I found this a while back on the web about the "Bean Bandits", there is a pretty good interview with Joaquin. I have read about the "Bean Bandits" since I was a kid digging thru my pops old HOTROD magazines and back in 01' my dad met some of the guys at the "big 3 swap meet" and he took pix.....of the drag car and the Bonneville car. The wife and I chat with Julio at the salt every year and it is good to hear some of the history about the club. Does anyone else have any stories about the Bean Bandits. http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=139020531&channel=8017&lineup=146523965 http://www.truveo.com/bean-bandits/id/4079385076 Chris Nelson Kansas <embed src='http://www.brightcove.tv/playerswf' bgcolor='#FFFFFF' flashVars='initVideoId=139020531&servicesURL=http://www.brightcove.tv&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://www.brightcove.tv&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&autoStart=false' base='http://admin.brightcove.com' name='bcPlayer' width='486' height='412' allowFullScreen='true' allowScriptAccess='always' seamlesstabbing='false' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' swLiveConnect='true' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash'></embed>
Fabian,of the Bean Bandits,did my taillights,when Axle owned my car. Axle introduced me to him at the GNRS,last year. Cool dude!!
joaquin is one of the best story tellers ever, my favorite part of the big3/bandits reunions was getting to listen to his stories. he get's that little excitment in his eyes like a 5 year old. stories about his first days at school and being the outcast hiding in the bathrooms from the other kids, his first jobs, the japanese stealing all our scrap metal in the 40's only to shoot it back at him and his buddies in pearl harbor, first time he tried nitro (1st person ever to do so) and on and on. ;ast i heard the ardun was still around as well as pretty much every race car/engine they ran at the drags or lakes. there's even a few of joaq's early chopped up hotrods running around san diego, a chopped and sectioned full fendered 34, a model a sedan, and a few more, as well as what became known as the granatelli coupe, the chopped, channelled, sectioned and shortened 34 3 window. without alot of people realizing it the bandits probably made the biggest impact on racing in so-cal in the early 50's.
Circa 1953-4, Art Chrisman's #25 car was the fastest fuel dragster in the country @ 144.something. Joaquin in the Bean Bandits car was #2 at 140. Hot stuff!
i and some friends were at the 06 hotrod reunion and 3 of the bandits were sitting by the yellow car. nobody was talking to them so i walked yp to them and started talking to them and that was it, we talked for two hours! next day, same thing, we had to get to airport sunday, but they said hell with it! you guys can stay with us,tell your wives you will be home in a week! great bunch. talk about some stories, and living out of the trunk of a car!
Those guys are the real deal stuff from way back and they are still doing it, amazing and inspirational. They seem like a pretty nice bunch of guys too.
i am real good freinds with jerry baltes who has a very good looking top fuel dragster that we are takeing to the york dragway reunion . jerry was not so much into the salt thing his thing was drag racing joaquin built his cars until he got this car he runs now . he just does the cackle fests with it . but i know what you mean about stories it is cool to hang around these guys and listein and learn from them .
One year at Bonneville they burned a hole in a piston in the flathead streamliner. They pulled the engine and sat it on its flywheel to tear it down. Joaquin gas welded the hole in the aluminum piston, then held the piston/rod assy between his knees and hand filed the weld. They put it together and it ran great. I dont remember the time. The remaining Bean Bandits are walking history. Stop to visit when you see them.
Also spoke to those guys at chrr, mainly listened, they did the talking, my buds where motioning me to come on. before long they gave up and joined in the conversation. very warm bunch of guys. talked about everything except racing. Polished off two beers visiting. Seemed to me Juaquin cycles about 20+ miles a day. OLY The cancer car lives Give to cancer research
I believe Don Orosco now owns the sectioned and chopped '34 now. Rodder's Jounral did a feature on it. I'm usually not a big fan of sectioned cars but, this one looks awesome. I agree, awesome crew of guys. One day I hope to get out to the West Coast to check all of this cool stuff out myself.
In 1953 we were running a coupe at Bonneville on a shoestring operation...We had been turning around 134 and the Champion spark plug rep said we need a different heat range. Not having the price of a new set of plugs we were walking around the pits just watching when we came by the Bean Bandits pit..Joaquin was just changing plugs in his engine..I had talked to him before so he knew me..I asked what he was going to do with the old plugs...He said "ash can". I asked if I could have them and he said sure they only had one run on them and looked like new...They were the range the Champion guy said we needed..We picked up 3 mph with them...I asked Joaquin if he remembered that when I talked to him at Bonneville about 5 years ago and was surprised that he did...He's a great guy.
bad to the bone ! my dad use to tell me about them picking up the car and putting in on the back of there truck in the 50`s at caddo mills.
Bob McCoy did a great 50th poster for the Bean Bandits and I have one signed my most of the members. How many of you ever saw the Speed Sport Special out of Tucson go up against the Bandits at Paradise Mesa with a genuine flagman start?
Around 2000 I sold My Tom Beatty Swing arm 40 Banjo Rearend, from Tom's Tank, to a guy in The Bean Bandits with a great chopped 37 coupe with a Cad engine. I had Flipped my 29 roadster and needed money bad because I couldn't work, It was a great surprise when he just threw the rearend in the trunk of his coupe and split back to San Diego. It may have been Chris, he was building a whole car from all historical parts, so The rearend I had which Tom Beatty Built here in Sun Valley fit the bill. Anybody know if the car got built? John Lee Williamson [email protected]
In '98 at SpeedWeek I happened by the Bean Bandits pits the same time a news crew from Salt Lake City was interviewing Joaquin. So I'm taking pics of the hole in their little DeSoto motor, and their car - and I can hear little snippets of the interview. When I move in for pics of Joaquin & the news crew, the reporter asks him how he got into hot rodding... and Joaquin starts spinning this tale about how aliens descended in saucers and suggested he build a hotrod to go race them with. You should have seen the reporter's face turning white!
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