History Halibrand - In pursuit of history & stories

I've told this story before - if you have seen it already - tough!

I bought an original 1932 Ford RPU from Stan Betz in '96. It was in a warehouse gathering dust along with several other of his cars - some famous, some not so famous. There was a modified old Ford Model A axle laying in the back of the pick up bed. I asked Stan if the axle was included with the truck. He looked at me, guffawed, slapped his peg leg and said "you know exactly what that is, and unfortunately for you, so do I!" It was the very first Halibrand quick change that Ted Halibrand prototyped in late 1946 - complete with crude welds where the quick change section was welded onto the cast iron Model A banjo.

I would have had to buy an old sprint car from Stan to get the quick change, as that is where it had come from, but I was out of money having just bought the '32 RPU. The sprint car was subsequently sold, complete with the quick change. Last I hear of it about six years ago, it was in Fallbrook, CA, and yes I AM still kicking myself.

 

He also made many "V" drives for the boat racers. I have no idea as to the years....jb

 

All great stories guys.
I have made contact with several past employees and Engineers from the very early years from both the Culver city shop and the Torrance shop.
I will keep you updated as more comes in.

Nate

 

I would imagine this would be into the 60's but I will ask around to verify.

 

Timeline on materials used to make quickchanges may be off. I am pretty sure there were aluminum rears before 1979. I had heard from a solid source that Halibrand made them in both flavors all through the years. I have an early mag V8 quickchange but still need a mag rear cover as mine is aluminum. More info to ponder.
D.

 

I believe aluminum V8 Type 201 and Model A/Midget Type 101 quick changes were made in Culver City - ca. 1957.

 

Weasel thanks.
3 quick change types total correct?
Model A 101
AV8 201
Champ


I have made the assumption and through one unverified written source that the switch from magnesium to aluminum castings came through the business changing hands along with the stringent EPA regulations against magnesium through the (edit) 70's.


I will verify with my sources tomorrow.

 

Also made a non-Q/C center section for dragsters and such. Happens to be one on Ebay now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hali...yZ133189QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

your missing a couple owners, Bob Higman bought from Ted and owned The RACING only division in the 80's and 90's until he was cheated out of it by a guy named Ken Leable in the Milwaukee area

 

The non-quick change center section cost $200 less than a real QC from the factory in 2002!

 

Heres some stuff

 

I am also sure that alum V8 rears were made before '79, as my Pops bought a pile of used ones about then that looked to be decades old.

I have never seen in all my years a magnesium cover for a V8 quickie. Seen lots for the bigger centers, but never for the V8. Unless you are talking about a later, finned, "nostalgia" styled piece made after the '80's. I was thinking the real, original style. There's an ancient mag V8 center sitting on the shelf here with an aluminum cover and I'd say they have lived together all their lives.

 

........................

 

I will adjust timelines.

Thanks everyone.

Satan,
Keep those comming. I will add those to my photo archive.

 

I have made contact with Bob Falcon, a 30+ year employee with Halibrand who worked hand in hand with Ted and Ted's chief designer Norman Timbs.
I have forwarded on the lists for him to look over and offer imput.
I have also made conact with Roy Morris who also worked at Halibrand before Mr. Falcon starting in 1950.
I will post more information and stories as they send them to me.

 

I'm not sure how they came to be, but Halibrand made magnesium wheels for Studebaker in '64 as an option/accessory.

 

The interesting thing about this one is that it is Champ size. Others I have seen have been V8 or maybe Model A size, both mag and aluminum versions. Hmmm....

 

BTTT.
Don't want to let this die off just yet.

 

Okay - here's a shot I took the other day of my V8 mag rear cover. Side bells are mag too - the only one's I have ever heard of which was purpose built for an IRS - note the pickup points for control arms are cast into the side bells.

 

Weasel,
Were those side bell castings from a Shrike transaxle maybe?

 

They're Halibrand Touring wheels

 

The whole IRS is based around a C3 Corvette in principle but has inboard brakes. It has C3 halfshafts, custom control arms, radius rods and fabricated uprights. The multi tubular crossmember is for a 1932 Ford, which is what it came out of, but also fits 1933-36 Willys Model 77. I have no idea on the history of the side bells, but they are magnesium. I do not think they were ever used in a race car. Here's another shot.

 

Yep, just as I had pictured in my mind. Lots of fins. I've still never seen an original styled cover in magnesium.

