Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[N8]

Originally Posted by BB767

Hi N8 and I appreciate your kind words. I too have always loved history, nearly majored in it at college. I think I get my appreciation of it from my father who always respected and admired those who went before him. He instilled in me a duty to preserve that which is worthwhile preserving and pass it along to the next generation. People of the past have done that for me and now I'm in a position to do it for others. Someones got to do it don't they?

I'd love to see some of your racing memorabilia. Post some of it if you like, maybe on the "Free Parkin" forum and post the link here. I'm sure others would be interested as well. A most warm welcome to you.

Thomas

Thomas,
I see some photos of the 444 car there and a very good friend of mine that crews with that car.

I should also say I am taken with your story because I grew up in Utah and was surrounded by the Bonneville culture and have been many times.

I have a few shots of some of my items on my garage thread. I don't want to pollute your story here with my images.
I would gladly PM you the link and you can have a look at it.

Another good friend of mine who is a regular at the flats went out again this year and bested his old record so I certainly know what is involved to even make it there!

Again congratulations. You and your team have accomplished something others only dream about. It's an inspiration.

Regards,

Nate

[BB767]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyUSMC

JC23
I have know Thomas for a little over a year. First time I met him the salt flats were mentioned , but it was not a major topic. He acted like a normal everyday gear head that loves tools & cars.

Then I met up with him at the salt...He was a change man
Personally I think he has a bad case of SALT FEVER.....
I know I have a case of SALT FEVER. There is no cure. You have to treat the illness with a large dose of salt every 12 months & see something drive past at 400+ mph.

I blame Lou Bingham he has been infected with this disease since the 1950's. Thomas & I have contracted it from Lou... THANKS LOU, YOU DA MAN

Randy Chenowth

Randy, you might be on to something there! As for SALT FEVER, note the back of this trailer seen at the Roadster Club pits...



If you can read the initials on the bottom of the purple San Diego Roadster Club decal, lower left, they are as follows "W M B C S B W E". Translated that stands for "We May Be Chicken $hit But We're Exclusive" And this from a club formed in 1941 and still going strong.



Here's a partial view of the SDRC pits, way down near the far end is Fred's tanker. SDRC had covered club pits for 15 cars, plus some individual club members had thier own covered pits. In total the club had 23 cars entered, the largest of any SCTA club I believe. Those boys have the fever REAL bad!

Here are just some of the other club members cars...





















The engine pictured above belonged to a member of both of the SDRC and the Bean Bandits. It ran in the 4 cylinder class. They took an modern OHV V8 block and only ran one side of it. On the unused other bank of empty cylinders...



...they installed an old flat head to cap off the empty block. It's completely non functional but looked very cool! The D F Q written on the air box is racer code for when things aren't going well and it stands for, well... in polite company it stands for Don't Forget the Quest. You get to figure out what it means when things are really not going well, but it starts with Don't and ends with Quit.

This club member ran a traditional tanker...









...that was called the...



...Scandinavian Street Rod in honor of all our Scandinavian readers here I'm sure. It was powdered by a blown Model A engine seen here...



Note the metal bars running along the cylinders on the block. Those bolted to the cylinder head on top and...



...this girdle attached to the bottom of the block. That way they could squeeze the block in between to hopefully keep from blowing it up.



Here's a better look at the pressurized oil system they rigged up for the engine. Fabulous to watch these fellows working on the car, very diligent.

One look at my library at home shows it contains many, many books on the Salt Flats and Bonneville that I've collected over the years. That place has always intrigued me, now more than ever.

Thomas

[realvc]

Hello Thomas, Chris and the whole thread crew.
Thanks for sharing these great pictures of your shop, drag cars, show cars and the salt flats adventure.
I'm a regular follower and enjoy your updates and everyone's comments.
I have always liked the old Stude coupes as salt flat cars. They just look like what a salt flats go fast ride should look like to me.
Thanks again for all the time you spend keeping this epic going.

