Projects My Dale Velzy/Sam Conrad Roadster Build Thread

I may be jumping the proverbial gun here but I’m starting reassembly and I thought I’d take a shot at a build thread. A little background:
The Sam Conrad Roadster: Growing up near LAX there were many hot rods running around. One that showed up in my neighborhood regularly was a dark blue ‘29 on ‘32 rails with a thumpin’ Olds motor. It belonged to L. A. Roadsters member Sam Conrad. In the early to mid ‘60s I was 13-15 years old and still on a bicycle. That didn’t stop me from making the rounds of the local hot rod hot spots, including C&O Hydros and Jack Seiburh’s Westchester Auto Body. Anytime Sam’s roadster was in the neighborhood I rode over and just devoured it in my mind. The metallic blue paint, the sparkling white interior, Halibrands at all four corners and of course, the Hugh Tucker built Olds engine with 6-2s and chrome headers. As I got older, I promised myself that I would build one just like it. Mine is NOT the Sam Conrad roadster, neither is it an exact clone, it is a tribute, built to honor the taste and skills of the creator of the original. Many cars and distractions later I decided it would be my last full build, meant to stay with me through retirement to the end. I’ve been collecting parts for it for a long time. Some idea of where this is going….


In color….



I had gathered up a frame, rear end, engine, etc but living in California, getting a car built from parts and pieces registered ain’t easy. Then one day a buddy said that he was going to sell his roadster project to make room for a ‘32. So I bought his running, driving and most importantly, registered, Chevy powered ‘28.
The Velzy Roadster: Dale Velzy was a famous SoCal surfer and surfboard shaper. He was also a car guy. My buddy’s roadster was the beater in Velzy’s collection. In his last days the old roadster sat neglected in the car port next to his house. My buddy Bruce bought it and got it running again. When he caught ‘32 fever, he called me and I went to look more closely at it. It was so similar to the Conrad roadster, with the stance, the raked windshield and the Chevy taillights, AND, did I mention it was registered with current plates. Big step forward. I would drive it as a beater until I was ready to build my dream car.
Just to be sure I wasn’t ruining some lost historical hot rod, I sent pictures and info to Pgan along with my plan for the car. He said build it the way you want, it didn’t seem to be of any particular historical significance. So, I drove it for a year or so with the Chevy and a drivers door that rattled like crazy and wouldn’t stay closed, until it started fouling spark plugs every few miles. That did it. Reconstruction Begins………..

The Velzy Roadster as I got it….

And as I drove it for a while…. Just a few changes to make it mine.


I’m a header guy, so of course, new exhaust….

Stick around, there’s more…..

 

you bend some nice tubes Bob..

 

Nice! Staying tuned

 

I can’t take credit. I was in a big hurry so I used a Speedway kit. I actually started out just to doll it up just a bit for summer and fix some irritating bugs. A scuff and shoot color change, a bigger small block for a little more zip and new exhaust. But you know how that goes….

 

Following this for sure.

 

Cool!

 

You have got my attention .

I like it !

 

Watching for sure.

 

Nice….A Velzy rod is historical to some….

 

I know this is gonna be a good thread! Patiently waiting…

 

I agree, and because Velzy knew so many people, I couldn’t dismiss the possibility that he had bought it from some well known old time hot rodder. That’s why I contacted Mr Ganahl. My friend Bruce did some sleuthing with Don and Joe Takayama, Velzy’s long time friends from whom he bought the car but nothing surfaced. It appears that it was just a beater, thrown together for kicks.

 

Hey BCB,

That is not "THE" Donald Takayama is it? He had a great history with Velzy-Jacobs Surfboards in the late 50s and early 60s. He was a legend in So Cal surfing circles and made an impression on my brother and me. But, I always bought a surfboard from Ole, Hobie, Gordie or in recent times Timmy Patterson. But, my brother made his first surfboard and then sold it to order a Jacobs Surfboard shaped by Donald Takayama.

It was a classic and still wished we had it, today. It should have lasted, as those boards from the time period of the early 60s had double 10-20 oz. glass cloth as well as a double deck patch for the knee paddling protection area on top. Of course they weighed 35-45 lbs on the average and were bulletproof, well almost.

Jnaki

In the height of the early 60s heyday of surf stars and surfing movies, "D.T." as he was known and I looked similar. Not that it was a big thing... After a summer of daily surfing, we both had dark tans and his wild hair after salt water drying matched my long wild hair from the salt.

But, he was a lot shorter than I was and possibly made his surfing better. His power moves were from a lower center of gravity in his fast turns and cutbacks. As mistakes go, it was nice to have people think I was a dark tanned guy going to those cool high school/college auditoriums for movies and fun.

History is where you get your hot rod or surfboard. Stories are located in all sorts of places including plenty of surf magazines, historic archives and various surfer journals. Great find and keep up the great work... Hot Rods and surfing, what a combo...

 

Good luck with your project Bob, wise choice to contact Pat, as he knows plenty about Hot Rods and Surfing. I will be watching.

 

When I got the roadster it had a 283 with a TH350 and a ‘64 Chevelle rear end. A P&J 4 bar front end kit with a Mustang box had been added where split wishbones once were. It appears that the front frame horns had been removed or damaged and new, fabricated ones grafted on. The rear had a ‘40 spring and a nicely done custom 4 bar setup, including a long Panhard bar (?).
The little engine always had a strange vibration and was oiling the spark plugs badly. It only has 450 miles on it and I was afraid that the rings hadn’t seated properly. When I separated the engine from the transmission I found that the flex plate was for a 400 SBC with a big weight on one side, (the number stamped on the flex plate was a 350, no-weight number), the vacuum modulator was ancient and the hose was full of oil. Whew. So the 283 is fine and awaiting a new home.
When I tried to adjust the doors, I found that the body was poorly mounted with rotting plywood shims so off it came and with that, the decision was made to go ahead with the full reconstruction instead of a seasonal update.
My ‘56 Olds 324 was torn down and sent to Baechler’s Machine in nearby San Andreas for evaluation.
I have pictures but they are being held hostage in my old computer for now.