 

I have the product list in with Bob Falcon for varification.
What I am finding out is, because Halibrand was a company focused on RACING first and formost, there have been many many 'one off' parts buit for certain racers or teams.
There 'catalog sales' product line should come together easily but as we are seeing, tracking down all of the specialty parts will be the difficult task.

N

 

Here is something,,it is a photo that was in the Halibrand catalog no idea what the piece is though

 

It was at the LA Roadsters swap meet this year. It was in my friends spot for sale. His buddy owned it was asking $3,500.00 (just the rear end) for it. Just about everbody who walked by asked about it. I don't think it sold that weekend.

 

I'm guessing it is a early day quick change mechanism that attaches to the motor plate or rear axle. Swapping different size inner gears changes the ratio and the slotted plate allows meshing the gears, in the manner of this one from another mfg.

 

I just recieved this from Bob Falcon, 30+ year employee & friend of Halibrand.
All information is written by & credited to Bob Falcon.
This is in response to the establishment of products and timelines post #27.
Enjoy.

ANSWERS...
A. First units were for midget race cars and used Model A Ford ring and pinion gears; next design used the Ford passenger car gears and were used for Hot Rod race cars (ovals and dry lakes) and later on Sprint Cars; Next was the Champ series which were used on big cars such as the Indy Roadsters, land speed record cars and the Midwest modified series cars...Champ design used Ford truck gear sets.
All gear sets were made for Halibrand by Muncie Gear Works and had modified ring gears to mate with axle spools-they also were made from a stronger steel alloy than the standard automotive parts.

B. Avery few cases were made of aluminum alloy, on special order. most were for Midwest Modifieds.

C. Fuel Caps, Grilles, etc....Very short runs but we kept a few in the inventory.

D. Steering Gear Assemblies...Starting in the 1950s, onward.

E. Torsion Bars...Starting in there late 1940s for Midgets and line was developed for all forms of racing thereafter.

F. Spot/Disc Brakes from the late 1940s, onward...Starting with Midgets progressing to all race car forms.

G. In/Out Boxes...from the 1960s. Box design was a "Dog Clutch". Remained a standard until Ted sold the company and the "drive shaft slider coupling" became a standard.

H. Beginning in the mid to late 1950s the product line was made of all the running gear components used on race cars.

J. Magnesium alloy wheels were first developed for Midgets in the post WW2 era of the 1940s. The first units appeared at the Indy 500 in 1950, were on the winning car in 1951 and continued to be a staple in the entrant garages, when the Brits took over the car manufacturing--First units appeared on Sprint cars about 1951 (The Malloy Sprinter driven by Ruttman) and continued to be a staple until rim widths got out of hand.
(Note: We never made a wheel that we referred to as "Kidney Bean"...those oval slots were created due to the radius of the diaphragm. That term, which I personally view as offensive, was the product of one of the later owners, some of whom who I view at a level below the grunts who swept the floors at Halibrand Engineering-during the glory years.
Cars with our equipment won the Indy 500 over 19 years in a row!

K. NONE of our wheels were cast from Aluminum Alloy!

L. Marine Vee Drives-these were based on a remark made by Jimmy Bryan (an avid ski boat owner) that Ted should make them based on the quick change section of the Champ Rear Ends....and it grew to a line of four-or five-models. Perry Grimm was our boat transmission technician.

M. The Shrike Indy Car (named by me) preliminary design was started in late 1963, while Halibrand was building the first Torrance facility and the moving process was in full swing...The first two prototype cars were entered the 1964 "500" and the Ford, driven by Eddie Sachs made the field with the fast time on the second day of qualifications. Sachs and MacDonald were involved in the Lap 2 fiery crash ( see The Alternate, Issues 220 & 221-April and May 2007). The first design was manufactured in 1964 and 1965. Another design was constructed for a customer in 1966.
The car design was a "stop-gap" to permit American car builders to learn the techniques to fabricate cars with rear engines and four wheel independent suspension systems.

N. The LIM project was accomplished in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

not to hijack this thread....but, would anyone happen to know , what are id marking cast into a small window 15x4.5 wheel...my rears say culver city and halibrand and possibly a part number , but my fronts were poslished at one time but not totally ....as the id areas are still there , but there are extras on one wheel....also , are there any date codes...? thanks brandon

on the backside , this wheel is marked h or m 750....

