Category: Uncategorized

Hello again, digital friends.  My son Mike and I spent the last week or so going thru piles old motorcycles, old cars, and old memories.  In the early 60’s, I sold my beloved 1953 Harley K Model to my brother-in-law so I could finance college.  

That started Chuck on a lifetime of collecting.  Sadly, he passed recently, and my sister asked us to help find good homes for all the stuff in his collection.  

Can you find an Austin Healey 100-6, 2 Harley cruisers, 2 Harley K Models, 2 K Model frames, a Norton, an Aerial square 4, some K Model side cases, a ladder and a rope to hoist things into the rafters?  There were also a bunch more treasures stashed in the back yard and the attic.

The ULTIMATE EASTER EGG HUNT lasted several days.  We found the fender and the tool case to my old bike in the attic (of the house not the garage) wedged between a heating duct and a roof joist.  The gas tank was in the backyard, buried under a Harley Service Cycle….  a 45 cu. in. a flat head tricycle popular with METER MAIDS, back in the day. Once all the parts started to resemble motorcycles, we started to find titles and other paperwork in the most unlikely places. Chuck knew exactly where everything was, but he wasn’t around to tell us, so we had to search.

Most of the treasures have now found new homes.  The Harley dealer in Modesto took a bunch.  The president of the Bay Area Aerial Club took the Square Four, the Norton, and a small Italian bike re-branded RIVERSIDE, which was sold by Montgomery Wards (remember them?).

I think we have found most of the parts for my bike.  We are going to register it in California so we can keep the cool old license plate.  Say that number a couple a times,  kinda fun.  The faded paint is Candy Apple Tangerine.  Customizer Joe Bailon invented candy apple red sometime in the 50’s, and later offered a full spectrum of candy colors, including tangerine.  He lived just up the road in Hayward.  Very Kool.  Joe’s gone but his paint is still available.

It was a great trip back to the old days, but the present calls.  Some soft summer night, if you listen carefully, you may hear the unique sound of a flat head Harley, taking one more  cruise down old memory lane.

Hello again, my web friends.  Recently, I decided to find out a little more about a cherished family picture I’ve looked at for years.

The photo above is of Albert Robinson with four of his children.  My Grandfather Elmer Carling (1887-1954) is holding my father Gerald (1919- 1991).  It was the style to dress newborns as girls in them days.  My grandmother Christa (1886-1954) is standing next to him, and I think the three children in white may be Clora  3, June 7, and Wanda 5.  The lady in white is Albert’s wife Catherine holding their 5^th child.  The photo appears to have been taken up Chalk Creek above Fillmore, Utah.

I asked a knowledgeable car friend and writer, John Clark for some help.  John publishes the series MOTOR TALES, www.motortales.com, about early Utah motoring and is also THE expert on Utah license plates.  He was tasked by Gov. Huntsman to help design the new Utah plates back in 2007.

John immediately I. D.’d the car as a 1919 STUDEBAKER  and pointed out that the plate has the low number 48, which indicates  it was a dealer plate used for demonstration rides with prospective customers.  The small number 20 indicates the plate was current in 1920.

John suggested I visit the Utah State Historical Archives in the Rio Grande building for further info.

A great resource and friendly people.  They supplied pictures of a 1919 Stude as well as the later 1920 model.  Sure as shootin’ the car in the picture is a 1919 Studebaker.

Notice the front bumper of the ’19 has two horizontal bars, probably of spring steel, but the bumper in my picture looks like a piece of wood.  .  Maybe one of those test drives didn’t turn out so well.  The wood is somehow being held in place on the frame horns, but I don’t think baling wire and duct tape were invented yet.  Destroying the front bumper may also explain why part of the plate right above the 20 seems to be missing.  Ouch.

The Archives also supplied me with a shot of a 1920 Stude. 

Notice it is the first year of all steel wheels, no more wooden spokes.

Being the curious sort, I wanted to find out more about Studebaker history.

Stutenbecker  was a family of German metal workers from Solingen, Germany who immigrated in 1736 and settled in South Bend, Indiana. One of the brothers returned home after hitting it big in the California gold fields making wheelbarrows and other tools.  In the 1850’s the family  geared up and started making wagons.  They were the largest manufacturer of wagons in the U.S. by 1876.  When they switched to automobiles in 1902, their first cars were electric, but in 1904 they changed to gasoline. Wilson Motors in Richfield was the Stude dealer closest to Fillmore in 1920.

Grandfather Elmer was town marshall and the now-one-year-old 1919 Stude was possibly being marketed as a used car, following the unfortunate front bumper incident. Warner Motors, the Ford dealer in Fillmore, may have been the sales agent.

Ford’s Model T commanded 40% of the market, and a 4-door Touring Car sold for about $400.00  ($5,000 in today’s money).  Stude was number 3 in sales, after the now forgotten Overland brand, and was priced about the same as the Ford.  The 4-door Touring was the only model Stude offered. 

