteran Lakes And Road Racer, Challenged The Model A And Model B Motors That Dominated NHRA’s X/Dragster Class With A 600 Pound Digger. Powered By A 96.5 Cid Super 90 Flat Four,


In 1960, Phil Cartozian Was The Latest Owner Of A ’27 T Roadster “that Was Passed Around The San Fernando Valley For Years,” Remembers Greg Sharp. Prior Owners Included Dean Batchelor, Who Had The Bodywork Done By Valley Custom, And Don Prudhomme, Who Sprayed The Forest Green Lacquer Before Selling The Car—without Ever Driving It—to Support His New Dragster Habit.

We Love The Heavily Chromed, 392 Inch ’56 Buick Engine Built By Tommy Ivo. That’s A Weiand Drag Star Manifold Beneath The Stromberg Six Pack.



Here’s Where The Money Went From The Sale Of Don Prudhomme’s Street Roadster (above^). Notice That Nobody In Riverside’s Pits Is Noticing The Car Painter Who Assumed Ivo’s First Fuller Car On What TV Tom Calls “the No Money Down, Easy Payment Plan.” By The End Of The Season, This Gas Burning Buick Was
Winning Trophies.



We Recognized Rodger Ward In The Seat And J.C. Agajanian In The Suit, But Painful Recent Experience Misidentifying Road Race Subjects (ouch!) Reminded Us To Seek The Expertise Of Sporty Car Historians For Details. Alas, Even The Experts Are Stumped By This Mysterious injected V8 Combination.

 

Hi loudbang.Thanks for a most interestin thread.Always looked forward to Rickman`s photo shoots,and the published results.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Originally Featured In The Feb.’58 HRM With Bahama Blue Paint And Stock Bumpers, Bill Woodard’s Chopped, Full Fendered ’32 Was Photographed By Rickman Two Years Later With Chrome Wheels And Nerf Bars.

It’s Most Often Referred To As The “Neal East Roadster” Because East Purchased The Car Before Its Appearance On The First Fullsize Cover Of Rod & Custom (Aug. ’61).

Its All Chrome Undercarriage Was Among The First To Be Fully Plated. Picked As One Of The 75 Most Significant ’32 Hot Rods By A 25 Person Committee For The Deuce’s 75th Anniversary.



Mary DeMangus Posed With Friend Gary Buckland And His Yellow ’29 Ford Body On Z’d ’32 Rails. That’s A ’48 Merc Flathead With Offenhauser Heads And A Fenton Dual Carb Intake. We Like The Corvette Hubcaps.



Mechanic Fred DeOrian Poses With The Radical Side Wing Built For Fred Gerhardt’s Bardahl Special Indy Roadster.
The Driver Adjustable Airfoil Was Supposed To Aid High Speed Left Turns At The Speedway. Alas, The Car Failed To Qualify With Or Without The Wing.




It’s Not Often That Mister Ed Comes Up With A Photo That Earns Greg Sharp’s Highest Compliment: “Killer Shot!” Yeah, We Got Him With This One Of George Bignotti Watching Young Dean Jeffries Complete The Paint And Lettering On His Fast Bowes Seal Fast Special (whose Clutch Trouble Resulted In A 25th Place Indy Finish For A.J. Foyt).



The Hone O Drive Overdrive Unit Replaced The Tailshaft Housing Of Ford’s Cruise O Matic And Reduced Engine Speed By 30 Percent At All Rpm. Inventor Fred Hone (at Left In Previously Unpublished Outtake)

 

The body is clearly a Devin of some sort (the dash 'pods' are the giveaway), but the right-hand drive is a puzzle. There was (at least) one RHD Devin SS (Super Shillelagh, not Super Sports). V-8 Devins normally had one or two four-barrel carbs on a low-rise manifold.

Here's a snippet from RacingSportsCars.com:

The two Kurtis Kraft cars were listed in the B-Modified class in the program. The Devin didn't make the program at all, but a Devin SS would have raced in C-Modified. I couldn't find any other time Ward raced a Devin, so its a pretty good bet that the photo was taken @ the 1960 Riverside USAC sports car race.

 

Loudbang, thank you, thank you, thank you. The stories of the great cars and people are what I think makes them so interesting. Keep up the great history lesson, please.

 

These pictures are really cool. Thanks for taking the time to share! Subscribed.

