Cal Custom?

Took the kids to a carnival that came to a near by town.
The rides were vintage.
I think this kiddie ride has Cal Custom Valve covers on each of the cars.
Looks like small block chev with early staggered bolt patten. Must have been four pairs of valve covers on this ride. I also noticed on some rides at a different carnival, that the kiddie rocket ride had 59 ford tail lights that lit up as the back end of the rocket.

 

rad

 

That is AWESOME !!!!!!
I saw that and all of a sudden I was six years old again.

 

Neat, I wonder how many of us were on that same ride as kids?

 

I'd say that has been around since at least the early 60's if not the late 50's from the design of the cars. Pretty wild. Those carnivals usually cover a lot of territory in a years time too.
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Those rides are for kids?

 

that is awsome!

jeff

 

damn, i don't remember those around here .......or a carnival for that matter. we had oc and la fairs.

 

what is that??? a straight 16?
pretty cool, I can remember rides like this when I was a kid. Seems like Cedar Point had some too.

 

I've seen the same carnaval ride and wondered how to get those valve covers when no one was looking.

 

Id steal them .Took the kids to Story book land this week and drove these early t looking things.Kids even drove .They had early cool tail lights and so many nostalgic antiques.Through out the park. So I know how you feel.That's excitement

 

If you ever try it, I hope Captain Spaulding gets a hold of you.

 

You too.

 

That same exact ride exists at my local amusment park, Wild Waves/Enchanted Village. Same Cal Custom valve covers and similar metalflaked cars. I first saw it several years ago when my kids were small and I cracked up when I saw those "engines." Love to have a pair of those covers for my '55!

Note: the covers are early angled-hole versions.

 

They look like staggered pattern, but more importantly why is the kid riding alone in the back seat?

 

Those are definately early Cal Custom staggered SBC covers. I'd say by the mid '60's these covers were on every parts house shelf in america. Glad to see the Carny's put them to good use. Since the are useless for anything else besides staggered bolt hole heads (without some kind of adapter). They have the same exact rides with the CC valve covers here at a local amusement park.

Kevin
Ooltewah Speed Shop

 

The bodies look like modified Rupp go cart bodies. Rupp Monza Jr. or Chevy Jr. go karts.

 

those are awesome! definately must be an old ride

 

just another carnival ride with belly button SBC's in them....

 

If anyone's interested, I did a little research on these and they were built by Hampton Amusement Corp. out of Portage Des Sioux Missouri. I believe this is the Sports Car model and they had other vehicles (sometimes even as combos), such as boats and motorcycles (the latter with wheelies and jumps optional). I don't know when they first started making rides, but I know they were at least around in the 70's and they finally closed shop in 2002. Other bodies made were: a VW Bug, Ford roadster complete with rumble seat, School Bus, Fire Truck, Police car, Jeep, Mustang and so on. They were also usually covered in flake, chrome and blinking lights, ahhhh. I guess that's where a lot of us got our start, whether we know it or not.

 

I remember the cars at our local fair in the early 80s but they didnt have the "engine"sticking out of the front.

 

I remember some of those coming to the State Fair here when I was little. The Mustang, roadster and motorcycle for sure, maybe one with a mix of Police and Fire on it too.

 

thanks man..i knew this was coming..just was wondering how long it was going to take..and who was going to bring it up

 

Here's how they look in full dazzle mode.

 

Same ride at Southwick's Zoo in Mendon, Mass!

 

Yes definitely Hampton. There is a big chrome logo on the side of all the cars (not in the photos I posted but in some of my other pictures). You got better results in your search on this subject than I did. I didn't find much.

 

I got most of my info here. http://rjcarol.com/aboutus.html