Prohibition hit in 1920, and Stude became very popular with bootleggers because it was bigger and faster than the 4-cylinder Fords. The 354 cu.in. “Light 6” could do an honest 80 M.P.H.    (I presume with the windshield and the top folded down).  Brakes unfortunately were expanding drums on the rear only.  At the time there were less than 100 miles of paved roads in Utah. With fabric cord tires, wooden wheels, dirt roads, and wishful brakes, those bootleggers really had to want to get away! 

There may a be a back storyhere:  A dark and stormy night, illegal booze, a desperate chase, a terrifying crash, arrested and jailed by the Town Marshall, and the car being confiscated and sold!  Or maybe not.

The family picture is 6 ½ X 11 ½ and appears to be professionally done.  Back then the negative was usually the same size as the picture, which meant cameras were quite large.  Contact printing produced the positive.   A sticker on the back says WHITE HOUSE, which according to Google was an upscale (Deluxe) 3-story “fireproof” hotel on Main St. in Salt Lake City. Perhaps they offered photography and picture framing also.

if a picture can tell a story, this old family photo tells several. Thanks to Albert, Elmer, Christa & Catherine for this fun family story.

At age 72, Alan Wilson still maintains a schedule that would make a 20-year-old weary.

“We have designed over 150 tracks world wide,” he says, “of which 40 got built, including 7 street tracks. We currently have three more under construction, two of them private.”

Alan may not be a household name among race fans, but he is and has been a driving force for over 40 years in every type of motorsport from midgets to Formula One. His web page www.wilsonmotorsport.com has a history of his projects dating back to the 1970’s.

With that long perspective, I asked Alan what he sees as the future of racing worldwide.

“China is the world’s largest car market. The Chinese are getting richer, and they have a large domestic auto manufacturing base. They should be the prime future market for auto racing. We have been in China since 2000, and I have come up with what I call ‘The China Conundrum,’ which is basically that they don’t know what they don’t know.

“I recently bought a ticket to the F-1 Chinese Grand Prix, the first ticket I’ve bought in over 40 years, just to see what the experience was like. I was careful to get a seat near a big screen so I could see the cars on TV, and near a speaker so I could hear the announcer. They had a good crowd of over 100,000 spectators.

“F-1 is what I call ‘fly away racing’ as built by Bernie Ecclestone. You couldn’t get near the paddock, so forget about meeting the drivers. They weren’t introduced before the race, and the numbers on the cars were so small you couldn’t read them. There was a 2 hour delay between final practice and the race, when the entertainment was a guy on a skate board and a local ping pong match. As soon as the race was over the drivers got into their helicopters and flew away.

“The Chinese have the mechanics of a race down, but they need to realize that racing is in the final analysis ENTERTAINMENT ! They’ll have to get that before they can reach their potential.

“In 2017, I spent 141 days in China designing tracks that would accommodate every type of racing from F-1 to carts. We had all the finances and permits lined up, and 2 under construction when the government pulled the plug and took the land back. Land is the ultimate form of wealth in China, so race tracks and golf courses are frowned upon. Racing, and golf too can keep the entertainment dollars at home, but the conundrum is they don’t know that !

“China has a growing auto manufacturing base, and Geely is one of the smartest manufacturers I’ve ever dealt with. Ford practically gave them Volvo, and Volvo under Geely turned a profit of over a billion dollars last year. Geely also now owns Lotus, and they just bought Volvo trucks. India’s population is getting richer and younger, as opposed to most of the world, which is getting older, and the wealth more concentrated. India is a prime market for racing if they could just over come their bureaucracy

“In India, the biggest problem is the bureaucracy. It can take 10 years just to get an excavation permit, plus exorbitant fees along the way.

“Neither India or China have a history and culture of racing, and that’s what produces crowds, but also takes time.

“In Europe and the U.S., which both have a great automotive culture, the greatest threat to racing is the bureaucracy, which is dominated by the environmental lobby. I just received a print out of the F.I.A. rules for this year, and it’s over 6 inches thick!

“All of the tracks I’ve done in the U.S. since Miller Motorsports have been private tracks. It’s either a condo situation where a bunch of wealthy guys build a track with garages and service facilities, with food and entertainment for their private pleasure. Or just one guy who wants to build a track to go out and play with his toy.

“The environmental lobby wants to do away with cows because their farts are causing global warming. But there will always be guys who want steaks, and I see the private track market as a way to assure you can always get a good steak!”

I saved this January 1967 issue of Sports Car Graphic magazine for some reason. I love this article by Philip W. May, which predicts the demise of the internal cumbustion engine. And it all seems to be coming true. Even the I.C.E. agents! Check it out. It’s a fun read. 

I was curious about the author, so I looked him up. Sadly, he left us all behind last July. R.I.P., Mr. May.

