El Mirage or the Central Coast Street Rodders Show? By: Doug Adams
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since my first
story appeared in Quick Times. Over the last year, the
opportunity—to write the stories—has given me the
excuse to attend a lot of cool events. October was a
busy month around here. There was the Hot Rod
Reunion in Bakersfield and the SCTA had an event at
El Mirage. But in the end, it was a home town rod run
that prevailed and became the topic for this month’s
story. And, as it turns out, it was another first time
event for me.
I had originally planned to report on the October
SCTA meet at El Mirage, but I guess it wasn’t meant
to be. El Mirage was scheduled for the weekend after
the California Hot Rod Reunion. I was still dragging
after a marathon four days in Bakersfield, but I was
determined to go to the dry lake. To make a long story
short, I drove to El Mirage, saw about a half dozen
cars run, then, a 20 mph head wind came up and the
whole show came to a screeching halt. I spent about
seven hours driving and one hour at the lake -- not
what I had hoped for! A dust storm in the desert is
really no fun! I’m not going to give up on El Mirage,
but I think I’m going to have to wait until next year to
do a story. So in the mean time, I’ve sent along a
couple of photos just to keep you interested.
With the November deadline rapidly approaching,
I got a call from my buddy, Joe, who told me
about a show that was coming up on the
first Sunday of November.
If you remember, Joe’s the guy that I’ve been riding to
the local shows with all summer, while my ’70
Plymouth Wagon was on the side lines. The good
news is the Plymouth got a few new parts over the
summer and is currently road worthy. Even better
news was that the show was for cars ’72 and older—
I was going in the wagon!
Joe and I decided to meet for breakfast at one of our
favourite spots, Ellen’s Pancake House in Buellton,
before heading to the show. With an extra hours worth
of sleep, thanks to daylight savings time, I’m sure the
neighbours didn’t mind when I brought the wagon to
life at 5:30 am. The previous owner equipped the little
318 with an R/V cam and a pair of Flowmasters,
just enough to put a little rumble in the pipes.
I got out of the driveway as soon as she was
warmed up and headed for the highway.
The show didn’t officially start until 9am so we stayed
at the restaurant a little longer filling up on coffee and
doing a little bench racing. We got to talking about our
hometown hero Alan Johnson and his driver Larry
Dixon. As of the deadline for this story, Larry was only
one point back and in the hunt for the top fuel championship,
going to "The Finals" in Pomona. I wish they
still called them the World Finals, it just sounds cooler!
Anyway, staying at the restaurant a little longer was a
good idea because it was only in the 30’s outside and
back in the canyon, where the show was,
it was probably a little colder.
Without a doubt, fall is the best season of the year
here on California’s Central Coast. The mornings
are a little crisp and the warm mid day sun puts
the finishing touches on the hundreds of
thousands of acres of grapes that are destined to
become some of the best wine in the world.
This year, an early season rain brought green
back to the dried landscape and the drive to the
show, out old Highway One, under the red oaks
and towering pines, was beautiful.
About five miles out the narrow canyon road
between Buellton and Solvang sits Nojoui
(No-Ho-EE) Falls Park, site of the Central Coast
Street Rods 37th annual rod run.
The Nojoui show is traditionally the last show of
the year, and I must say the Central Coast Street
Rodders fall finale was one to remember.
I didn’t get an official number, but I would have
to guess about 300 cars were on hand.
In typical fashion, we arrived at the show way
too early. I guess I have a habit of doing that.
The good thing was we got to park in the shade,
which helped in the afternoon, and we got to see
all of the cars roll-in. It’s amazing; I’ve been to just
about every show in a 50 mile radius from my
house this summer, and yet this show attracted
another group of cars that I hadn’t seen before—
go figure. I would imagine that since the park is
close to highway 101 people make the easy drive
up from Santa Barbara and points south.
Before long, car clubs, friends and families had
their spots staked out and were setting up for the
day ahead. The CCS Rodders had donuts and hot
coffee for everyone as they checked-in along with
a nice dash plaque and a voting ticket. Every on
received a number and the participants voted for
their favourite car. Once you submitted your vote
(I voted for a beautiful, silver 1940 Ford Pick-up
that was parked a couple of spots over from me),
you were given a ticket for a BBQ lunch.
The atmosphere in the park was just relaxing.
There was a playground for the kids and plenty of
space for the spectators to hang out and enjoy the
cars. It was kind of like, " I went to the park and a
car show broke out"! There was no loud music,
just the occasional sound of horsepower.
Cars came and went all day long. Some stayed
for an hour and some for the duration. It was
great to see a different variety of cars.
I don’t think the Central Coast Street Rodders
could have asked for a better day, nor could the
participants. You see, the best part of the whole
deal was everything was free! The entry, coffee,
donuts, lunch, the whole enchilada---FREE!
Thanks for a great day CCSR, see you next year!
Doug Adams
Bullsh- - Corner Revisited by Fred Nelson
On the last Friday night before the final City Council
vote regarding Race City, the local supporters were
urged to attend Secret Street drag races. The place
was packed. The following day we took part in a hurriedly-
organized gathering of street cars, who met at
the former Cruise Night site across from Chinook
Centre. Everyone attached an orange or green sign to
the back of our rides, then cruised downtown to make
a couple laps. Then, we pulled into Bullsh- - Corner,
the parking lot at 6 Ave and 2nd Street SW.
We easily filled the lot.
In the early eighties, after Gene McMahon’s Shepard
Raceway was bulldozed to make way for Deerfoot
Trail, we used to gather here. There was never any
other name for it, just Bullsh- - Corner.
When the lights were turned out at midnight, everyone
used to head for a predetermined spot, usually on the
outskirts, to race. This was in the early days of
nitrous oxide (NOS), and it certainly did wake up an
otherwise mild engine. I took part in several of these
illegal street races, with Bambi’s LT-1 handling way
more than its share of challenges. I also ran a firstyear
Pinto with a Chevy 350-V8, and it put away a lot
of unsuspecting opponents. But it was unsafe.
And a lot of these were only 11-second or slower cars.
To see them heating the tires, then launch, with people
standing almost beside the cars, was dangerous.
There were several incidents, but nobody got killed.
We were just lucky. When Race City opened, it took
a while before the Secret Street Program came about.
But it stopped the Street Racing.
Whenever someone got rambunctious, usually the
younger (or Superbike) crowd, us older guys told them
to cool it. "Take it out to the track where it’s safe and
let’s see what you got."
Council voted to extend the lease for a further five
years. They claim it will cost three million dollars,
presented in the form of "statistics,"
totally ignoring the money it will bring in.
How much is one young person’s life worth?
What about two? How much for ten?
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who
owns and operates Nelson Racing.
Reach him at 403-242-3856.
Drive-In Deprivation by Fred Nelson
It’s ten years since the Hub Oil fire, which also took
away the last of Calgary’s drive-in theatres. Do you
know what that means? A whole generation of
Calgarians is without knowledge of what it’s like to
attend a drive-in movie.
The Alberta Mustangs Auto Club Cruise Night made
the decision early this summer to move the
Wednesday night cruise to the northeast corner of
Deerfoot Mall. As a member of the Mustang Club,
I passed along the information in our Classic Affair
column. It was a good move, as seen by the 250 cars
that show up regularly. We like the variety of goodies
at the Food Fair, and the ladies like the shopping.
It works well, because Deerfoot Mall was a ghost town
on Wednesday nights otherwise. Creativity is always
welcome, and one of the things presented was a free
drive-in movie on three of the Cruise Nights.
A portable screen (inflatable) was set up on the west
side of the mall, with the sound being broadcast on
FM. The first night, every outlet in the mall that
handled inexpensive FM devices sold out.
I went around and snapped a bunch of pictures of
first-time viewers, and they seemed to enjoy the novelty.
By the third night, I left after sitting in a quartermile-
long line of taillights, waiting to get in.
It was full. We may be onto something.
Creating A Monster Miata by Fred Nelson
After 18 years owning an ‘89 Mustang GT with the 5-
litre engine and 5-speed combo, Darcy Kingston
figured he’d outgrown the phase. He sold it to a friend
who also resides in the Madden area, northwest of Calgary.
After a year, however, he began to experience "withdrawal"
symptoms. As a pipe-fitter, he drove mostly
vans and pickups. But he missed being able to punch
the throttle and have the horsepower sink him into the seat.
Acceleration is something car people never get enough of.
Many years ago I discovered that my beloved Bambi
would go like mad with its healthy, strong LT-1 engine.
But when I put that engine into a little MG roadster a
thousand pounds lighter, it would go like a rocket.
And that was with primitive technology. Darcy did his
homework via the Internet and developed a plan
before he started another project. His son, Kyle was
13 at the time, and eager to be involved. A young person
has a much better appreciation when they’ve
helped to build something than when it’s been handed
to them.Darcy found a first-year (1990) Miata roadster
advertised for sale on kijiji. It was on Vancouver
Island, and the body was in good condition.
The second owner was ready to move on, and it now
had 285,000 km. A plane trip to the island and $2300
later Darcy was the third owner.
While scanning the ‘net further, he found a set of 2005
MazdaSpeed 17-in. wheels and tires for sale in
Victoria. Since he had to go through there anyhow, he
stopped and bought them for $800. Even better, the
guy selling them asked if the little stock Miata wheels
were for sale, and had a friend who bought them from
Darcy for $200. The wheels were all switched in his driveway.
When Mazda released the Miata in 1990, the makers
wanted to show the Americans (1955 Thunderbird)
and the British (MG, Triumph, etc.) how they should
have built a little roadster in the first place. They succeeded,
much like the Yamaha 650 was to show the
British motorcycle manufacturers how to build a
Triumph 650. But, I digress.
Darcy drove the Miata home from the coast without
incident. Then, he had the out-of-province inspection
completed, and bought his insurance and licence
plate. Although a lot of fun to drive, four cylinders (1.6
litres) and five gears really didn’t cut it.An ‘89 5-litre, 5-
speed Mustang had been for sale in Lacombe for
some time. It had been advertised as "cannot pass
inspection" because of body rust. It was only $1250;
Darcy brought it home for $850. It was perfect as a
donor car, and when he’d finished selling off all the
parts to other Mustang owners, he was $450 ahead of
the game. These 5-litre Mustang parts sell like smallblock
Chevy parts used to back in the ‘80's.
After a little bit of cutting and trimming, the fuel-injected
V8 and 5-speed transmission were sitting in the little
roadster. Ceramic-coated headers and a big aluminum
radiator are available for this conversion, and
are much less hassle than trying to build same. One
of the most time-consuming jobs was to integrate the
Mustang’s computer into the Miata’s electrical system.
Darcy estimates it took 80 hours, but everything
appears stock at first glance. He even used the stock
Miata intank fuel pump. Once he had the car running,
it was time to turn up the heat. A 347 cu. in. Probe
Industries short block was purchased, along with a set
of Twisted Wedge aluminum heads.
With this combination of forged pistons and 10:1 compression,
a TFS Stage II camshaft was selected. The
throttle body was replaced by a 70 mm. unit, and the
injectors upped to Ford Racing 30 lb. offerings. An
EEC IV computer is custom-tuned to handle everything.
The first casualty was the Miata diff. Although
posi-traction, it couldn’t handle the increased power.
Darcy replaced it with a much stronger unit from a ‘94
T-bird. It has 3.27 gears and a beefier posi unit. The
live axles were sent away to be modified for the new
diff, and everything looks pretty much stock. While
travelling to the Super Run in Red Deer, the little
Noma-extension-cord-blue roadster still knocked off
24 miles-per-gallon, at 130K with the rest of the traffic.
Mazda advertises that you can’t drive a Miata without
having a smile on your face. It’s true. Most people
who look at the car grin from ear to ear. And many
are left with their mouths gaping when they get
severely dusted by a Miata.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who
owns and operates Nelson Racing. Reach him at
403-242-3856.
FISHTALES by Catfish
Afew weeks ago I attended my thirty (30) year grad reunion
from Templeton Senior Secondary in Vancouver, BC.
Following was my reply to one of the questions they had asked,
What is your fondest memory of
Templeton? Billy Danielzik,Walter Sepe and myself got
sent to the office from Mr. Allen's Drama 8 class, for swinging
from the overhead curtains on the catwalk. VP Mr. Muir then
made us go around the school grounds picking up trash, and
not return to his office till his garbage can he supplied was full.
Walter, decided that dog sh** was garbage, so it should be
included, and upon our return, laughing down the hall, we got
in more crap. Fast-forward to early 90's and some new neighbour
2 houses away in Brookswood, Langley fires up a chainsaw
at 7AM on a Saturday morning...long story short.......
.........It's Walter!
I still hang out, and went to the reunion with my two highschool
friends. Friday Night prior also went to see the "Blue
Oyster Cult" with Bill, who hasn't changed a bit, like the band.
Could of been the double shots we were doing, or the gin he
was pounding back, that make him toss his cookies on his
front lawn. Don't worry, I promised, I didn't tell anybody at the
reunion. There is an old saying, that the best time to plant a
tree is 30 years ago, but the second best time is today...
same goes for friendships.
Which is why it was comforting to see old classmates talking
as if the only thing to show three decades had passed was
the silver and grey hair, for those that still had hair.
Since I went to school with a few Italians from the original
Little Italy neighbourhood in East-Van, here is a little
"Back in the Day" to the Temp Grad '79 Class.
The Truth about Italians Italians have a $40,000 Designer
Marble Kitchen, but cook on the 40 year old gas stove from
Eaton's in the basement. There is some sort of religious
statue in the bedroom, hallway, living room, and maybe
backyard.The living room has plastic on all the furniture,
which you can't sit on.
The three on the tree Chevrolet Biscayne also has the factory
plastic on the back seat, which sizzles and sticks to your legs
on a hot summer day. Fireplace Mantle is filled with old
Bombonieri.(they are a gift from wedding party, too pretty to
open, with poofy fancy bows and stale Almonds.)A portrait of
the Pope, and Madonna (the real one) hangs in the dining
room. The backyards are vegetable & fruit gardens, with no
pesticides used. (we could of learned something from
them) God forbid if anyone EVER attempted to eat Chef Boyar-
dee, Kraft Dinner or anything else that's 'PORCHERIA di
Mangiacake'.UNICO & LANCIATomato paste are the ONLY
exceptions for canned goods, and of course NUTELLA..
Complaints our parents had about takeout FoodsMikkadonos
- tropo (too mucha) grease, 'Porcheria'.Chinese Food - you
noa they eata cane e gatti (dogs & cats) - Schifo'.Pizza Hut
- I can maka da same pizza for $2.00 - whya you pay $20.
The following are Italian National Holidays March or October
weekends are for salciccia(sausage) making.1st weekend in
October, Grapes for making Wine.July and August - Freeza
da fagioli and piselli 3rd weekend in August - Tomatoes for
the sauce. Meatballs are made with Pork, Veal and Beef.
(We just don't care about cholesterol, thank god for Lipitor.)
Turkey is served on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Lamb &
Coniglio Spezzato on Easter, but only AFTER the antipasto,
manicotti, gnocchi and lasagna.Later on, we have da Bar-bara-
Q with da Bistecca. Sunday dinner was at 1:00 - After da
Church at St.Francis (and you better go...God watcha you!) The
meal in most homes went something like this...Table is set
with everyday dishes...mostly came free in detergent boxes or
bought on $1.49 Tuesday at Woodwards.
(Unless Zio Luigi is visiting from Italy ... then we take out the
china in the velvet suitcase). Doesn't matter if they don't
match...they're clean, what more do you want?
All the utensils go on the right side of the plate and the napkin
goes on the left. Put a clean kitchen towel at Nonno & Papa's
plate because they refuse to use paper napkins. Or else they
will use the corner of the hanging red & white chequered
tablecloth.On the table is home-made wine in recycled
bottles with a twist top, tap water in recycled San Pellegrino
bottles with the label worn off, and Chinotto & Fresca for the kids.
First course, Antipasto...change plates.Next, Macceroni
(Nonna called all forms of pasta Macceroni)...change
plates.After that, Roasted Meats, Oven Roasted Potatoes,
Overcooked Vegetables,...change plates. THEN and only
then (NEVER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEAL) would
you eat the Insalata (Salad) with HOMEMADE OIL & VINEGAR
...change plates.Next, Fresh Fruit, Nuts & LUPINI (on
paper napkins, because you ran out of plates by now).Coffee,
Espresso for Nonno, 'Canadese' coffee for the rest.
Hard biscotti with stale almonds, freezer burnt to dip in the
coffee. The kids go play, the men go lie down, the women
clean the kitchen and gossip about 'il figlio di Maria' or someone
that's dying. Getting screamed at by Mom or Nonna -
Half the sentence in English, the other half in Italian.
Italian mothers never threw a baseball in their life, but can nail
you in the head with a shoe thrown from the kitchen while
you're in the living room. TIME OUT? That was the 'interval
in time' that Dad (wearing the original white muscle t-shirt)
dropped the broomstick and took off his leather belt to beat
the crap out of you! I could go on and on, as there are also
special topics on Italian Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals.
The true Italians hopefully will love this; those of you who are
married to Italians will understand it, and those of you who are
friends with Italians will forward it to them, and only wish you
was, because living it was ......PRICELESS!
See you all again at the 50th Birthday Party in 2011, and to
the four of us that started in Grade 1 at St. Francis of Assisi
back in 67( same year as B.O.C.) ... Luciano, Peggy and
Sandro... yours truly, Thanks You. Ciao and Buon Natale.
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own
and not endorsed by his employer(s), Quicktimes,
NHRA, SEMA, the Roman Catholic Church, Canada
Revenue Agency, his family, friends or any one else
in Canada or on this planet.
Saturday at the beach
For me, Labour Day has always marked the unofficial
end to the summer. Growing up, it meant that school
was a few days away from starting, the days would be
getting shorter, and the nights would get cold and
long. Things are a little different now, but the memories
linger on. With Labour Day rapidly approaching, I
had the overwhelming urge to take one more weekend
trip before summers end. Deciding what to do
was really a no-brainer. I hadn’t ventured south since
Ink-N-Iron back in June, so I figured this would be a
great time to gas-up the Mighty Toyota and head for
Huntington Beach.
My weekend started out a little hectic, but ended in
grand fashion. Before leaving for the beach, I made a
detour to Santa Maria for another cruise night at JR’s
Drive-In. I could have easily passed on this part of the
trip, but I needed to meet with Jerry Gaskill, the subject
of last month’s story, to set up a time and place
for our interview.
Once again JR’s was jumping! The organizers of the
"Wheels and Windmills" car show, that was being held
Saturday in Solvang, put together a cruise to Santa
Maria and ninety cars were expected to participate. I
knew going in that it was going to be hard to leave
once the cars started rolling in and my thought of getting
on the road early was just a dream.
By the time I had dinner, talked to Jerry and had a
look around, it was almost 7 pm. The street and parking
lots were full and cars were still pulling in, but it
was time for me to say adios! Fortunately, the drive to
Huntington was pretty smooth and the weekend was
off to a good start.
Since I only make it down to H.B. a couple times a
year, I have to make the rounds and catch up with my
friends. Because all of us enjoy cars, we normally
meet at Adams Avenue Donuts on Saturday morning
for coffee, donuts (of course), and the weekly car
show known as Donut Derelicts.
When we arrived at the donut shop, it was 5:30 am
and still dark. But the place was full and people were lined
up for a hot cup of coffee and an oversized donut. I have to
tell you, this has to be my favourite place to visit when I’m in
So-Cal. It’s an easy early morning drive from anywhere
around the L.A. area, Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc.
