Yep, mine are individual bodies meant for a Weber manifold. The good thing about these is that they actually have pretty good manners instead of only running good at full throttle- once you get them started- we always started the GT40 with the hood open, considering it always backfired a couple times, and the close proximity to very rare and expensive body parts- kind of a pain, but once it was running...
Oh boy! Whoever took this picture had to be like a kid in a candy factory. At least 20 race prepared engines waiting to be used.
Damn those receipts from Bill Stroppe are enough to bring a tear to a glass eye! The shop was just a block from our fireman's and buddy's machine shop on Orange Ave. And a receipt from Long Beach Triumph - they had dropped the Triumph-Ariel name by this time. I was just high school kid but it seems just like yesterday. Good stuff. When we were kids we used see who had the gut's to ride their bike down super steep Hill all the way from the top and the guy's from the shop would come out and watch. I always thought they wanted to try it themselves. Now I'm going to have to go up on Signal Hill and see what's left of the old place.
Funny you would mention the Triumph receipt, I thought it was an older receipt because although dated 9-11-68 the telephone # listed is HEmlock 6-0158. AND if you thought that they might have wanted to try that hill on a bicycle you need to know that when I googled "Bill Woodul" you get lots of hits on his fame as a racing cycle mechanic and I think they named the Olympic Training Center after him. Could it be that watching you guys ride down that hill was a revelation for him???
Never knew much about HM, until recently. And am so happy that I have the opportunity, to learn about such a historic shop, that doesn't get the credit they deserve. Their story needs to be told through the media some way, like the the recently aired show, American Icon: The Hot Rod. No doubt. I got the chance to visit the shop during the holidays and spent half a day with Lee Holman, Jimmy Tucker, and a few others, had a blast. Keep the thread going, many thanks Frank!
The floor shifter installation picture illustrates what looks like a 4-speed going into a '61-'63 "Bulletbird." Wow - that literally floors me as most attempts I've seen at this were real hack jobs. It would be interesting to have seen the finished installation and how they fabricated a clutch pedal and linkage for this.
Waddell Wilson, I believe started his career at H&M. I have heard that early on he built Engines for Fred Lorenzen. Pretty sure he was the engine builder on David Pearson's two championships in '68-'69.
I love this thread and history behind Holman-Moody. I am in the process of building a H-M inspired Hi-Pro, supercharged 6-cylinder '65 Falcon so all of the Falcon stuff is great!
I am restoring a Holman Moody Stroppe built Bonneville race car (not HAMB friendly) and found this inside one of the panels in the back. Its about 10" and was used on the fenders of the car. The car has some H&M parts that I have never seen before.
Thanx for a stimulating thread, these dudes have been lifelong heros of mine. The pix, documentation, and history of this group is outstanding, I am having a true blue oval moment. And by the way, go ahead and ship out of of those 4-barrel 300 cid manifolds, just use the same credit card as before, thanx. ~sololobo~
The car is a '69 Mustang with a 427 SOHC, so not so HAMB friendly. This is the pinion support for the 9" in the car. It has a gear that rotates to act as a pump for the rear end. I have never seen anything like this on any H&M cars that I have looked at.
I think we will be ok as long as we stay '69 or older unless we hear otherwise. David Pearson won the NASCAR title for Holman & Moody in '68-'69 so there is a lot of info to post on that. And ironically that was the end of the H-M glory years. Just don't press it by posting anything past '69. There are hundreds of 1970 and newer cars out there with interesting H-M stories but this thread is not the place for them.
The latest issue of Rod & Custom (June 2011) has a great article about long time gearhead & racer Danny Eames..In the mid-fifties, he was working for Peter DePaolo @ Bill Stroppes shop in Long Beach. He in turn, hired John Holman,who was working next door as a Lincoln-Mercury mechanic. He sent John Holman to Charlotte to set up the DePaolo Engineering operation . John ,after he reached Charlotte,hired Ralph Moody...They later bought out DePaolo and formed H-M.....and the legend began... Stan
Great Thread. Keep it going. I have restored one H&M Galaxie (C5HM10047)and am in the process of restoring another (C4HM-10041). I love the old stock cars. They are much more interesting than the cookie cutter NA$CRAP stuff that is running today, for sure.
