Oakland Refugee

Last year we got to go back to Epping, New Hampshire for the First New England Hot Rod Reunion. We had so much fun that we decided to give Bowling Green a shot in a few weeks. We had done up some display materials that a lot of folks went ga-ga over so were prepping a few shots for mounting to see how well they go over.

Here’s one that we’ve prepped this week for a big 2’ x 3’ digital print (DBC_044). This bellypanned ’29 A was owned by Glendale Ramblers member Dick Snyder and was entered at three lakes meets during the 1941 season. At the July 20 meet Dick’s in the program but we don’t have a speed for him. In August the car is listed as Snyder-Cooper so that has to be Wes Cooper who lived in Glendale. Again we have no speed listed for the car. At the September meet, the car is again listed as Snyder-Cooper and powered by a Ford 4. If you look close you can see it’s a B block and has two Winfield’s feeding it. A speed of 101.23 mph is listed.

We also spent the week attacking about 60 negs that we got from Gary Hartsock that were taken at the ‘66 Grand National Roadster Show. Here’s one showing Gene Winfield’s Reactor (GHC_087). Gene had hired Chrysler stylist and Art Center graduate Ben Delphia to sketch him a wild show car and this was Gene’s finished results. He would eventually but the car back from its owner Joe Kizis and started renting it out for movie and TV work. You may have seen it in The Invaders, Bewitched, Batman and naturally, Star Trek. It later ended up at Cars of the Stars and the National Automobile Museum before Gene got is back again and restored it for the 50th GNRS in ’99.

It’s always nice to see cars in color so here’s one we snapped of the Reactor at Gene’s shop in Mojave back on October 13, 2012, during one of his infamous car get-togethers (JMC_4783). Originally built for Show Promoter Joe Kizis out of Hartford, Connecticut, it was built using a Citroen D-19 front wheel drive chassis and powered by a Corvair. It was originally called the Autorama Speciaction.

Let’s have a look at some of the interesting rides that were on display at the show. First up is one of the wilder entries at the ’66 show, Bill Olivo’s Semi-Custom ’54 Olds 88 Hardtop (GHC_097). It was nosed, decked, shaved and sported Frenched headlights. Inside were bucket seats and a Television, record player, and tape recorder. You would also have needed special sunglasses to protect yourself from the Gold Metalflake paint job.

Take one Deuce 4-door sedan and spend untold hours and you end up with the “Wino”, Mike Granata’ ’66 GNRS entry (GHC_128). The Garnet Maroon ride featured a black rolled and pleated interior. The front end was dropped and the Ford “Cobra” mill fed a ’39 Ford trans fitted with Zepher gears and a ’41 Ford rear end. The wheels were Buick Skylark wires.

Continuing our show pictures we see the highly detailed “T” of Ken Olsen from Atwater that was displayed under the name of “Aggravation” (GHC_146). A huffed 327″ Vette mill provided the go for the glass-bodied, Mellow Yellow painted ride. The tasty striping was done by Averill out of Madera, CA.

Entered in the Street Rod Roadster Pickup class at the ‘66 GNRS was “Axle Rod’, Al and Jodie Lindstrum’s slick looking ’29 Ford (GHC_146). An Olds mill sporting three carbs and Offy valve covers was tied to a Ford trans that rested in a boxed frame. Inside was a black Naugahyde interior and underneath was a full belly pan. The paint was Chartreuse Metalflake so we think more sunglasses are required for this bright one.

Among the competition cars, we found what started out as a ’33 Willys Coupe ended up as the Champion Speed Shop sponsored “Wild Mouse II of Hamberis & Mitchell (GHC_148) This one wasn’t listed in the program so we’ll have to do some digging to get more info on this clean ride.

Not everything has to have wheels to be considered a rod in our department, especially if it’s John McGee’s 17′ Stevens (GHC_150). Some boats were made for displaying trophies and this one fits the category to a T. Powered by a 415″ Pontiac equipped with Micky Thompson go fast parts, the South San Franciscan went overboard with the use of lots of polished aluminum parts.

On Saturday we cruised up to Ventura to visit our old friend Terry Baldwin. It was also a good excuse to go on a couple of adventures that we could call shop hopping. Seems everybody was out playing but we did make arrangements to meet up later at the local race track and watch some cars go around in circles. It was a great program as there were Dwarf cars, 1/4 midgets with five-year-old drivers, Focus Midgets and 360” Sprint cars. We liked the 30 lap main best as the track was perfect and the drivers could put their cars anywhere they chose. One of our Land Speed buddies, “Jellybean” Mike Cook, was driving so after the races we visited him in the pits and do a little bench racing.

On Sunday we went up to the Santa Paula Airport to visit some of the racers who also have hangers filled with toys other than race cars called aircraft. After taking the race night off in the picture taking department, Sunday it was shot a few shots time. Old aircraft are like old cars, both are loaded with great workmanship and details. JMC_4783 shows the nose of a ‘30’s low wing monoplane that was polished to the hilt.

Almost under the left wing of our polished aircraft was a modern caged sprinter and right behind that was an old Don Edmunds Sprinter. I couldn’t resist taking a shot of its cast grill shell insert (JMC_4784).

And yes there were other cars involved especially between rows of pintsized hangers. JMC_4785 shows just a few of the plastic cars on display. Beyond them were an equal amount of old Fords.

You have galvanized hangers. JMC_4785 shows just a few of the plastic cars on display. Beyond them were an equal amount of old Fords.

You have to keep your eyes open and check out everything because it’s easy to miss little treasures like in our last shot for today. We call this one a cool Plate Topper (JMC_4786). Never hearing of Sportsman Park in Bedford, Ohio it was was check out our copy of America’s Speedways Past and Present to see what we could come up with. Our track was 10 miles South of Cleveland and originally built by Al Capone for Dog Racing back on October 18, 1936. The 1/4 mile dirt oval was shut down for WWII on July 26, 1942. It reopened in ‘45 and closed again in ‘55 only to re-open as a paved track in ‘56 and is now a dirt horse track called Northfield Park.

I guess it’s time to trot off to bed now for this week.