On page 88 there is an article titled 48 years of bliss. It's about a dragster that has been owned by the same person since 1960 and was just recently restored. It also says that it may have been the first Lynwood welding dragser frame kit. I call BULSHIT! Nothing is from the original car not even the chasis; In fact the chasis is not even a Lynwood it is a copy that was made around 2005. I could care less except I don't like liars. The car was at the Vargo reunion and is pictured here on the H.A.M.B. It is a great clone[blue with an injected small block] just not the car it is claimed to be.
Seem's like everytime I have had anything to do with a Mag or even newspaper something or everything is miss quoted or inaccurate!
Can't blame the magazine as much as the owner of the cars. I know of a car that is featured in two different mags this month and the HAMBer that was responsible for finding the car, tracing all it's history and selling it to the current owner was not even mentioned in either story. That's a crime- but it's what the current owner decided to tell the magazines. I just wrote 2 stories for Rod & Kulture- I think they get into the history of the cars pretty well- but it's still what I was relayed by the current owners, and some don't even tell ANY of the history if they don't feel like it.
JimA I agree with you it is the owner who presented false information to the magazine writer. Some people let their ego get in the way of reality.
okie doke, i just spoke with ron crable, the writer. he said the information came straight from ed bliss sr. he is in his 70s, and said the car never left the family. it is the same car he drove in the 60s. his son ed jr. said durring the restoration, don garlits took a look at the frame and said that it could be one of the first chassis. i do like to make sure our information is correct, but like jim mentioned we rely heavily on the owner of the car for information. ron found it highly unlikely that 70 year old ed bliss was lying to him. zombie
Sorry to rain on the parade but the bliss car was copied from my lyndwood dragster over a 6 month period. I loaned the bliss's my complete rail so they could tear it down to the frame and copy it. not only did they copy it but the hilborn injectors,timing cover,lyndwood shocks,ross steering box and spindles all came from my rail directly or my garage! It is a re-creation of the now famous original "Bliss C/dragster", I am not sure why it was protrayed as an original...maybe to pump up the value, or make good reading I don't know. I normally don't loan stuff out like my rail but I did it as a favor to a good friend jim amale to help with the re-creation of the bliss car. I know they looked for the original for 20+ years and couldn't track it down so a re-creation was the next best thing. once it was done they displayed it with a plaque that thanks me and a few others for out contributions. I can't say that the articale didn't bother me but what can i do it's already done....water under the bridge. All I can say is if your everin my neck of the woods and want to see an original '59 lyndwood dragster with all the corrrect parts & pieces drop me a line I'd be glad to show you it. Paul PS- big daddy needs to go to sears optical to get his perscription checked...
Hey Paul, Is your rail the one Mark Conforth owned? Also, I know Bob Bilbow and will probably see him this weekend. Spike
no I found my rail in a junk yard near vargo dragway, it was ID'd from pictures & a few crew men (now old men) as being the Solomon & Rorres A/D from southeastern pa. they retired this particular lyndwood in or about 1964 to go to a longer more modern 4 bar type rail. later on a bad crash took the life of the driver (rorres) and the owner joe solomon quit dragracing never to speak of it again (so I was told from a nationally know & respected local PA drag historian/builder). I searched for joe solomon or his family for 5 years by doing mailings and posters at shows but never found anyone. my rail has unique chassis issues that there rail had as well as 2 former crew men saw the rail and ID'd it as the chassis. they ran ablown 394 old w/direct drive. I left it set up the way I found it from the last owner with a small block chevy mounts, so I have a blown 331 on it. Paul
Lyndwood dragsters were made & sold as early as 1957-58 the first series eliminator chassis, the bliss copy is of a 98"wb eliminator II chassis which came out in 1959-60. later the same big tube chassis was stretched to 130" wb , still later the eliminator evolved into a sleek small tube , long 4 bar dragster. * on a side note ed bliss purchased his first lyndwwod as a kit and welded it himself...hense the model a axel and different front end geometry vs a standard lyndwood of the period with a tube axel . Paul
wtf! i will find out more info on this situation tommorrow. if our info is wrong, i apologize, and we will run a retraction. z
I did 'old bones' portrayed in Rod & Kulture, issue #13. They represented thet car exactly as it is and did a good fair treatment. There were some things i would have like to have added to their comments but i think their intent was to present a car, the cars info and let the reader draw their own conclusions. A good magazine and it is a bit unfair that they were used is create some authenticity to a 'cloned' product. My .02, oj
well, i spoke with ron this morning, and recontacted mr. ed bliss. this is the e-mail i received concerning the accuracy of the article. Zombie, I just spoke to Ed Bliss and he did confirm that he had borrowed Paul's car but it was for purposes of obtaining measurements for the body which was replaced ( and noted in the article) and also for some sections of the frame that had to be replaced due to rust and rot. Ed stated to me that Paul is in error about his statement that they lost the car for 20 years. Ed stated to me, as he told me in our original interview, that the car was always in his possession and it's deteriorated condition was a result of the storage conditions. He states that the article was well done, accurate and that his circle of friends and fellow enthusiasts were also very appreciative of the article. Ron i really dont want to stir up some sort of issues here, but i do like to make sure our info is reliable. this info is coming directly from the original driver/owner. this is a great car, and i would have ran a feature on it even it was a clone. i just want to make sure our info is correct as possible. zombie