So, if you’re going to be in the area, Google Donut
Derelicts or Mapquest the intersection of Adams and
Magnolia in H.B. for directions Check-it-out, you
won’t be disappointed! The next time I go down
there, I’m going to make sure I have a spare t-shirt with me.
While trying to juggle my camera, a donut and a large coffee
(insert OH SH*T here) yep, I was soaked!
After drying out and leaving the donut shop, we continued
south to the old Ford Design Center in Irvine.
This meet is called Cars and Coffee. Though Irvine is
only about a fifteen to twenty minute drive from H.B.,
the crowd is on the other side of the spectrum. Hot
Rods seem out of place here as we switch gears to
exotic imports and European classics. You’ll see
everything from a WWII Volkswagen Schwimmwagen
to the latest super car from Ferrari or Lamborghini.
This is the place were the big boys come to hang out.
I don’t get too excited about seeing the new super
cars. It’s the old timers that pull in driving flawless
with rolling artwork from days gone by.
The cars start to leave the parking lot between 8:30
and 9:00 and the crowd moves to the sidewalks to
watch the parade go by. That’s our cue to move on to
the next stop, my friends shop in Costa Mesa. My
buddy Rob owns Costa Mesa Steel and Costa Mesa
Speed a fabrication shop that can do just about anything
you want with metal. There is always something
interesting going on here and you never know what
you might find. Among the many projects are the
beginnings of a model A that Rob is going to build for
an attempt to capture a vintage class land speed
record at El Mirage (more on that in the future). It’s
time to get back on the road!
Next stop, Santa Fe Springs for breakfast at Taco
Loco. It’s a great little Mexican place that has the
best huevos rancheros around. Then on to a visit with
another old friend, Bob, who still has his high school
car. A ’55 Belair that has been sitting in his garage,
silent since the early 80’s. Now, close to thirty years
later, the 55 is only months away from roaring back to
life. Bob has stuck true to form with the ideas he’s
been carrying around in his head since he bought the
car back in the 70’s. He’s going with what is now a
classic look. A little higher in the front, American
Racing wheels, and a fire breathing big block that
dyno’d out at 565 hp with 603 ft lbs, of torque, hang-on!
Any trip to Santa Fe Springs wouldn’t be complete
without a stop at the Moon Speed Equipment shop.
The staff is always friendly and if they’re not too busy,
they will take time to show you around. We met up
with Dean Moon Jr. He’s always fun to talk to. Dean
wasted no time in inviting us in for a tour of the old
machine shop. It’s an amazing place! All of the tanks
and discs are still made on the same machines using
the same tools that were there in the beginning. For
me, the treat of the day was seeing the Bonneville car
that had just returned from speed weeks. Dean took
some of the body work off and gave us a closer look
at the engine and chassis. Before we left, I had the
Saturday at the beach By: Doug Adams
opportunity to get some photos of Mooneyes owner
and driver, Chico, with the car.
After dropping Bob back off at his house, it was off to
Walnut for a car show at Seibon, a company that
makes carbon fibre parts for imports and exotics. A
funny thing happened on the way though. We were on
the right street, but heading in the wrong direction. So
instead of turning around, I went around the block. As
I’m driving along, I notice a crowd in the parking lot of
a big warehouse. After seeing the sign, I realized what
was going on. It was Frank and Sons Collectables. I
couldn’t pass this up so we pulled in. Let me start by
saying it was 108 degrees outside and we were headed
into a warehouse that had no air conditioning and
was full of people. This place was unbelievable!
It’s
about the size of your local Wal Mart, but packed with
all kinds of collectable toys, cards, and action figures.
You name it, they had it. Somehow we managed to
walk through, in spite of the heat, and saw just about
everything. I picked up a few Hot Wheels along the
way and decided to make a return trip once the
weather cools down a little.
And away we go! Back on track, we found our way to
Seibon. Things were winding down, but the temperature
was up. This show was in an industrial area
between buildings that were like big radiators blasting
heat at you. Needless to say, a quick look around
would be an exaggeration. We needed to get back in
the truck and crank the a/c.
At this point, it was later in the afternoon and my coffee
stained shirt was really annoying me. It was time
for a shower and some dinner. With a full day behind
us, we were back on the freeway and heading for the
beach, and hopefully a little ocean breeze. As we
were cruising along, a nice red ‘70 Chevelle passes
us followed by a yellow ‘55 Nomad. I said to Charlie,
"I wonder where those guys are going? Should we
follow them?" You don’t actually think he’s going to
say no, do you? We decided to follow them as long
as they stayed on major streets. If they turned off into
a residential area, we would abort the mission.
It turns out these guys weren’t on their way home,
they were on their way to a car show in Yorba Linda.
If Yorba Linda sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s
the home of John Force Racing and that’s exactly
where the two cars lead us—Bonus! I had driven by
JFR in the past, my wife’s friend has a business on
the same street, but I had never gone inside. This
was a pretty cool deal because the entire place was
opened up. You came in the front door, made your
way through the museum portion, then through the
shop and out the back door of the shop.
The only rule was it was a one-way trip. Once you exited the back
door, there was no turning back. As you could imagine,
the cruise-in attracts a lot of people and outside cars filled
every available spot on the property. Amazingly enough, we
didn’t even notice one car that we had seen earlier in the day.
This was a completely different crowd.
The Sun was setting in the west, and it was time to
leave JFR behind and get back on track. A shower,
food, and maybe even a New Castle to cool things off
a little. The rest of the evening flew by and before we
knew it, Sunday had arrived and we were still sitting
out on the patio shooting the breeze. Another typical
Saturday visit had passed and within a few hours, it
would be time to head home. But first, a little shut eye.
Daylight came too soon. After a coffee and a bagel, it
was time to get up the freeway. Sunday morning
drives on the freeway are the best. There’s very little
traffic and it’s easy to car watch. Somewhere during
my drive home, probably when there were more pickup
trucks on the road than Porsches, I couldn’t help
recalling the weekend that once again proved
Southern California is truly a car lover’s paradise!
Perky Pickup Puts Power In Be
Now that the car show season is over we have a little
more time for other things.... like catching up on our
stories. I mentioned that I’m sitting on a bunch of
good ones, but it’s just been way too busy with the
appraisals. This year I tried to accommodate all of them,
and it was a bit like walking under Niagara Falls.
After virtually shutting down for eight weeks, we are
finally able to see the end of the pile. So, it’s back to
the stories about the neat stuff we’ve uncovered.
At the Diablos Show on June 13th, I wheeled the yellow
‘57 project car in beside this low-slung, blackprimered
shortbox ‘64 Chevy pickup. I noticed it was
totally rust-free, so I walked around back to see the
Saskatchewan licence plate.
There were a pair of oversize exhaust tips and ‘58
Chevy taillights, and the tailgate was filled with louvres.
When I peered in the pickup bed, I immediately
saw what all the fuss was. Painted bright red and
nicely-dressed in chrome sat an Oldsmobile 455-V8
and drive unit from a ‘69 Toronado. An Offenhauser
aluminum intake mounted a pair of Carter four-barrel
carbs. MSD electronic ignition with matching red
wires added to the detailing.
Waiting patiently, I finally got my chance to talk to the
owner and builder, Kelly Kirk of Nokomis, Sask. He
agreed to give me a rundown on the truck.
Rural Saskatchewan is definitely the place to find
these old pickups that have never been exposed to
salt. Kelly got this one four years ago.
It had originally been set up as a Pro Street, but it
didn’t work. No matter. Kelly’s plan was to put the
engine and drivetrain in the rear, hence the Toronado
unit. First, I asked to see under the hood.
Once opened, there it was - nothing! The green grass
was in plain view under the truck.
The power booster was set at a right angle to the firewall,
and a huge aluminum radiator sat in the stock
location. Mounted on the inside was a 20-in. electric
fan and stainless overflow tank.
A set of pipes, looking much like exhaust tubing, ran
down the passenger side frame rail. These carried the
coolant to and from the engine.
The front cross-member had been replaced with one
from a newer Blazer, providing disc brakes, and allowing
for dropped spindles.
Inside the cab, the whole floor and hump had been
removed; these were replaced with a flat floor.
The seats were upgraded to 2003 Mustang buckets,
and a CD player with 700 watts provided the entertainment.
I further learned that Kelly is a regular at the
Diablos bash, and had just completed the nine-hour
drive without incident. The temperature ran about 200
degrees F?. It drives like a (mid-engine) Pontiac Fiero.
Noticing the 15-gallon aluminum tank in front of the
engine, I asked how it was on gas.
"Highway, sixteen. City, one," said Kelly.
I asked if the tailgate was welded solid to make the
back end more rigid."Yes, that and because everyone
was getting too close, trying to get a picture on their
cellphone. We left the tailgate open, but they’d drive
three feet behind you. It made me nervous." I phoned
Kelly to see if there were any new developments, since I hadn’t
had time to do the story this summer, as planned.
After 5,000 trouble-free miles, the big Olds engine had
lost a cam lobe. (This happens more and more, and
with good reason. The environmentalists have
removed the zinc from our motor oils.) A full rebuild is
planned, along with a switch to a roller setup.
Also Kelly is planning to go back to a bench seat,
which will look even more stock. And these old
pickups are usually red, so watch for some new paint.
He’ll be at the Diablos bash next year, too.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who
operates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 242-3856.
Perky Pickup Puts Power In Bed by Fred Nelson
FISHTALES
Cash for clunkers?
In the USA, President Obama, like most others in a new job,
wants to show and implement new ideas. Sometimes the
combination of your eagerness conflicts with the deadlines
put upon you. Having to deal with a lot of screw ups
inherited from his employers predecessor, including
bankruptcies of major Banks and two US vehicle
manufacturers, implementing structured bailouts.
The later, formed the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and
Save Act (CARS) in late July 2009 where the Government
provided vouchers of $3500 to $4500 towards the purchase
of a new vehicle, hence replacing your older gas guzzler. $1
Billion was allocated to a vehicle scrappage program, which
ran out within weeks, and another $2 Billon quickly passed by
the powers that be till the program ended in late August.
Many of us in the Automotive Parts Industry wrote a letter to
the President before he passed the above bill. The initial
plans, not thoroughly thought out, were to NOT allow the
renewal of licensing and insuring on any vehicle older than
twenty years of age, yes, just a bit too harsh. After lobbying
and opposition from congress, automotive repair industry,car
clubs, and organizations like SEMA, the trade-in vehicle
criteria were refined to the following:-Manufactured less than
25 years before trade-in date; (this excluded 1984 and older
vehicles, protecting hobbyist and salvaging parts for
restoration vehicles and the Automotive Parts Industry which
all Quicktimes Magazine readers are proud members and
supporters of.)-Have a combined highway/city fuel economy
rating of 18 MPG or less;-Be continously registered to the
same owner for the full year prior to trade-in;- Be in driveable
condition; As of September 29, there were 659,345 vouchers
paid worth nearly $2.8 Billion. Toyota came out on top on both
vehicle brand and model. Similar programs already existed in
Canada, who pumped $92 Million into their National program
applied to 1995 & older vehicles, Retire Your RideProgram
(RYRP) www.retireyourride.ca where in comparison only
$300 Is offered. From the above website you can check out
Provincial versions, such as BC's Scrap-it, whose success
drained funds, recently reduced its rebate from $2250. to
$1250. per vehicle with a lifetime $5000. maximum.
Alberta has Car Heaven with Bye Bye Beater in Manitoba,
or donate the scrap metal value towards list of charities such
as the Kidney Foundation.Have you noticed your latest tires
not lasting the mileage of prior years, the performance level &
ride quality not the same, as well as warranty issues which
never existed before, do now? FYI: China exported 46 Million
tires into North America in 2008, tripling its 2004 volume!
The US rubber tire manufacturers numbers are down huge,
layoffs and plant closures immanent and are asking federal
lawmakers to increase the duty tariffs to 50% minimum, from
the low 3.4% current. Has the lower acquisition cost made
any of the tire companies pass on the saving?
When I'm sleeping, the phone rings, and somebody asks to
speak to me by my real name, my heart starts to pound,
cause it's usually not good new. Well its happened twice in
the past month. Damn pollsters, one for Telus and another for
ICBC. After asking them where they got my unlisted name
and number, nor is it printed that way on the bill, they reply
with, " We are not at liberty toreveal that information."
I also advised them of the time zone they are calling into 5:20
AM. mytime, and just where are they calling from (India and
Toronto). One of them wanted to ask me 7 questions to see if
I, qualify for a survey. The other one I didn't let get that far and
finally got a manager to call me back and explain the
scenario.It's amazing how some companies, even after
recent privacy acts, forward our personal information into the
hands of others, in another country. Why waste customers
money on a pre-determined marketing firm company results
like (A----R---), whose latest poll confirms that 3 out of 4 people
in Canada, make up 75% of the population.
My final thoughts, instead of government spending Billions on
scrapping old vehicles, why not offer that same incentive, to
fix up your old vehicle.Costs more to safely dispose of most
items nowadays than the actual purchase price, so to me it
makes more sense to keep auto parts suppliers and the
mechanics in service bays busy across North America.
You sure hells don’t throw your house in the garbage or tear it
down, you fix, repair & remodel. There are even energy
incentives, well the same should apply to vehicles.
Don't we teach our kids the three R's, Reduce- Reuse-
Recycle. Do those rules not apply to adults? It's why I did
my part and saved an ugly 1966 Fury 2 door post from the
crusher a few months ago.
"Don't crush them, especially the classics, restore them."
SANTA MARIA DRAGSTRIP
There was a point in California’s yesterday when
speed shops were as common as Starbucks coffee
shops are today. High octane pumped out of every tail
pipe on the boulevard and hot rods were on the forefront
of every young mans mind-- speed fever was
rising to epidemic proportions. The dry lakes were
booming with racers in search of every last mile per
hour. Since the remote confines of the lakes was at
least two hours plus away from the Los Angeles area
( considering the roads and vehicle speed of the era),
lead footed outlaws took their machines to the streets.
Dark country roads or a late night boulevard provided
a sometimes fatal battle ground for a newfound speed
contest called a drag race.
Enter Wally Parks! Wally and his newly formed NHRA
set forth to get the racers off the street and onto race
tracks that were controlled and safe. Complete with
timing, low cost insurance, and prizes. The quarter
mile became the official length for an NHRA drag
strip, classes were standardized, and the rest is history.
Racers moved from the lakes to local drag strips
that were popping up everywhere. Abandoned airfields
that were left behind as relics of WWII were
instantly converted into drag strips. One such drag
strip is about a twenty minute ride from my front door.
Santa Maria was once home to the third official drag
strip in the U.S. and the Santa Maria Drags!
Last month, I went over to my friend’s house for a
Sunday afternoon barbeque. I was greeted at the
door by my friend who promptly handed me the
newspaper and said "Hey did you see this"?
It was the sports section of the Santa Maria Times.
On the front page in bold letters read, "Dragging Up
The Past" with a large photo of two 1920’s era drag
racers being flag started. There it was, a story about
the Santa Maria strip and the people who made it
happen nearly sixty years ago.
I was introduced to Jerry at a recent cruise night at
JR’s Drive In, and I asked him if he would be willing to
get together for a few stories about the glory days and
to look at his photo albums. Jerry was up for the idea!
So we set a time and date, and I came up with a few
questions, and off we were. My questions were short,
but you can imagine some of the stories that were
behind the answers. In an effort to conserve page
space, some of the answers have been paraphrased.
D.A.: Jerry thanks for having me at your home and
for you time. You have witnessed the birth of drag
racing and have staked your place in history as one
of the founders of the third NHRA sanctioned strip in
the country. I know you had officer Brady on you side,
but it sill had to be a challenge to approach the city
council as a young man, a racer, and persuade them
to basically hand over a sizeable chunk of real estate
for the track.
J.G.: We, Gale Brady and myself, went around to all
of the service clubs in town, the Rotary, etc. and put
on a slide show to show the benefits of having a track
and getting the kids off of the streets. Gale wore his
Police uniform which looked good. It helped that Judge
Stephens had a son that was interested in drag racing.
So we figured we had been in touch with all of the
movers and shakers in town that could influence the
City Council which worked.
D.A.: Did the track open with the help of the NHRA?
J.G.: The NHRA didn’t exist when we opened the track!
D.A.: Santa Maria was the third NHRA sanctioned
strip behind Santa Ana and Goleta. What did that
mean to you as a track official?
J.G.: We were glad to see the NHRA come along.
We were paying about $400.00 a month for insurance.
We had our insurance through Lloyd’s of London.
They would post us on their board and companies
would bid. One month, we had to pay $1,100.00. That
was a lot considering we were charging $0.75 for
spectators and $1.00 for an entry. We were digging in
our pockets to get enough money to open. With the
NHRA, we paid $69.00 a month for insurance.
The other thing was depending where you went to
race. Everybody had their own idea of what the
classes should be. So eight of us got together over in
Bakersfield, Wally, myself, Bud Coons, Ak Miller and
others, and decided how to form the classes;
so it would be a standard no matter where you went to
race. That’s where I came up with the idea of weight to
cubic inches. Wally thought that was a dumb idea and
asked, "How would you weigh the cars?"
I told him we could borrow a couple of meat scales
and weigh each axle. So that’s how that got started.
D.A.: When the strip opened, you were a member of
the Dragons. What kind of car were you driving and
racing?
J.G.: I had a ‘32 Ford Roadster
D.A.: Any kind of specialty parts or speed secrets?
J.G.: No, but I had a lot of fun in running a 180 degree
crank flathead in it, on fuel which was kind of unique
for it’s day. There were very few of those running, kind
of different!
D.A.: Correct me if I’m wrong, but during the early
years guys would make a tire and gear change and
basically run their lakes cars at the strip. When did
you see the first purpose built car?
J.G.: I would say ’51—’52 along in there. Goleta was
before us and, of course, Santa Ana was the first commercial
strip. Guys were taking Model A frames and
building so-called dragsters for their day.
D.A.: As drag racing grew in popularity, things began
to evolve at a rapid pace. Out of the things that you
have seen, what carried the biggest WOW factor?
J.G.: Well, I remember one particular time. I was in
Santa Ana and the Cook and Hensley roadster turned
145 mph and that was a big WOW. No one had gone
that fast before. I had never heard a car on the top
end brake loose and kind of swerve.
D.A.: During you involvement, what was the biggest
event held at the Santa Maria track?
J.G.: In ‘54, we had the first regional championship
drags here. Don Montgomery came up, Cooke and
Bedwell, Jazzy Nelson. You know a whole bunch of
them, the Bean Bandits and most of the big runners of
the time. There were other big races in the 60’s after
the Junior Chamber of Commerce took control of the
track. I was down in Santa Barbara then.
D.A.: Every track has it’s home town hero’s and the
weekend racers that keep the sport going. But one of
your old friends and fellow Dragon had a couple of
sons that put Santa Maria on the map in big league
NHRA racing. Of course, I’m referring to Everett,
Alan, and Blain Johnson.
J.G.: Oh Yeah! Everett was an original member of the
Santa Maria Dragons. In fact, he was at our first
meeting that we had under the rack at my service station.
I’ve known Everett since before he and Agnes
were married. I’ve known the kids from when they
were babies. Every body knows of Blain and Alan’s
accomplishments.
D.A.: Well I’ve taken up enough of you time. To wrap
it up, how about a little rapid fire? Answer with as few
words as possible.
