Just spent the last few days doing the History of Los Angeles thread from start to finish. Extremely interesting historical archive even though a little weak as far as the Hot Rod scene. One post in particular (that DID focus on rods) by Brerhair back in March of 2010 caught my eye bigtime. (Page 32, post 631). It was a series of photos of the drags at Pomona in 1952. Included was a shot of a very early version of the Bean Bandits but more importantly to me were the pictures of the (former ?) Spalding track roadster running at the drags. The car was originally featured in the June 1950 HRM and was noted for its injected 235 Wayne Chevy, its torsion bar suspension, and its thoroughly professional construction. As a track roadster, it had an in-out box and no clutch. It also had an Art Ingles nose like Barney Navarro's car. Even though the photgraphy in the magazine was B&W the car was known to be orange and appeared as a light gray in the article. The photos in Brerhair's post show the car in a dark color but all other details, including the number, are correct. Most amazingly, as you scroll down, it now had a Flathead Ford in it. This really shocked me since in 1950 it was a state of the art circle track car with an engine that ran with the best of the V-8s and here in 1952 it was running on the strip with a Flathead. Is there anybody out there who might have some insight as to what happened here?
If you can find Rod&Custom Jan 1973, there is a full interview with Tom Spaulding by Gray Baskerville. It is the best info I have found on the car. When "Track Roadster" racing started to play out, they sold it.
Here's the original post with the Pomona pictures. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302456 I researched a little on this subject sometime back: An article from the recreation of this car in Rod & Custom. http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/...ter/index.html Some text from the article: "Tom and Bill built their roadster in the very late 1940s, at the end of California's roadster-racing heyday. While the car proved itself briefly in the '50 season, the brothers didn't see the series fit to campaign. To paraphrase a clich, the flame that burned twice as hot lived half as long, and the brothers parted out the car by early 1951." Here's the original car: and the 1952 Pomona photos: Howard White, and his brother Harold White Looks like the same car since the Pomona pictures would've been a year later. As rare as 12 port was even back then, the motor probably was removed, saved and/or sold. How many cars back then could have been equipped with a flip-up cowl?
The Spalding bros. T when powered by a flathead was owned by Harold White he ran it with his brother. Harold worked for Ray Brown.
Pat Swanson built a tribute to this car which was on the street at the LA Roadster Father's Day show just three years ago. I think Pat has since sold his car. I have photos on my old computer which is now unbootable. My father was involved with this car and the Wayne engine. This car or the Hartman roadster was known as the "9 day wonder", built and raced in a mire 9 days. DW
Actually, I heard on another thread here that the Swanson car was basically parted out too. Having read the interview article 35 years ago i found that quite ironic...
Dan - sorry I missed you at LARS, looks like I was too busy whilst there - Damn!! Anyway, here are some pictures of Pat's T, a great tribute car. Included are some rare build shots Oh and there's one of you there too
That leads me to another aspect of the car: Seems I read in one of my many books (One of Montgomerey's perhaps?) that the car was campaigned late in the Roaring Roadster era by White under the Ray Brown banner and with a Chrysler V-8 (what else from Ray Brown?).
Marty: thanks so much for the tip-I found the magazine in my collection. surprised i didn't remember the article given my obsession with track roadsters.
Stove bolt, was that this years LARS, or a couple of years back? I don't remember seeing the car in the last couple of years.
I just realized, that had to be a few years ago because the swap was still in the old section, and that was under the tree line. Has this car been parted as was said on an earlier thread about Pat's car?
Yes. The engine went to a guy who recently bought a fuel injection setup for it. Not too sure where the rest went. What I do know is that the nose went with the car.
I have always loved the flat nose of the original Spalding car. That's a style you just don't see these days. After hanging out at Elpolack's shop where the "Roach Rod" is undergoing a transormation, I realized that it's nose shares a lot of the same charecteristics.
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