Once again, Why old Fords are so rare! *Warning, not for the faint of heart*

At least in the late '40's / early '50's.

When I did the announcing at a local stock car - generic term - in the early '50's; they used "tank seat belts" - they were a big wide lap belt that had been used in military tanks salvaged from war surplus stores.

Why more of these drivers didn't "bite the bullet", is still a mystery to me.

One night, one car did an "end over end" together with a "barrel roll."
The body AND the roll bar cage - they often used black iron pipe for roll bars back then; along with some pretty shaky welds!!! -
RIPPED COMPLETELY OFF the frame leaving the driver sitting there with a "stunned" look on his face!
(often the floor boards were cut out to gain access to the frame for the roll bars)

And not a single scratch!!

He wanted to carry on, but the ignition wiring was ripped off the engine when the body "went south!!"

 

Here's a few more with my all time favorite! a Flying Deuce 3/W

(I don't know the origin of the pictures as a friend sent them to me on a disc,... but I think the majority of them were in K.C. Missouri !, these last ones I think was California)

But Jim Sibley could fix any of em !

 

Yep...missed the first era of Jalopy racing, great pictures..made the second era, late 60s ,70s when the car of choice was a 55-57 Chevy..balled a few of those up, we did like the sedans though, seemed like because of the posts and door frames they were stronger in a roll-over...my neck still hurts...

 

really a shame to see wrecked cars but they wouldn't have nascar if they hadn't sacrificed a few along the way.

 

The jalopy races were on T V channel 5 out of L A. If we got the antenna just right my sister and I cuold tune then in. We used to bet on the cars and drivers, as I remember the coupes always were faster than the sedans, but there was one sedan with a flathead Cadillac in it. That flathead Cad won a lot of nickles off my sis. Some things stick with you, today my sis owns four Model A's, and I have a 40 Ford. Maybe I can talk her into sneaking into the old Balboa stadium for a couple of hot laps.........

 

This One's My Favorite!!!!

 

So cool, yet so heartbreaking at the same time.

 

In my way of thinking, these stockers were bona fide hot rods, the same as a '40 Ford gasser or even a deuce roadster for the street. The only difference is that in circle burning you have a much higher propensity for crashing. Hell, I've helped cut up everything from a '53 Ford Vic to a Shelby Mustang to build race cars. I've demo derbied several '60s cars that would be considered prime candidates for buildups today. Back then, they were just older used cars. Probably in 2030, there will be folks wondering why they can't find an '80s Monte carlo to build into a street machine....

Jan

 

Is the guy driving the airborne car in the above photo holding something in his right hand?

 

Looks to me like the car is rolling as it's flying, his arm is just along for the ride up there. His head looks way high there too, like the belts are strecthing.

Great shot!

Frank

 

In the early 70's, the 50's convertables were the circle track car of choice here on the Calif central coast because they were cheap and the frames were stronger. My buddy George (central coasters will know who I'm refering to) bought a 55 vert off a lot for $500 because it wouldn't start. The dizzy rotor was 180 out (that's hard to do on a GM V8). In Lompoc, the city was burying 50's cars in the river banks for erosion control. As young GI's we'd check every day to see what parts we could get off before the bulldozers covered them.

 

If the pics show up theres a 17 year old kid driving that 55 Ford his mother thinks he's watching the race but his step dad is his pit crew!car cost 100$ ready to race and I chased lots of SBCs with the stone stock 292 dump truck engine in it between racing the one season and selling the car at the beginning of the next one I cleared 800$ profit! with most of that coming from the 600$ I sold it for!

 

And there'd still be assholes bitching about it. JC...

 

I never heard of that I know that at scrap yards they would burn the cars to get out anything that wasnt metal (ex. seat padding wires rubber wood)

by the way anyone got more i love these old racing pics

 

Look here for lots more old oval racing photos:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174989

 

Pick your era, guys have been wrecking cars on race tracks since the begining. Still are, the class with the most cars in it at Freeport raceway last year was the stock 4 cylinder class. Averaged 40 cars a night in that class! How are they going to be judged in 30 years?

Back when we were racing (mid-late 70s) the muscle cars were cheap and fast. If the rules were written right, a guy could field a competitive 69-71 muscle car (pick your brand) for a bit over $500, race ready. One season we distroyed 4 cars! Used the same drive train, same roll cage, same wheels & tires (if they weren't killed with the car) in all 4 cars. We would crash the car and the guy from the junk yard would tell us at the track that he'd have another car body waiting at the yard Monday afternoon after we got off work. We could swap out the cage, motor, trans, rear axle, and anything else we needed in about 8-10 hours. By race night we had the "new" car numbered, lettered with our sponsers, and in race trim. I think we were buying the car bodies for $25 each, and I believe we finished in the top 10 in points that year.

