History HELP! History needed on this 57 Chevy gasser barn find

Thats a good place to start with the former owners name as theres lots of sites with racers names, stories and pics. Have you tried just typing his name with 57 Chev drag or strip car? Although you like it nose down it would be cool to see its former self perhaps it was the other way...up.

 

Man, that thing's got a stance like a stud field mouse, luv it!

 

This is soo cool.
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Please take plenty of pics for us "Von Hartmann Junkies" I was excited when I saw activity on your other thread but it wasn't you I was hoping on a update on that project.

 

Friggen awesome

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...haven't found any info yet,..there's a swapmeet in Sterling in a couple weeks, will ask around about it there,...mite get some info...

 

Missed this the first time around. Cool car and I hope you can find some history. Sad that so many old drag cars lost their identity over time.

 

I turned up history on the car. It was built by the Sliwa bros in 1969 and was bronze firemist with “Groundhog” painted on the door. Both brothers are still alive and I’ve talked with Glen Sliwa several times over the phone. I’m still hoping to get access to the rest of their photo album of the car. They raced it as a BB/A with a Chris Karamesines 354 Hemi switched over to gas, tucked under the windshield. It had a 671 blower with an Enderle injector hat, 727 trans, and 8 3/4 rear. It ran 9.80s with this configuration. The hemi was swapped out later in the 70s for a 440 6 pack which put the car in the high 10s, low 11s. At that time, the car had steel doors and Ansen slots. Another racer who owned the car after the brothers swapped the doors for fiberglass, added the 16” rear wheels, and made several other revisions.

 

Terrific that you found the builders! Great photo. .

 

How's the project evolving @Von Hartmann and does finding the original build pics change your direction at all? 2022 starts off with a bang!!

 

So far I haven’t attempted to start the project at all. I’m still hoping to receive more pictures of the car to use as inspiration, but this car will not be restored to the way it was last raced, but will remain a supercharged altered. I’m in the parts collecting stage of the project and I do have to say, there is some cool stuff stashed away for this car. With everything going on in the world, I find myself once again back to work on setting my shop up all over again. For anybody that has wondered why my personal builds stalled out on the HAMB, I have spent the last 5 years investing everything into my shop and turning my hobby into a business. Here’s a shot of my current shop with HAMBer Brent ‘s coupe along with the Freakin A.

This year, as much as I like to dive into another build for myself, I have my hand full moving this shop to another building that I purchased last year. The new building is considerably smaller than my current setup, and although I’m going to greatly miss the additional car parking and storage I have right now, the new location, in theory, should streamline my shop builds.

Here’s a shot of what is in the process of becoming the new Hartman Specialties shop.

 

Love the shop. Good luck and keep us in the loop. A Hemi........hmmm. Lippy

 

To cool...I didn't realise you were involved in Brent's Hotrod build...awesome career and fantastic things evolve between your shop walls...

Another thing to look forward to in 22...

57's make nasty street and strip machines...

 

Thank you on the shop.

I bought and parted out a 1955 Chrysler saint regis for its 331 Hemi and triple nickel heads. After much thought I ended up selling the motor last month. It’s looking like this is likely the setup that will land in the 57.

 

Cool that you were able to find history on the '57 and even talk to the builders of one of the previous versions of it, that's great. Really cool old building you're moving into as well. Old buildings are really neat but often turn into big projects of their own, as I full well know. But it should be worth it once you're set up.

 

Great to read up on the 57's history. Congrats on your business getting traction. BTW, I read where Henry Ford recommended reinvesting profits back into a new business for the first 5 years.

Love the new shop. Vintage buildings are awesome and really special. Hope you keep the outside of the old building as is.
When they built a new ballpark here as part of the Downtown redevelopment, they saved a fantastic turn of the century building, incorporating it into the build by using one corner as the left field foul pole. Very creative. A friend of mine was awarded the contract to do all the interior millwork, bars, etc.

https://heritagearchitecture.com/portfolio/western-metal-supply-co-building/

 

So does mounting the rack in the right position and getting the tie rod lengths and angles right.

 

What an awesome idea! Being in my neighborhood, I’ve seen some of the most amazing historic buildings being bought, sold, vacated, neglected, demolished, lit on fire, etc. but I’m a day late and a dollar short. I never anticipated leaving my current shop. When I set out to put together a shop I couldn’t get any support in purchasing a building in the old manufacturing area of Rockford. Being a broke millennial, I managed to get my foot in the door renting my current shop and put it together with pieces salvaged from historic factories around town. A lot of sweat equity from myself, friends, and family got the shop operational. With a landlord set on selling the building to me, it seemed perfect. After 5 yrs the owner basically lit our agreement on fire last minute and I had to move on to alternative ideas.

A fellow car guy came to me to fix his 36 international panel truck, and that lead to the purchase of the new building. The block has a fantastic hot rod history with the neighboring building being the former Borg Warner and Universal Joint Co. factory. The owner of the gas station out front is a former drag racer who campaigned a well known 55 Chevy C/gas car. The gas station is still currently selling 110 octane at the pump.

 

Cool find, especially being able to track down some of the history. Too bad a previous owner did some of the modifications. The exterior views kind of remind me of a 57 Chevy version of Guy Ruchonnet's 34 Ford. With the extra large rear slicks, small fronts, and the rake. Your new 57 certainly has attitude.
Good job on getting your own shop. Be nice to have a place you can know your hard work on the bldg will benefit you only.

 

Those are some early M/T valve covers eh?

 

Just so It's got a blower I'm ok.

 

Nice old shop you're getting into, I found an old story board in a garage that went to a model A, the paint was cinnamon firemist which is a 70 Cadillac color that looks bronze-ish.

 

What about some cool Von Hartmann Speed Shop T-Shirts???