Were the Outriders a hotrod club when they started, or were they a car club that evolved into a hotrod club? If they started as a hotrod club, I stand corrected.
Another club that deserves mention are the *Knight Riders* established in Fullerton in 1934..........one of the original members, Bernie Couch, still drives his '32 Ford Roadster today! My late buddy, Jim Moore, wrote a pretty good biography of the club: <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> [FONT="]RACING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION:[/FONT] [FONT="]THE KNIGHT RIDERS[/FONT] [FONT="]By Jim Moore[/FONT] [FONT="](Rev. #1 - see underlines)[/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Following the Stock Market crash of 1929, California, like the rest of the country, was reeling from the devastating effects of the Great Depression. By 1932, the state’s unemployment rate was 28% and by 1934, one-fifth of all California’s work force was on relief. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Despite these dire economic circumstances, young Southern California roadster enthusiasts, with the eternal optimism of youth, had begun banding together to form racing clubs to compete at Muroc (Rogers), El Mirage, Harper, Rosemond, and Lucerne dry lakes in the nearby desert. (While the exact date of the first roadster club founding is elusive, reference to one club, the Outriders, has been documented as early as 1932.) Actually, the very first organized speed trials at Muroc were promoted by Earl Mansell of Pasadena and took place on October 9, 1927.[/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]On November 5, 1934, a group of roadster owners, most of them Fullerton Union High School graduates or students, met to form a racing club they named the Knight Riders. It is unclear why they chose this particular handle, but in March 1940, the members voted to change the club’s name from the Knight Riders to the more socially acceptable sounding California Roadster Club. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Among the Knight Riders’ charter members was Duke Hallock, creator of the first vee windshield for ‘28 and ‘29 Model A roadsters. Duke’s design was inspired by the ‘29 Auburn speedster and ‘30 Duesenberg roadster, and his windshields are highly prized to this day. Another charter member, Ed Adams, went on to be the first president of the Southern California Timing Association in 1938. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Each member of the club had a black leather jacket with the club emblem on the left pocket and a hand-painted sheet metal Knight Riders plaque with his number on it. The number was assigned by his roadster’s speed, number one being the fastest. Duke was the first holder of the number one plaque. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]By 1936, the ranking of the club’s roadsters by number had become controversial, so in June, the members traveled to Lucerne Dry Lake where a series of timed speed trials settled all arguments once and for all. Rules were then established that if a member wanted to advance his number, he must make an official challenge and put up $1. If he won, he got his dollar back and got to exchange plaques with the loser. If he lost, 50 cents went to the guy he challenged and 50 cents went to the club treasury. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Because the Ford V8 was in its infancy when the club began, nearly all the Knight Riders roadsters were powered by hopped up 4-bangers, including 7 Cragars, 4 Winfield flat heads, one 2 Port Riley, and one 4 Port Riley; there were also 2 A-V8 roadsters. A Yorba Linda, CA, newspaper account dated June 6, 1937, described the following exploits of home town boy Mel Ball, a member of the Fullerton Knight Riders: “After showing a speed of 105.26 miles an hour in his qualifying run, Melvin Ball of Barton’s Garage took first place in the Class C race for stock body cars at Muroc Lake Sunday. And for being second fastest in cars equipped with a Cragar head, Melvin was awarded a substantial merchandise order.”[/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]On May 16, 1937, the Knight Riders, assisted by the Tornados of Santa Ana, and the 90 MPH Club of Los Angeles, staged the first car club-sponsored time trials at Muroc, under the banner of the Muroc Racing Association. In November of that year, several roadster clubs got together to propose a merger, resulting in the formation of the Southern California Timing Association, with the Knight Riders’ Ed Adams as its president. Other charter members with the Knight Riders were the Roadrunners, Sidewinders, Throttlers, Ramblers, and Idlers. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]With the beginning of the Second World War in December 1941, the Army Air Corps quickly took over Muroc Dry Lake, effectively ending speed trials for the duration. Knight Riders/CRC member Bernie Couch returned from military service in 1946 and took up with the club where he had left off, racing the ‘32 Ford roadster his brother had helped him buy some years earlier from the used car lot of McCoy and Mills Ford in Fullerton. Not only did Bernie manage to wring out more than 134 MPH from his roadster at El Mirage, but he was one of the few guys with a camera in those days. Thanks to his foresight, we are able to enjoy the pictures accompanying this story. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]For many of the California roadster Club members returning from the war, roadster activities had to be put on the back burner as they married, bought homes, and had kids. As membership in the club dwindled, the remaining active members like Bernie, Wally O’Brien, and several others joined the Strokers of nearby Whittier. The Strokers was a very active club in SCTA in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Meanwhile, the disbanded California Roadster Club soon became just another asterisk in the dry lakes history books…until 1990. That year, roadster enthusiasts Duane McKinney and Tom Schauppner saw a need for a real hot rod roadster club and resurrected the California Roadster Club. Unlike the usual power parking, lawn chair lounging street rod dudes, these guys were the real deal. By 2004, the California Roadsters had grown to 23 members, nearly all of them boasting racing credentials, including two Bonneville 200 MPH club members, a two-time winner of the great American Race and owner of the world’s fastest street driven roadster, a road racer, pro-stock and top fuel drag racers, a sprint car racer, an off road racer and the owner of the first door-slammer, a Pontiac Firebird, to break the 300 MPH barrier at Bonneville...a feat Duane likens to climbing Mount Everest for the first time. Most remarkable guy of all, however, has to be the original Knight Riders and California roadster Club member, who has now owned his ‘32 Ford roadster nearly 64 years: BERNIE COUCH.[/FONT] CB <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <woNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <wontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin 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(While the exact date of the first roadster club founding is elusive, reference to one club, the Outriders, has been documented as early as 1932.) It's nice to see this. Thx to Cruznbrucie for posting Jim Moore's story. The Outriders have been around for 80yrs! While not always being in the limelight, Their members were, Manny Ayulo for one went to Indy which was a pretty great feat! In the 50's many of these clubs changed, some became social clubs others stayed hard core lakes clubs. Back in 1982 Ed Newett wanted to throw a picnic for all of his old Hot Rod Pals! Ed had a very traditional 32 Roadster-being a member of the Outriders from back when, He became the head guy. This picnic grew as it was just originally people that Ed knew. The picnic became larger and Bob Anderson's yard was the place we held them. Ed, Bob A. another Bob H. and one other liked my 30 RPU and 34 3W. They inducted me into the club. It took 4 guys in those days and we probably had only 20 guys in there then. That was nearly 30yrs ago! We now have 50 guys and a waiting list of at least 20. It's still a Hot Rod Club and many still dry lakes race. I'm glad to be a part of it.
Hello all if anyone can find out it would be interesting to know the true history behind the car clubs. No one really knows when it was founded and by which club. A/C's have been given a bad rep by the M/C world for not knowing their history. For many years we have not obtained respect from them lets get what we properly deserve. With that being said so far we have Outsiders of 1932 then the Knight Riders of 1934.
Alot of the information has been documented, I have read books written by Tex Smith and less notable authors that talk about the whole 30s-50s era with lots of info about the clubs. Good book to read is Flat-Out which is sold by Sacramento vintage ford.
Sorry but 1897 is not of the traditional hot rod time period. Almost as bad as saying I have a 1965 hot rod.
Here's a scanned copy of article from local paper when our club was dedicated into existance, circa 1953.
Can anyone shed more light on the Ramblers of Beverly Hills Car Club? Or more importantly a man that had the last name of Sallisbury? I have a tool chest with his name and Club Plate on it, I would like to find more history of them.
i thought fred was a water buffalo, not sure if the water buffalos was a car club! and even if they were i dont think they were continueous.
what about the pissed off bastards of berdo? they were a custom car / motorcycle club est early on, maybe the late 40s some time and still going strong. maybe someone could shed some light on them.
Old thread I know, sometimes you just stumble on things when looking for something else... My recollection is that the Outriders were only around for a few years back in the day and then were resurrected sometime in the '80's? Does that sound correct? If so that might disqualify it based on continuity.
I can't imagine that during the WWII years that ANY hot rod car club remained active, with both the inability to purchase gasoline, along with the members that were more than likely a little busy with serving their country. I do know that the Prowlers Car Club (San Diego) was established in '47, and that they remain continuously active.
There is a club called "The Road Ratz" out of Minnesota that has been around quite a while, they are just a bunch of old flathead racers. Probably started close to that time frame.
I think our club is the oldest. Our President and Vice President were both older than 90 and our young whippersnapper members are over 60. Want to join us? The on-going discussion about which club is oldest is crazy. It would be better to say they are "One of the oldest" and leave it at that. There is no prize for being the oldest.
Funny awards for the first Car Club established in California in 1948 when 11 earlier The SCTA already had quite a few clubs all based in California.....
I believe the recognition was for being the oldest still active club but I could be wrong. I'm sure there were other clubs around prior to 1948 but no longer active ? I thought it was cool that Gene Winfield was a founding member too so there is that. But there's always gonna be "that one guy" and I'm not here to argue with anyone. Have a great day.
My buddy Don Bohnenkamp is a road ratz member, he once told that their version of a club plaque was one of the members writing "road ratz" on your bumper with an arc welder.....
I was going to start a classic car club back in the 50's called "Classic Procrastinator" but never got around to it. Maybe soon though.
The oldest club in Buffalo NY is the Clutch Artists Inc. that was started in 1954 and still very active today.