 

More info from Mr. Bob Falcon:


1. The Halibrand line used three different QC Center Section designs but axle applications created many different. All the axles were manufactured to the customers specification for width and offset of the spool. To explain comparing a Champ Dirt Car to an Indy Roadster. Both used the Champ C/S but the axle fit requires two different sets of dimensional differences even though the components were basically the same. The dirt car would have the 3-inch Open Tube axle with either a tapered axle hub mount or, in rare instances, a hub mount with splines and no taper.
The Roadster would use the very same components except the length might vary and the off-set difference would be huge due to engine placement.
The Champ was also used by the Midwest modified groups but they were required to install solid axles mated to a free standing spool. Most used a system that was based on Ford trucks with full floating axles. This required that they use a different style hub, which Halibrand made from magnesium alloy that provided for a flange mount for the axles and a very large wheel mount bolt circle as that found on mid 1930's Fords.
The customer had three gear set choices, 3.54, 3.78 and 4.11:1 ratios. An infinite number of ratios was achieved using the change gear sets. Gear placement in the quick change housing provided two ratios for each gear set.

2. The pattern maker for all Halibrand cast products was an independent who's facility was on-site at the Halibrand compound. His his name is Ed Weimer and I knew him from my days as a high school student in Culver City CA. Ed eventually did the pattern work for a large number of race car component manufacturers. He did the work for the Hilborn Fuel Injectors and later did the work for the Drake V8 that never achieved the success at Indianapolis.

3. The non-quick change was developed for the Howard Keck roadster driven by Bill Vukovich. The reason for the design was that it saved a lot of weight and once the crew knew the gear ratio they planned to use in the race there was no need for the quick change system. Some other driver, (Cal Niday-I think and don't quote me) played some "head games" with Vukovich and had him convinced that there would be a torque change that would be detrimental to the car's handling performance. Vukie forced the crew to remove the set up. We may have sold a few to some other competitors in Sports Cars and the Modified circuits but it never caught on.

4. All of the Shrike race cars were designed and fabricated in house. The buyer sent the engine to us and usually a mechanic to lend a hand in the fabrication chores, as was the practice in that time period in all forms of racing. Materials processing was accomplished by outside service providers as was the practice for the Halibrand product line. The metal body work for the prototypes was done by a metal shaping service. Later major body parts were made of fiberglass. All the external tanks were fabricated in house. The finned, gold colored, oil tank on the Sachs Red Ball car was fabricated by Bruce Bromme assisted by Bud Thompson.

5. I lost track of the ownership but know of the persons you name but am not certain of the dates of ownership. But to correct the linage, Ted sold to a former Sprint Car driver named Curt Waters. Waters had purchased the CAE sprint car fabrication where he once worked from Jim Culbert. Culbert also made rear ends and was a Halibrand customer for change gears and like products. Waters formed a company named ARC Industries and specialized in the manufacturing of race car torsion bars. He did a leveraged buy-out of Halibrand Engineering and his hat size shot up to 15 and a half. I did some work for him for a short while but when he moved the operation to San Diego, I dropped out.
Waters sold the line to Jackman who set up a division to handle the race car components. It continued for a few years then the Jackman's decided to get out of the biz and sold it to another and the rest is back page history.
Ted had a different feel for his products than did his successors. We were always looking for ways to improve the designs for better safety...his followers were more inclined to make each item cheaper and they sacrificed the reliability.

6. I first shook hands with Ted when I was in high school. Our meeting is a story in itself and quite memorable for me. Our paths crossed later when I was working for a boating magazine and he asked if I would like to do some contract work for him. At the time he was in the process of constructing the new building in Torrance and had contracted with Norm Timbs to design the Shrike race cars. I remained with the company either on a free lance basis and worked on-site as an employee when I fell victim to the Southern California aircraft industry peaks and valleys. This relationship went on even after he sold the company.
Ted is the person who helped me to focus on the needed safety improvements in racing. As a board member for USAC he was appointed as the chairman of a Safety Committee they were forming based on the fact that the USAC insurance carrier had awarded him the first Continental Casualty Award for Racing Safety. He later appointed me as the secretary because of my writing and drawing skills and our group of forty, or more, members composed of every discipline in USAC racing became the worlds most efficient organization for racing safety.
Ted crossed the finish line in June of 1991.
During his illness we spoke on the telephone daily.