 

Jnaki’s, yes, the Don Takayama! I guess he helped sell off what Velzy left behind when he died.
My only surfboard was a Con. In 1966 I was 16 and IIRC, I bought it used at Shell’s in Santa Monica. I wasn’t much of a surfer, I’ve always had inner ear/balance problems, but I gave it a good shot. I loved the beach and the water but as all my friends got better and better, I focused on my car stuff and sold my board.

 

I’m having technical difficulties. I have two laptops, two desktops, a tablet, an iPhone and a handful of memory sticks. My poor old head is about to explode trying to find and post some of the pictures. . And then there’s my one finger typing on my tablet.
Maybe I just need a second cup of coffee……

 

Here's Sam's old LAR #3

 

Hey BCB,

The real “D.T.” how cool is that!!! Now, for your other difficulties…

All you need is one 4tb external hard drive that is the size of a cigarette pack. Each of the laptops and desktops can be plugged into the hard drive to get your stuff off of each one. A central folder or folders for photos and sub folders for specific builds/dates. Then your memory sticks can be plugged in and emptied into the same folder or dated folders.

As far as the Iphone, and if the tablet is an Apple, there are memory sticks with an Apple plug on one side and an USB on the other. Load the "C" from one side, transfer using the USB to your external hard drive. The other way is that since it is an Apple, it is automatically saved into the Apple Icloud. Open your account and copy/paste from the cloud into your external hard drive.

Jnaki

My wife likes her phone, because of our son, granddaughter and even her sister all have Apple Iphones. She used to be an Android phone person, just like me. But she opted for an Apple. Now, I have to go to the cloud to get her specific photos and files from there and download it to our external hard drives. When her Windows home desktop computer goes "Kablooey" and I cannot fix it, she is now thinking a Mac Pro 16 inch laptop. That will be a long day in our household getting used to that cool laptop, but complicated one at that.

But, for simplicity sake, one 4tb external hard drive can consolidate all of your wandering files into one place. I have a large basic hard drive in my laptop, but it is/was 3/4 full. I can feel it wandering into the slow phase and I needed to get some big files off of it. So, I opted for a 4tb external hard drive that I can take anywhere at anytime and it fits in my jacket pocket. The cost is negligible as the external hard drive is making life easier. Now your complicated life lasts longer due to less stress and simplicity.

My laptop is powerful, but was becoming overloaded and overworked with the almost full, base hard drive. Now, it is streamlined, less than half full and runs a lot faster than before. Tuning, just like the old hot rod days, but in smaller technology stuff. YRMV

 

Here’s the boys with the roadster, date unknown.

 

Me too! Something about the contrast I guess.

 

Hey Bob, when did you acquire the roadster? Is it with you or down south?

 

Here's a few disassembly photos. This frame is a tank. The X is 2x2 heavy wall tube with plate welded on the sides. Nicely done. arc welded and ground. Sam's car was basic '32 rails, boxed with a couple added crossmembers, no X. I wasn't about to try to cut all that out, I like the stiffness and the extra weight is low and will help the ride quality. So the Velzy part will remain. It looked like a '70s biker built the frame, everything was molded with copious amounts of Bondo. So I just checked it for straightness and moved on.
Note the rear 4 bar. The bottom bars hang way down there and show way too much. Sam's car had ladder bars that went all the way up to the bellhousing. That couldn't happen on this frame. Another concession to practicality. That's why the car will be a "tribute" and not a clone.
The last photo is the pedal assembly after I cut it apart and (mostly) straightened everything out. The M/C was leaking because the old rod pushed sideways on it.

 

The title says I got it in October 2017. It's been here in NorCal since I got it.

 

The roadster is getting a '56 Olds, B&M Hydro, and an Olds rear end. Sam had a bigger Olds in his car but I wasn't able to get ahold of a good 371 to build. I acquired a big stash of Olds stuff in a labor trade when I had my shop, a complete engine, blocks cranks, heads, etc. The Hydro came on the back of a 401 Buick I bought. I also bought the rear Halibrands years ago from Don Waldron. The wheels had been polished before so I couldn't resist putting a little shine on them.
So, the first step was to get the proper rear tires and figure out how wide the rear end needed to be.
New Radir slicks..... oh yeah.

I didn't want to tuck them in too close, too late model looking, but some old hotrods looked a little gangly with narrow tires too far out. It's a fine line, but an important one.

With the correct measurements in hand, I narrowed the '60 Olds housing.


And made some new 4 bar brackets the old fashioned way, cutting torch, grinders and the drill press.

 

I made up a pair of quarter elliptic springs for the rear just like Sam's car. Unfortunately, with the X in this frame I couldn't use them. Oops.



So I cleaned up the '40 spring and made some spring hangers. (current photo, couldn't find the early ones) That's my '33 pickup in the background and those gray things are Morris Minor woody parts waiting for me to paint them.

 

Been there You need a cloud account. If you cant set one up get a young person to help you. Then when you have time slowly upload all your pics in folders into that.

 

I'm on the edge of my seat,

added to build thread index