[BigDaddyUSMC]

The Y MANIFOLD Gang & the OUT HOUSE ACCIDENT

Thomas
YOU DA MAN. Great Photos
We were so busy thrashing on Lobello's car that I maybe spent about 30 minutes looking at other cars in the pits. The farthest I got from our pit stall was up to see the Bean Bandits & that was only 6 or 7 pit stalls away from where we were pitted. Almost everything else was seen as we drove by towing the race car with me sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Your photos have shown me things I would have never seen.
I correct my self I did walk the 1/8 mile down to the out houses one morning. I was in a BIG hurry to get there, not much time to look at race cars & I had to hurry back because we were headed to tech inspection that morning.
Everything at Bonneville was one big adventure, Even the trip to the out house was exciting.
As I sat there contemplating life , hoping there was enough paper & wishing I had a HOT ROD magazine to read. I heard some one yell "LOOK OUT" . About 2 seconds later something slammed into the row of out houses. For a moment I though it was going to tip over..I wasn't in a poisson to rush out & check out what was going on. But I heard someone say " ARE YOU OK " , Then someone else answered "YES, I THINK SO". Then the first person said "YOU NEED TO WATCH WERE YOUR GOING ,YOUR GOING TO GET F***ING RUN OVER".
5 minutes later when I came out of the out house no one was around & the row of out houses was all crooked... I think someone on a bicycle hit the row of out houses????

How come everyone else has cool stories about Bonneville & all I have to remember is have problems with that vintage beast Fred Lobello owns & almost getting killed in a out house. LOLOLOL , But you know.... I STILL HAD A BLAST AT THE SALT

Again Thomas. Thanks for the great photos. If you got more , I cant wait to see them.

Randy Chenowth

[3bay]

Very cool pics of the salt Folks!

Thank you all for sharing them and the stories with all of us wannabees . . .

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Y MANIFOLD GANG

Here is a photo of one of the DIFFERENT people we saw at the Salt ... notice in the upper right hand corner of the photo - See the vice grips. I got no idea what they were used for.

When I took the photo of this guy with his stoggy & top hat. I didn't notice them & I can only wonder what those vice grips were hold to the door frame... He must have been out of duct tapeshadeFlats

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Y MANIFOLD GANG

TEAM LOBELLO at the Bonneville sign
Mike Bloom , Jose Serrano , Fred Lobello , Jacob Bagnell & Randy Chenowth

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Busted piston that some guy took out of his Flathead Ford V8. He drove to Bonneville from New York in his vintage rat rod. He said he drove for a 100 miles with the motor running funny. They stopped a few time to try to figure out what the problem was but couldn't figure it out. They met some guy in the mid-west that let them use his shop & tools to fix the problem. Lucky he had a extra set of pistons with him.


Here is the dip in the road right where you first drive onto the salt, the morning after the thunder storm


Thomas & Lou Bingham were camping at the bend in the road with all the other hippies.... That place was a muddy mess with wind busted up tents & pop up shades everywhere.

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Lobello Streamliner / Lakester Belly Tank in line for tech inspection
Photo taken by John Edwin Mason

[BB767]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyUSMC

The Y MANIFOLD Gang & the OUT HOUSE ACCIDENT

Thomas
YOU DA MAN. Great Photos
We were so busy thrashing on Lobello's car that I maybe spent about 30 minutes looking at other cars in the pits. The farthest I got from our pit stall was up to see the Bean Bandits & that was only 6 or 7 pit stalls away from where we were pitted. Almost everything else was seen as we drove by towing the race car with me sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Your photos have shown me things I would have never seen....


....How come everyone else has cool stories about Bonneville & all I have to remember is have problems with that vintage beast Fred Lobello owns & almost getting killed in a out house. LOLOLOL , But you know.... I STILL HAD A BLAST AT THE SALT

Again Thomas. Thanks for the great photos. If you got more , I cant wait to see them.

Randy Chenowth

Randy, here you are checking something on the car while being towed out for the umteenth time.



This is some of the group that drove out from upstate New York, 2,000+ miles, one with the broken piston. I believe they're associated with "The Rollin' Bones" garage/group.



They were right across the pit lane from the SDRC pits so I got to speak at length with a few.



Not all their cars were "patinaed"







Once at the flats some of that group...



...then pulled their street engines out...



...dropped in race engines and when racing on the salt. Once done they reversed it, yanked the race engines out and swapped back street engines and drove home to New York. The pits were a scene right out of the 1950's. The cover over their pits was Army surplus camouflage netting. Nicest bunch of fellows, first rate cars.



