Projects Help identifying this Vintage Lakester?

Hi all,

My name is Bebe. My Dad is Don Canepa. Some of you may have known him. Well, I'm sorry to say, he passed away in January. However, he left us some seriously fun stuff.

We are struggling with identifying this Lakester and everyone I know in Off-Road world has suggested that this site would be helpful in piecing together the history of it.

I would be most grateful for your assistance or direction.

What I know:

It's Yellow
It may have been built by Carl Kerching (sp?) in Salinas
It's a #36 car
It may be a 1927 model T
It may have been run in Bonneville in 55-57
It's not for sale

We are hoping to find photos or stories about it. Our plan is to possibly put it back together, as it was my Dad's project he did not get to complete.









It's a basket case now and we have most of the parts.

We are excited to get started on it.

Thank you,


Bebe

 

Don't know anything about it other than it's awesome and I hope you post build pics here! Welcome to the HAMB!

 

I wouldn't sell it either , there's lots of salt racers on here good luck VERY cool car

 

Wow, no idea but it looks very well built.

 

CanepaGirl (Bebe) -

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I didn't know your father ... nor do I remember his Roadster/Lakester ... but you indeed did come to the right place ... the H.A.M.B. and its members are a fantastic resource for Hot Rod & Dry Lakes history ... I'm sure someone will be along soon to post info and/or pics of Carl Kerching's old Modified ('23 Ford) Roadster.

 

Wow, you've told me a bunch already!

Thank you,

Bebe

 

Try getting ahold of Jim Miller at AHRF.com

John

 

CanepaGirl (Bebe) -

I noticed on the inliners.org website that your dad had planned to install a Chevrolet Inline Six engine [with a (very rare) Wayne 12-port head] in the roadster ... Do you still have the "WMD 225" head, the Wayne valve & side covers, the dual and tri-carb intakes, and the straight out exhaust manifolds?

I also noticed that Steve Kerching currently owns the Wayne head that was originally installed in Carl Kerching's '23 Modified Roadster ... and that Carl actually ran the car at Bonnevillle in 1955, 1957, & 1958.

Perhaps Steve Kerching will stumble upon this thread (when Googling his own name) and will provide you with more info and/or pics of the roadster when Carl owned it ... In the meantime, I'll search through my '50s magazine archives for some info and/or pics of the "Kerching Modified Roadster" in the magazine coverage of the '55, '57, & '58 Bonneville Nats.

 

Try landracing.com for some info. They might be able to help also!

 

This is a link to the 2010 Pebble Beach when we took the Frank Morawski roadster for the concours. You can click through several shots of the roadster. It raced in 1951.
It should give you inspiration.

http://www.hotrodsonline.com/virtualrodrun/2010/10_Pebble_Set-up_Day/slides/DSC05035.html

Very cool project and restoring it for your dad is pure of heart.
Sorry for your loss.

 

Yes we do. And an additional valve cover and side plate. Dad was a member of the inliners, nascar, etc.

That would be great if you could find some info in the magazines.

There is also another roadster. I'll see if I can get some photos for you in a bit, but really the focus is this car.

Thank you,

Bebe

 

Excellent - I saw that car when I googled lakester images, it beautiful. I also was told that Kirching (sp?) built 3 cars.

 

Glad to see you found your way here
best of luck

AKA thomjpster

 

Thanks for the prod...

Wait!

Can you get me some tommy knocker root beer? Are you in Idaho Springs?

Can't find it anywhere in NorCal.

 

I'm sorry for you're loss. That is a great car you have there. I wish you all the best restoring it in his honor. I can't wait to see pics of the other car

 

Here is the other car:







This one I know nothing about.

 

Sorry about your dad
That’s a fantastic thing to have .. your very lucky. To me real deal old hot rods are the ultimate.

The 35 car id guess was a track roadster …. lots of track roadster race photos out there.

