History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Thanks for posting the photos. That was/is one of the prettiest Fiats to ever hit a drag strip.

 

Hello,

Nice re-creation of the Rea, Sullivan, Slusser and Helmick Fiat Coupe. It was/is one great looking coupe from the Reath Automotive stable of fast cars. Back in the early 60-70s, we knew the story of Norman “Rabbit” Samuels. But since this old brain can’t put those facts together, how did the “Rabbit” play a part of the Rea, Sullivan, Slusser and Helmick Fiat Coupe photograph and photo story?

Jnaki

From a local Long Beach drag racer, my inquiring mind would like to know the background story. We were consistent supporters of Joe and Dellie Reath from the time of the 10th and Cherry Automotive Shop. It is wonderful to see this Fiat Coupe again in all of its glory.

 

If you know the work of Curt Hamilton (the author of that article and father of the Jag Rear End) you would know that he likely grabbed the nearest petty face to compliment the photos vis-a-vie Sharon. As to Rabbit's inclusion, I'll have to ask Dad. Having authored car features, event coverage and tech stories throughout the 80's and 90's under the direction of wonderful editors like Jeff Tann, Jim McGowan, Jim Smart, Pete Pesterre and others for several Argus and Petersen magazines I can tell you that installing a pretty face in an article in those days was an acceptable way to sell more magazines - we did that tastefully wherever we could but that wouldn't work very well in these stupid politically-correct times. Shooting cars and pretty girls whenever the opportunity arose was a no-brainer in those days. Today, not so much! - Tom Lawson

 

Didn’t Rabbit Samuels own Stick City, a hot rod used car lot? Also, it seems like he had a tall T coupe with a 4-71 blown SBC that was featured in Popular Hot Rodding many years ago. I doubt there was any connection to the Fiat but I think the T was candy orange as well.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1915-ford-street-rod.1197394/page-2#post-13638317

Hello,

Yes, Rabbit Samuels had a Tall T pickup truck that was bright orange and was extremely well built. He had a nice stable of hot rods in his career. But, he also had a Long Beach connection to the Reath Automotive sponsored Fiat Coupe. There are so many stories that were around back then and over time, they just get placed in the back of the brain and forgotten. Or, they are still there, but the wall around them is thick and needs an electronic charge of some kind. Ha!

The photo page mentions that she is Miss Reath Automotive… if there ever was one. The orange Tall T truck was very bright and all of my photos of the event or photo shoot were given away. I thought it was worthy of a centerspread layout, the editors had other ideas. The photos I must say were quite clear and shot well.
HT PHOTO
Jnaki

But, I was not the editor and despite the quality photos, it was relegated to an inside story line. I was still proud that they selected the Tall T truck for a photo spread. I am sorry that my 2.25x 2.25 color slides are also gone with the wind. It was my way of saying thanks to those hot rodders that allowed me to photograph their cool cars… and trucks.

 

Still waiting for Sully to respond about Rabbit Samuels getting in the picture so here are a few more build/detail photos and some display photos at the Orange County International Car Show's Drag Racing Display in 2013 and some from the 70th HOTROD Magazine/In-N-Out Birthday in Pomona in 2018 party if you are interested!

 

Here you go, Gary!

 

Here are the photos ^^^^^^^ that were too big. Well can only do one now will try later.

 

Finally found a way to do it

 

is this you?

 

I believe that is Bennie Osborn’s brand x dragster


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Lots of little details to take in here in this old photo.
What do you see that stands out?

 

The rear 4-71 is shaft driven by the front one.

 

And the extensions on the rear injector scoop, and one throttle shaft for the two injectors.

 

Lot of stress on the front crank hub driving 2 blowers.

 

The sprung front end and drop axle kind of stood out to me. And does it look like the front engine is about to toss the blower belt? Or is that just some kind of a guard over the top pulley?

 

They are 4-71's. No worse than an 8-71.

 

You mean that there is a...rear...crank hub ?

Sorry, couldn't resist..!

Mike

 

Pretty sure he meant the hub on the front engine.

 

That is correct.

 

chevy57dude got it.

It was a backhanded joke..!
Far as I know, there is no "rear" crank hub.

Mike

 

Jack's Auto Parts Twin way.

 

The earlier "Freight Train" dragster also had the front engine driving both 6-71 blowers in the same manner. There were advantages to this arrangement. To drive a 6-71, it took approximately 150-200 horsepower. The engines on gasoline were probably putting out between 450 and 500 HP, but the HP was not equal on both engines. The front engine had the drag of spinning two blowers, while the rear engine had the advantage of a 6-71 without the disadvanatge of using any HP to drive it. This was important because the early versions of the "Train" used the small journal 283 crankshafts. Sticking 450 to 500 HP on the nose of the rear crankshaft had a tendancy of rattling the rear crank. To some extent, driving two blowers off the front engine with a big rubber belt was kind of like having a "harmonic damper" on both engines, and pretty much mitigated harmonics on the rear engine. When Nye Frank built the "Pulsator" dragster (he had been involved with John Peters on the "Freight Train"), we decided to run the enignes on 100% nitro, and not use superchargers, which also saved weight. Nye also used the small journal crank 283 engines (the larger journal Small Blocks had not been produced yet) stroked out to 364 cubic inches. Each engine put out about 900 HP, without the blowers and making more than twice the power as the "Train", we were sticking 900 HP into the nose of the rear engine, and had nothing to mitigate any associated harmonics created by doing that. Had we run on gasoline, we may not have ever had a problem, but running on nitro, which is so violent, we did. Once the larger journal SB cranks came out (I think with the 327 SB's) , those kinds of issues went away, and so there was really no advantage to having one engine drive two superchargers. On the "Train", moving the front engine forward a few inches to make room for the blower drive pulley on the rear engine did not effect traction, as bigger and better drag slicks became available. One of the biggest advantages the "Freight Train" had in the gas dragster ranks was the ability to run the Top Fuel dragster drag slicks. A single blown Chrysler gas dragster had trouble pulling those big slicks...

 

Zane Shubert

 

I liked it, too. Less when they parked it across the return road at Fontana to service it.

{Two aluminum Oldsmobiles (ney Pontiacs).}

 

People seem to forget that a GMC blower can pump the same volume of air regardless of which direction you spin it...

 

For years the only photo I had of Leland Kolb's "Whiz Bang" modified roadster was this naked chassis that I found on Don Ewald's site. It look pretty unfinished here, but I couldn't find a photo of the roadster with its body, until now. Leland's son Ron sent me this action in-motion of "Whiz Bang" with Leland driving. Leland started out on the lakes and then ran his roadster at the drags. He moved up to this modified roadster and then went top fuel racing, successfully, including an early rear engine top fuel car.

 

Do you know if he made the scoop or what it started life as?