Man. Took me a while to get a good vantage point, plus we got drenched up at the top, but got some good pics. Some you fellas will be interested in: Cad-powered Allard making the climb Two shots of a banger-powered Amilcar road racing legend the Ardent Alligator, which went largely unnoticed at the show: for you V-Dub fans, powered by a Porsche, I was told: a few shots of the Victor Gasket Special Buick, a very cool car: a '56 (?) Buick I caught at the show afterward: Buncha shots of the Gray Mare, based on a '34 Ford, but with several Bugatti body panels: Barney Oldfield's Green Dragon Peerless: A Gasser Henry J in the spectator lot. The owner got into it shortly after I took the pic and drove off: A Studebaker formerly raced at Indy: And a couple shots of another Studebaker, a '31, I think: Finally, the folks from the Don Garlits Museum had brought up a buckboard that ran in the first Climb to the Clouds in 1904 for display. They also brought Swamp Rat III and kept it in the trailer for fear of getting it wet. Really cool to see this car up close, though the pictures dont quite tell the story: Also managed to see imfatdad there and shoot the shit before my 3.5-hr drive back home. I have larger files if anybody wants 'em emailed. Just PM me. dan
Wow. Cool shots. Thanks for posting them. I hope to make it up there for that one of these years. Jay
Yeah, nice shots, glad you captioned them, I wouldn't have had a clue what they were. I can tell you the Buick's a '57 though. Thanks for posting the pics. Mart.
Thanks for shareing. Those are some cool cars. Ole Barney sure had shiney paint for back in the day!!
[ QUOTE ] Swamp Rat III.....that's why Garlits limps, isn't it.....? Thanks for the shots, great stuff. [/ QUOTE ] According to http://www.nhra.com/50th/top50/ it was Swamp Rat XIII. I was just reading about that incident the other day, though, so I'll have to double check that fact. dan
Thanks for posting the photos! The grill I made for The Ardent Alligator looks as good as the day I made it, still have the original hood sides hanging on my garage wall. All these cars will be at The Fall Festival in Line Rock, Ct. on labor Day Weekend. Good to see the "Old Gray Mare" in competition again. If I could have a pick of the cars I'd take the Buick Indy car and the Rand Amilcar. I'll forever kick myself for selling an old ARCA car.
Looks like a cool event to go to, thanks for sharing. Lots of good spots to watch from? I'm kind of curios about something. Did the INDY / big cars have transmissions installed? I wouldn't think an in & out box would be to hot for running up the hill.
Kill pics,great to see the ol'indycars running. Why didn't Garlits run the car they brought?Damn pussy eh.......Shiny
The Indy cars used transmissions, had to with pit stops. The Victor Gasket two man car has a Model A Ford Trans, and a '30's Ford rear axle. This car has the wheels raced off it, holds every record in the Pre War class of VSCCA. Had the honor of twisting wrenches on it a few times.
Unfortunately, it seemed spectator viewing was kept to the bottom, with us media types near the top. It took me a while to find a good spot, but I found a couple right around the 4,000-foot elevation marker. Garlits wasn't there himself, so I don't fault the car's handler for not bringing it out. Imagine catching flak from that boss. 37kid, I may have to pick your brains sometime. Maybe at Lime Rock. dan
Wow! Incredible stuff. Great car shots, and I love that cloud mist hanging in the background. I used to live in the southern appalachians, and would make an annual trek to Chimney Rock, NC, for the hillclimb. Camping out, drinking beer, and watching race cars all weekend. O.K., so they weren't hot rods, it was fun as hell! One of my favorite junkyards in that area, Town & Country Auto Removal, in Bethel, Haywood County, NC, had an old race car for several years. It was one of those do-it-yourself sports jobs that were sometimes built in the '50's. It had a late '30's Ford frame, a flathead V8, bodywork that sort-of resembled a Jag 120, with a roll bar and the spare tire sitting flush in the boat-tail rear. About fifteen years ago, someone from Chattanooga bought the car and restored it, and then displayed it at Chimney Rock. I have an old issue of Hot Rod that has an article on the car, I think the owner was from Winston-Salem, and ran the car at Grandfather Mountain and Chimney Rock back in the '50's. Dang, I'm about to get home-sick for the hills, y'all! Later, Kinky6
[ QUOTE ] 37kid, I may have to pick your brains sometime. Maybe at Lime Rock. dan [/ QUOTE ] Hope I don't disapoint you, "brains" sounds like I have twice as much as those with a "brain". I do have a lot of automotive trivia stored away but not much than can generate any monitary value.