D.A.: Will there be another track in Santa Marias
future?
J.G.: I certainly hope so!
D.A.: Most memorable race?
J.G.: 1954 Championships!
D.A.: Fastest pass in your race car?
J.G.: 122 mph!
D.A.: Your favourite type of drag car?
J.G.: Double "A" fuelers!
D.A.: Lakes or Strip?
J.G.: Strip!
D.A.: Drag racing today. Good, bad, or indifferent?
J.G.: You see some great runs. But it’s sad that the
little guy is out of the picture.
D.A.: I couldn’t agree more!
There was an interesting tid-bit that Jerry shared with
me as we came across an old photo of two highboys
racing. "That’s the car I bought from Tony Nancy, the
22jr car. He built a new one and came back the
following year to race and I beat him!"
Is that cool or what?
back to top
32. FISHTALES
Red Skelton's recipe for the perfect marriage
1-Two times a week we go to a nice restaurant, have
a little beverage, good food and companionship.
She goes on Tuesdays; I go on Fridays.
2-We also sleep in separate beds.
Hers is in California, and mine is in Texas .
3-I take my wife everywhere,
but she keeps finding her way back.
4-I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our
anniversary. 'Somewhere I haven't been in a long
time!' she said.
So I suggested the kitchen.
5-We always hold hands.
If I let go, she shops.
6-She has an electric blender, electric toaster and
electric bread maker. She said 'There are too many
gadgets, and no place to sit down!'
So, I bought her an electric chair.
7-My wife told me the car wasn't running well because
there was water in the carburetor.
I asked where the car was. She told me, 'In the lake.'
8-She got a mud pack, and looked great for two days.
Then the mud fell off.
9-She ran after the garbage truck, yelling, 'Am I too
late for the garbage?'
The driver said, 'No, jump in!'
10-Remember:
Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.
11-I married Miss Right.
I just didn't know her first name was Always.
12-I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.
13-The last fight was my fault though. My wife asked,
'What's on the TV?'
I said, 'Dust!'
These were the good old days when humor didn't have to
start with a four letter word. It was just clean and simple fun….
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own and
not endorsed by his employer(s), Quicktimes, NHRA,
the Roman Catholic Church, his family, friends or
any one else in Canada or on this planet.
back to top
Here we are smack-dab in the middle of summer and across the land hot rodding is inb"Prime Time". Since my trip to the big city
for Ink-N-Iron, I’ve stayed close to home. I couldn’t find any good reason to travel to a car event when the local calendar had something
booked virtually every weekend. At the present time, my ‘70 Satellite Station Wagon is on the sidelines. I need a few crucial parts like the correct seat belts, a radiator, and an exhaust repair. So, if I want to do
any cruising I have to catch a ride with a friend. Fortunately, my friends have been kind. And I’ve been able to cruise out for a
burger on Friday nights, join the boys for donuts and coffee on Saturday morning, and go to a few shows.
Several weeks ago, I received a call from my friend Joe asking if I’d like to go to the second Friday night cruise at JR’s Drive-In in Santa Maria. Joe wanted to get his 1968 SS RS Camaro out of the garage, grab something to eat, and just hang-out for awhile. How could I refuse? So, I drove over to Joe’s house, jumped in the Camaro and we were off to the cruise night!
JR’s is a cozy little burger joint that originally opened as Howard’s Beef and Bun back in the 50’s, and it has been going strong ever since. This place was built back in the days of car-hop service complete with the overhead awning and menu boards. No pixies on roller skates anymore, but someone will stroll-up to your door and take your order if
you turn your headlights on.
When we pulled in things were just getting started, but all of the spots under the awning were already taken by the early birds. We
had heard that this place fills-up fast so we didn’t waste any time securing a table and placing our dinner order. Before too long, I had a tray of drive-in nirvana sitting in front of me--a juicy burger, golden, crisp fries, and a thick cold shake! From our seats on the patio, we were in perfect position to see the cars as they rolled in or as they cruised by. One of the coolest parts of hanging out at JR’s was the family atmosphere. Everyone was friendly and really into their cars. I
noticed some families had three generations sitting around the table enjoying good food and hot rods.
Many of the people attending the cruise were members of the "Bent Axles," a local car club. As the night went on I learned that the
Axles were getting ready to celebrate their 29th anniversary the following weekend with a cruise, show, and barbeque. The cruise
portion of the weekend was going to be right back here at JR’s on Friday. On to Old Town Orcutt which had a street set aside for the
show on Saturday. Pioneer Park would be the site of the BBQ on Sunday.
So here I am-- back at JR’s for another night of hot rods and burgers. This time, things are a little different though. The cruise-in parking
has been expanded to a closed off sidestreet and a bank parking lot. Today, it seems like every body wanted to get a jump on the
crowd. Tables and seats were at a premium and before too long, it was standing room only. With all of the cars parked and people
around it was nearly impossible to get a clean photo. So, I did what I could. I just became a spectator for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow was another day and I knew all of the same cars plus more would be on-hand for the show in Old Town Orcutt.
In order to put the finishing touches on this story, I needed to get over to the car show on Saturday morning to do my thing and then
hit the road. I had to meet some friends later in the morning so there was no time to waste. The advertised start time of the show was 9:00 am so I got there around 7:30.
The first thing I noticed was that the city had a pretty big street closed for the show. I would guess the street was close to an eighth mile long and fairly wide. This might not sound too amazing to most, but Old Town Orcutt is as close to a one horse town as you can get. There are two stop signs and only one signal on Main Street.
There is one gas station, a corner market, and the old bank is now a restaurant which is full of old photos from the past.
Needless to say, a show of this size was a big deal for this very small old town In a way, this show reminded me of how Dragfest related to the Hot Rod Reunion. You know, the cars you don’t normally see at the big
events. Like the Kustom Nationals come out for something that’s equally as fun like the Bent Axles show. Sure, I recognized a couple
of cars from the Kustom Nats. But for the most part, it was all different stuff.
The cut off year for cars was 1970 but by all accounts, it looked like it could have been around 1960. Keeping with the theme, I purposely
didn’t include photos of any car newer than about 1965. Well, that’s not totally true! I snuck a photo of Joe’s 68 in there.
The celebration of the Axle’s 29th year as a club was a huge success, but the clubs roots go back even farther than that.
Many of these same people have been getting together as members of other Central Coast clubs long before the Axles were formed. I’ll bet there were even a few in the crowd that have been cruising to Howard’s / JR’s since they were teenagers. Maybe
even in the same car they are driving to the show today? I can’t wait for next year and the Bent Axles 30th anniversary weekend.
Doug Adams
Drag Racer Strays from the Straight and Narrow!
It was a welcome break from the cold snowy weather in late
May when I got a call to participate in the Allen Berg racing
school at Race City in Calgary. Although my experience and
interests lie in straight line ¼ mile racing it was a desire of
mine to try my hand at road racing. I have attended the
Frank Hawley drag racing school in Gainesville, and I have
always wanted to attend a road racing school. With Allen's
racing school being based at race city it was even more of
an interest for me. Allen Berg has a rich background in road
racing and has raced with some of the best formula one racers
in the world .It has been a great privilege for the local
area of Calgary to have talented racer start a world class
racing school in our back yard.
It was a nice bright sunny warm day when I drove through
the Race City gates, when I saw the formula Renault race
cars sitting ready to go I knew it was going to be a most
enjoyable day. There is something that stirs the racers sole
when a race car is seen sitting quiet and ready to race in
the cool of the morning. The day course was a group of 10
students with five cars, and we were split into two groups so
one group could be in the classroom while the other group
would be out on the track. Much like the Hawley School the
first hour or so was spent being issued with driving gear,
and being fitted to the cars. I was surprised as to how tight
the front foot well is, but when you drive the cars you see
the reason for it being so tight. Allen has a nice set up with
an on site garage and a nice clean classroom adjacent to
the service area. All the cars at the school are equipped with
GPS and a myriad of sensors to record every move and
position on the track. Throttle position, brake usage, and
engine data record every correct move as well as every
dumb rookie move. With all the data that is collected it is
easy for Allen to show you how and where you are over
revving, braking too late or too soon, how much brake pressure
you use, where these actions took place, as well they
show which line you took around the course. All the class
room time was handled in a very professional manner by
Allen, and was very useful in correcting driver errors as well
as enforcing proper driving habits.
With all the introductions and preliminary briefings the first
group was sent out to have their first track session, and my
group was ushered into the classroom to be taught some
fine point of driving a formula race car. Our group was
briefed on shifting and the trick heel and toe driving technique
which proved to be one the more difficult tasks to gain
some proficiency at.
Once the first group finished the first session it was our turn
to go practice to get the feel of the cars where we went out
on the track and ran the cars through a slalom course a
number of times, and then practiced with shifting, up to fifth
and then back down in a short distance . With these exercises
it gave us a good feel of the handling, braking and shifting
which would come in very handy in the on track sessions.
Both groups did these exercises a number of times
.Once the familiarization was done it was on to the late
morning lead -follow sessions with Allen Berg driving a
pace car to show the students the proper lines to drive .
Prior to actually running on the course the entire group of 10
was taken out to be shown the lines to drive, where to brake
and where to use the throttle. A familiar line was "In slow-
Out Fast". Not only were we shown how and where we
walked a lot of the track to visualize the lines, this exercise
added insight to the instruction.
The lead follow session consisted of Allen Berg driving a
pace car followed by the formula cars with the formula cars
changing position every lap so all the drivers gain experience
in the lead and in the other positions. It really did give
a good idea on what it would be like to actually participate in
an actual race-very exhilarating! The rest of the morning
consisted of one group in the formula cars with the other
group in a SUV with Dave driving the course a ways behind
the formula group. Again it was a good exercise to learn the
nuances of road racing. Dave was constantly giving instructions
on throttle, brake and apex lines while the group
changed out the SUV driver so all could get a turn.
With the morning sessions completed it was time for a quick
classroom session, and then lunch was served. Many race
track meals consist of a greasy burger, fries and a soda
pop, but the lunch provide by the school was very pleasing
to the palette. Lunch consisted of a nice grilled chicken with
a Greek salad, and Greek bread with a Taziki dip, very
enjoyable, and appreciated. It is surprising how you forget
your hunger until you stop and take a break; all of the
students were starved!
After lunch it was time to get on the track with out a lead
car. Strict instructions were conveyed to drive the cars to a
rev limit of 4500 RPM. Later sessions of rev limits of 5000
and 5500 were to follow. I didn't get to the 5500 as one of
the students got a in a little over his head, and went off
course which put a car out of action. With that mishap I
decided to step out and offer my car to one of the paying
students. During the open sessions it was literally a blast! I
have driven a competitive go-kart at the old Calgary airport
track, so I was somewhat familiar with high speed cornering
.Towards the later laps in the open sessions you got a
decent handle on what the cars were capable of, and was
exhilarating to feel the car carve around the corners at near
race speeds. Much like driving a fast drag race vehicle it
takes your total attention to stay safe and keep the in sync
with the car. In drag racing you get tired during the day with
all the car prep and pit work, in road racing you get tired
driving the car. Driving a road race car is way more physical
that driving a drag race car. I can see how a driver of a road
racer is exhausted after a race in one those vehicles, and
how physically fit one has to be to drive competitively.
It is too bad that the Allen Berg Racing School is forced to
move base operations to the Mission Race track in British
Columbia. Calgary's loss is Mission's gain! If you are interested
in learning how to drive an actual race car, and being
taught by a world class driver have a serious look at taking
a course at the Allen Berg Racing School. If not in Calgary
then do yourself a favour and go to Mission raceway to take
the school. You will not be disappointed.
Vern Scholz
"Habbbby Birdayyyyy ...Canaaada" Jean Chretien July 1, every year.
Here in Canada, some of us enjoy making fun of our
other official language.
No, not East Indian, or Chinese.... French.
Especially when our previous Prime Minister had a
girls name, Jean Chretien. Only kidding Jean is a nice
name for a guy, if you last name is Beliveau.
In the United States of America, they pick on their
other language...no, not Redneck... Mexican.
A teacher in a border-town in Texas asked her adult
Mexican students to use certain words in a sentence,
and check out the replies...........
1. *Cheese*
Maria likes me, but cheese fat.
2. *Mushroom*
When all my family get in the low-rider car, there's not mushroom.
3. *Shoulder*
My fren wanted 2 become a citizen but she didn't know how to read, so I shoulder.
4. *Texas*
My fren always Texas me when I'm not home wondering, where I'm at!
5. *Herpes*
Me and my fren ordered Domino Pizza. I got mine piece and she got herpes.
6. *July*
Ju told me ju were going to tha store and July to me! Julyer!
7. *Rectum*
I had 2 cool cars, a 64 Cheby and a Chebrolay, but my wife rectum!
8. *Chicken*
I was going to go to the store with my wife, but chicken go herself.
9. *Wheelchair*
We only have one enchilada left, but don't worry, wheelchair.
10. *Chicken wing*
My wife plays the lottery so chicken wing.
11. *Harassment*
My wife caught me in bed with another women and I told her,
honey harassment nothing to me.
12. *Bishop*
My wife fell down the stair so I had to pick the bishop.
13. *Body wash*
I want to go to the club, but no body wash my kids
14. *Budweiser*
That women over there has a nice body, budweiser face so ugly?
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own and
not endorsed by his employer(s), Quicktimes, NHRA,
the Roman Catholic Church, his family, friends or
any one else in Canada or on this planet.
As I mentioned last month, the big happening in So-
Cal for the month of June was Ink-N-Iron at the
Queen Mary in Long Beach. With Santa Maria in the
rear view mirror, it was off to Long Beach. The name
of the event says it all! The ink part refers to tattoos
and the iron is the cars. I’m more of an iron guy but,
there was a bit of intrigue there knowing that the people
watching would be priceless.
I hit the road early as usual and got into town in good
time. Now the weird part about the show was it didn’t
open until 2pm and it was about 7:30am when I got
there. I took advantage of the extra time and drove
around the Queen Mary and Long Beach area just to
get familiar with the layout. In hind sight, it was a
good idea because a lot has changed since the last
time I was in town which was for the Gran Prix of
Long Beach some eight years ago.
Good thing for me, my friend just got back from a
business trip and decided to take Friday off. I went
over to his place in Huntington Beach and relaxed
before going back to her Majesty for the event. With
time growing near, we jumped into the "Mighty Toyota"
(my trusty 1994 truck) and made our way back to L.B.
The gates opened promptly at 2pm with little fan fare.
There were some people there, but not what I expected.
But, on the other hand Friday is a normal work
day for most. The first thing I wanted to do when I got
inside was to check out the Spruce Goose Dome. The
Goose is long gone but for this weekend, the dome
was going to be the showcase of customs. I had
heard the lighting in the dome was questionable and I
needed photos of the customs for another assignment.
When I walked into the dome, it was empty--no
people. This was perfect, a couple of adjustments to
the camera and I was in business quickly snapping
away. I think there was somewhere in the neighbourhood
of sixty cars, customs and beautiful low riders.
I recognized a few of the cars from Santa Maria and other
shows. Regardless, they all sparkled for the photos.
All in all, the rest of the show, outside of the dome,
was business as usual. There was a midway of vendors
along the main drag, two stages set up outside
for bands, and show car parking every place else.
Once we checked out all of the cars on the grounds, it
was time to explore the ship. There was an art show
in one of the large banquet rooms and a stage with a
band that was doing a sound check. All along the hall
ways of the ship there were little kiosk bars, but we
made our way up to the Observation Deck Bar. This
was a great place to take a break, enjoy the view of
L.B., and enjoy a tasty beverage. If you’re into old
stuff like I am, you would be in heaven on board this
ship. It’s Art Deco all the way, original preserved and
pristine. After we checked out the freshness of the
Guiness keg, we made our way to the ink portion of
the program. Now this was something to behold, you
could actually hear the tattoo guns buzzing from outside
the ship. Inside there were three floors of tattoo
artists. The set-up was like a shopping mall, open in
the middle with the artists around the perimeter, three
floors tall. Let’s just say if you can imagine it, you
would have probably seen it here. I don’t know if I
could even guess how many artists were there,
but I think around 100 would be a safe guess.
Back outside, the sun was sinking into the Pacific and
not much had changed in the iron area so, it was time
to get down the road. Actually, it was time to go up
the hill for dinner. Since we were in Long Beach, we
had to go to the world famous Roscoe’s Chicken and
Waffles. I had the 2-piece fried chicken with gravy and
2 waffles on the side. I don’t know what they put in
the waffles, but they are "G--double O--D!
Two waffles with two chicken pieces equalled too
much. It was time to take it to the house and call it a
night. The Sixth Annual Ink-N-Iron Show was really
good with great cars all around, and
enough ink to, dare I say, sink a ship!
Doug Adams
back to top
The recent sale of collector cars by the Electric
Garage brought a lot of people to the Grey Eagle
Casino in southwest Calgary. Unfortunately, the
weather was terrible, even containing snow.
The planned Show & Shine had to be cancelled, and
everyone who wanted to bid had to pretty well stay in
the tent, near the portable heaters. It was wall to wall
people, however, and a lot of vehicles were adopted.
When I went back on Monday, several people were
picking up their new treasures. One such person was
Janet Munro, who had purchased this black 1957
Pontiac Laurentian 2-door hardtop. I knew the car,
and of course, I always ask a lot of questions.
When she told me the story, I thought we should
share it. She needed an appraisal, anyhow. Her oldest
son, Kyle turned 23 on May 23rd of this year. On the
same day, her father passed away. There is never a
time when making funeral arrangements is easy.
Somehow, we manage to get through it, and Kyle was
dealing with enough grief at the loss of his grandfather.
He barely noticed his mother had only gotten him
a card. Grandpa had been an RCMP officer, so his
funeral had a lot of police protocol. Janet’s sister in
Edmonton had displayed a picture of their dad at a
much younger age, standing beside a black police car
of this era. When Janet and her fiancé attended the
sale at the Electric Garage tent, they commented on
the black Pontiac offered for sale.
They called it "Kyle’s car." Janet had intended to send
Kyle a couple hundred bucks for his birthday present,
but hadn’t gotten around to it. She mentioned that she
should buy him this car, but when the bidding went
above twenty large, she backed off. Out of sight, out
of mind. But the Saturday bidding didn’t meet the
reserve, so the car was still available. On Sunday,
when the couple went back, the car was being offered
again.
Janet was again torn - should she start bidding?
Her fiancé said, "If you want, I’ll go halves with you on
the price."
That’s all it took, and she was again raising her hand.
Even better, she got it for $18,000 this time. The
reserve price had been pulled. Janet happily paid for it
herself; she had just needed the inspiration - to prime
the pump, so-to-speak. A Canadian Pontiac is built on
a Chevrolet platform, and this one has had a lot of
upgrades.
It’s a rust-free rural Alberta car which now runs a
pumped-up 350-V8 and M-21 4-speed.The brakes
have been upgraded to front disc (double system) and
dropped spindles lower it slightly. In back, the diff is
upgraded to a Camaro unit, and the exhaust system is
Flowmaster, with 3-in. headpipes and 2.5-in. tailpipes.
The interior is all new by Graham Cannon, done in the
stock pattern. With the 15 x 8 Corvette wheels and
T/A tires, it looks like it can handle itself. The cam is
fairly lumpy, so it sounds pretty mean, too.