This was a support vehicle next to them...



...so called "Flying Goddess Garage". Yup, first rate all the way.



Scandinavia was well represented; not only the vintage tanker from post #3582, but also this wicked looking Saab. Not in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought I would be saying that about a Saab.



Exquisite bike...



Not sure but I think it was a BMW.



Thomas

[BB767]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyUSMC

Y MANIFOLD GANG

Here is a photo of one of the DIFFERENT people we saw at the Salt ... notice in the upper right hand corner of the photo - See the vice grips. I got no idea what they were used for.

When I took the photo of this guy with his stoggy & top hat. I didn't notice them & I can only wonder what those vice grips were hold to the door frame... He must have been out of duct tapeshadeFlats

Randy, this is what the other side of that "car" looked like. To each his own.

Thomas

[Kanticoy]

Originally Posted by BB767

Not sure but I think it was a BMW.

Thomas, that is Mike Geokan's Bonneville Bullet. It's Harley powered (if you can call it that anymore!). I use his scavenge pumps on several applications. Thanks for posting that man. I've been following him for years. Awesome to see he's still making the dream happen.

Here's a link of the build.

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/bonneville2.htm

[BB767]

Originally Posted by Kanticoy

Thomas, that is Mike Geokan's Bonneville Bullet. It's Harley powered (if you can call it that anymore!). I use his scavenge pumps on several applications. Thanks for posting that man. I've been following him for years. Awesome to see he's still making the dream happen.

Here's a link of the build.

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/bonneville2.htm

Thanks for the correction Kanticoy and the link. That makes much more sense if you look in the background at the guys who were crewing for it. Not that I'm one to stereo-type mind you. Just fabulous workmanship. Well done even if it was polished instead of powder coated.

Thomas

[MisteR Tee]

Originally Posted by BB767

Randy, this is what the other side of that "car" looked like. To each his own.

Thomas

Hey, that's a 26/27 Doctor's coupe you're talking about there!!! Now if it just had fenders & running boards it'd be pretty neat!!

The Rolling Bones guys are pretty cool as well, a couple of Brits have travelled with them in previous years.

[BigDaddyUSMC]

Originally Posted by MisteR Tee

Hey, that's a 26/27 Doctor's coupe you're talking about there!!! Now if it just had fenders & running boards it'd be pretty neat!!

The Rolling Bones guys are pretty cool as well, a couple of Brits have travelled with them in previous years.

Some might call that a rat rod... I call it a HOT ROD with true nostalgic spirit.
No $50,000.00 paint job. Few store bought parts. Patina / RUST that some would kill for...
You don't need fenders or running boards. You don't even need rims that match. OK may be it has some features that most wouldn't put on a hot rod. But thats what makes it unique. Those features are what got me to stop & look closer , then I noticed the guy sitting in the drivers seat. He was as unique as the car. He was being himself... & I don't think he cares what any of us think of his car or him. I'm sure this guy has SALT FEVER...
You Rock Brother

PS: I really like the tow hooks on the front corners of the roof. Kind of look like devil horns

[ScottS]

A little video That is in tune with the time frame of the shop.

Scott

[markviii]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing, ScottS. Our Terraplane "Three on the Tree" is a 1937, so this assembly line footage is of the relative same vintage.

Chris

[Vernmotor]

Cool vid !

[BB767]

Originally Posted by ScottS

A little video That is in tune with the time frame of the shop.

Scott

Really excellent video Scott. Yup, it's definitely in the era of the shop. Thank you making this thread better and better!!

Thomas

[BB767]

Originally Posted by MisteR Tee

Hey, that's a 26/27 Doctor's coupe you're talking about there!!! Now if it just had fenders & running boards it'd be pretty neat!!

The Rolling Bones guys are pretty cool as well, a couple of Brits have travelled with them in previous years.

Hello there MisteR Tee, it was a very unusual body style for me, thanks for identifying it.

As for cool guys at Bonneville the few Brits I talked with out there sure were, very enthusiastic! To be honest there really wasn't anyone out there who wasn't cool, at least I didn't come across them. Very tight fraternity out there and according to Lou, that's the way it's always been on the salt. I feel fortunate to have experienced it for myself.

Thomas