well believe what you you want, it's all a lie. search my old posts under "lyndwood dragster" and you'll see posts back to 2006 pertaining to the loaning of my car to the bliss's and how they took measurments and made templates to recreate more lyndwoods if asked! If he had a complete frame why would he need my rail to re-creat the body? he built his lyndwood from a kit mine was made at the lyndwood factory the frames would be different. no two lyndwoods were a like.ed bliss jr build that car and did a great job re-creating it...obviously his own father is disowning his talents & time???? I'm sure spike will here the "Truth" out at larsons dragfest tomorrow. BULLSHIT IN PRINT! Paul
paul, as editor of the magazine all i can do is verify the story the best i can. the original owner/driver of the car who is in 70s is giving me this information directly. im not calling anyone a lier, but i have to either take eds word for it, or take your word and run a retraction. i dont like the taste of crow, but ive eat'en it before, and i will be the first one to step and eat again if someone can show me some proof this thing is bogus, and ed has just straight up lied to us. i will hit spike up and see if has any info. i definitely want to make sure the correct info is ran in the magazine. period. z
Iunderstand you position, I was just reponding to this post which I didn't start...I've been biting my tounge for weeks on this and decided to reply. I'm not asking for a retraction either, I've informed so many paeople of this re-creation and the story behind it and now they call me after reading it and want to know "whats up?" now my credibility is a stake even if it is "just local to PA/NJ area". It just so happens that the people who Know the truth will be at larsons and so will spike, I hope they use discretion and not ruin a great event. Paul ps- there is no age limit for lieing pps- love the magazine
Well it was a great story. Shouldn't the gentleman providing the story, such as noted above, be crucified and not necessarily the magazine publishing the editorial if the information turns out to be a fabrication? The magazine is a great publication and attempted to source the article properly..... Just my thought...
hey paul, i appreciate you speaking up. im not calling you a lier either. we definitely dont want any bad info. if it is wrong, i will run a retraction. it is important that our readers get the correct info, and i will go the extra mile to make sure they get it. i already spoke to spike, and he will be looking for you tommorrow. hopefully i can get this put to bed either way. thanks, zombie
If there is abright side to this it's that Pat Bilbow's work is getting recognition. I grew up in Wilkes-Barre and visited Pat's shop. I lettered one door of my truck Lyndwood Welding as a tribute to Pat. It's a remarkable story that his son Bob's first trip to a drag strip was behind the wheel of a blown Chrysler powered Lyndwood. RIP Pat.
As a Lyndwood owner/restorer I find this story sad and bothersom, I feel bad for Paul. We've emailed back & forth over the years and I know his car is the real deal, so is mine and I've got a stack of photos and first hand conversations from all the Danbury Modifiers that worked on the car 1959-63.
Well, I was at Bruce Larson's Dragfest today and waited to hear from anyone who wanted to talk about this. I only talked to one person that isn't on this board that I know of. His name is Jim Amole and he told me plenty about the rail in question. Jim worked at S&W for many years and he had a ton of photos of the Bliss rail. He had a whole photo album of the thing in its many configurations. As far as I can tell he's the gospel. I also talked to Bob Bilbow in person from Lynwood. Between the two of them I got a few answers and everything is making sense now. I would have loved to talk to the others that responded in person but nobody showed. I kinda got thrown under the bus on this one. I didn't write the article or take the photos, but it does fall into my neck of the woods and I do represent the magazine as an editor...until Zombie decides to drop me off the masthead like the last issue..LOL. Anyway, I would like to hear more from the right people. Drama.... Spike
Spike, Jim Amole is a great guy, he made the body for my Lyndwood using photos and the knowledge he has from making bodies for other race cars. He is a walking encyclopedia of Drag Racing history, and into car magazines BIG TIME! don't turn down an offer to visit him.
I spoke with bob and jim friday night and they told me they'd stand up for me as I had to work since I took off for the Vargo shin dig last week. I'm not looking to ruin this board or the magazine with this BS, just defending my rep...I've always loaned people what they needed in the past be it my sweat,time, parts or even money to help with racing or rodding, but this whole deal makes me want to do just the opposite in the future. Paul
This morning I spoke with a good friend in Reading PA who has not one but two original Lynwood cars. He knows all the people in this story, and confirmed to me that the Bliss car is a complete recreation of their original car, built to the best of their ability. Folks who know these cars as well as Paul and Bob can immediately see differences in the roll bar hoop. Without the same tooling Pat Bilbow used, it was impossible to get the radius exactly like the original chassis. Why Mr. Bliss has chosen to tell an untrue story, then continues to not fess up to the real deal, only he can tell. It's a damn shame, but that's the path he has chosen.
That's the story I'm getting from Jim and Bob as of yesterday. I haven't spoken with anyone from Reading but I trust them to know the deal as well. Spike
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