Hope I get to see them someday neighbor

 

a cool thread,hopeing for the best.good luck

 

Tell me that these WONT get street rodded, they really should be preserved, and thrown back the way they were!!

 

Sorry for your loss.

You have some very neat cars there.

the yellow lakester looks to be a 26/7 T roadster with an earlier 23-25 turtle deck on it, should be easy to identify in any olds pcs.

the other T id say is 23-25 roadster, buy maybe a bit earlier, very neat body, i cant tell you what id give to have one with the old lettering and paint like that one has.

JEFF

 

CanepaGirl (Bebe) -

No luck yet with my '50s magazines ... but I'll keep looking!

I just read your father's obituary (via Legacy.com) ... he was definitely a cool "Hot Rodder" ... and would have fit in well here on the H.A.M.B.:

Donald Canepa
1934 - 2012
Resident of Watsonville
Donald passed away on Monday. He was 77. Donald was a well known automotive machinist in the Watsonville area for many years having been part of the "Chongos" and "Road Angels" car clubs. After receiving a degree from San Jose State he owned Canepa's Automotive and was an auto shop teacher at Watsonville High School from 1974-1982. He loved to play music in the Watsonville Community Band and his biggest passion in life of course was to build race cars. Donald was instrumental in the advancement of racing technology over the years.
:
A memorial service will be held on Saturday January 21st at 2:00pm at Watsonville's Ocean Speedway, (2601 E Lake Ave).
In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to 'Racing for the cure'.
:
"Horsepower costs money, how fast do you want to go?"
Published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on January 19, 2012

 

This would be a great project to restore even if it wasnt your dads that make it 10 times better ,I just love it all the best..........

 

We will put them back to what they were when my dad bought them. Any advice you can give for how much restoration to do would be great.

My sister and I are not strangers to engine building, machining, restoration or project building. Dad left us a machine shop too so we can do whatever we need pretty cheaply. Dad didn't have any boys so he taught us. Neither of us do it professionally but she just started racing American Stock and I am an off roader who has helped design and build 4x4's, and am getting into the Ultra4 racing.

I've done restorations in the past - but I don't pretend to know everything about every market. We want to do it right.

 

Sorry to hear of your Dad's passing . Sounds like you and your sister will keep his dreams alive that is a nice sign of love and respect . Rob

 

HEMI32

We seem to have very similar stories...the Services at the Speedway were epic. A few of his old racing buddies spoke about they're days on the track together.

Passing this lifestyle from Father to Son or from Father to Daughter, is as it should be.

 

Hello, you might run this by Greg Sharp at the NHRA Museum in Pomona Ca. Try calling and ask for Greg. Give him the history on your Dad and maybe you can e-mail your pictures to him. Keep us posted please.
GOOD LUCK with the restoration, it looks like it was a nice modified roadster at one time.
cw.

 

I have a thread running on Pirate4x4 with other stuff my Dad had. There are some really cool parts. Lots of old of rod stuff.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1045486

Just let me warn you, Pirate is not for the faint of heart, they are a pretty Rowdy bunch. This thread is very tame, I think because the subject matter is somber. So don't wander too far

Because the Estate has to be processed, we can't sell anything yet. We will be able to make it to Pleasanton and Turlock type swap meets, we just need to get organized.

 

LOL, now that's funny, we have been accused of the same.

As a matter of fact we should be asking for you to Read This First! do an intro and fill out your profile.


Sorry about your dad, but it seems that you have a good handle on what to do with those cars. A nice build thread when you get to that point would be super cool.

 

Sorry for your loss.

As another poster suggested try

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/board,1.0.html

Quite a few "older" Bonneville and El Mirage racers there that would love to help you.

 

Sorry to hear of the loss. My Father passed in '02 at a young age. His name was WAYNE. I'd love to have those valve covers if they are not something rare and super expensive. Good luck with the resto's. Lots of history there.

EDIT- HOLY CRAP your Father was amazing! He knew what to keep! What a collection!