Hot Rods The ALTERED thread

Crosleys make Nasty Hotrods and that's a fine example of A Lil Ole Snotty...I thought it had some poorly Photoshopped Wild Pipes added but turns out it's the.....What the heck are they...Looks a little like 3 Clawed Kilroys in a Flying Saucer Zinging away with a Cloud of Exhaust and Vapor Trails...anybody know the story on the Art?
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Arhie Ary............I remember the later beautiful "Big Inch" dragster at Colton and Riverside

 

My friend Todd { Va. HAMB } found that pickup. It was still 100% complete. He's now restoring it to it's glory days. .

 

I don't know about the art but Archie was one of the founders of the Colton strip along with Charlie Scott. The Crosley was preceded by a flattie powered 35 Ford coupe and followed by a hemi powered dragster. You can read more about him right here on the HAMB; https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ber-drag-racer-archie-ary-from-colton.563932/

Roo

 

Here are a few Fiats to kick the thread along.
First up is Dexter and Randy Bradford's injected nitro burning big block Logghe framed Topolino. Pop's (Dexter) is no longer with us but Randy continues to race a nostalgia Fiat with a blown early hemi in an After Hours chassis

Jim Dunn and Henry Velasco go back a long way with Dunn seen here at the Winternationals. When the chassis for this car got a little tired they put the motor in a dragster and hauled across the country to Indy for the US Nationals.

Back in post #2981 this car was red and big block powered so I am guessing that this was an earlier version even though it is #IV.

Jaguar straight six power for this English Topo at Santa Pod

Bob and Joe Walden ran this car with Ford Thunderbird power and later switched to a Chevy. Originally it was raced with #069 but the NHRA eventually would not allow that so the team switched to #369. The car only raced relatively briefly and ended up being parked for 30 years. The car is still around with Bill Lininger in Ohio and cosmetically looks pretty much as seen here with the original paint and lettering.


I can't tell you much about this one apart from the obvious--steel body and what is most likely an Olds or Pontiac engine judging by the headers. I am guessing at possibly east coast judging by the non chopped but channeled coupe int he left lane


Roo

 

It was Olds powered

 

So I am assuming that it was a west coast car.

Roo

 

No. I just remember seeing it in a magazine. More than once. Now I remember it being on the cover of "Rods and Restyling" I bet I have it in my little books but I don't much feel like looking for it.

 

Roo, Could the Waldens have come from the Whittier/La habra area?

 

Santa Fe Springs evidently, so yes.

Roo

 

Pete's Wirthman Bros

what's up with the bent or twisted frame rail below the headers?

 

Not sure about the frame or who Pete was but the Wirthman Brothers wrecking yard is still in business in Columbus, OH and has been around since 1917.

Roo

 

So then It's the Joe Walden who ran his '57 T bird at Bonneville and went 200 with one of Verne Houle's 427 Ford engines out of Bill Stroppe's shop. Joe owned Walden Welding in Whittier.

 

That's weird..! Looks a bit like an optical illusion...but not..!?
Very odd in any case.

Mike

 

I think I saw the Walden Bros car displayed at a show in SoCal or Bakersfield a couple years ago. I didn’t remember it from the past but it looked very nice.
A couple pages back...... man, those poor little Crosleys have been hacked and hammered in every way possible over the years, some good, some very unfortunate. I wonder if there’s any stock ones left?
Thanks Roo for posting the pic of the Dunn, Merrit and Velasco Fiat. Was that the same chassis/body as the Dunn and Reath Fiat? Just love the Fiats from that time period. Got any of the Rucker, Sievers and Petrie Fiat?


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Don't know about the chassis, but Jim Dunn's original Fiat was a factory steel body. The D M V Fiat was a Cal Auto glass body.

 

posted by hemidav in the vintage thread

 

Yes it is. They ran the Ford engine in the altered at one point
Roo

 

The gold Fiat A/A 33, is Mazza- Doyle from Salem, Massachusetts

 

Jack Doyle, who is in just about every drag racing hall of fame there is and is best known for his "Slider" Top Fuel and Top Gas dragsters. He was also the long time general manager at New England Dragway.

Roo

 

A few more Fiats and such.
An early shot from Pomona--steel body, blown hemi and a wheelbase so short that the driver is almost completely behind the rear axle, slingshot style.

In my last post I had a photo of the original Bradford Fiat and here is a later version--still with the big block Chevy but now blown and with the color scheme that has carried through to the current version.

Based on the fact that this photo appears to be from OCIR (and that the Soapy Sales Woody car and Bowlus trailer are in the background) the timing suggests that this is the Fiat raced by Pat Johnson of Norwalk, CA before he stepped up to top fuel in 1969

This appears to be some British (or Scandanavian) action judging from the class designation, license plates and the Wolfrace wheels


Another shot of the Shutdown Bantam from England that was the subject of some recent discussion here. The photo may be from the same event/venue as the one above it.

An early application of a late hemi in a sportsman level car but with old school weed burner headers


Straight 8 Buick power in what appears to be a radically lightened Model A frame with a front axle/suspension package that is way more modern than the rest of the car

We all had to start somewhere. Jim head went on to be one of only four drivers to win the US Nationals in both top fuel and funny car and is still active as a car owner

The Valley Stream Pacers club was started in 1955 by George Swizek who also drove the club coupe before teaming up with "Charlie Dodge" Hagenmayer as the Snizek and Dodge Racing Team (better known as the Pacers) to field the well know Pacers altered


Roo

 

That was Allen George, R.I.P., in the restored "Bloody Mary".

 

Early GAB ?

posted by swi66 in the vintage thread

 

Probably not as Gabby was from Chicago and Garlits and Giovannoni were in FL

 

Really, Roo, you don't know the 202 Fiat? That is Bruce McDowel's original Bad News Coupe. Bruce and his friends built it originally in his mom's garage. He used a stock wheelbase Model A frame, A junk yard Hemi with 6 97's on a U fab log manifold, and what started as a pretty cherry original steel Fiat body. Bruce ran it a few times at San Gabe, and lets just say it wasn't impressive. But a fellow named Bob Sidebottom saw the car, and talked Bruce into bringing the car to his shop in Covina. Bob drastically shortened the Model A frame to the 86" wheelbase seen here, and rebuilt the roll bar/cage.
The shop right next door to Bob's belonged to engine wizard Demar Ray. They put one of Demar's blown fuel Hemi's in the car, and the Bad News coupe was born. Bob drove, as Bruce saw the car after Bob shortened it, and decided "you did it, you drive it!" I saw the car run several times, and every run Bob made was arrow straight. They did well enough with it to earn a spot on the Standard 1320 Jr. Eliminator list.

 

https://doverdragstrip.com

 

Dean, I knew that I had seen the car before but it was a bit before my time and I did not want to post any erroneous info--relying one someone like you to fill in the details.

Roo

 

Tommy Porter from Savannah,GA. A few years back a guy on the HAMB needed an ID for a Bantam body that he bought at Hersey. I recognized it right away as Tommy Porter altered.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/need-help-identifying-this-car.932184/#post-10500835 Here is some more information regarding the Tommy Porter Bantam.

 

Great history.