A birthday dinner was planned in Edmonton where
Kyle lives. The idea was to park it at the restaurant,
then give it to him after the dinner. At press time, we
don’t know who will get a bigger kick out of this, Janet
or Kyle. But I’ll bet he’s excited. That’s a pretty nice
birthday present for ANY car guy.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser
who operates Nelson Racing.
Reach him at 403-242-3856.
back to top
Santa Maria Ca. was the place to be this past
Memorial Day weekend, May 22-25, as the 28th annual
West Coast Kustom Nationals returned to the Santa
Maria fairgrounds. The Kustom Nationals ushered-in
the summer car show season here, on California’s
Central Coast, in grand style.
It’s only fitting that the historic, nearly one hundred
year old, Santa Maria Inn served as the destination
spot and participant check-in for the event. Back when
it was built the Inn was at the center of it all in Santa
Maria’s downtown near Broadway and Main. In the
early days of the Inn it was horsepower and style of
the four legged kind that could be found out front.
Today, it was all Detroit iron, shaped, shaved, painted,
primed, plated or patina each customized to their owners
personal standards.
The majority of the Friday night activity centers around
the Inn, so all of the restaurants, burger joints and
taco stands fill up with cool cars, bikes and trucks.
Parking gets scarce, fast, so it’s best to get there
early. We managed to get a spot about ten feet away
from a knucklehead that parked at a 45 degree angle
in front of a fire hydrant, his night probably didn’t end
the way he had anticipated.
As I walked up the main driveway to the Inn I ran
across a couple of guys talking in the middle of the
parking lot. No big deal except it was George Barris
and Blackie Gejeian. I couldn’t believe that they were
there virtually by themselves. So, I asked them if I
could get a couple of photos--- they didn’t hesitate---
smile, click, click, thanks and I’m on my way, a great
way to start the weekend.
There was plenty to see at the Inn but my friends and
I took a walk up Broadway to check out one of the old
motor court motels, a true left over from the golden
age of motoring. Several car clubs had taken up residence
at this particular motel and their cars looked
perfect against the vintage backdrop. The next motel
was about a half mile up the road so we had to
decide, keep walking or head back to the Inn for a
refreshing beverage. Logic prevailed and within a few
minutes we were sipping a cool one. Since the drinks
were being served in plastic cups we were able to go
back outside and enjoy the cars.
The parking lot had a steady stream of cars driving
through in addition to all of the cars in the parking
spots. It seems that things are falling into place for this
show, considering that it just moved to Santa Maria,
from Paso, two years ago. Unlike Paso there is no
organized cruise on Friday night but, with all of the
action on Broadway I don’t think it will be too long
before organizers consider having the street closed for
cruising. I’m sure the action lasted a lot longer than
we did and after about four hours we headed home to
light the barbeque and take care of that nagging thirst.
Saturday started off with an early morning breakfast
then a short drive to the fairgrounds, for the official
event. The good thing about getting to the event early
is, you have a clear shot for photos and don’t have to
try and shoot through a crowd.
As we made our way around I noticed that there were
fewer Rat Rods this year than in the past. I don’t know
if the trend is changing or if it was just coincidence.
I’m sure the economy has something to do with it but,
on the other hand, there were a lot of cars at the show
that I hadn’t seen before. One thing’s for sure, the car
hobby is still alive and well.
The grounds filled up fast and the participants that
arrived late had to squeeze in where-ever they could
find space. For many that meant parking out in the
field and a long day in the sun. The nice part about
the fair grounds is most of the vendors along with the
pin stripers and the model car contest, are located
inside two big halls. In Paso, the main vendor area
was located next to a natural sulphur spring. So, imagine
what that was like at high noon when it was over
100 degrees out, rotten eggs baking in the sun. Hey, I
think I just realized one good thing about the show
leaving Paso.
Anyway, after about three laps of the place we agreed
that we had seen it all and closed the book on another
great West Coast Kustom Nationals. Enjoy the photos.
I’m off to Long Beach for Ink-N-Iron at the Queen
Mary and dinner at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. I
know it sounds like a weird combo but its killer!
Doug Adams
Dually Grain Truck Harvested By Dooley by Fred Nelson
In their quest for hot rod material, most guys usually
sought a coupe or a roadster because they were quite sporty.
As hotrodders age, not only do we take up a bit more
space ourselves, but we need to haul a lot more stuff.
Tudors and even 4-door sedans got to be more
popular. Pickups have recently surged in popularity,
so we'll do the first of about a dozen such stories
we've been sitting on.
Dwayne Dool wanted a '35 Ford pickup for his next
street rod. Not surprisingly, none were to be found.
Dwayne has always had the nickname "Dooley", and
is well-known for some of his automotive creations
(he works at The Rod Shop).
When he ran across a 1935 Ford grain truck, he knew
he had hit pay dirt. The $400 price tag was just fine,
but he had to take the whole thing. Something this
big doesn't fit the car trailer, and has to be moved with
a big rig. The towing company deposited the 32-foot
behemoth in his driveway.
The cab and grille were retained, along with the
forward section of the frame. Everything else was
scrap, including the dual wheels. They didn't even
have hydraulic brakes back then. They did have air,
however, so it had air brakes. One tip I find helpful to
pass along to our readers is concerning our stories.
It is usually best to see if one can put one's tongue
straight sideways, between one's molars.
Then, clamp down. One will now have the correct
expression on one's face to read this stuff.
But, I digress.
Dooley used the front frame section, but built a 24-in.
kickup for the rear. A 5-in. dropped axle was mounted
in front with '40 Ford hydraulic brakes; the famous
Buick finned drums add a touch of nostalgia. In the
rear, a 10-bolt Chevy rear uses the favorite 4-link and
coilovers. With the chassis completed, the cab was
chopped seven-and-a-half inches, and channelled a
full 12-in. over the frame.
When the price of a new box came in at $3000,
Dooley built one from steel, including the solid tailgate.
The opening for the gas tank was frenched,
giving it a smooth edge all around. In keeping with the
1950's theme, steel wheels and wide whitewall tires
were selected.
For power, it was common to use an Oldsmobile
Rocket engine, so Dooley rebuilt a 462 cu.in. version.
His betrothed, Monika helped him pound in the new
pistons with a wooden hammer handle.
Parts for the Olds engine are a little harder to come by.
An Offenhauser high-rise intake would usually mount a 4-BBL carb,
but Dooley hand-built an adapter to mount a pair of 2-BBL carbs.
Next, he built a pair of extended velocity stacks from aluminum pipe.
Illusion is everywhere. What appears to be a stock pointstype
distributor is actually a billet MSD electronic unit.
Behind that old Ford grille sits a hand-built
aluminum radiator. Dooley tilted the grille out at the bottom,
then tapered the front frame rails. With the '33 Plymouth
teardrop headlights, everything just looks right. The custom
roadster headers contain baffles, and even though they're
wrapped with heat-resistant material, they still managed to
blister the paint. An aluminum heat guard solved that problem.
Dooley stayed with his original plan. Until it was ready
for the street, the truck never left his shop.
There's a lot of merit in this. Monika is from Los
Angeles. In September of 2007, she returned there to
finish off the preparations for their upcoming marriage.
Along with a couple of his buddies, Dooley towed his
truck to Las Vegas. He could have driven it, but there
was a ton of snow. It was, after all, September.....
Besides, the trip also doubled as a travelling bachelor
party. Dooley drove the truck from Vegas to LA.
One of the highlights was visiting the Cruise Night at
the famous Bob's Big Boy, where Jay Leno goes.
The truck was well-received.
After the wedding, and all the pictures, the newlyweds
hopped in to drive back to Calgary. It is quite comfortable,
and has a lot more room than a Model A.
The metal bomber seats needed a bit of padding,
so the couple "borrowed" a couple cushions from their
honeymoon hotel. With more than 15,000 trouble-free
miles, Dooley's plan was a good one.
He's now president of the Diablos, and he had his
truck at their big show at Bowness Sportsplex.
With 32 vendors and 8 bands, it was a hoot.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who
operates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 403-242-3856.
It has been a year, since we lost a REAL Funny man,
and in his Memory, I'd like to share some of his classics.
His 1978 stand-up sketch " The Seven Words you
Can't Say on TV" , was recorded, and the FCC won a
case in the U.S. Supreme Court over regulating
indecent material on public airwaves.
How things have changed, as almost anything goes
nowadays, even during dinnertime.
To the FIRST ever host of Saturday Night Live,
and the only live performer I have seen,
that actually made me pee my pants laughing.
(Yes, I still have the ticket stub, in my collection.)
GEORGE CARLIN, May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008
1.) Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the
sweaty things.
2.) One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
3.) Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
4.) If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do
we still have monkeys and apes?
5.) Could it be that all those trick-or-treaters wearing
sheets aren't going as ghosts but as mattresses?
6.) If a man is standing in the forest speaking and
there is no woman around to hear him... is he still wrong?
7.) Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do, practice?
8.) What do you do when you see an endangered
animal eating an endangered plant?
9.) If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
10.) Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
11.) Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
12.) How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
13.) Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they
taste funny?
14.) What was the best thing before sliced bread?
15.) Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
16.) If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
17.) Whose cruel idea was it for the word 'Lisp' to
have a 'S' in it?
18.) Why are hemorrhoids called 'hemorrhoids'
instead of 'assteroids'?
19.) Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because
of that song?
20.) If the 'black box' flight recorder is never damaged
during a plane crash, why isn't the whole damn airplane
made out of that stuff?
21.) Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?
THEN HE ADDESD 10 NEW RULES
New Rule:
No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just
for weddings.Now it's for babies and new homes and
graduations from rehab.Picking out the stuff you want
and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving,
it's the white people version of looting.
New Rule:
Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com !
There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years.
Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I
already know what the captain of the football team is
doing these days --- mowing my lawn.
New Rule:
Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their
hot,blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have
a better description for these kids: 'Lucky bastards.'
New Rule:
If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards,
you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of
your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.
New Rule:
There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a
whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket. Water, but,
without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a
soft drink.You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over
ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule:
The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger
the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a
'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-
shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice,
with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,
'Ooooh, you're a huge asshole.
New Rule:
I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding
my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,'
verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash
back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to
be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.
New Rule:
Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it
doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your
ass. And in English it translates to "Beef with Broccoli."
New Rule:
When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to
hear '27 months.' He's two' will do just fine.
And I didn't really care in the first place.
New Rule:
If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job
that pays better than Minimum wage, then for God's
sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of
flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying,
'Do you want fries with that?
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his
own and not endorsed by his employer(s),
Quicktimes, NHRA, SEMA, the Roman Catholic
Church, Canada Revenue Agency, his family,
friends or any one else in Canada or on this planet.
Well spring is finally here and in just over a month,
summer will be rolling in. It’s time to get the hot rod
cleaned-up, fill the tank and hit the road to show off all
of the hard work that has taken place in the garage
over the winter. I took the winter to regroup and finally
made the decision to part ways with my 1967 Chevy
pick-up. I spent the past two years accumulating parts
and ended-up with stuff all over the place. My friend
came along and offered me his 1970 Plymouth
Satellite station wagon in trade for the truck parts, and
a few other things that I was more than happy to see
go. Before I knew it we had a deal and I became the
proud owner of the same car Carol Brady drove on
the Brady Bunch T.V. show. It’s all original, a decent
driver that will take me to the local shows in,
dare I say, "style".
Speaking of shows, the West Coast Kustom
Nationals roll into town Memorial Day weekend for
three days at the Santa Maria fairgrounds. The show
relocated from it’s original home in Paso Robles (a
much better venue) to the fair grounds in Santa Maria
two years ago, and continues to grow. The best part of
the show being in Santa Maria is, it’s only about 20
miles away and there are hot rods everywhere for
nearly a week.
The SCTA opened its land speed racing season on
May 16th with a two day event at the famed El Mirage
dry lakebed. El Mirage will host an event once a
month until its season concludes in November. I’m
going to try and get together with Mark, the owner of
the Pea Soup Andersen dragster, and see if we can
get an inside look at his land speed car and see
exactly what it takes to get the roadster across the
lake at over 200 mph.
June starts off with a three day extravaganza in Long
Beach called Ink-N-Iron. This will mark the sixth year
of Ink-N-Iron, a hot rod show and tattoo expo, that will
take place at the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose
complex. I’ve never been to this show but from what
I’ve heard, it’s a good one.
So, needless to say, I hope to have lots of photos to
share and tales to tell all summer long. To go along
with these big shows, there are at least a dozen local
car events in my area. I’m hoping to have a few more
features on some of the more interesting cars I run
across. A few friends have told me about another
front motor dragster, similar to the Pea Soup car,
that’s being restored by the son of the original
owner/driver….. more to come!
At the beginning of May I took a Saturday trip over to
Bakersfield for Dragfest, presented by Traditional Rod
and Kulture Illustrated and the Famoso Speed Shop.
This three day nostalgia drag race brought in some
cars not normally seen at The March Meet and NHRA
Hot Rod Reunion, a nice surprise.
One surprise I could have done without was what
was waiting for me when I woke-up Saturday morning,
pouring rain. I couldn’t believe it! Undeterred, I got
ready and hit the road. It rained for the next three and
a half hours. But by the time dawn broke, sun-rays
were shining through the clouds.
The track crew worked hard to get the racing surface
ready for competition and by 9 am, cars were making
their way to the staging lanes for a 10am start. After
talking with a few people, I found out that weather was
also a factor on Friday. High winds had Easy-Up
canopy’s flying and rain entered the equation again.
The pits were pretty quiet until the sun started doing
its job. So I had plenty of time to walk around and talk
to some of the people that I knew. Word on the street
is there will be thirty nostalgia fuel funny cars at the
Hot Rod Reunion--how cool is that? Interest continues
to grow in this category and it’s great to see recreations
like the Candies and Hughes car hit the track.
One rumor of note is, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme
will bring his Yellow Hot Wheels Barracuda to the
HRR on the back of its original ramp truck, currently
being restored. Whether Snake intends to bring these
gems out of hibernation remains to be seen.
It kinda makes you wonder, if all this is true----
Will Snake pull the mask over his head and Cackle
the ‘Cuda?
One car that did make it back to the track was a
vintage funny car that was driven by Mike Mitchell---
The Hippie? The ‘70s era Challenger still carried its
original livery and battle scars. I didn’t get the details
from the owner but one of the other photographers
told me that the car was purchased for $200.00 at the
Turlock CA. swap meet. I don’t know exactly what the
$200.00 bought but in any case, if true, what a deal!
Out on the track it was business as usual and sometimes,
unusual, as seen in the vintage open wheel
class. The door slammers ranged from a Morris Minor
to a high flying AFX’er back down to a banger powered
A-bone pick-up, as traditional as you can get.
Out on the sharp of things, the Nitro contingent (dragster
and funny car) was chock full of NHRA Heritage
Series regulars complimented by a stout field of fuel
altereds. Reining NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel
Champion Troy Green lead the dragster crowd, but it
was Rick White who came-up victorious in the
Chicago style contest. Mendy Frye had a good outing
in the Bomb Squad car and, came home runner-up to
Ed Dougan, wheeling Fighting Irish Camaro. Fuel
Altered was all Vince Generalao in Nanook, taking
qualifying and event honours.
All-in-all, Dragfest was a fun event considering the
limited time I spent there. The organizers kept the
crowd entertained with an endless stream of activity.
Wheel standers, a jet car, and vintage fuelers motoring
down the track kept the smell of Nitro in the air. It was
nice to see cars that only Cackle at other events actually
do burnouts. Tommy Ivo’s Barnstormer, the
Herbert and Schubert car and the Poacher boiled the
hides to the delight of the crowd. There was even a
diesel powered rear engine dragster in the lanes.
All of this capped off with a Pin-up Girl and Back-Up
girl contest and a Saturday night movie on an inflatable
screen. What more can you ask for, Dragfest!
Unfortunately for me, I had to leave the event before
the second round was held, that damn work thing you
know. Missing Nitro cars at night is borderline
criminal, considering I was already there but,
it was a full day and it was time to go.
Doug Adams
Hot Rod Lincoln Alive And Well
This here's the story of the Hot Rod Lincoln - sort of.
Back when this writer was a young whippersnapper, a song
by that name became quite popular. The song didn't have a
lot of melody, like Elvis Presley's tunes (he had just been
drafted into the Army), but the singer just kind of spoke the
words real fast. Who knew that rap music came out fifty
years ago?
Acouple of lines stuck out, though. One was "with that
Model Abody, it just looked like a pup." The other one, everybody
knows - "Pa said Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin'
if you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln." As the story
goes, someone had put a high-horsepower (for the time)
Lincoln flathead engine in a Model Acoupe, and left the body
stock. It would have been quite a sleeper, especially if you
compared it to the anemic Model Afour cylinder engine.
Lee Vickers ran a service station in Ontario in the early fifties.
He had a passion for collecting vintage cars. He had a Model
T, two Model Acoupes, a 1933 Ford Model B and a 1928
Chev. He also had a 1954 Meteor (last flathead V8) and a
1949 Cadillac (first overhead valve V8).
Lee's daughter, Jan has fond memories of riding in parades
in Woodstock, London and Durham, Ontario. Her favorite
perch was the rumble seat of the 1930 coupe. Jan remembered
helping her dad wash and polish the shiny black lead
paint. By the nineties, Jan was out west and had become
Mrs. Walter Paradowski. When her mom passed on, her
dad decided to give one of his collector cars to each of his
daughters.
Jan picked the 1930 black coupe with the rumble seat. She
and Walter made the cross-country trip to retrieve their new
treasure and bring it home to Calgary. With only 28,000 original
miles, it was as nice as any Model Aaround. Having
been always kept indoors, it was barely even faded. And it
had never been exposed to salt. Model AFords are pretty
basic to work on, and Walter refurbished all the systems to
original. New (mechanical) brakes, exhaust, wiring harness,
horn, turn signals added, everything was just the way it would
have been in 1930. Along with the mechanical repairs
came the realization that these cars are only one
notch above a stagecoach.
If one was to take a trip to Airdrie, for example, even at a
white-knuckled 80 km, the engine would overheat. Even on
the 2A highway, at 80 km there is still a pretty good chance of
getting run over. So, the car got driven on occasion, and
quite sparingly.
When Lee passed on in 2003, Walter and Jan figured it
would be nice if they could get a little more use out of the old
coupe. They contacted Hotrods Inc. in Airdrie.The boys there
outlined how they could retain the stock, original Model A
appearance, but still be able to move along with the traffic.
Once the assurance was given that this was possible, the
build began.The entire body was removed from the old frame
and installed on one of Hotrod's complete chassis. Now it
was rolling on a chrome dropped axle with disc brakes in
front and a 9-in. Ford diff with 4-link and coilovers in back.
Careful measurements allowed them to set a 350-V8 Chevy
engine and 700-R4 overdrive automatic low in the chassis.
Air conditioning and tilt steering were added, along with an
AM/FM/CD/IPod set into a mini overhead console, so as to
not drill into the original dash. With the wide whitewall big 'n'
little tires, hubcaps and beauty rings, it took on the appearance
of a 1950's hot rod.
Walter and Jan picked up the road-ready street rod and were
told to put on a thousand miles to break in the engine. It took
almost a year. Then they returned the car to Hotrods Inc. for
the rest of the plan.
Apolished Weiand 177 blower was installed on top of the
engine, and everything fits under the hood.
When Lee was still around, he might not have understood.
But if he's looking down at the finished product,
he'd definitely give it two thumbs up. Both Walter
and Jan have recently retired so you'll see it at all the
shows, especially Radium.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who
operates Nelson Racing.