–Duane

Craig Jackson bought an I.R.S. from us last year, for his barn find The Green Hornet

When Ford moved Shelby production to Detroit from L.A. they built 2 coupe prototypes for the ’68 production run.  The first was a red ’67 with a dual supercharged 428 Police Interceptor engine, and was known as Little Red.  The second was known as The Green Hornet, with black  spray on top that looks like vinyl, candy apple green paint, a Conelec fuel injected 428 motor and a factory designed independent rear suspension (I.R.S.).

Craig loves Shelbys, and is particularly fond of rare Shelby prototypes.   He has found both of these cars.  The Hornet is complete, and Little Red is being restored as we speak.

Stay tuned to this space for further information on a  DOCUMENTARY about the restoration of these cars !!

You can read a pretty good history of the I.R.S. by going to the MEDIA section of this site and clicking on both issues of Racecar Engineering.  Just for fun click,  on Shelby’s Mambo also on the same page.  The car in that story in Little Red.

Craig  bought this on-of-one 2020 Shelby prototype for $1,100,00 at Friday’s auction to benefit  CHILDREN’S DIABETES FOUNDATION.

.

Since there isn’t a lot happening in the car world during chilly December, especially in freezing Utah, I thought I’d spin a little yarn about our recent trip to DOVE CREEK, CO.

Now, D.C. happens to be the PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD (betcha
didn’t know that, didja?) and it’s just across the UT/ CO border, about an hour south & east of Moab.

We’re helping a friend move into her new place, so it was a “working vacation.” The heart of D.C. is the DOVE CREEK SUPERETTE, where, as the song goes, “WE KEEP OUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS UP ON OUR FRONT PORCH ALL YEAR LOG.”

Great, friendly people here. It’s a deli, supermarket, cultural center, and who knows what else. It’s right next to the feed store, and not too far from the Post Office. This was our third visit to town, and we already feel like we belong.

Unfortunately the nearest lumberyard is in Cortez, about 40 miles east, and we made 3 trips there in a day and a half. Oh well, great scenery. If you love high altitude, and wide open spaces, at 6,844 feet up you’ll love this area.

This part of the country is dominated by the Colorado River. It has cut thru the red and white sand stone to create some truly stunning vistas. If you saw the Pixar movie CARS–One, Two, or Three–starring car guy Paul Newman as Doc Hudson, you’ll recognize the mountains between Moab and D.C. as Radiator Springs (radiators spring leaks, get it?). Supposedly John Lasseter’s wife insisted he take some time off with the family after doing the movie TOY STORY, so they rented a motor home and toured the desert southwest. While John was supposedly relaxing he cooked up the plot for CARS. The red rock scenery, the semi abandoned little towns, and of course lottsa old cars, who could resist that ! John’s dad managed a Chevrolet parts department, back in the day, and John delivered parts to car shops all around SoCal, so if the disease is heritable, he got it.

When the PIXAR artists began the CARS project, John wisely contacted Dave “Big” Deal. Dave is a car guy, BAJA record holder, author & artist, and had been bringing cars to life thru cartoons for years. He spent 2 days with the PIXAR artists (it was standing room only) showing them how to give two dimensional drawings of cars life and personality.

They apparently learned a lot. Dave passed away in 2008 but his influence lives on in his art.

Any visit to this area must include a visit to RAY’S TAVERN in Green River UT. Home of killer burgers and way cold beer, it is the sacred ancestral home of the SHITFERBRANZ RIVER EXPEDITIONS. If you’ve never been down the Colorado in a small boat, you just don’t know what “near death” really looks like. Our kinda guys.

Well, stay tuned for our next adventure , which (we hope) will be the BARRETT JACKSON auto auctions in Scottsdale, the second week of Jan. The prototype ‘68 Shelby known as the GREEN HORNET will be there, with Conelec fuel injection and its original Independent Rear Suspension. The HORNET’s sister LITTLE RED, a ’68 Shelby sporting a supercharged 427 stuffed under its hood will be the side dish. Great cars ! We’ll be there with our Ford/Shelby friends. Lotsa fun, some very tall tales, and some possibly even true!

Merry Christmas,
Duane

Dear Car F(r)iends

With the recent passing of Burt Reynolds, clips from his movies have been all over the TV. One of his best-known films is  The Cannonball Run.

As most of you probably know, the Cannonball Run–officially known as the  Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash–was a real underground race across the USA, run a few times in the 1970s.

Besides protesting speed limits, the race creators really wanted to test which vehicle was best to drive long and fast, coast-to-coast in real-world conditions. The best American cars (and trucks), as well as European cars and exotics, competed head-to-head.

A team of filmmakers is working on a feature-length real Cannonball Run documentary about this iconic secret race. If you were there or have Cannonball material please get in touch with them. They found several of the Cannonball outlaw racers and even hunted down a few surviving real Cannonball Run cars.

