History Vintage "Cageless" Midget Picture Thread

How about some photos of what your doing to Ernies car ??????

 

I've been able to post pictures on the Midget Madness vintage forum & will try again here.

 

Hey GearGuy...you said in your update "Right now, re-chrome for the plated parts is not possible - $$$. So... we'll <TT>dress up the plated parts as best we can and make them as cosmetically appealing as spray cans will allow."</TT>
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<TT>Tell Gregg and Lance this is the Studebaker guy they met at the Miller Meet last summer in Milwaukee. I too was wrestling with the chrome vs. paint problem. The next day after the Miller Meet we took the car to Sun Prairie to display at the races.</TT>
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<TT>A guy named Skip Banta from Tar Heel Parts in Monroe, NC stopped by (he had been at the Iola show with his products) (he also has a couple midgets)and after some conversation left me a spray can of paint called Stainless Steel that is 100% 316L Stainless pigmented. </TT>
<TT></TT>
<TT>After chroming my header, exhaust pipe and radius rods and drag links, the car was getting too good. So I decided to use the Stainless Steel on the front axle, rear axle housings, Pitman arms, steering arms and brake lever. Took the one can to cover. It looks great. It's like a Cast Blast for cast iron or Alumablast for aluminum,(which he also handles) very natural looking.</TT>
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<TT>Just received 6 more cans, have friends wanting it.</TT>
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<TT>Even though I'm from Minnesota and married to a Norski, it's the H A M B that's causing the double u's to come out as v'S, unless Gearguy is married to a Norski also</TT>
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Another from Marty Himes' Web Site.

This car inspired similar paint jobs over the years, from coast to coast in the USA and down under in Austraila too. The O'Hara Checker Board.

Pictured here with a young King Carpenter up.

Many years later, I can remember Carpenter in the Checker Board ("cross fired" V8-60 Ford powered) sometime in the 60's at the Trenton, NJ mile. Time trials had King Carpenter putting the Checker Board right up there with the best Offy's & modern stock blocks (Chevy II's & Falcon's).

 

Ken, if my memory serves me correctly, King had the Bloomsburg Fair race won in this car in the early 60's, but something broke with only a few laps to go. He had a decent lead at the time. Too bad.

Spike

 

Here are some poor shots of my QT midget project,has a KH harley engine less trans,tube frame,axles, trans ,rear end all crosley.That is Fred sitting in it,HEs DEAD. A buddy of mine told me that fred was a customer that waited to long!!!! GARY

 

I have the shaheen bros #99 midget.....I would like to know if anyone has any pics or info on the car, As I am going to restore it back to its glory days....joe shaheen owned the little springfield track in springfield IL....which was tore down shorty after he died and a K-mart was put in its place.....Also if anyone has any track pics or info on the where abouts of the old springfied track sign, I would be a serious buyer and would pay a finders fee if I was able to purchase the sign.

 

Thanks! And yes it is the one! I told my Uncle about it, we'll see if he gets it. Thanks again.

Bob

 

What an awesome thread. I am King Carpenter's cousin, he was pretty famously talked about in our family but I never did get a chance to meet him. I'm in touch with his kids as well. Any memories or pics or information that any of you could share about King from your perspectives and experiences would be greatly appreciated as we're working on pulling a family history together!

thanks
Mark Carpenter

 

Cincinnati Race Bowl and West 16th Street Speedway

For an upcoming project, I am looking for midget pictures from 1954 and 1955 from the Race Bowl and / or the West 16th Street Speedway in Indianapolis. Can anyone help?

I've tried Greenfield Galleries, the Indy Speedway Photo Department and Ken Coles and have come up blank.

Several posters here (Roy Caruters and Rootie) have been great help and understand what I am working on. I hope someone may have the pictures I'm looking for.

Thanks.

Mike Garrepy
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There is a Guy selling photos on ebay that he plasters the words Web-photo or some such on. He has one from that time frame of the field coming out of four at 16th st.

 

1955 16th St. Speedway photo on e-bay.



http://www.onlyclassics.com/p1432.jpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/55-MIDGET-CAR-A...ng_Fan_Shop?hash=item53dfa0341d#ht_1696wt_958

 

Frame just before paint.

 

Wow, that frame looks great. Can't wait to see it in color. What color frame are you thinking?

 

Looks fantastic, great to see 'craftsman' are still out there.

Blacki-Suede

 

While surfing around on a unrelated topic I came across this and found it quite interesting:

 

Does anyone out there have specific personal knowledge and/or copies of any rule books from one or more old midget racing associations that have a section on allowable engines and/or displacements dealing with about '60 and older?

My prime interest is to determine what clubs required the 169 cubic inch Studebaker Champion engine to have reduced displacement (as I believe Badger did) and what other engines may have been restricted as well.