Reach him at 403-242-3856.
TOP 10 REASONS WHY YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN
1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral
objection to people who drink beer.
2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 ACME
rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.
3. You have more wives than teeth.
4. You wipe your butt with your bare hand,
but consider Canadian bacon "unclean."
5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and
suicide.
6. You can't think of anyone you haven't declared
Jihad against.
7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely
accessorize your clothing with explosives.
8. You were shocked to discover that cell phones,
have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.
9. You have nothing against women, and think every
man should own at least two or three.
10. You've always had a crush on your neighbour's goat.
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own and not
endorsed by his employer(s), Quicktimes, NHRA,
the Roman Catholic Church, his family, friends or
any one else in Canada or on this planet.
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Yeakell Pllymoutth Speciiall
Back in 1986, I made my first trip to the U.S. Nationals.
Wide eyed and armed with a couple of cameras, a bag full
of film, and a photo pass, I was ready for action! Indy by all
accounts is "The Big Show". Racers wait all year to go to
Indy and all of the classes are overflowing with stout competitors.
There is always a lot going on in Indy over the U.S
Nationals weekend, and I was going to try and take in as
much as possible. The Speedway Museum, the annual
memorabilia show, the race, of course, and The Car Craft Banquet.
Attending the Banquet, as far as I was concerned, was the
cherry on top of the sundae. But it didn’t stop there. To
make things even better, I was going to be sitting at Tom
Mcewen’s table. Now, I’m not the kind of person that’s star
struck but let’s face it, this was a cool deal. Up until a few
years earlier, the only connection I had to racers like the
Mongoose was from what I saw on T.V. or read in magazines.
I had met Tom several times and he knew who I was
but, I was still a little nervous about the whole thing.
So as the evening goes on, Car Craft is doing their thing on
the stage, everyone at the table is talking, and I’m just
happy to be there, taking it all in. When the opportunity
came for me to get into the conversation, I spoke up and
then BOOM, the blower exploded in my face. From across
the table comes a voice "If you don’t know what your talking
about, KEEP YOUR F@%CKING MOUTH SHUT"!!! Now,
I’m heading for the sand trap, with flames in my face, and
no parachute. As you can imagine, it’s starting to get hot in
here. I sink in the chair as everyone turns their attention to
me. Then, as if nothing happened, everybody picks up
where they left off. There I am, sitting in the sand trap like a
castaway on a desert island waiting for the Safety Safari to
come and rescue me. It turns out the voice was that of a
man I grew to respect and who’s words (that burnt through
my nomex) I continue to live by, Lou Baney. At the time, I
didn’t know who Lou was or the part he played in the history
of drag racing. Back then, there was no Google. When I
asked people about him, they told me he was a former car
dealer that Tom used to drive for.
I had the opportunity to spend more time across the table
from Lou at the "Agony of Defeat" lunches which were held
at a local burger joint in Orange County on the Monday after
each national event. It was a casual affair and there were
usually about a dozen people in attendance, some of them
tied to Mongoose Racing, other racers and friends. By now,
I knew to choose my words-- few as they might have been--
carefully when I spoke, and I always kept an eye on Lou to
see if the blower was going to stay on for the full run. One
particular Monday after lunch, Lou approached me and
handed me one of his cards and said "if you ever need anything,
give me a call". That meant a lot to me, and I still
have the card in my collection.
Now, down the track in the information age, we can Google
Lou Baney and learn that he was a man larger than life who
helped shape drag racing into the sport that we now know.
Unfortunately, Lou is no longer with us.
However, his accomplishments and contributions are
etched in drag racing history.
One of Lou’s most famous cars was the Yeakel Plymouth
Special which was sponsored by the dealership he managed
in Downey, California. With a revolutionary chassis built by
Woody Gilmore and driven by a brash kid nicknamed the
Mongoose, the Yeakel car was a force to be reckoned with
on the strips of Southern California in the mid-sixties.
Now, thanks to nostalgia drag racing events, many historic
race cars are being restored for all of us to enjoy. Some
people will enjoy these cars again and some, like me, will
enjoy them for the first time. The Yeakel Plymouth Special is
one of these cars.
The broad stroke version of the Yeakel story goes something
like this. The families of Lou Baney and his partner
Vince Rossi went on a quest to find the famed racer.
The trail lead to Hawaii. There the car was authenticated,
purchased, and prepared for its trip to the main land. Once
in So-Cal, the parts and pieces were turned over to master
craftsman Steve Davis. Steve and a who’s who of friends,
family, and former crew guys, went to work to bring the rail
back to life. To quote my old friend the Mongoose,
"the finished product is nothing short of "Rolex watch
perfection". Painted deep metallic purple, lettered in gold
leaf, polished to mirror perfection and surgically clean, it is a
car as individual as the people that made it famous, or vise-versa.
Cars like this were built during a time of innovation and
experimentation when change came almost daily.
Not unlike today when the only thing that changes daily is
the balance in the team’s checkbook.
Last year at the March meet, I was introduced to the whole
gang over at the Yeakel camp. Life long friends who are
preserving their father’s legacies. I had the chance to tell
Lou’s son, Frank, the story of the Indy incident. He said,
"That sounds like my old man". Then he had me tell the
story again to the whole group.
We had a good laugh.
Thanks Lou!
Doug Adams
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Exquisite 34
Everyone starts somewhere!
Well, it just so happens that Tom Racz began his
career helping his dad restore several airplanes and
cars @ a very young age. He and his father actually
built a Kentucky Fried Chicken promo car, complete
with a rooster- tail and a glass top, but that's another story.
Tom's very own first car was a 1961 Triumph TR3-A.
You know what we have all said at one time or another,
" sure wish I hadn't sold that car." Tom moved on
and traded his TR3-A for a VW van and a bike, a CZ
125, a real kool bike, back then, while in school.
In 1972 Tom moved around, first to Calgary, from
Portage La Prairie, then to Edmonton in 1979 where
he worked in a skate shop and a sporting goods
business and finally back to Calgary in 1986 In 1992
Tom became a representative and distributor for Graf
skates and later (1979) the Canadian founder of the
Graf skate factory right here in Calgary, absolutely nonrelated
to the hot rod industry! Business was good....
Tom retired in 2001, bought a 34 Ford sedan and got
down and dirty to the beginning of a hot rod shop,
little to his knowing it at the time. Tom, like some of
us, is an ardent fan of "Over Haulin" and "Chip
Foose" along with "My Classic Car" and "Dennis
Gage". Then in 2005 he started "The Rod Shop" here
in Calgary just off the Barlow Trail and Center Avenue.
I have watched his hot rod shop progress through its
growing pains as with most fledgling businesses of
the day and age. Tom has selected a well-diversified
team of hot rod specialists with many years of experience.
But now, back to his 34 Ford, 2001 was the start of
his project car. I walked into The Rod Shop with my
camera hoping to meet the owner, and I did!
There was Tom getting down and real dirty working on
the 34 frame. 2005 saw the chassis painted and
completed with all the running gear and chromed
engine. 2007 and the car was finished!
Is it really ever really finished? (even after 4000 hrs)?
The car was entered into the W of W and was a
contender for the coveted Jim Leslie Award.
What makes this 34 so trick, is the extra attention to
the fine detailing and craftsmanship.
Take a look at all the goodies that went into this 34-
resto rod to make it winner and a daily driver.
The Rod shop has flourished into big business with a
super team, and now a newly renovated shop sporting
a retail shop representing and carrying select top of
the line accessories and major hot rod needs to
complete a full restoration, fabrication of most
custom-crafted dream machines.
This shop boasts all of the following: full fabrication,
body shop, in-house state of the art paint bay, and a
clean-vehicle assembly room. Hot rodders and owners
can view their dream machines being assembled
in a newly created clean room, right out front next to
the parts display.
To date, they are in the thick of several fully involved
builds working on, no less than 12 vehicles at any one
time!
By the way, Tom's 34 is a very high-end everyday
driver that has been to the 75th Anniversary Deuce
Run in Victoria B.C., down along the Oregon coast
and back to the Spokane Show and Shine for just a
few of his outings. Tom and his family even christened
their car with the name "Leone".
So there you have it, this story happens all over North
America just by starting your own hot rod project with
some rodders building a successful hot rod business.
Check out The Rod Shop web page at,
www.therodshop.ca or tour The Rod Shop at
# 6- 2421 Centre Avenue S.E. Calgary,
(just off the Barlow Trail S.E.)
Well done Tom and Crew!
Story and pics by
Moe, Action Sports Photography
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Tom Slick Wrap Up
Since returning to Quick Times Classifieds,
I have enjoyed a myriad of events. Ed and I have
been to LA twice, covering both the MPMC trade
event (it’s a media affair with SEMA manufacturers as
stars of the show) and the amazing Grand National
Roadster Show. We drove and rode to Saskatoon for
The Super Run. There was Powerama, the Rocky
Mountain Nationals and the ESRA show in Edmonton,
and the beautiful Radium Classic Car Show.
I did the AC Delco Nationals and SEMA in Vegas...
All and all I saw A LOT of nice iron!
I have seen awesome hot rods, rat rods, bikes, trucks,
and race cars. Nostalgia, newstalgia, cruisers,
customs, survivors, repops, and any form of resto.
Some are worth more than a million, some cost a
million..some cost a few bucks, and others...priceless.
The more I saw, the more I realized that my zeal for
cars is growing again. It already is part of every hour
of most days, and here it is gaining intensity after all
these years. I can’t wait to share this with Mrs. Slick,
she’s gonna be so excited! Yee haw!
When my intensity is high, I wanna BUY something!
Now, I know things are not the greatest for some
people, especially here in the South, but that also
means there might be some pretty good deals around.
A newer GTO? A mid year ‘Vette?
Oooh, maybe a Lightning?! I’m kinda a rebel,
what’s more rebellious than a blown pick up in a
recession that can’t carry its own shadow!
Now that I know what I want it’s on to the interweb to
see what I can buy for one of these things.
In just a few minutes I find a plethora of things for
these trucks. Wheels, tires, brakes, exhaust,
increased boost... on and on it goes!
So now I have a plan for spring... to find a project
Lightning and get to work so I can enjoy a new ride
this summer. Ah, it is a great feeling to head into
spring with a dream, a plan, and a goal.
You go to bed thinking about it, and wake up dreaming
about it. A new project gets in your head and stays
there until it’s done, or your bank account is done,
then there is a hiatus... but I digress.
So, find a truck, spend a week with it to sort out what
needs fixing. Check it all; over-look nothing.
Then start from the power-train out. Power mods and
wheels this spring, brakes in the summer, then body
mods and paint over "not summer". I can get to the
interior and sound next year. I can’t wait!
I am relatively sure we are going to see deals in the
next few years like we haven’t seen in the last five.
Join me in doing your part to stimulate the economy
by taking on another project!
Well, at least it sounds less selfish than
"it’s for the family Baby, we’ll all enjoy it!"
Speaking of selfish, I am off and running again. It has
been a pleasure to muse on the pages of Quick Times
again, however; it is time for me to move on.
What did I learn this time around?
... more car shows need to be on grass.
Have a great summer and mind how you go. Tom.
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Inverted Tudor Uprooted, Uprighted
At the car shows, I always stand back a bit and watch the
reaction of the people as they view the various creations.
Gary Russell had his all-steel ‘32 Ford Tudor in the
Classic Auto Body display at this year’s show.
There were several other ‘32 Fords, but Gary’s was
the only Tudor sedan.
In the past we’ve explained how the 1932 Ford (first
flathead V8) has been, right from the start, the ultimate
year for hot rod material. After decades of the
Model T, then four years of the Model A, all the Fords
had a little sun visor over the windshield. The 1932
Ford didn’t have a visor. It also produced, as standard
equipment, the world-famous grill, which has
graced more street rods than all other body parts
combined. It just looks right.
Gary wanted a ‘32 Tudor because they have more
room, and are more rare than a coupe or roadster.
They’re also a lot harder to find. This one had been
retired years ago. The body wasn’t all that bad
except for a bit of rust - on the roof. When somebody
had scrapped it years ago, they left it sitting upside
down in a field. After a while, things start to sink into
the ground.
Gary acquired the hulk fifteen years ago. It sat for the
first ten years, but one day he got started on the project
- he pulled the body off the frame. Since the plan
called for the finished product to be black, the body
had to be perfect. He took it to Classic Auto Body in
Olds. It was a stroke of good fortune when a parts car
was found in Saskatchewan. Gary lives in Didsbury,
so he figured he would deal with businesses in the
neighbourhood. Rather than modify a bunch of rusty
old metal, Gary purchased a new Deuce Factory
frame, complete with a Pete & Jake’s dropped axle
and disc brakes. In the rear, it was set up for a 9-in.
Ford diff with triangulated 4-link and coil-overs. The beefy
Ford diff was narrowed slightly, and 3.25 gears selected.
The local GM dealer provided a new 330-horse 350-
V8 crate engine. A set of shorty headers routed the
exhaust system underneath, and the full-length pipes
have large chrome tips. National Transmission on 14
Street NW provided one of their Street Rod Package
200-4R overdrives, which are a little smaller than the
usual 700-R4's. They’re still built to handle about 700
HP, so there’s a bit of a margin.
With the roof rebuilt, Gary was able to get a new top
bow (wood) kit from George Moir in Edmonton. He
kept the stock look by retaining the rubber insert,
which is filled with antique long-grain vinyl. The wood
kit for the rest of the body had one piece missing,
back by the E-pillar. Amazingly, Gary was able to find
that part in Hemmings! New tinted glass was installed,
including the stock swing-out windshield. Vintage Air &
Heat, hidden stereo and extra soundproofing throughout
were done by Cascade Vans, along with the soft
grey leather interior.
Once the flawless body was united with the new
chassis, Gary was happy with the stance, which is
all-important. Timeless Torq-Thrust 5-spoke wheels
were chosen, along with BF Goodrich T/A tires.
When it got to the detail stage, Gary lowered the
headlights a bit, and installed the park lights in same.
Gary Millar applied a subtle pinstripe in a couple
spots, just for emphasis.
Folks loved it at the car show, and you’ll be able to
view it possibly at the Spring Thaw. Failing this, it’ll
almost certainly be at the Didsbury Show on May 9th.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser
who operates Nelson Racing.
Reach him at 403-242-3856.
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The 2009 Drag Race Season has started,
and you know you are addicted if...
You have pets named "Garlits" and " Chevy".
You want to have kids just so you can run a Jr. Dragster.
Your weed eater was overhauled & blueprinted by Jimmy Richmond.
After your garage door opens, you "stage",
and wait on the Tree before pulling out.
After one pass around the yard on your lawn mower,
you read the plug and "fatten 'er up."
You can't remember your spouse's birthday, but you know the
ET and MPH your Chevelle ran at the old Mission track.
You catch yourself saying, "I wish stoplights would flash yellow
before they turn green so I could get a better reaction time."
You know "Hookers", are headers.
"Going to the lanes" means getting ready to race, not going to roll
some stupid heavy ball down a wood floor to knock down pins.
You see burnout marks down your street and try to determine
how serious a car it was by the length and width of the stripes.
Then you say, "I coulda done better."
You refer to a cold night as "fast air."
You describe a co-worker who's upset as being
"on the limiter." Guess Who?
You use the emergency-brake handle while inching
up at a stoplight, pretending you're staging.
You like to drive by Langley Airport, as the traffic lights are
at street level, practicing your reaction time.
You are more enthusiastic about getting your
QUICKTIMES MAGAZINE in the mail than a check.
You didn't know Richard Nixon was from Yorba Linda,
Calif.,.... but you do know John Force is.
You'll spend $300 for a single slick, but won't spend more
than $150 for all four new tires on your wife's Minivan.
You wife complains of the ride, could because
you get Timmy to only put 6 psi in the tires.
While you're shopping for underwear, you look
for an SFI tag and expiry date.
You honk and give a thumbs-up to any other car on
the road sporting an NHRA Member sticker.
You're looking for a tow vehicle, but still have milk
crates for furniture.
You have enough spare parts to build another car.
Instead of pictures in your wallet, you have time slips.
You go postal when you have to sit in a traffic jam for 5 minutes with
A/C on, yet can spend 2 hours in the staging lanes, in the heat.
When someone asks your weight, you tell them the
weight of your car with and without a driver.
You can find your way to any dragstrip... but get lost
going to your in-laws, every time.
You know that "breakout" refers to a car running
quicker than its dial-in time and not a prison escape.
You refer to a "diaper" as an absorbent blanket used
to contain oil and parts in case of a blown engine
...you mean baby's wear them too?
You call the 200th Street freeway exit off-ramp,
the "shutdown area."
Heres a good one
One hot summer day, a blonde came to town with her
dog, tied it under the shade of a tree, and headed
into a restaurant for something cold to drink.
Twenty minutes later, a policeman entered the
restaurant and asked,
'Who owns the dog tied under that tree outside?'
The blonde said it was hers.'
Your dog seems to be in heat' the officer said.
The blonde replied, 'No way. She's cool 'cause she's
tied up under that shade tree.
'The policeman said, 'No! You don't understand.
Your dog needs to be bred.
''No way,' said the blonde. 'My dog doesn't need
bread. She isn't hungry 'cause I fed her this mornin.'
The exasperated policeman said, 'NO! You don't
understand. Your dog wants to have sex!'
(Your gotta love this)
The blonde looked at the cop and said,
'Well, go ahead. I always wanted a police dog.'
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own
and not endorsed by his employer(s), Quicktimes,
NHRA, the Roman Catholic Church, Canada
Revenue Agency, his family, friends or any one
else in Canada or on this planet.
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California in the sun! …..Yes,
I had to leave the 30 below Calgary
weather and visit Southern California.
We needed a break and this trip was great.
We flew in to L.A., and rented a car, first stop
was Carlsbad for one week. Drop tops all
over this tourist town! A little relaxation and
some catching up, Next stop, San Diego, a
huge naval harbour and Balboa park (filled
with museums, theatres, gardens, San Diego
Zoo, and super restaurants. Visited several
areas of custom cars and hot rods. One
week here and then off to Palm Springs for
a week. This is where we begin the story.
First of the week we explored several hiking
trails and restaurants. Then, you guessed it,
I found, by accident, a S&S along with a car
auction. I had to visit their office and was
immediately welcomed by the super staff of
Keith McCormick’s Palm Springs EXOTIC car
auctions.
Their auction runs twice a year and usually
starts on Friday afternoon and carries on
through Saturday finishing up on Sunday
afternoon.
For those of you like me who have never
attended this Palm Springs Exotic car auction
event, let me give you some background
history.
Keith McCormick started his first auction in
1985 at the Marquise hotel in down town
Palm Springs (now called Zoso)…with 176
entries and sold 45%.
Keith tells me he still has some of the same
staff today on the podium.
They have held 2 auctions per year ever
since. I have included a picture of a sprightly
70-year young blond lady by the name of
Betty Cotton who directs cars and keeps this
well organized event moving for all 3 days.
Ray Adams is the floor ring-man talking with
buyer (Mark Lang). Frank Bizzarro is the
announcer in the middle along with Jeff
Stokes, head auctioneer. Keith is seen to the
right of Jeff on the podium. Keith tells me,
"24 years later and an average of 500 plus
entries in each sale we average receipts of
$4 to $5 million per event". This Exotic
auction turns out to be a family run event
with son Jason, Julie his wife and Keith’s
wife Desley supported by many volunteers
and friends.
