Great to see that surfaced after all that time. Someone needs to build a tribute car for the street, or better still get this one on the road
I sincerely want to thank all of you who have participated in this thread. I waited 3 1/2 years to unearth this car from the garage in Covina CA and this thread helped me with a lot of the history and background on the car. A special thanks to the Chenowth clan and Jim Miller (SCTA historian) for pics and info and those friends that either supplied the few pieces I needed or helped with labor to finish out the car. I also want to thank all of you that I met at the GNRS and spent time with discussing the old days of dry lakes racing. It was a true pleasure to meet all of you. In the 61 years I have been involved in building and racing cars and boats being the caretaker of this car is at the top. I plan to have the car running in the next six months and drive it to local shows. I am still looking for pics, publications, timing tags, etc for the car so any help there is much appreciated. Thanks again for all of your interest. Regards, Rob Johnson
Rob, this is one of the best finds ever. I didn't know anything about the car a couple of years ago and was lucky to find some photos on facebook. So many old hot rods have vanished, been parted out or have become unrecognizable today. So glad it's in good hands and hope to meet you soon....Lynn Bird...
BTW, I was reviewing a pile of old magazines for articles I had book-marked about "sports rods" in the 50's and happened upon a related story (or non-story depending on your POV). It appeared in the October 1953 issue of Sports Cars and Hot Rods, by the Editors of Mechanix Illustrated (publisher's please note, cover price was 25 cents!). And the author was... Dean Bachelor. I'd gladly scan it for you, but I'd have to break the binding to do it. Sorry. What is interesting is that the article talked about several rods that could be / were being made into sports rods. Your T had three pictures, but nothing other than some frame shots for the other cars - by Doan Spencer, Fred Chiesa and Paul Sylva. From what I can tell, your car never got any of the suggested improvements in the article! This is probably a big who-ray in the non-story department. I found this mag on ebay, so I'd hope you can find a copy. What's best about the whole deal for me is that none of the images in the mag are in color, so this whole thread is kinda magic being in full color! I think I already have a scanned image of the cover, but can't find it just yet. Later, Gary
Gary, thanks a million for this info. There are references to an article on sports rods that the car was in but I hadn't been able to figure out what magazine. I will definitely look on line for a copy. Based on your comments it looks like the car was compared with some now infamous cars. It makes sense that the car wasn't modified to sports race as it seems to have disappeared around 53/54 to resurface in the mid 60s. Thanks again for all of the help.
Cool, thanks a million. Thanks to Gary's info I also found a copy of Sports Cars and Hot Rods on ebay and bought it.
There is a color picture and brief description on this car as it appeared at the 2014 Seabright National Roadster Show. ABout 2/3 of the way down. This car is alive and well, having lived in a garage all these years. Metalwork attributed to Jack Hagemann, paint to Tommy. I see the paint scheme by Tommy the Greek as an interpretation of flames. I am told Tommy did not much like flames as we think of them today. see http://www.seabrighthotrods.com/?p=1298 And yes, Tommy and Jack both lived in the Oakland area in the early 50's.
It was a real pleasure meeting Dave at Seabright Hot Rods this year and thanks for posting the car in your article. The car was recently shot by Tim Sutton on El Mirage Dry Lake and should see some print in the near future. I have decided to leave the car in this original unrestored state (including El Mirage dirt) and market it for sale. It belongs in a collection or museum where it can be seen by others.
Hey Guys, if you have any specific questions I am standing next to the Woody Lee T right now. It is in my shop. It is also on the Hamb Classified / and Hamb Ebay links if you want to put in in your garage. Right now, I am just completely stoked to get to look at and walk past it every day until it finds a new home. Wil There also lots of pictures on my website that might give some more details possibly? www.sakowskimotors.com
Your absolutely right SuperFleye, The number two car was Larry Neves, entry No.325 in the 1950 Oakland roadster show program. The Woody Lee roadster does not appear to be the same car. The E-Bay history says the two cars are the same. Some clarification is in order. Also I just noticed the picture you posted of the Larry Neves No 2 roadster has a late model jeep in the back ground, thus proving the car is still around. Also note the body on Larry's car has been narrowed. The car is pictured in the 1950 Oakland program. Rich
And to top it off there is a 7 page article, plus cover shot in the current Hot Rod Deluxe (May 2015) BILL RINALDI
This mix up probable occurred in the early 1950's, but it is really important to set the record straight...