 

Yes, That’s A Blower Bolted To The Just Introduced Slant Six. HRM’s Cover Story Led Off With A Brotherly Photo Of Paxton’s Joe, Andy, And Vince Granatelli With A Valiant, Corvair, And Falcon Empowered By A New, Shorter, Paxton SN 60 Unit Developing 10 Pounds Of Boost At 6,000 Rpm. This 170ci Valiant Thusly Picked Up 3 Full Seconds In Quarter Mile E.t., From 20.5 To 17.5.



Mickey Thompson’s Favorite Tin Man, Don Borth, Was Banging Out The Body For Mick’s Dragmaster Chassised Attempt I When Rickman Dropped By. Designed Primarily For Chasing Two Way USAC And FIA International Distance Records, The Car Would Set 12 World Records In 1960 For The Standing Start Kilometer And Mile On March Air Force Base’s Superlong Runway With Three V8s Supplied By Pontiac For M/T’s Challenger LSR Program, Now Displacing 503, 415, And 293 Cubes.



Years Before GMC Blowers Began Popping Through The Hoods Of Street Cars And A/FXers, Rick Shot A Full Feature On This Street Driven Corvette—which Never Made The Magazine, For Some Reason. We Know Nothing About It, Including The Name Of The Young Guy In Some Of The Frames. All That’s Printed On The Negative Sleeve Is “Hot Corvette.”



Before Anyone Thought Old Ford Parts Were Worth Anything More Than Scrap, Joe “Mac” McClelland Was Scouring Ford Dealerships For Old, Unused Inventory. Starting In The ’40s, He And Partner Gene Valdez Operated Ford Parts Obsolete.




There’s A Lot Going On In This Inyokern Photo, Shot By Whoever Picked Up Eric’s Backup Camera. The Official At Right Is Using An Anemometer To Ensure The Wind Doesn’t Exceed The 5 Mph Maximum Allowed During NHRA Record Attempts.

 

Two Wheelers, Like Go Karts, Were No Strangers To HRM. Staffer Bob Greene Was A Serious Rider, As Illustrated By The Daylight Under The Front Tire Of This 250cc BSA Starfire.



The Only Clues To The Chevy V8 Concealed Herein Are A Forward Rake “and The Sneaky Smile On The Face Of Petersen Editorial Director, Wally Parks,” Read The Caption For This Lead Shot, Captured At The Hollywood Bowl.



Midway Through NHRA’s Infamous Fuel Ban, HRM Served Up A Variety Of Gas Burning Top Eliminator Combinations That Readers Could Expect To See At NHRA Strips. Among Many Modern V8s Was This Trick Ardun, Photographed By Rickman In Someone’s Office.



Although He Gained Fame As A Pinstriper, Dean Jeffries Taught Himself Nearly All Facets Of Automotive Design And Construction. Here, He Uses A Body Hammer To Convert A Fluorescent Light Fixture Into A Custom Grille.



Note The Crossed Flags That Jeffries Attached To His Egg Crate Grille, And The Coat Of Arms That Covers The Corvette Nose Emblem.

 

Another unpublished shot from HRM.

 

Reading this thread neatly coincides with the Eric Rickman article, written by Pat Ganahl, which I'm currently reading in the March 2011 copy of Hot Rod Deluxe.
That Fred Gerhardt’s Bardahl Special Indy Roadster wing, and the Dean Jeffries light fixture grille, are just inspired.
Really enjoying this thread!!!

 

Of The Seven Rolls Exposed During A Hanford, California, NASCAR Race, Here’s Our Favorite Frame. The New, Bent Galaxie Starliner Is Riding On Its Right Rear Rim, Yet The Unidentified Driver Appears To Be Running WFO!



Talk About A Hands On Editorial Guy, Tech Editor Ray Brock (behind Left Front Tire) Designed And Helped Build The World’s First Jet Car For Nathan Ostich (steering), The Favorite Physician Of L.A. Hot Rodders And A Camera Buff Who Often Accompanied PPC Photographers To Races.




Again



Wedge Engineering Used A Pre ’49 Ford Differential And ’49 ’51 Ford Axles To Create A Quick Change For Modern Cars.
A Quick Change To Taller Gears Helped Joe Pisano’s D/Gas ’55 Chevy Drag Car Run 163 Mph At Bonneville.



Of This All Studebaker Clash Of “C/GS Kings” During Pomona’s NHRA Southwestern Divisional Meet, HRM Commented, “Both Cars . . . Can Lift Front Wheels Off Ground Going Into Second.” Doug Cook (far Lane) Overtook Junior Thompson To Claim Class Honors. (you should recognize both names they went on to be famous LOL)

 

Awesome photos!