So this article was really just a casual cruise
through 3 southern California cities along
with several images from the car auction.
You just never know what you are going to
see! Sure was hard coming back to snow
and –20 below!
By: Moe Putney
Images: Action Sports Photography by Moe
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It was déjà vu all over again. Seriously, it could have
been 1966, 1972 or even 2008 as perfect weather,
packed stands and incredible drag racing competition
all added up to another wildly successful March Meet
at Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield,
Calif. And speaking of 2008, the 2009 winner were
certainly familiar: Bucky Austin once again claimed
the Nostalgia Funny Car category and the Harris
family continuing its winning ways as Brett Harris took
the Nostalgia Top Fuel title. Both racers also got a
good jump on the competition as the March Meet is
also the season opener for the NHRA's eight-race
Hot Rod Heritage Series.
Austin, who won the Hot Rod Heritage Series
Nostalgia Funny Car championship last year, beat
Garrett Bateman, Tacoma, Wash., in the Funny Car
final with a record-breaking time of 5.72 seconds at
a blistering 246.77 mph. Garrett finished with a 5.85
time at 245.36 mph. Both Austin and Bateman ran
on cars owned by Steve Plueger.
Fife, Wash. may be home for Austin, but he now owns
Bakersfield. He's on the roll of lifetime here, winning
four times in the two years at the legendary Auto Club
Famoso, including two March Meets and two
California Hot Rod Reunions. And he's set a new
record in each race, including Sunday's with the
lowest elapsed time (ET) in Nostalgia Funny history
(5.72).
"We've accomplished a lot here in Bakersfield," Austin
said after the race, "but it takes a good car, a great
crew and a little luck. Everything has to go right. My
hat's off to Steve (Plueger) and the whole team."
Austin may have team support, but Brett Harris has
family support. Brett and his father, Jack, have dominated
the Nostalgia Top Fuel competition at the March
Meet the last three years. Brett won it in 2007, Jack in
'08 and Brett kept it going in '09 by beating Rick
White of San Diego in championship race. Harris,
from Kaysville, Utah, ran a 5.67 (263.77 mph) to
White's 5.68 (259.36 mph). Harris also claimed the
low ET (5.65) and top speed (263.77 mph) during the
three-day event.
All told, the Harris father-son combo now have five March
Meet titles between them, with "Sheriff" Jack owning
three and Brett now with two. "We like Bakersfield,"
Brett said after the race. "We've figured out the track and
have it dialed-in. We've been dominate here, but we try to
dominate everywhere. But the March Meet is the big-big one.
It's the Indy 500 of drag racing. This is the one event you
want to win so you can pump your chest all year long."
More than 500 race cars in 14 classes were entered
in this year's March Meet, which is now celebrating
51 years of racing at Auto Club Famoso. Last year's
50th anniversary drew record crowds, but there was
concern that the soft economy would take a toll on
the race entries and the crowds. Again, it was a blast
from the past as the stands were full, as were the
vendors' midway, swap meet area and the hot
rod/street rod-lined Grove. Heres some results.....
TOP FUEL
B Harris, Left lane, (0.057) 5.674 263.77 def.
R White, (0.090) 5.684 259.36
Low ET: Brett Harris 5.656 seconds
Top Speed: Brett Harris 263.77 MPH
NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR
B Austin, Left lane, (0.162) 5.723 246.77 def.
G Bateman, (0.155) 5.853 245.36
Low ET: Bucky Austin 5.723 seconds
Top Speed: Terry Capp 248.13 MPH
FUNNY CAR CONSOLATION
M Halstead, Left lane, (0.140) 6.035 239.10 def.
J Wright, (0.120) 6.491 188.67
Low ET: Dennis La Charite 5.956 sec.
Top Speed: Mendy Fry 240.96 MPH
A FUEL
K Bates, Right lane, (0.100) 6.358 223.32 def.
G Wheeler, (0.009) 7.710 122.96
Low ET: Kin Bates 6.349 seconds
Top Speed: Kin Bates 224.83 MPH
AA/GAS SUPERCHARGED
S Renteria, Left lane, (0.082) 6.772 209.20 def.
M Leonard, (0.174) 9.201 96.94
Low ET: Mike Leonard 6.609 seconds
Top Speed: Sean Renteria 212.01 MPH
"People came out to forget their troubles and enjoy
themselves with some affordable family fun"
back to top
It all started with the Rolex. In 1941, grandfather
Maynard James Spratt left his job as an engineer for
a construction company in Saskatchewan to go serve
his country. In the Army Engineering Corp, he was
sent to England. As a farewell gift, the construction
company bought him a new Rolex Victory watch,
engraved to commemorate the event.
Sixty-one years later, his son Lawrence Maynard
Spratt passed away from cancer. In his top drawer -
a drawer his son, David used to rummage through for
loose change to buy pop and chocolate bars - was the
old Rolex with a broken crystal and no strap.
It looked no different than a lot of the junk that had
accumulated over the years. David had a sentimental
attachment to the old watch, so he kept it. He figured
that's what his dad and his Grampy would have
wanted.
A couple years later in April of 2004, David's wife
Kathy was wondering what to get him for their
upcoming 15th wedding anniversary.
She secretly took the old watch and had it rebuilt. It
was a very thoughtful and unexpected gift, and many
tears were shed. David was even more surprised to
discover that the old "junk" watch was worth many
thousands of dollars.
A year later was the 10th Anniversary of starting their
own electrical company, Spratt Contracting Ltd.
Knowing the renewed Rolex would be a tough act to
follow, Kathy bought David a "great project truck"
which also turned out to be a 1941.
As we've mentioned before, a stock 1941 pickup is
not too practical. You just can't go anywhere when
you top out at about 50 miles-per-hour.
Car guys always read more into things, though.
David figured Kathy was giving permission to seek
some outside help with the project. He took his ideas
to Tom Racz at The Rod Shop.
Since the plan was to build a truck to actually drive, a
Camaro Tuned-Port 305-V8 engine and 700-R4 overdrive
automatic transmission were selected.
The front suspension became a TCI Mustang II unit,
with coilover shocks. In the rear, a newer Chevy diff
was mounted with a triangulated 4-link and Air-Lift bags.
The 1941 models were identical to the 1946 models,
which resumed production after World War II. Many
of the parts interchange, which was a big help in locating
(four) new fenders and running boards.
The massive grill was sent to Alberta Plating for new
chrome to show quality, and the rebuilt body was
painted in Glasurit electric blue and champagne.
American Racing Torq-Thrust wheels were chosen,
15 by 7 front and 16 x 8 rear. BF Goodrich supplied
the T/A tires, and it just looks right. Power windows
operate the one-piece side glass, and a Vintage Air
& Heat unit fits nicely under the dash. The whole truck
was rewired with a Painless Wiring Kit, including their
harness for the electronic fuel injection.
The interior was designed and created by Cascade
Vans. Soft leather in burnt orange and tan graces the
cab. And since David and Kathy are in the electrical
business, Tom and the crew at The Rod Shop came
up with a nice little surprise for the project. The shift
knob is a one-off blown glass clear "light bulb" and the
interior dome light is a matching, smaller version.
Details like the custom gas tank and radiator are
worth a closer look, just to name a few.
This writer was present back in December for the
unveiling party at The Rod Shop.
David says that even with the Rolex, time stood still
for the year the truck was under construction.
But now that he has the truck from the same year as
the keepsake watch from his Grampy, and his son's
Grampy, he hopes they will both be cherished for
years to come.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who operates Nelson Racing.
Reach him at 403-242-3856.
back to top
- * Triangular sandwiches just plain taste better than square ones.
- * Everyone who grew up in the 70's has entered the digits 55378008 or 71077345 into a calculator.
- * Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly. (Turn the calculator upside down dopey).
- * You're never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden.
- * You never ever dare make Lipton's Cup-a- Soup... in a bowl.
- * You also never know quite where to look, when eating a banana.
- * Its impossible, to describe the smell of a wet cat.
- * Prodding an open fire with a stick also makes you feel like a man.
- * Digging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball.
- * Everyone always remembers the day a dog ran into your school.
- * The most embarrassing thing you can do in grade one is to call your teacher mum, especially if she was a nun.(It was Sister Kay for me.)
- * Some days , for whatever reason, you see lots of people on crutches.
- * Every guy has at some stage while taking a pee, flushed half way through, then raced against the flush.
- * Old women with cell phones...just looks wrong!
- * Driving through a tunnel, makes you feel excited & scared, so I close my eyes.
- * You never ever run out of salt... but pepper.
- * Old ladies, with cell phones, can eat more than you think.
- * I just cannot respect a man who carries a dog.
- * There's no panic, like the panic, you momentarily feel when you've got your hand or head stuck in something.
- * Ever notice that people who don't drive, slam car doors way too hard.
- * Doesn't everyone have a compare godfather) who has tried to steal their nose?
- * In every bag of chips, there's always one bad one, but you eat it anyways.
back to top
Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was able to take in the
Saturday morning meet at Golden Donuts, just up the
coast in Pismo Beach Ca. Golden Donuts has been
hosting the Saturday morning hot rod and motorcycle
get together for a little over three years.
To the best of my knowledge, this is longest running
and only weekly car meet on the Central Coast.
As I was walking around, I noticed a crowd was
forming over by the motorcycle parking area. So,
I figured I would go over and see what was going-on.
What had everyone's attention was a 1944 Indian
Scout that had been purpose built as an unrestored
flattrack racer from the 1940's and 50's.
Before leaving the show, I talked to the bikes owner,
Ryan and asked him if he would be interested in
having his bike photographed for a possible magazine
feature. He said yes and we agreed to do the photos
over the Christmas holiday as we were both off work.
As Christmas drew closer, I still hadn't found a place
to take the photos. So, I enlisted the help of my friend
Joe. I told Joe of the places I had in mind and he told
me of several others. We put together a plan for the
upcoming weekend to go to the Pismo meet then
scout for a location afterwards.
While we were at the Pismo show Joe, bumped into
one of his old buddies Chuck and we told him of our
quest. Chuck's a longtime car guy with plenty of
connections in the area. Chuck gave us a few
suggestions then mentioned one of his friends Mark.
One thing that always amazes me is that every car
guy has a "guy". No matter what you're looking for
there is a "guy" out there that has it. So anyway,
Chuck says Mark's shop is in a cool building and it
would be a great place to photograph a motorcycle.
One thing lead to another, I talked to Ryan, Chuck
talked to Mark and it all came together on Christmas
Eve morning. After we finished with the photos, Mark
took us inside to show us his shop, plus it was raining
and time to get the cameras inside. Once everything
was dried off and put away, it was time for a look
around. Sitting in the main part of the shop was Marks
pride and joy, an 800 hp, small block Chevy powered,
Bonneville roadster. One thing Chuck didn't tell us
was that Mark is a veteran dry lake and Bonneville
Salt Flat racer with many 200 mph runs across the
salt to his credit. I'm a big fan of lakes and salt racing
and I really enjoyed talking to Mark and seeing the
roadster which I hope to do a little piece on as soon
as the El Mirage season opens.
Now at this point, I'm thinking Christmas came a little
early simply because of the whole experience to this
point. But the real treat came when we walked into
the next bay of the shop. Sitting there, beautifully
preserved, was a 50's era front motor dragster.
At this point, I realized things like this don't happen
every day. You just don't go to see somebody's
building and stumble upon two radically different
race cars, both with a fair amount of history.
While talking with Mark, I learned that his family has
been involved in racing for quite a few years and the
dragster belonged to his father Jack. Jack owned a
local service station called The Buellton Garage
which, like many other service stations of the era,
was a family-owned business / race shop.
The Buellton Garage was located in the town of the
same name, Buellton CA., approximately the midpoint
between Santa Barbara and Santa Maria, a
small town along CA highway 101.
Jack built the dragster in 1957 and raced it weekly
along the west coast from Fremont to Long Beach
between 1957 and '63. The car was originally
equipped with a Ford Flathead but, as the need for
speed grew, the old flattie was swapped for a Caddie
mill. With the Cadillac engine, the digger logged its
best et and mph 9:47 at 143. Eventually the Caddie
motor blew-up and the current 296 flathead, was
dropped between the lightened channel steel, frame
rails.
Now, the dragster sits quietly on display in the shop,
with Jack's original fire suit draped over the rollbar.
The car is in great shape for its age and if called
upon, will still run and drive. The Buellton Garage is
long gone and Buellton remains a small destination
town along the 101, best known for a local landmark,
Pea Soup Andersen's restaurant. It's funny back in
the late 50's a restaurant had the fore-site to put it's
name on a local kids race car.
Coincidentally, the only
way to get to the race tracks was to travel either north
or south on the 101. With the car sitting on an open
trailer, Andersen's had a mobile billboard. What a
great way to attract business! Andersen's sponsorship
is considered by many to be one of the first non
automotive sponsorships to appear on a race car.
So, thanks to Mark for sharing his Dad's car with us
and giving us a glimpse of what state of the art looked
like circa 1957.
Doug Adams
From Snowmobile to Top Alcohol
Ashley was introduced to her first race at the ripe old
age of 7) when a racer offered her to drive his Miniz
snowmobile. She took 2nd place that day.
Rick and his wife Barbara visited Race City
Motorsports Complex, which offered a wide variety of
racing venues. As Ashley reached 9 yrs. of age she
climbed into her first junior dragster called,
"PURR-FECT PACKAGE".
Ashley’s talent was recognized and continued to
grow with Rick as crew chief and Barbara as main
crewmember working on the Junior Dragster!
Ashley went on to win races all over,
collecting many trophies, and topped it off with a
Canadian National Open win!
That year Rick bought a Super Comp rear-engine
dragster from Calgary’s Rowdy Racing Products.
In 2005 Ashley ran both classes, Jr. Dragster and
Super Comp. I was there in 2005 for Ashley’s Jr.
Dragster win at the shootout on Saturday and then the
Canadian National Open on Sunday.
Ashley made it to the Semi finals in her first Super
Comp race. She then went on to win her 3rd
Canadian National Open at the Race City event.
2006 brought on a very serious training program
driving Rick’s Super Comp rear engine rail.
At her 2nd Super Comp race she was #1 qualifier.
Ashley’s first win came on July 23rd of 2006, having
completed 5 rounds against well-seasoned drivers.
Her 2nd win came after 5 more rounds defeating
similar, if not the same competitors while coming in
2nd for the Calgary Drag Racing Championship and
was also voted "Rookie of the year!
2007, Ashley attended the "Frank Hawley School.
Here she became Canada’s first female Top Alcohol
licensed driver in a Top Alcohol dragster, all at the ripe
old age of 18!!! Now with a new license the learning
curve became even steeper! Ashley was offered a ride
in Ken Gilmour’s Top Alcohol rail and the challenge
was on…..
Having gone through several driving situations at
different tracks, and not being deterred, Ashley was
offered a full time ride for 2008. Testing Time!
The whole team was fortunate and honoured to have
long-time racing friend Roger Bateman assist with
solving several challenges and sharing some very
valuable experience and info with Ashley.
Ashley ran one last race at the Saskatoon SIR
National Dragster Challenge before the snow flew.
She also drove her dad’s Super Pro dragster through
5 more rounds to emerge the proud winner of a Wally.
What a way to finish off the season!
Ken & Darlene Gilmour’s crew members consist of:
Darlene Gilmour, Cal Bellamy, Gary Savage,
Brock Allaire, Del Lloyd, Barbara Bart, Rick Bart,
Kim Steinhukl, Rob Webster, and boyfriend John.
New Sponsorship Opportunities?
The most overused phrase during this recession has
to be "new opportunities". Everywhere you turn, every
form of media, there is somebody talking about how
this global economic crisis represents "new opportunities"
for those with the vision to see them and the guts to
pursue them in a down trending economy.
How bad is the economy? Krispy Kreme is likely
closing... if you can’t sell doughnuts to Americans, it’s
bad. When Emeril is fryin’ Spam™, it’s bad. We hear
about, or know guys who are losing working hours, or
jobs. It’s hard times. Close to racers hearts... losing
sponsors! And then I started to think, is there a
"new opportunity" for racers to retain or acquire
sponsors in a recession?
Surprisingly the answer is yes!
As soon as a recession hits, businesses must act
quickly to preserve cash flow. The two most popular
items to axe are staff and event sponsorships, as the
results are immediate preservation of dollars. And in
those acts; the opportunities exist for racers to excel
(not accel). As marketers, racers offer a unique sales
channel to prospective and existing customers.
These would include but are not limited to:
Grow sponsor business in a meaningful way.
Provide a customizable customer acquisition and/or
retention channel.Offer REAL value and EXCITMENT.
Gain valuable customer insight.
Cross promote sponsors customers.
Drive sales that are beneficial to customers. New
product info, clearances, fill capacity.
Cross promote with a charity to bring value to ALL
stakeholders. I know that looks like a lot, but think
about it, as a racer you have a unique connection to
customers. Why shouldn’t your pit stall work for you?
A table(s) for a small display could be used for a
myriad of functions. Volunteers could staff a table,
or sponsors could provide staff for application specific
objectives. Make sure to use the track announcer to
drive traffic to you. Traffic, traffic, traffic!
Use give-aways from one sponsor to attract fans to
another’s message. Sponsors will be as excited,
as will their staff, to be involved in a race event.
In a slow sales environment you will find them willing
to try to make it productive. Cross promote!
Can one sponsor use another’s services?
They can sure share customers!
How about thinking about your pit area like a
corporate box? Host a few people at your pit area or
trailer. This allows sponsors to bring clients to a very
unique event, with a very unique perspective.
Anyone can sit in a box, but this is up close and
personal with competitors, that is unique as far as
sponsorship dollars go, all this added functionality
comes at a cost, and an opportunity for a return on
that investment.
You may need to solicit more volunteers, but it will be
worth it! And don’t be afraid to ask your sponsors for
assistance, nobody knows their product like their own staff.
And finally, it’s about the bigger picture, the fulfilment
of needs greater than our own. Do you have a
favourite cause or charity? Talk to the organization
and whiteboard ideas. Remember though, charities
are in the business of receiving; not giving...
what you seek here is the ability to use their good
name to raise the profile of your efforts and create
success for all the stakeholders.
There is certainly opportunity now,
different than before, but definitely there!
Mind how you go, Tom
TomSlick@Quick-Times.com
Mooneyes Christmas Party 2008 By: Doug Adams
Mooneyes Christmas Party 2008 By: Doug Adams
Mooneyes, nearly every hot rodder the world over
knows the name, the products and those big eyes!
An icon created by the late Dean Moon, Moon Speed
Equipment sprang from the dry lakes and streets of
Southern California, like so many other automotive
legends. Now, each year Mooneyes as it is now
known, hosts one of the largest Southern California
hot rodding events on the calendar: The Mooneyes
Christmas Party at Irwindale Speedway.
The gates of Irwindale Speedway opened under
darkness at 6am as the faithful filed in for this year’s
edition of the Mooneyes Christmas party.
An event that has grown and evolved from the Rat
Fink Reunion, previously held in Santa Fe Springs at
Moons Speed Equipment shop.
Today, the Christmas Party is a holiday staple complete
with all the trimmings, drag racing, bands and
pin-up girls-- the works. I’m sure there was even a little
high-octane egg nog floating around. Fortunately
for everyone it didn’t, "Rain in California" but, it wasn’t
for the lack of trying. Dark clouds loomed over the
speedway all day and an occasional rain drop had
people nervously looking to the sky. But, by the time
it all wrapped up the sun was shining.
