Jimmy B -- My dad continued to build cars throughout his life, but they were all street cars and not for the lakes -- but, he was working on a D Gas roadster with partner Mike Ferguson (Road Runners) when he passed away. Mike went on to complete the car and has run it at El Mirage and B'ville. Mike left my dad's name on the side of the car for a time... We're originally from Riverside, my dad grew up and spent his life there. My dad noted the speed on his three passes he made that day in Oct '39, but that's all the info I have. CTaulbert -- The song is "Cherry Ball Blues." (PS I'm totally digging your roadster build, nice work!)
Just got the info on the Tommy Lee Bugatti confirmed. It was a Type 51, last owner in the USA was Ralph Lauren, the car is now in Europe, chassis number is 51154.
As for the Custom Cars in this movie... The 1938 Lincoln Custom in this movie is amazing. Its so good to see it driving. I dont know much about the car but Ron Brooks shared two photos of this amazing early Custom Car with me a couple of month ago. It has an Hall top Ron Brooks photo The 1938/39 Ford Phaeton with dark padded top in unknown to me. It looks to have a Custom grill that could be based on a 1938 Lincoln? Really great looking car with just as the Lincoln above removed running boards and stainless rock guards on the rear fenders. I pasted this photo together form several stills. The 1940 Ford towards the end of the movie is obviously Earl Bruce his Roy Hagy built Chopped coupe. Two things are typical for this car. The chopped rear window (most chopped 1940 coups have stock heigh rear windows) and the front fender flares at the bottom. Again an early Custom with its running boards removed...!!! One thing that was new to me on this early version of this car are the 1939 or 40 standard headlights. I had only seen photos of this car with the 1940 Ford DeLuxe headlights. I do like the look of the early once.
Bob, i find this info interesting only because of the fact that Tommy Lee is not mentioned as an owner of #51154. BTW, that looks like 'Bunny' Phillips behind the wheel. I believe the Talbot Lago T150C {one of three owned by Lee} shown elsewhere in this thread is chassis #90107, pictured below. It also recorded 115MPH at Muroc.
Thanks Rik for the info on the Customs...I was knocked out just seeing the first one moving....not sure why but seeing it moving was like being there or something and it made my knees weak....OH for time travel!
Hot Rods, Race Cars, and Customs........thats some of the most amazing footage I've ever seen! Old photos are so cool , but to see these cars actually moving on film is just awesome. Thanks to the HAMB members for putting the film and all the extra info on here. It doesn't get any better than this!
Hot Damn! That was fun..... Thanks for sharing. The full fendered 34 roadster in frame 3:28 is cool to see on the dry lake circuit!!
I'll run that question by my Bugatti expert. I've always wondered how Overton got the "Bunny" nickname. He used to stop by the shop I worked at in the 1970's, got him to sign my Fox INDY 500 book. His Bugatti/MILLER is now restored and in Colorado I believe.
How in the heck did I miss this thread? Tonight I was looking for some more pics of Jim Tipper's "Brasher, Cummings & Rose" '33 Willys ... and figured that the "SEABRIGHT HOT RODS" website would probably have some pics of the famous drag car [since Mr. Tipper is a friend & partner of Seabright's Gary (@evans32) Evans] ... the site had pics of the Willys ... but I was completely distracted by Dave (@Detonator) Welles' latest post on the site: Of course I immediately thought this video needed to be posted on the H.A.M.B. ... but like a good little HAMBer, I did a search first ... and found that Jack (@HotRod32) Butler beat me to it ... by 4+ days! Thanks to Jamie (@Jimmy B) Barter, Rik (@Rikster) Hoving, and Ron (@R&C RON) Brooks for filling in the details! ... to Dave (@Detonator) Welles (and his son Conner) for digitizing the 8mm footage and uploading it to YouTube! ... and most importantly, to Tommy Lorbeer for capturing this bit of history that others are now enjoying (& learning from) 71 years later!
So, that one streamliner at 4:10 looked a lot like a belly tank, so if it was prewar, where the hell did they get that from???
Wow, thanks Jamie. Great article on the Bob Rufi car. Fortunately we have the HAMB on which articles of this quality can be posted. It's sad, but for the most part, journalism of this level has disappeared from our print magazines.
For some reason I got the urge to put my Modified chassis back together guess I run the chev banger and 3-port.
Damn.... How'd I missed this for so long? I see everthing has been accounted for, but maybe that deuce # 265 is Carl and Veda Orr's? Looks familar. I never thought in a million years I would see Danny Saki's modified rolling. And I picked out Robert Stacks "A" too. Too many hour spent looking at Don Montgomery's books I guess! Thank You!
Unbelievable! The film brings me back to hearing stories from my Grandfather when he raced the lake beds after WWII just a few years later from these amazing men. I was born the wrong time!
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