I suspect there was a huge concern to not give the 135 cubic inch V8-60, which was the dominate stock block, many/if any competitors with a significant displacement advantage.

Some of the clubs back then were "run what you brung" and I know a few Model A Fords of 200 inches were being run.

Tell us what you know about this.

 

An update from Gregg Kishline on the Fredrickson Roadster project:

<tt><tt>Tackled the front bumper today - the right rear side mounting (4" worth) was
MIA, it was twisted, and it had suffered some previous hasty repairs.

After replacing the missing right mount, so's I could attach the bumper to the
car, I realized I should take some progress photos.

End of day, we bolted the nose and bumper on to see what remains - about another
full day. But we saved Ernie's original bumper.

gk
</tt></tt>As you can see it would be much easier to just make new parts. The guys aren't just being cheap though. Examination of the parts indicates Ernie repaired many things we'd simply replace today. These dedicated volunteers are trying to stay true to this skilled builder's intent.

Chuck Schultz
Winfield, Illinois

 

Gregg Kishline is a great researcher as well as a car restorer. This week, in addition to arranging for newspaper reporters to view the car & interview surviving crew members, he located a 1968 article from the Kenosha paper & another undated one from a Madison paper. He also scanned a bunch of photos of Ernie's cars.

From the news articles it appears Ernie built 5 cars. We have accounted for 3 of them. Mike Mowry of Kenosha is restoring the first V8-60 car in addition to helping on the roadster restoration. The sidewinder has been restored by the Congdon family out in California. Anyone know anything about the other 2?


Progress continues on the #50 roadster. Work will begin soon on the motor using the Chevy II block & head Ernie himself put in the car to replace the Falcon.


I'm having trouble with attachments today but will try again later. PM if you can't wait.


Chuck Schultz
Winfield, Illinois<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" images="" smilies="" redface.gif="" border="0" alt="" title="Embarrassment" smilieid="2" class="inlineimg"></o:smarttagtype>

 

http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/revving_back_up_7378020.html

Link to today's Kenosha News story on the Fredrickson roadster restoration effort.

Chuck Schultz
Winfield, Illinois

 

Found this shot at my letterers shop rumaging thru his old race car photos, so I figured I'd post this one for Racer Billy C....Rich

 

thanks rich that's the car that almost killed me at wall when cage collapsed when I flipped got a free nose job

 

If the photos in the news paper Ernies car ? the nose is not the same,at leased try to make it look the same

 

As mentioned in earlier posts, the roadster was always being improved. At some point Ernie narrowed the car and fitted the "shark nose". Some think it was inspired by the Ferrari F1 cars, others by the Watson roadsters. The car had 4 or 5 very distinct "looks" between 1955 and 1979. It is being restored to the 1968 pre-cage version based upon photos from the time.

Chuck Schultz
Winfield, Illinois

 

Ask Killer what car should look like , he new the car when it ran the best , thats what it should reprsent , I,ran Badger in the 60 s and it never looked like that when woods or Congdon drove it !!!!

 

We really don't have the option of putting the Fredrickson back to its early form. Ernie narrowed it when it got the Chevy installed and there is no need to go back.

This is a volunteer effort but even if unlimited funds were offered I doubt there would be support for a major reconstruction that would introduce many new parts. Ask yourself this: If Rembrandt revised and improved [in his opinion] a painting should a restorer take off the top layer because an art critic saw and liked the earlier version?

Gregg spent 6 hours fixing a bumper to preserve what Ernie built. He could have made a new one in 2 hours and spent the other 4 bench racing or working on his many paying projects. But that wouldn't have maximized the "Ernie content."

To satisfy everyone we'd have to build 3 replicas and hunt up a Fergie, an Offy, and a Falcon. Even then the replicas wouldn't be Ernie Fredrickson cars.

Chuck Schultz
Winfield, Illionos

 

From Gregg Kishline, Chief Resorator of the Fredrickson Roadster:

Is your correspondent aware that Ernie narrowed the frame and the bodywork?

Interestingly, the narrowing was not symmetrical. Because the engine and driveline are up against the left side of the frame, more narrowing had to occur on the right side than the left. It's a tight footbox now.

Also, Ernie pounded a peak into the hood using a wooden V-block/die, so as to 'pinch' the hood - rather than cutting and re-welding it. Shrewd. Got that from Bob Clements, the #50 driver.

To match the narrowed chassis and pinched hood, the nose was cut and also narrowed, and two Ferrari-style nostrils were added. Changed the appearance of the car considerably. ...All Ernie's work.

Feel free to forward this clarification.

gk 2/23/2010

Chuck Schultz
Winfield, Illinois

 

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Crosley 3/4 Midget Race Car

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1948 KURTIS CHASSIS FULL MIDGET RACE CAR DRAKE ENGINE
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