This was my first time to the party and I couldn’t help
thinking "why did I wait all these years"?
I find myself saying that a little more often these days
as I venture out to places I had never been.
El Mirage for instance-- it’s been there all these years,
it’s free and the history is unbelievable.
But, that’s a story for another day.
From my neck of the woods it’s about a three hour
drive to Irwindale. Not bad, because it was an early
morning trip and L.A traffic was minimal. Getting into
the track was another story. Here’s the tip of the trip: If
you ever get to go to the Xmas party, do yourself a
favour and approach the track from the west.
Check out a map; figure it out and save an hour of sitting
in traffic. That’s my only complaint.
Well, not exactly--after driving for three hours and then
being stuck in traffic, the only thing I wanted to see
was a porta-potty, which coincidentally, had a long
line! Other than that, parking was a breeze and it
seemed like only a few steps before we were in the
action.
Rust and suede was the theme of the day and there
was patina around every corner.
Brightly painted customs shined amid a sea of primer.
There were no resto-mods in this crowd, just creations
and survivors each an individual work of art. Cars built
and maintained in the spirit of the golden age of hot
rodding by owners committed to the era and showing
it in both their cars and their style; guys with their hair
slicked-up and ladies walking tall in high heels and
fish net stockings. Most of the car owners had a story
to tell but there wasn’t time to listen.
Everything was happening all at once here and we
had to keep moving.
It was hard to see it all, with the bands playing, the
cackle fest, (small as it may have been), was going
off. When the cars were racing, the pin-up contest
was on the main stage. So, needless to say some
serious decisions had to be made. But, one thing’s
for certain no matter where you were, you were in
the middle of something. Pin Stripers were lay’n it
down all over the lot and the vendor midway was
jam packed as were the grandstands at the drag strip.
Dozens of car clubs had their banners and tents setup
in and amongst the cars with barbecue’s cooking
up something tasty to eat. About the time I realized
the hot dog I had for lunch was wearing off, I noticed,
people were leaving. What’s going on, I thought?
A quick check of the watch told the story, eight hours
had passed since we walked in and now the day was
over: time to hit the road.
I can definitely say that this show is a must-see and
will get marked on my calendar as soon as I hear the
date for next year. So thanks to Shige Suganuma and
Chico Kodama along with all of the employees, friends
and fans of Mooneyes for keeping the legend alive
and for hosting a great party.
Doug Adams
Let me introduce you to a VW with a major attitude
and the gentleman who created this lab rat, Rob
Stagg from Beiseker Alberta. This third generation
Bug you see here is the result of some three to four
thousand hours of major and minor challenges
encountered while building this Hum Bug.
Here’s how it all started.
Rob found and bought this $100 Beetle in a field,
on an acreage near Mapleridge B.C. back in 2000.
He actually started it the very same day by lifting the
body from the chassis and cutting up the front end to
accept a Ford Windsor 351cid engine. Why?
Because the engine has the distributor at the front
which gives you max space and minimum amount of
mods to the firewall.
He bought the 351W from a newspaper add in the
paper which said "good runner", thinking it would
save him some money??? Not! This engine came
with a chrome breather and chrome valve covers,
"looking good", BUT when he started the engine it
came with it’s own set of extra accessories such as,
multiple loud knocking noises!!! No extra charge!!!
Thus began a complete rebuild, starting first with "30
thou over" on the cylinders making it 358 cid. and
popping in a set of Keith Black pistons. Rob stayed
with standard connecting rods and a steel crank.
Naturally all were balanced and blue printed. A set of
Edelbrock Performer heads with .530 exhaust and
.514 intake valves would work well with an Energizer
Crane Cam, a set of roller rockers and a double roller
timing chain. Fuel was added through an Edelbrock
750 carb mounted on a Typhoon high-rise intake
(a special style of intake manifold with a optional
water crossover to assist equalized cylinder head
temperature). These engine mods are all lubed with a
7 Quart oil pan and lit up with a Mallory ignition.
The 358 breaths with ceramic-coated Headman headers
connected to a custom exhaust system built &
installed by Kal Tire of Three Hills, Alberta.
The Kal Tire installers were very thorough and precise
on their installation. The system was so neatly
installed with minimum tolerances that the engine’s
torque twisted the set of pipes and stripped several
bolts when Rob revved the engine to show the boys
just what kind of torque this engine would produce!
Soooo, the exhaust system was redesigned, reinstalled
with more spacing to accommodate some
400+ Hp. with a questionable amount torque…… and
enough to lift the front wheels when a heavy foot is
applied to the go pedal.
This much Hp. was then hooked up to an AOD Ford
transmission sporting a shifter kit with a 2500 rpm
"Hole Shot" stall converter. All this Hp & torque gets
laid down on the pavement through a Ford 8" rear
end, housing a 3:55 track lock pumpkin bolted to a set
of 1978 vintage rims. Having rebuilt the 351 to 358
cid. it was now time to give this surprise package a
body to live in.
The VW nose was cut off, and the firewall modified to
fit the engine tranny housing. Rob was given a 1978
Mustang II (motor seized) as a major donor vehicle.
The 358 was fitted to a fully modified Mustang II front
end and partial frame. Portions of the Mustang II body
& chassis were narrowed and installed to fit the VW
body. The VW and Mustang II uni-body floor panels
were reinforced with vertically adjustable 2"x 3" x 3/16"
sub frame connectors. Just to be on the safe side,
crash bars were added to the front and rear of the
chassis. Initially a cardboard fuel tank template was
made to Rob’s specifications. The real tank was fabricated
by IPS of Vancouver. The fuel tank arrived 1/8"
toooo large. But, not to worry, as Rob had everything
under control when he got a small 3-stepper ladder to
gain some height and then simply jump on the 16-gallon
fuel tank till it went in!!!
A quick review of the 78 Mustang II portions used
were: front and rear ends, floor pans all cut to fit along
with a shortened cross member.In 2002 Rob & Joyce
moved to Calgary where they continued to work on
their VW creation. They decided to keep the all steel
body with the exception of a soon to be custom modified
fibreglass front tilting hood (purchased from
Bugpack in California) Rob cut and installed headlight
buckets, headlights, signal lights, and two large front
fresh air rad vents along with his own custom fabricated
tilting hinges. A custom three-core radiator was
ordered and built to Rob’s specifications.
Electrical drawings were created by Rob and followed
according to everyday automotive safety standards. All
tests checked out fine. If you look closely you will see
Rob pulled some front-end wiring through the hollow
stainless steal radiator support tubes for a cleaner
look. The rear seat was left out for the battery and a
storage area as the fuel tank was mounted in the old
engine compartment. It was brought to my attention by
Rob (an X drag racer and Nascar mechanic) that battery
placement becomes very important for weight distribution
and plate direction. Oh! Did I get your attention?
Well, Rob got my attention when he mentioned
battery plate direction.
Apparently if you place the older conventional style
battery so the plates are at right angles to the line of
acceleration and heavy braking, you stand a very
good chance of having the battery plates short out to
each other causing a loss of battery voltage and
sometimes a very hot battery that could explode!
Soooo……, try to rotate your battery with the plates
inline with the line of acceleration and deceleration
thus decreasing your chances of having your battery
go dead or damaged in your cool ride.
Now if you have some extra money and you have
heard of those new cylindrical gel cell batteries that
you can mount in any position, then you shouldn’t
have to worry about any shorting out problems.
From battery to Beetle body! All construction and fabrication
done, Rob proceeded to spray his bug with
grey epoxy primer. Next, he chose a base color called
Guards Red (OEM Porsche paint) and a standard
black paint, followed with several clear coats and all
done in his own garage with the help of Rene
Clemens. Rob and Rene’s talents produced a very
clean and smooth paint job.
The interior got a similar matching paint scheme complemented
with light grey and black upholstery. Rob
used stock headliner and door panels, but needed a
set of narrow comfortable, form fitting Fiero seats.
These were reupholstered to match the new décor.
The instrument panel remained stock, but with the
addition of oil pressure, water temp, voltage and
tachometer gauges.The beetle was now all assembled
and ready for testing. The engine came to life and
was checked for water, exhaust, and fuel leaks. No
faults found! Major overheating after 15 miles, so back
to the drawing board. The water pump was changed to a
slower flow rate version leaving the coolant in the rad for a
longer cooling period. Next test was 25 miles and still overheating,
once again back to the drawing board.
Rob got the infra red temp gun, removed the glove
box and went back on the road recording the temps.
After 25 miles the engine began to overheat again.
When checking to see if the cooling fans were working
he noticed no air was going through the radiator.
It was like the engine compartment was pressurized
and no air was passing through the rad.
Side vents were added and a second set of smaller
front vents were installed just above the radiator and
large front vents. This time his test was successful
producing an engine-temp of 185 to 190 degrees and
an engine compartment temp of 114 degrees. All
these changes combined to produce success at last!
Not even a heart attack slowed down or prevented
Rob from completing this super Bug.
Remember, there are many unique fabricated features
boasted by Rob’s Beetle that can only be truly appreciated
in person. Well done Rob, Joyce and friends.
One final word. The Volkswagen Beetle still endures
the same old reputation of the classic "slowbug". Rob
mentioned when on the highway traveling at the posted
speed limit, cars always pass you when there is a
hill in sight. But, this is one bug built on steroids that
can now pass you back on the hills and receive that
"where did he come from look" along with those never
ending smiles.
Article and Images by Moe & Rob
Action Sports Photography by Moe
'Hey Dad,' one of my kids asked the other day, '
What was your favorite fast food when you were
growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,
' I informed her. 'All the food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called…. " HOME,'' I explained.
'Grandma cooked every single day, with most of the
ingredients from our back yard garden, and when
Grandpa got home from work, we all sat down together
at the kitchen table, and if I didn't like what she put
on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'
Then my brothers and I would have to help clean up
and do the dishes, by hand. Nobody had a dishwasher.
By this time, the kids were laughing so hard I was
afraid they were going to suffer serious internal
damage, so I didn't tell them the part about how I had
to have permission to leave the table. But here are
some other things I would have told them about my
childhood if I figured their system could have handled it:
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore
Levis, set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the
country or had a credit card. In their later years they
had something called a revolving charge card. The
card was good only at Woodwards or Eaton's.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice, or
watched any of my school sports games, especially
during working hours. I had a CCM bicycle that
weighed probably 50 pounds, and was one of the
lucky ones with a 3 speed, banana seat & sissy bars,
as all the others only had one speed, (slow) and a triangle
seat. We had 2 televisions in our house, both
of course, black and white, an RCA and a Philco Ford
with only 2 channels CBC -2 and CTV -8, KVOS -12
fuzzy with the fifty foot antenna on the roof. Our
mom used to warm it up (had tubes) Saturday afternoons
before Hockey Night in Canada. Later my dad
bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen.
The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom
third was green, like grass. The middle third was red.
It was perfect for programs like EMERGENCY that
had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's
lawn on a sunny day.
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone
in the house was in the hall and it was on a party line.
Before you could dial, you had to listen and make
sure some people you didn't know weren't already
using the line. So you waited till they were done,by
picking up the phone and checking again.
It was rude to listen in on their conversations.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home, mom made
them fresh. But milk, eggs, bleach, potatoes, firewood,
coal,& groceries were delivered, get this, so was the
MAIL morning & afternoon, and you could buy stamps
from the mailman, and he would pick up your mail.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys
delivered newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six
days a week. It cost 10 cents a paper, of which I got to
keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning.
On Saturday, I had to insert the weekly comics, flyers,
tv listings. I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers.
My favorite customers were the ones who
gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change.
My least favorite customers were the ones who
seemed to never be home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least,
they did in the movies. Touching someone else's
tongue with yours was called French kissing and they
didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in
French movies. French movies were dirty and we
weren't allowed to see them. If you grew up in a
generation before there was fast food, you may want
to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut
laughing.Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
A Newfie, a little man, was sitting at a bar in Toronto when this
huge,burly American guy walks in.
As he passes the Newfie, he hits him on the
neck knocking him to the floor, The big, burly Yank
says, "That's a karate chop from Korea."
Well, the little Newfie gets back on his barstool and
resumes drinking his beer.
The burly American then gets up to go to the bathroom and,
as he walks bythe Newfie, he hits him on the other side of the
neck and knocks him to the floor.That's a judo chop from
Japan", he says.
The little Newfie decides he's had enough and leaves.
A half hour later he comes back and sees the burly
American sitting at the bar.
He walks up behind him and whacks him on the head,
knocking him out. The Newfie says to the bartender,
"When he wakes up, tell him that was a
F??kin' hockey stick from Canadian Tire.
"The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own and
not endorsed by his employer(s), Quicktimes, NHRA, the
Roman Catholic Church, his family, friends or any one
else in Canada or on this planet.
by Catfish
T'was da week before Christmas...actually 10 more
sleeps, that I received an e-mail from Don asking if
there was going to be a "Fishtales" column for the
next issue, being this January 2009 issue. Well yaaa,
E-mail.. now there is a column subject if not a book
chapter all by itself. I’m curious on how many people
actually wrote out Christmas Cards this year? Or was
it a lot easier to just forward a cute card you received
onto all your contact list, wish them a Merry Christmas
and call it done in two minutes. In this E-lectronic
age, hand-written Christmas cards is a tradition I
continue to uphold in my home, and am glad we also
practice it at work. I know I appreciate the extra effort,
which back in the day... was the norm, with every
person signing their own name.Last months Fishtales
(viewable online @ www.quick-times.com) sparked a
flood of reader mail, regarding my comments on the
US bailout for the Auto Industry.
Catfish, you have the ball’s to write what other people
are really thinking, but are afraid to say. "Why don't
other automotive magazines write the way you do."?
Well, Thank you. To answer your question, I don't
write for or get paid by the magazine advertisers, as
most other writers do! This magazine does not pay, or
play those games, my own personal opinions are just
that, and not what advertisers would like me to write
and promote. The feedback I get from customers,
passed onto other customers & readers, is the best
endorsement any product can get.
For the past week I have been shopping for a HD
Industrial Snow Blower for our Strata complex.
After first checking the websites and weekly flyers for
models, features, and prices, I was nominated/elected
to visit the top national chains; hardware stores,
warehouse outlet stores in Langley. I approached
their customer service desks, and asked to see the
provided model(s) in person, which I printed off
ahead of time. If, you could get them to first LISTEN,
then find someone in that department (seasonal), or
a supervisor, their standard pre-auditioned reply was
"We only have & sell what is on the floor. If you don't
see it we don't sell it. Those flyers and websites are
all made at head office back East. It's easier, for you
to go home and order it off the website." What they
really meant was, it is easier for them, if you do not
bother them with a sales order, where there might be
a bit of work required in locating the item requested,
then maybe follow-up involved when it arrives, to call
you to come pick it up. Even after I provided the
actual Brand & Part #, and was willing to give a
deposit or prepay 100% up front, plus special order
freight charges from another branch location, warehouse
or supplier, NONE of them would comply, with
me the customer, money in hand, right in front of
them, in their employers store!
On the frustrating drive home, I imagined if WE did
that at work....let's see...WE... would be.... OUT OF
BUSINESS! Looking for a bailout! Imagine for a
minute, you going into your favourite auto parts store
(like the one where you just picked this copy of
Quicktimes up from), and the part you needed was
not on their shelf....happens everyday ..right...and
them not ordering it in as requested and calling you
when it arrives.
How in the H- E- Double Hockey Sticks, do these big
box stores survive. Like a certain FM radio station
whose call letters, went up the hill with JILL, that
plays what they want. Well I don't want to listen to
Duran- Duran or Air Supply, so I stopped listening to
them, just because it is easier, for them not to take
their listeners requests, but also easier for me to listen
to music I like...on another station. Their lack of
customer service which everybody is claiming they do
better than the other guys sure was not shown to me.
So then, I guess it's down to the price, undercutting
everybody else to see who will be the first to the
bottom, because it's easier for them. Sorry, I'm gonna
go shop where everybody knows my name, because
they like me, and my money, and that’s okay with me.
Every year upon writing my Christmas cards from an
old tattered address list, (pre-mandatory local area
codes) a few more relatives and friends names have
to be unfortunately scratched off.
This year was just a bit more emotional for me,
again, when I came across my youngest brother
Bruno's name. The most mechanically talented of
the Potesta Performance Brothers, who had more
degrees than a thermometer, left this world a few
months ago. Bruno was our Santa Claus, not only
around Christmas, but everyday, giving of himself
and his multi-trade-skills to others at any time of the
day... because it made him happy, and it was easier.
"How dreary would be the world if there were no
Santa Claus!
It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias or
Brunos. "There will always, be a Santa Claus in my
world, he lives, and he lives forever, because.......
It is just that much easier.
The views and opinions of "Catfish" are his own and
not endorsed by his employer(s), QuickTime's, NHRA,
the Roman Catholic Church, his family, friends or any
one else in Canada or on this planet.
back to top
Anyone who’s worked as a mechanic in a new-car
dealership will tell you it’s a pretty cool job.
You get to road-test a lot of really neat stuff. Reg
Sylvestre was doing this very thing for Ted Hensen
Pontiac-Buick in Saskatoon in the late 70's and early
80's.When the third-generation body style was introduced
in 1982, he, like a lot of the buying public,
gasped; they had turned into a popgun.
He knew if he was ever to buy a new one,
it had to be now.
The ‘74 Plymouth ‘Cuda he had been driving was real
good on gas - it burned tons of it. Although it had a
great look and sound to it, unfortunately it would have
to go. A private sale was arranged for $2500, and Reg
made the hard decision to accept. (He never got over
it, but that’s another story.) With his $2500 as down
payment, the other $12,000 was arranged at a paltry
14.2% interest. Reg bought the last 1981 Trans Am
Ted Hensen had in stock. It was December of 1981,
and this was to be the only new car he ever purchased.
About two years into the $280-per-month
payments, Reg realized that the only way this situation
would ever make sense is if he kept the car forever.
For the next 16 years, this was his daily driver.
By 1992, the paint was faded, the 305-V8 was
burning oil, the springs at all four corners were
sagged, the brakes squealed, and every component
of the drive-train leaked something. It would have
been easy to walk away from the car and not feel
bad. But this was not to be.
Now living in Calgary, and with no time frame or budget
in mind, Reg began addressing all the regular
maintenance items. The original 305-V8 had been a
faithful workhorse, but it would be kind of fun to build
up a higher performance 350-V8.The next upgrade
was to a 3.42 diff with posi-traction.
Now it was more fun to drive.
With all this new performance on tap, it was time to
take the car for some actual testing. There are really
only two measurements that concern car guys - 0 to
60 mph times and quarter-mile elapsed times and
speed; there is no room for metric.
Race City Speedway has the solution to both of these
tests. The Friday night Secret Street program provides
a safe environment to gather this info.
Reg watched the other guys stage their cars, then launch on
the last orange light of the Christmas tree. Looks simple, let’s
try it. With about the same butterflies as someone preparing to
ride the Space Shuttle, Reg pulled his mighty Trans Am up to
the line. It was a little easier the second pass, and by the end
of the night he was running 15.88 seconds at 89 mph. For a
car of that weight and size, and at Calgary’s altitude, Reg
thought it was incredible. And he was hooked!
Over the next few years there were upgrades every winter - a
shift kit for the transmission, headers and 2.5-in. Flowmaster
exhaust, traction bars, slicks, 10-in. torque converter, MSD
ignition, etc. Finally, the new paint job made a huge difference.
