My good friend Jack Carroll was brought up in Detroit and was active in the car scene while he worked for companies like AMC designing interiors. His friend Jim DiGiorgio sent Jack a scan of the back of this years HAMB calendar. Here's Jack's reply: "Jim I got looking at the back cover of the HAMB calendar and the signature looked like mine and It is .I pinstriped the car in 1959 or 1960 for a guy in Lapear,Mi Al Caulkins. He inturn make the roll pans for my "51 Plymouth. Very, Very small world. JC" Jack included these pictures with his e-mail (BTW, more of Jack's pictures from back in the day in Detroit are in this thread: (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=539804&highlight=carroll&showall=1):
Really cool. That's Tetanus Shot's car now isn't it? I just text Scootermcrad to check this thread out to give his input since I'm not exactly sure who owns it.
Here's the car now.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=486939&highlight=tetanus+shot+roadster
Holy SH....! That is an AWESOME story!!!!!! Dennis, if he would like a disk of all the pictures I have, shoot me a PM and I'll make sure he gets whatever he wants. I recently shot the car for a book that the owner is involved with, but I can't really post the pictures without permission. However, since I technically own the rights to the pictures, I could make a disk, I suppose. I just don't want to ruin anything for Erik. The car currently belongs to Erik Warner. "Tetanus Shot", here on the HAMB. The car is currently in my possession, and if it's okay with Erik, I'll take any others Jack would like. Let me know how I can help!!! Scott
It is a small world and the Internet has a good way of making it smaller. I'm surprised this connection wasn't made sooner. I'd love to hear more about Jack. Very cool.
Wow! this is huge! I have been waiting for a long time for someone to come a long that could shed some light on the history of the Alden Calkins roadster. the fact that the identity of the painter has been reviled and he is still with us is absolutely astounding. i cant tell you how much this means to me. I look forward to hopefully having some dialogue with Jack, so many questions to ask! and this is what the car looks like now with all the dust blown off and out in the sun.
Very cool! Erik - It looks like there was an earlier paint job complete with stripes that was covered up by the maroon? Do you have any pics of the car prior to the current paint job?
that is correct, the car was originally painted silver with maroon stripes. on the lower rear panel the paint has peeled off to reveal the original paint and stripes. i dont have any pictures of the car in the original color but when it was in rods illustrated i believe it was painted the silver color. i believe the color change was due to the fact that Alden punched a bunch of louvers in the hood and sides after the article. I'm hoping Jack can fill in the gaps and provide some more pictures. the photos BuickWagon posted are the ones i have ever seen outside of the Rods Illustrated article. here is a link to the thread i posted after i got the car on the road. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=486939&highlight=alden+calkins&showall=1
click thumbnail to enlarge Just yesterday I received my 1955 Twenty Eleven H.A.M.B. Calendar ... the back cover was the first thing I saw as I pulled the spiral bound booklet from its cardboard envelope ... and I said to myself: "I wonder who 'Jack' is?" ... little did I know that Dennis O'Brien "knows Jack" (insert joke here) . This is a very cool "small world" story ... and I find it even cooler that Mr. Carroll's pinstriping is still on the roadster 51+ years later!
Great story, as soon as I saw the E&J's i knew the car had been on the HAMB earlier. The car has a lot of sports car features, it will be nice to find out more of its history.
Jack's a great guy. A while back, he shared quite a few of his AMC sketches and illustrations with us: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...trations-part-1-the-dashboards-and-interiors/ http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/12/12/jack-carrolls-illustrations-part-2-exteriors/ dan
Wonderful story, media shrinks planet again!! Very cool and I love the striping style, and the historic rod. Thanx ~sololobo~
I think it's safe to post these... Here's a shot of the rear panel where the earlier paint is visible... Erik has done a super job of keeping this thing intact!
Hmmm, he looks a shade younger in that photo At first glance I thought they were using Johnny Carson for an ad! More like when I first met him when he was heading the industrial design department at the mini computer company Data General where we both worked. Funny how gearheads always find each other
VERY cool post & this is what the HAMB is about.........I clicked this wondering about the calendar (which is one of the top 2 by the way). VERY COOL and it would be great if Jack could share some of his history (pulling lines) with us. Chris Nelson Kansas
FWIW, I talked to Jack and asked him the unasked question: "Did you do the pinstriping on the white (or silver) paint?" Jack's reply was "No, i never even knew it was painted that light color." Dennis
The Jalopy Journal