Freeport quit racing coupes and went to the "late models" (1950 and newer cars) in the mid 60s because the coupes were deemed as getting too hard to find. Most of our local guys were getting the cars given to them and after racing the coupes since the 40s the local supply was getting depleted. When the coupes were outlawed, I knew a couple guys that had 2 very nice 32 Ford bodies waiting to become future race cars, and they cut up the bodies. They were just junk cars. They were cars that were picked up as scrap and saved for race car bodies. Since they could no longer be race cars they were once again scrape. I think they started collecting Chevelles then. Gene

 

I'd kinda like to see some piles of econo crap imports piled up, anybody have some pics? I know I'd feel better.

 

I hate to say it I went through a few 55/56/57 chevys back in the 60s. If you (or I should say when) you wrecked one you just went out a for $75 bucks bought another one

 

Man do I remember that. Jalopy Derby and the likes of "Termite Snyder", "Parnelly Jones" but I believe the TV announcer was Ray Welch who later moved up to announcing wrestling.
UGH

 

is any of the old racing avail anywhere on DVD ? like people are saying its kinda sad (when you look at price and rarity now) but its cool as hell too....

 

Hey TURDYTOO,
Yeah, those were the days at the Jalopy Derby!!!!
It was Dick Lane (I got his autograph one Sunday). There was a Bill (not Ray) Welch also on KTLA along with Dick "Whoa Nellie" Lane.
Bill Welch sometimes used to broadcast from Lions Drag Strip, too.
There is a lot of footage of Bill Welch at Lions on the Part One DVD of "Lions, The Greatest Drags Strip". www.lionsvideo.com
Termite Snyder, PJ Jones, Art Atkinson, The Candy Cane Kid, Scotty Cane, and Jim Rossler...crazy guys all. Scotty Cane would fistfight almost anyone anywhere for any reason after the races.
Atkinson has a used car lot in Pasadena with checkered flags hanging all over the place.
My Dad and I always sat in the turn three wooden bleachers eating hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches.
I miss the smell of the Benzine fuel additive they would run.
About five years ago I got a whiff of Benzine from an antique motocycle that a guy was riding out of a show. Geez, I though I'd died and gone to heaven it smelled so good. As soon as I smelled it I was back at the Jalopy races. Talk about bringing back good memories...

 

I'd rather see that than some queer like JJ dropping an I Beam on one for "Entertainment Value".

 

Great thread, excellent pics...good to see some "action" pics. Good thing so many were produced that there's atleast some left !
/ primerkid

 

There is a 32 5 window here in town sitting next to a garage . Just the body and frame. It is a old stock car raced at lakeside. The owners are cool people but, it is not for sale. It was raced probably in the mid 50's and rumor has it the owner has more than one ardun flattie in the garage. After hearing about it, I swung bye one day to find out is was not for sale. I was invited into the 4 car garage, I said no, I don't even want to see whats in there. It is not the only coupe here in town that was raced too hell and back.

 

Back in the early '70s, my favorite build for a Street Stock was a '61-'63 Thunderbird. These 'Birds only had a 113" wheelbase so they were pretty maneuverable. Even gutted, they were as heavy as hell but with a stout 390, the right gearing for the track and a few chassis tweaks mine kicked some serious a$$. Had a homemade hydraulic clutch setup that I swapped from car to car so I could run a Toploader 4 speed. I also had a couple of spare bodies sitting around to swap my running gear into because the unibodies tended to get tweaked in a bad crash. Here's a crappy pic of one with my cousin behind the wheel:

 

I talked to an old racer a couple years ago who rememberd trading three '32 3-windows for one '37sedan body because the sedans were bigger and easier to put a roll bar into.

 

Don't feel too badly guys....if they hadn't been raced to death, they would have went to the scrap heap with fenders intact.

Remember that in many cases the cars being raced were just "junk cars" available cheap and plentiful. It's not like they pried them out of collector's hands.

In the 50's, the cars of the 30's were common. The 60's and early 70's saw many of the mid 50's cars at the stock car races. The late 70's and early 80's used up a whole bunch of Muscle and Pony cars. The late 80's through the 90's used up mostly Malibus and Camaros. Today's racers scour the junkyards for 81-87 Monte Carlos.

 

Hard to believe but a one time all the most expensive cars in the world were just gas guzzlers or just junkers!

 

" Hard to believe but at one time all the most expensive cars in the world were just gas guzzlers or just junkers! "
So true. According to my dad during the depression a neighbor of his, a dirt poor farmer, had a 29 Pierce-Arrow limo. He had a big family and they needed the space but the real reason he had it, it was cheaper than a plain old used Ford. The same car donated the chassis for my uncle's hay wagon during WWII. My uncle pulled that wagon with a 1919 Oldsmobile truck he cut up and made into a tractor. He paid $7.50 for the truck cause the owner couldn't get parts for it. They made less than 200 and sold them for just 2 years. One was latter famous as the Beverly Hillbilies truck. Uncle Al kinda cringed when years latter he found out how rare they were. The thing would have been worth more than his whole farm. Hind sight is 20/20.