Event Coverage The men that made deuces valuable in our day

That is insane. Every single one of the racers was a 32, 33, or 34 Ford. Coupes, Sedans, and Vickys oh my!

 

Thanks for posting. I'm the guy who was the Producer, Director, Editor, Music Conductor, and a few other titles who accumulated 12 hours of color 8mm home movies and converted to VHS tapes. Looking back, all this was landfill fodder that was caught at the 11th hour. As I always say, if the oval track jalopy racing era had never happened, all across the United States, the 1932 Ford Coupe and Sedan would have the value and significance of a 1970 Ford Pinto.
If you like what you see, there is the book "Memories of the California Jalopy Association". 288 pages and 1,550 photos.

 

Thanks for compiling all this history. There are a lot of guys who weren't there to watch this stuff as it happened. Just like the late model stock car racing where '55 Chevys were subjected to the same fate.

 

And probably every one of them was bought for 10 bucks back then. They were everywhere.

 

And most of the Pinto bodies were run on east coast modifieds.

 

Back in the late fifties my buddies and I would go to the Vallejo speedway (which was packed right in with our favorite wrecking yards) and watch the participants knock out the glass and torch the fenders off car we'd die for today. Oh well, middle of the last century.

 

Friend of mine built a Pinto bodied 'Sportsman' to run at Watsonville, CA. in 1972. Tech committee never saw a Pinto modified before, finally 'dared' to let him run.
Had to start at the back, though...NO PASSING for a couple of heats...
John was salty, but finally they allowed him regular entry. Laughable.
Car was nicely built, legal to rules, just 'advanced looking'. Progress.

 

We had a 1/4 mile paved oval in my hometown. We went there often during the early 1960's . The jalopy races were made up of a number of cut up and modified 1930's cars.

 

Actually, that looks to be the best use for 32-34 Fords....

 

Old dirt track racer told me that $40 was the going price they paid for '33 and '34 coupes in the mid '50s. When those got hard to find, they used '37 thru '39s.

 

Old dude like to show us before and after pictures too.

 

Healthy front bumpers and no side nerf bars and not much tire; though they seem to stick pretty good. Guesstamate to speed?

 

My 32 frame came out from one of them coupes - he said it ran ran small - big and bigger 317 flatheads then onto the Y-block and finally an FE.....you can tell by the mounts and carnage to the K- frame.......

 

A few from my area.

 

The body of this one is up in the loft of my Dad's barn. It's not near as cherry as it was in this picture.

 

Exact same thing happened in Canada.