Great pictures - Hill climbs are a good place to meet and great a different segment of the automotive crowd. You see some of the most incredible cars!
Lions, March 1970. You can read about it and see it here. http://www.wediditforlove.com/sitemap-RED.html Damndest final round ever and it didn't go 60 ft.
Thanks for sharing the pictures.Don Koleman(the owner of the Victor Gasket car and the Indy Stude)has got to have some of the neatest cars in his shop.I met him when I worked at the Mercedes-Benz dealer in Salem(Mass)and he was a lawyer.He gave that up and opened the garage he owns now and specialized in restoring Bugattis.The last time I was down there(about 10 years ago)he had a half dozen of them undergoing restoration as well as the Studebaker and Hilborn injected ArDun flathead sitting on the floor of his shop.I'd see him screaming around Salem periodically in a blue Bugatti with no body or exhaust on it and driving the local cops nuts! I have some pics of his shop around somewhere;I'll have to scan and post them.
I spoke with the fella who raced the gray mare, he told me that the frame is from a Whippet, the engine an Argentina Flatty (for now, looking for a good 21 stud to build), and as No7A, Buggati front and rear tin. He told me that he swapped internal transmission gearing from a 50-ish F100 into the old 3 speed behind the flatty. Had to do some minor machining but it fit right in and he told me was much more reliable.. Anyone know of this??? Along with the aligator running the hill was a Maserati with Indy credits as well.. Couple of million dollers worth of cars all told.. I have pics as well but no way to post them at present, at the shine area only... no7a had the good seats.. no7a, I went south from the parking lot and in two miles there was not a drop of rain to be seen. It literally rained on the parade on the mountain... Really great shots, look forward to the story and the other pics....
I'll try to find out about the transmission modifications. Hope it is not one of those deals that they have to kill me once they tell me. Oh, The Coleman ARDUN/Sprint was sold a few years ago.
[ QUOTE ] I spoke with the fella who raced the gray mare, he told me that the frame is from a Whippet, the engine an Argentina Flatty (for now, looking for a good 21 stud to build), and as No7A, Buggati front and rear tin. He told me that he swapped internal transmission gearing from a 50-ish F100 into the old 3 speed behind the flatty. Had to do some minor machining but it fit right in and he told me was much more reliable.. Anyone know of this??? Along with the aligator running the hill was a Maserati with Indy credits as well.. Couple of million dollers worth of cars all told.. I have pics as well but no way to post them at present, at the shine area only... no7a had the good seats.. no7a, I went south from the parking lot and in two miles there was not a drop of rain to be seen. It literally rained on the parade on the mountain... Really great shots, look forward to the story and the other pics.... [/ QUOTE ] that figures about the rain. oh well. that green Stude was apprently run at Indy too, as I'm finding out. And Burt Rutan drove that Porsche Carrera-powered Bug. dan
Sounds like Ed Welch- I just read the article in Jul'58 Hot Rod. Does that stretch of road still exist?
I've never had a problem viewing pics here that I couldn't solve by clicking on 'show pictures' but I can't get anything but rex 'x''s here. Any suggestions?
we had a computer crash here a few years ago that wiped out any prior pics...this thread is 8 years old.
The Jalopy Journal