As of last year, the car is powered by a 377 cu. in. engine with
AFR heads, single-plane intake, Holley 750 carb and full 3-in.
exhaust system. Transmission is now a beefed 700-R4 with a
high-stall converter. The diff contains 4.10 Strange gears, Cclip
eliminators, Auburn posi and forged axles. The engine
made 505 horsepower on the dyno, and the car now runs
12.13 seconds at 111 mph. Reg left the original shaker scoop
on the engine, along with it’s "5.0 litre" decal.
To further keep the sleeper image, he has retained the factory
air conditioning and cruise control. When Reg and his significant
other drove to Lethbridge for the Street Wheelers Street
Machine Weekend last July, they made 24 miles-per-gallon
with the air conditioner turned to max. The only thing to actually
get out of hand was the budget. But things like the seats
were getting tired, so a set of Cobra racing seats were
installed. Reg took the car to Cascade Vans to have matching
leather covers created, complete with the correct grey striped
inserts. You have to look closely to notice things like this.
Now that it’s winter again, Reg would like to dip into
the 11-second range for next year. He only needs a bit
more power, but how? Got a few months to configure.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who
operates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 403-242-3856.
back to top
Christmas is the time of year I often find myself
thinking about the men and women in service to our
country. You see the odd news story about fighting
men and women away from their loved ones, and
most major news outlets now provide a myriad of
ways for loved ones to stay in touch with troops
posted away from home.
I had the great pleasure to work with a young lady in
Phoenix last year. Her name is Cathy Rankin, a
fabulous professional spokesperson and actor. Cathy
worked with colleagues and me on a philanthropy
project for a local hospital. As our Editor is so fond of
our "Shiny Parts" page each month, I thought this
might bring some perspective to the role special people
and memorable possessions from home bring to
those doing service on our behalf. The following is a
letter from Cathy about one of those special packages
from home, read on.......
Hello friends!
I wanted to share a personal story I recently discovered,
that I thought was interesting, and also chilling
and heartwarming at the same time. Please read this
entire email (even though it is long), because I feel
strongly about reminding people that we still have
great, brave men and women overseas fighting for us.
In order to understand the story, though, I need to
explain the history of how I got involved.
As most of you know, I am an actor, not a model.
However, occasionally I am asked to do some print
work for different clients. One of these, Dillon
Precision, is a large company that provides guns,
ammunition and supplies to our military, as well as
law enforcement, etc....For the past four or five years
I've been honored to be on the cover of their calendars
and many of their magazines. These are distributed
worldwide to hundreds of thousands of people, a
large number of whom are in military service, law
enforcement and firefighting, both at home, and in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sometime after 9/11, when the U.S. went into
Afghanistan and then Iraq, the photographers at Dillon
created a poster from one of my photo shoots that
somehow ended up in Afghanistan, and I started
receiving letters from many of our military families,
thanking me for keeping them inspired and encouraged.
For some reason, the poster took on a life of its
own and struck a chord with people. This surprised
me, because I'm not convinced I really did anything
very noteworthy. My poster seems so insignificant to
what they have to do every day out in the field. Even
so, I was flattered because they flew a flag in my
honor over the base there, and sent it to me with all
their signatures, and then named me an honorary
member of their troop and attached the poster to one
of the Humvees they drove. Since then, I have felt a
great loyalty, pride and duty to these brave men and
women. I am completely humbled, because I know
that what I do is meaningless and petty compared to
what they do, risk, and live with every day, all in the
name of our great Country.
This leads me to today. Out of the blue, I received
another email a few weeks ago that sent chills up my
spine. Apparently, there was an insurgent attack in
Iraq in June. The terrorists involved blew up a building,
which ironically enough, happened to be a THEATER
of all things. The building was destroyed, completely
burned out and full of rubble, and we actually
lost some of our men. But inside, on a burnt, blackened
wall, was one item that somehow remained
intact - a current 2008 Dillon Calendar hanging there,
with burnt corners and all. Most of the pages had
been melted away, but clear as day, the month of
October, which happened to feature a picture of me,
was still there, and completely recognizable.
Someone, I have no idea who, took a picture of
the outside of the building, and then the
calendar that is still hanging inside. I don't
know who hung the calendar there, either.
Once again, here were these brave soldiers,
fighting the most horrible situations, and this
simple little calendar picture somehow represented
something so American to them. I can't begin to
understand how and why this comforts them, but
somehow it does, and I am beyond honored and humbled
to think contribute to that in whatever small way.
I have attached the two pictures for all of you to see.
You can even see the fire still burning inside the theater
when the picture was taken. Maybe it is just me
who gets chills, but I feel such a connection and obligation
to these service men and women.
I cannot tell you how many times I have sat at my computer reading
their emails with tears in my eyes and goose
bumps on my arms. I've had parents thanking me for a
silly calendar, when they have lost children in the war.
They are always grateful, respectful, positive and so
genuine in the face of such tragedy. I have such
ENORMOUS respect for all of them. I am so grateful,
and I save every email and letter I receive in a scrapbook,
along with the flag, their pictures and the army
and marine t-shirts they send me! The only thing I can
do to even remotely show my appreciation to these
families, is to promise to remind people of what they
do, and why we should still care and support them in
EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.
No matter where you stand politically, no matter what
you agree or disagree with, we are all still Americans,
ABOVE ALL, and our guys fighting overseas deserve
our respect, our gratitude and our gratefulness. They
see things we don't. They get the real stories, not the
ones we get from our media. They know what they
are fighting for and they believe in it and sacrifice for it
without hesitation. We can all learn from them. But, it
is the simple American things that we send over there
that keep them motivated, comforted and reminded of
home. It means more than we can comprehend. (And
how ironic to think that in Iraq, a country that can
severely and physically punish a woman just for showing
her arms or legs or face, that a red-blooded, all-
American picture of a girl in a mini-dress is hanging in
one of their buildings - there is something somewhat
satisfying about that)
So, if anyone is interested in helping further, feel free
to email me back, because I am in close contact with
some of the parents here in the U.S. who have military
charities that supply donations for equipment and
things that the troops need, but don't always get. I can
give you a link or contact if you want to make a donation.
Please forward this to anyone who might be
interested in the story or in helping, also.
Thanks to those of you who took the time to read this
email. Please look at the pictures, and just reflect and
think for a few moments on what they do, that most of
us would probably never even consider sacrificing.
.......Cathy Rankin
So at this time of year, I find myself thinking about
our troops overseas, and saying a little prayer for
their safety. I am in receipt of the greatest gift of all,
everyday, personal freedom, and for that I thank all of
you everywhere, everyday. May you have a Merry
Christmas, where ever you are.
Mind how you go
Tom
back to top
Double Trouble - Story by Vern
It was a time of innovation and individuality during the
sixties. Many trains of thought were used, and some
of those trains of though actually turned out to be a
train. Train meaning two engines, actually the most
famous twin engine dragster was named the "Freight
Train". Not all the twins were in line as there were
some side by side twins in the early sixties, and even
a front and rear engine car named the " Bustle Bomb"
which was the first dragster to top 150 in the 1/4 mile.
Twins ran in all levels, from top fuel to competition
eliminator. Some of the famous top fuel twins were
the Syndicate, the Carroll Bros from Texas, but the
most successful fuel twins were the "Double Eagle" of
Gene Adams, Jerry Verhuel’s "Sweet Sixteen", and a
less successful Ford DOHC of Jim Busby of Beach
Boy fame. In top gas (AA/GD) the twins ruled
supreme in the last years of top gas. As mentioned
earlier the "Freight Train "was the best and most
famous of the Aa/GD’s. Some of the other well known
and better running cars were; "the Odd Couple" a
small block Chev with a 392 Chrysler for power,
Gordon "the Collector" Collette, the Cope bros from
the NW, Walt Austin from the NW, Jim Bucher the last
AA/GD dragster to win a national event, Gopher state
timing Assoc., Motes & Williams, and a whole raft of
other very competitive dragsters.
There were even a couple of twin engine funny cars,
with Don Hampton’s side by side small block twin
Corvette funny car being the most well known. The
other twin, the A&W in line small block Nova funny car
was lesser known but just as cool. I have been told
that the A&W Nova, although not fast, put on an awesome
burnout show. Twins were not limited to the
upper classes as many well known cars competed
there. Some of the better known cars were; Brunelli
&Dunn, a in line BB Chev twin A/GD, Chico Breschini
in a A/GD twin SB Chevy car, Kay Sissell with his in
line twin GMC six D/D, Bob Stratton in line twin SB
Chev A/GD car, and the national record holder in D/D
a in line 4 cylinder twin from Portland Oregon raced by
Ringers and Saunders named the "Eight the Hard Way".
Canadians were not to be outdone as in 1966 Court
Wright form Ponoka Alberta built a unique in line twin.
Using two 240 cu in six cylinder Fords engines and a
whole slew of hand made parts Court assembled on
the most unique dragsters in Canada. Court fabricated
most every thing on the car with the most unique
pieces being the hand made injection system and the
hand built exhaust. To transfer the power, a clutch 727
Dodge automatic transmission was used, and a 9 inch
Ford with 4.56 gears put the twin six power to the
pavement. Even though the car had two engines it
was 200 lbs too light for the D/D weight break, so
strategically placed ballast was used to bring the car
up to weight. Double trouble was a very competitive
car in the competition eliminator wars in Western
Canada with a best of 9.8 seconds at a speed of 136
mph which was just about on the D/D national record
of the time. After Court sold the car to Jim Goertson
the car was changed into a single six cylinder car and
ran for a couple of years as a single six D/D.
Jim sold the car to Warren Selig and Rick Steward
who installed a supercharged small block and actually
ran 170 mph with it.
Current owner Terry Frizzell has been racing the car
with a stout SB carbed Chevy, with no electronics or
trans brake. Terry races in super pro and has been
having fun with the car, which is what it is all about.
Truly a innovative car in its time, and it is nice to see
that it is still around making passes down the 1/4 mile.
Not only was it unique it was to my knowledge the
only twin competition eliminator car from Canada, and
may have been the only Canadian twin.
Thanks to Terry Frizzell
Vern Scholz
back to top
Meet Rick, he wants to retire! But….just can’t!He’s just
toooo good at restoring cars for his clients.
Good news travels fast, especially by word of mouth!
Rick says it’s time to restore a car for himself. He found his
first ride in Red Deer, Alberta at an estate sale. Turned out to
be a ‘69 Judge being auctioned off. He still can’t figure
out why he bid on a major beat-up rust bucket.
He actually won the bid, only to find out shortly after all the
bidding had been completed, that he was bidding against the
original owner and the original dealership the car came from.
Rick drove his beater from Red Deer to Calgary, a
mere 100 miles or so with no muffler and four worn
out bias ply tires. Just try and put a set of good bias
ply tires on your muscle ride today and see how well
they handle compared to today’s high tech tires.
The only good parts were the seats, as they still felt
good. You never know what you’ll find in an old car,
especially under the rear seats. During the clean out,
Rick and Connie found a die-cast model of the Judge
and a real spoiler that actually fit on the trunk. The
seats turned out to be original and in very good shape,
no tears and no cigarette burns. Once scrubbed the
seats came up to prime condition.
A cosmetic fix of orange spray paint to cover up primer
on the wheel arches along with a good power polish
presented a respectable road worthy driver for the
time being. Rick drove the car for a year and that fall
the engine spun a bearing. They found the original
build sheet when the car was gutted for a complete
restoration. The car had all the original sheet metal, so
no patch panels were needed.
This GTO got a Carousel Red paint job in PPG
B/clear. Eventually the original owner and Rick met
through a neighbour. Rick took the car over to let him
drive it one sunny Sunday. Rick tells me, "just a few
days before X-mas the original owner came to my
shop and presented me with the original Protecto
Plate. I couldn’t have asked for a better X-mas present!"
"Thanks Lowell, you’ll always have first chance to
purchase the car if I ever decide to sell it."
Since it was an automatic (special order), Rick knew
his wife would enjoy it (Hers). Connie actually played
indifferent to the car, until Rick put the registration in
her name and now she has a completely different attitude
towards "HER" GTO! Maybe she’ll sleep in it!
Connie now knows the GTO appeal is very simple,
"Pontiac gave us one of the very first muscle cars
way back in 1964 and even to this day folks have
never lost interest in the "head turning" GTO." Now
lets take a look at Rick’s (His) 1970 Judge. Here’s
how Rick tells it. "I got a call from a fellow in
Edmonton telling me he knew where a ’70 4-speed
Judge was and did I want it? Of course I said yes, but
the next thing I hear is he bought it and it had a sunroof.
Well I suspected he would never get the roof
fixed so about two years later he calls me again. This
time I towed the car home and it still had a sunroof!
The car had been in a body shop where new quarter
panels had been installed. Front fenders and hood
were in Hi Primer. Great I thought but since I do resto work
for a livelihood I decided to strip the car. Guess what? I had
to replace the driver’s door and passenger’s fender, cut the
quarters off and this time re-welded them on straight. The
floors and trunk were ok. A nut and bolt resto has
since taken place and now, two years later, it’s
turnkey sporting a 455 out of a ’70 Grand Prix.
Eventually it will be back to original. I have located a
’70 WS block with the correct #12 heads and original
tranny. The car didn’t come with a posi, but I’ll correct
that because I just don’t have any traction with that
bored, blueprinted, ported and rollerized 455! This
Judge has show quality paint in Cardinal Red PPG
B/clear with a black interior, which is mostly original.
Of course, new headliner, front seat covers and carpet
were installed." Well, be sure and look for this
rare husband and wife Judge team to show up at your
next show & shine. I believe Rick has moved back East to be
with family since we last talked.
Byron Thiessen owner of Creative Concepts &
Restorations) purchased the car originally in July of
2007 off an E-bay auction. The auction described the
car as an un-restored original paint, ‘70 slant six 3spd
floor shift car which it was. Long story short (well,
maybe not so short), a good friend of mine and I
decided it would be fun to make the trip to Cataldo
Idaho and pick the car up as opposed to having it
shipped. Spot on, we get to the house, stretch a bit,
excited to see the car after countless hours of nonstop
driving and Jeff’s disgusting gas. I finally got the
ambition to go ring the door bell, a man answers,
I instinctively say "Hi, you must be Tony, I’m here for
the car." He looks at me puzzled and says,
"What car?" Not the response I’m looking for at this
point! So I’m in a panic trying to get Tony on the
phone to see what the heck is going on. After an hour
and a half or so "He" finally answers the phone. Now
he tells me, "Oh no, the car is in Coeur d’ alene not
Cataldo!" as though I should know that! At this point
I’m wondering if this car even exists. Turns out the
seller lived there some 6 years ago. (This is where the
trip goes for sh**.) We end up driving I think another 6 hours
further one-way to where the car is supposed to be.
Hit Coeur d’ alene at rush hour! More traffic lights on
a straight stretch of highway than an airport run way.
Getting directions every 15 minutes or so as to where
to meet the seller. This is where you are going to think
I’m exaggerating or making sh** up, but like out of a
movie, this guy is parked in a 70’s spay canned plum
crazy purple Power-wagon with at 2 foot body-lift little
to no exhaust, 36" Mudders and I swear a banjo on
the passenger seat. He 5' nothing, wearing acid
washed jeans and no shirt and a skin head.
No bull sh** either. He tells us to follow him to his
house, we turn off the highway, on to what looks like a
hunting trail, make a series of turns here and there, all
the while making half-hearted jokes about how we are
never coming out of this bush alive, and how he’s
going to use our skins to make a coat. Neither of us
was comfortable at this point. We finally reach what
looks to be a house trailer dumped out of the sky into
the middle of an auto-wrecker. Wrecked cars and
parts every where, but there it was, the burnt orange
‘70 Barracuda. This car is the only car I have ever
seen, never mind bought, that was far nicer in real life
than in the pictures. I have always said that this particular
car, I believe, was most likely in the top 10 most
preserved, un-restored Cuda in the country.
On our way again...yea. Then there was the border
crossing...all the grilling, questions like how do I know
that that’s all you paid for the car? Do you think that’s
fair price? on and on. Luckily I had all the E-bay
documents with me which endorsed everything I said
and shut them up shortly. Only to have the border
guard come out on his coffee break and admire the
car and get all chummy with us when nobody else
was around.
That in a nut shell was the trip. Now, about the car...
The car was and untouched, all original paint, runs,
included rust free slant six, three speed on the floor
with black interior and black vinyl top. Burnt orange
metallic paint and Magnum 500s. All original components
except the radiator and the painted bumpers.
The spare tire has never been used, the white letters
are still on the tread. The car was a second owner car
when I bought it and would be now a 4 owner total
with Jack Wur as the current owner. I owned the car
for about 2 months and put about 500 miles on it
when I was introduced to Jack Wur through a common
friend of ours, Wayne Halabura, who is well
known for his own high end hotrods. I then sold the
car to Jack Wur and immediately started to tear down
the car. Ten solid months of work myself with help from
Bruce Williams who was employed as the artistic designer,
he did the renderings the paint scheme, design the interior
design, as well as the two tone lay out. my dad Jake
Thiessen did a lot of fabrication, disassembly, assembly.
Jason Wur (Jack’s son)did fabrication, assembly,
and fabricated the trunk panels. Abe Fehr, painted the
entire bottom side of the car for me. Andrew Feris wet
sanded and polished the entire car. Mark at
Braithwaite’s upholstry did all the leather wrapping of
the interior panel. The whole car was turn key built in my
restoration shop Creative Concepts & Restorations in
Warman, Saskatchewan, with the help of many talented individuals,
with the exception of the bottom side of the car being
sprayed at Dodge City Saskatoon. Jack Wur is an absolute
stand up guy, building cars with him has been an absolute
treat. He is a restoration shop’s perfect customer.
Specifics: Magnum force front suspension, Wilwood
disc brakes front and rear, 426, dual quad Mopar performance
Hemi, TKO 600 5spd trans, Ford 9" with
4:11’s, 4bar custom rear suspension with Watts link,
Foose custom wheel, 18x8, 20x10, ‘08 Corvette Z-06
power seats, custom rear seat delete, TTI headers,
motor plate. The custom body mods are overwhelming. Not
sure where to start. I will list some of the major ones.
Everything shaved: no marker lights, door handles,
trunk lock relocated behind licence plate, bumperettes
removed. Bumpers narrowed tucked, shrunk and
frenched-in. Rear valance scratch built, scratch built
billet grills top and bottom with fog lights. All chassis
holes and body holes filled(150aprox). Polished
ceramic coated exhaust front to back, side exit 3"
exhaust and chrome tips. All fender mounting lips and
structure trimmed for cleaner appearance. All panels
fully gapped for consistent fit, body completely panel
blocked for perfect image line. Rad support boxed and
grill finish panel fabricated. Rear taillight bezels
removed and fabricated out of sheet-metal for seamless
fit. Custom fabricated interior billet trim and console.
Refaced gauges and needles, custom fibreglass
moulded rear seat delete panels. Fabricated and
leather wrapped trunk panels. Entire car is base clear
even the inside of the fenders and fender wells have
been body-worked, primed, sanded, painted and even
some polished. Camaro fuel tank, all brake lines, fuel
lines and wiring are all hidden in body panels and
frame rails etc. All new custom grey tint glass. Threetone
PPG base clear paint, nearly 4 gallons of silver
basecoat and 2 gallons of green basecoat. The car
appraised just shy of a quarter of a million dollars.
Owner: Jack Wur, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Builder: Byron Thiessen of Creative Concepts 306-292-6008
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