In all of the research and discussion I had with all of those who remember those days, including the SCTA historian Jim Miller, as well as documentation in a lot of publications the two cars are different cars. The best we can determined is the Woody Lee T was owned by Neves prior to the #2 car and was sold to Woody who had Jack completely rebuild the car at a cost of $3,500.00. All of the communication I can come up states the Woody car to be the runner-up to the Neikamp. I hope this helps.
Thanks Rob, that clears up a lot. The No. 2 car was "The Larry Neves" entry in the show. Eric Rickman was a race car photographer and went to work for Peterson about 3 years later. For some reason the name George Pacheco was attached to the Neves '24 T roadster in Eric's photo of the car. All the magazines I've seen, show George Pacheco as the owner when if fact he was a driver, and also his name didn't appear in the program. I even think that the two men were related. Here is a photo from the show and if you look closely you will see that the owner-builder is quoted as being Larry Neves. Do you have any idea under which name your car was entered into the show? Rich
Thanks Rich, I wish I could answer that question but can't. I know that the records were pretty messed up back then. The 1952 Hot Rod shows my car running 168 mph in 51 but I'll be dammed if I can find any evidence of that. Larry had a post war T that we think is the one that was completely reworked by Jack Hagemann Sr and there is probably where the confusion started. I spoke with both Steve Moal and Roy Brizio about this. Jack Jr. does all of the aluminum hood work for Roy and they discussed the car. I was also told that there were late entries at the 1950 show. In the three plus years of research I did I can't find anyone who knew Richard "Woody" Lee, including some old time Bay Area guys, however, there is a lot of documentation on the car tying his name to it, including CalNeva records. Then there is the whole Lee/Chenowth/Lee time period which was somewhat of a mystery. I have to lean on guys like Jim Miller for their advice and records. A guy that ran a car at Bonneville in 50/51 contacted me after the GNRS. He took about 90 high quality never seen photos and my car was one of them (clearest pic I have). I put he and Jim together and Jim ID'd all of the cars, some of which had never been seen in photographs. Those are now in the SCTA archives. Thanks a million for the discussion and if I ever get more info I'll get back to you.
The Larry Neves 24 T Roadster.... Rob, it took me a week to find the answer to this mystery. I found it in Hot Rod magazine March, 1950 Don't have a scanner so I'll type it out. 50 National roadster show, coverage by Griff Borgeson reads; "The NCRRA was represented by 16 very business-like track jobs, one of which drew 2nd place for beauty. The owner is Larry Neves of Oakland and his car was certainly the cleanest and best finished in either NCRRA's or Racing Roadsters Inc.'s (21 cars) corrals. It consists of a full '41 Merc on a tubular frame, with a very straightforward '24 T body and the wellknown Kurtis-type shell. Ross steering and Cook quick-change rear end are utilized. A pleasant amount of chrome is exposed to view and the body is finished in mirror-like metallic maroon. The interior is heavily padded with matching leather, which is carried over the body edges and a couple of inches down the body sides- an unusual touch." "America's Most Beautiful Roadster First Place, Wm. Nie Kamp, Long Beach Second Place, Larry Neves, Oakland Third Place, Fred Ige, West L.A. Fourth Place, Ken Fuhrman, Berkeley" Also shown in the article is a photograph of Larry Neves' No. 2 Track car. If someone is able to scan this for the HAMB, I would appreciate it. According to the program, there were 83 entries. The Hot Rod article lists the attendants at an even 100, so this could possibly explain your car as a late entry not being listed. The article also states that there were other Jack Hagemann cars in attendance which were winners. One of these could be your roadster. I sincerely hope this helps and I will continue to look for your car. Richard
Jasen Baird just sent me 4 photo of the car , these were taken in 1949 in Berkeley California. Photos were taken by Donald Ciapusci , Donald said the photos show David Thorne & his Brother Chuck Thorne with the car.. David Thorne is shown as being a co-owned with Woody Lee in 1952 & 1953 . After my uncle Chuck Chenowth owned & raced it at Paradise Mesa Dragstrip in 1951.
Found this in Hot Rod magazine March 1950. This is Larry Neves car that placed second behind Bill Nie Kamp's roadster. Hope this clears all the confusion....Richard
The Jalopy Journal