Actually, I was an overwhelmed 16 year old kid so I kept my job as an A&P bagboy. I knew I couldn't screw that up. By the time I graduated from high school I followind my desire to become a truck driver. Which reminds me......H-M had a new experimental Ford road tractor with a turbine engine in the early '60s, around the time of the Chrysler turbine cars. The word was it was something FOMOCO farmed out to H-M. Later, I believe it was converted to a diesel. I will try to get some pictures and more info if Lee has any. It was the biggest Ford road tractor I ever saw. Then for years it just sat in their fenced-in lot wasting away. One time when I was there I took the time to look it over. That is one of the most memorable H-M items for me.
as a die-hard ford man and race fan since - literally - before i can remember , ralph moody and bill stroppe were two of my all-time greatest heroes . funny thing is , i have several "holman moody - competition proven" hats and it's a rare thing when someone [ ANYONE ! ] notices them or says anything about them...even at car shows or races . during the sixties they were the biggest name in racing , but today they're mostly forgotten - especially by the "fans" i call the "johnny-come-latelys" [ "JCL's"] . these are the fans that "discovered" racing [ such as it is ] in the 1990's or so , know and care nothing about it's history , and seem to believe that dale earnhardt and jeff gordon were the real pioneers . in my humble opinion , these two drivers couldn't carry the helmet bags of men like curtis turner , fireball roberts , fred lorenzen , or junior johnson ....if they HAD helmet bags to carry . they didn't . for anyone interested in reading more about holman moody and bill stroppe ...and the many other great drivers and races and cars of yesterday , i'd suggest they read the following three books : ----"ford : the dust and the glory" [ vol. I ] , by leo levine [ the best racing book i've ever read !}. ----"holman moody : the legendary race team" , by tom cotter & al pearce . ----"boss : the bill stroppe story" , by tom madigan. dr. john craft , whom i believe is a H.A.M.B. member, has also written several great books on nascar's glory days . his most recent was "bud moore : man and machine" . i believe all of these books can be purchased on AMAZON.COM at reasonable prices . i'm new to the H.A.M.B. , and it's a great thrill to see a new thread on HM starting . i'll be watching / reading with great interest . jack
Frank, I have some shots of the Turbine truck (inside the hanger) and from inside H&M back in the day if you are interested. Give me your e mail addy and I'll send them along. Not too sure that Lee H. will have what you need. He was just a tadpole back in the day (when things werre cooking) and either off at school or the Lake Norman boat shop.
i'm wondering if your '69 bonneville mustang was one of the original 3 that were raced at bonneville by mickey thompson . they were built by HM , and this was during the same time period that HM and bill stroppe were connected . the 3 cars were yellow [ boss 302 power ] , red and blue [ both powered by 427s ] . the red car went back to HM and was driven by bobby allison and david pearson with some success in nascar . no one seems to know what happened to it , but a good guess would be that it was eventually worn out or wrecked and parted out . the yellow car , which set most of the records , has never been accounted for , AFAIK . the blue car currently resides in kirk -----[ i'll be darned if i can think of his last name at the moment....well known ford collector in oklahoma ] ...in his museum . do you know what color your car was originally ? can anyone tell me how to post photos here ? i knew how to post them on randy ayers' nascar site , but it seems to be a different process here. and how do i add an avitar ? thank you . jack
Some early history: Here is Ralph Moody's first midget race car, when he still lived in Massachusetts. before WWII. Then the color shot is of the car after my Dad (Joe Gertler/Raceway Garage) and I restored it, circa 1980. The car was virtually complete and original when found, so a very original car, still. Even kept the tufted upholstery the way he had it. The car is now on display at The Fountainhead Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska.<O</O
The Jalopy Journal