I managed to catch up with one Cannonballer and his car the documentary crew had not located yet: Ed Brewerton and the American Motors AMX he ran with his brother Tom in the 1971 and 1972 Cannonballs. Here is our short interview for you:

If you prefer to view this video at higher quality, you can find it on our website.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see the finished documentary!

Keep on drivin’,

Duane

The Carroll Shelby Tribute is held every year in mid-May to honor the great man who died May 10, 2012.  This year’s tribute was held at the Shelby Gardena, California facility, which is also home to The Original Venice Crew (O.V.C.).  The O.V.C. builds “continuation” Shelby GT 350 Competition Models, also known as “R Models.”

There are two other iconic performance car manufacturers making “Continuation Models” from the same time period.  One of the manufacturers is Jaguar and the other is Aston-Martin.   Each of these car builders is producing only 25 Continuation Models.  Jaguar is reproducing the “D” Type, a race winning car of the late 50’s and the 60’s.  Aston-Martin is reproducing the “DB-4, ” another iconic race car, driven by the renowned Sterling Moss.

The Jaguar continuation model is selling for a reported $1,400,000.  The car is available for race tracks only, it is not able to be registered for street driving.

The Aston-Martin, DB-4 continuation model is selling for a reported $2,100,000. Again, the Aston is for the track only and not able to be registered for street driving.

The OVC Shelby Mustang G.T. 350 continuation model is selling for approximately $250,000.  The G.T.350 is able to be registered for street use as well as a competitive track car.

Since the GT 350 raced against the Jaguar D-Type and the Aston Martin DB-4 GT, and both Aston & Jag are also building “continuation” cars, the O.V.C. Crew took the opportunity to issue a $100,000 winner –take- all challenge.  The challenge issued is:

Bring your continuation cars to Willow Springs Raceway in California, and if the GT 350R cannot beat both the Jag & the Aston, the O.V.C. will donate $100,000 to the charity of their choosing.  If the Shelby wins, we will donate $35,000 to the Carroll Shelby Foundation among other charities.   

So far only Jaguar has responded.  They have customers in the U.S. who “May be interested in the challenge.”   That’s all we’ve heard.  Aston is mildly interested but indicated the Company has no pro-type cars to compete, therefore it would be their customers who may take-up the challenge.

When most people think of Aston Martin they think of the DB-5, the James Bond car, machine guns and all, when Roger Moore was playing the Bond character.   Roger actually drove a DB -5 in the Cannonball Run movie (see previous post).   He was pretending to be slightly mentally deranged, and claiming to be Roger Moore (get it).  The DB-5 claims the title of “The Most Famous Car In The World.”

The DB-4 GT  sports a 3.7 liter all aluminum triple carb straight 6 producing 374 horsepower.  With a 5 speed transmission it does 0–60 in 8 seconds with a top speed of 145 M.P.H.  Aston offered 25 continuation cars at 1.9 million each, and quickly sold out.

Aston made 75 DB4 GTs and 8 of them were light weights destined for racing .  The continuation cars will be built to light weight specs by the newly formed Aston Martin works, in the original building at Newport Pagnell, which has been unoccupied for 10 years.  The new group in the refurbished building is hoping to do more continuation projects.

You will recall Carroll won Le Mans back in 1952 in an Aston DBR-1 co-driven by Roy Salvadori.  That win put  Aston Martin into the same league as Ferrari and the other top marques of the day.

Jaguar would only say their 25 continuation light weight D Types presold immediately for “significantly more’ than 1 million pounds.”  At current exchange rates that’s about 1.33 million Yankee dollars.  The chaps at Brown’s Lane had intended to build 18 light weights, back in the day, but a fire stopped production at 12.  The new cars will carry serial numbers continuing the original sequence.

The C Type (1951), the D Type (1955),  and the E Type (1961) Jaguars were all designed by Malcolm Sayer.  Malcolm applied mathematical principles of aerodynamics to the body design which he learned from a German professor before the war. During WW II Malcolm worked for the Bristol aircraft company,  where  he helped design the Bristol Beaufighter,  a twin engine fighter bomber with a top speed of 333 M P H,  which  was very fast for its day.

Interestingly, the aluminum bodies are riveted, instead of welded, as was the practice in WW II fighter planes.  The alloy bodies save 205 lbs.  New wooden patterns had to be made to cast the engine block and heads as the originals had been thrown out, a considerable expense.  Each motor produces about 340 horses, with chain drive dual overhead cams and triple Webers.  Transmission is a 4 speed, and all cars must meet F.I.A. specs (see previous posts).

Well things keep getting curiouser and cursiouser  as we dive down this mid-60s rabbit hole.  Lottsa fun, lottsa bucks (none of them mine), and where it stops nobody knows.  See ya next post !