A little piece of history.

One of the more enjoyable trends in rodding today (at least to me) is the finding/preservation/refurbishing/restoration of rods that have "history". I also like that folks are building cars today in a style that is a tribute to the "ol' days", but the survivors of that period just have that extra something......................experience is as good a word as I can conjure.

A rodder here in the NW recently purchased a deuce roadster from a Northern Cal guy named Bill Marshall. Bill built the car back in 1959. He painted it himself in his garage and won several best paint awards. He was very active in the Nor Cal rod scene, and was one of the founders of the Bay Area Roadsters. Those of you who read "the little pages" might remember those articles on the runs up and down the coast where the L.A. Roadsters would venture north and the Bay Area Roadsters would go south and meet at places like Pea Soup Andersons. This car would have been pictured each time. The car today is pretty much in the configuration it was built in '59, even the paint is still intact! In '66 Marshall did replace the first nailhead he installed with a then new 401 and 400th from a low, low mile wreck, the frame painted red instead of blue, and it appears the top was reconfigured, otherwise it's like a time capsule.

Here are a sample of pics, if you want to view a 48 pic album just go here; http://pictures.aol.com/ap/viewAlbum...192406721951.3

. . . and it didn't take 24" wheels, air suspension and 400 lbs of billet . . .

Beautiful car ........... and I loved the picture of "Surfer" Mike Sorokin and Linda Vaughn :toocool: :toocool:

I like billet------















Crankshafts, connecting rods----

That was Bakersfield, probably 68 or 69 ( going by Linda's age/looks)

Thanks Uncle Bob, some great pics in there!!!! All the cars were shiny and clean and show the true Hot Rodding Spirit of "Take what you got and build what you want". Didn't notice any rats, flames, or 22" gazillion $$$$ a set one off wheels.... Also like the shots in front of the shop, a small garage with good tools and a ton of hard work!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

. . . and it didn't take 24" wheels, air suspension and 400 lbs of billet . . .

---

Well now Henry, how on earth do you know how many pounds of billet is in there anyways. Why do you hate on the use of superior materials anyway? :LOL:

Kitz

Definitely that was a good period of time in our history. The roasters were looking good, and the 58 Impala was really a nice car. One family from the neighborhood had 5 boys, and they all had new cars, three had the 58 Impala’s brand-new.

Richrad

Some sweet hotrodding history for sure. That was a time long gone, but so many wonderful memories still remain of days gone by. When I saw everyone lined up at the gas pumps filling up their tanks I was wishing gas was still the same price now as it was then...fat chance!!!

Thanks for posting that Bob. I'll pass that on to my cousin who was a part of many of those runs with the LA Roadsters.

.....Doug.

Kitz,

I don't hate superior materials. I actually have a few pounds on my '34. :LOL: It was just a comment on the consistent theme of the car.

Kitz,

I don't hate superior materials. I actually have a few pounds on my '34. :LOL: It was just a comment on the consistent theme of the car.

In pictures of vintage rods, I see people used these "newer" headlights. Now a days, people like the plentiful 1932 reproduction lights. In the old days, it was hard to find the big original lights in good condition. People used to get big bucks for restoring. Also, people liked using the later 30's- lights cause you could see farther out. I noticed a big diff when I changed from these to Vintique repro 1930 lights.

Great pictures, especially the copper painted flatheat. :D

The interesting thing about hotrods with a history is nobody expected them to become historic. Therefore, they were not deliberately preserved. Many of them were dismantled and lost or changed over and over until very little of the original was left. Because of that, the few that have survived intact speak of an era that is long gone and will never be again.:(

The car in the pic below was first built (as a hotrod) in 1956 and has a long history. I first encountered it in 1964 and it is the car that inspired me to build my coupe. Except for the headers, it is visually the same as it was the first time I saw it.:cool: In June of 2006 I drove my coupe to Indiana so I could photograph the two cars together, the culmination of a 40-year dream.:D

I'm glad to see that roadster survived; it's a beautiful example of rodding as it was and a very lucky find for someone. :)

Beautiful cars and a nice history. The thing that jumps out at me that I had forgotten was that at one time, say in 1953-1956 chromed steel wheels were the ultimate before mags were widely available. Today you seldom see chromed steel wheels. My taste goes further back to the small cap type painted wheels so for me nostalgia is painted steel wheels with small caps like 1940 again (distant memories) but I have to admit I still have a fond place in my auto-heart for '56 Olds Fiesta wheel covers and eventually I may sucumb to retro Fiesta covers but chromed steelies were "IT" in the early fifties, as I recall. In one of the other threads someone asked if the roadster in the new Indiana Jones movie should have had a flathead instead of what looks like a SBC, but the dateline was 1957 so it would have been possible to have a SBC in a deuce roadster in 1957, but there were very few and there were still many flatheads then. The reason I mention this is because that roadster had no hubcaps on steel wheels but they were painted. A sort of growing up maturing process was related to thinking chromed steel wheels were the ultimate and then finding that if they were scratched the scratches would rust! Just some rambling "history".

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

My '52 Chevy had painted, reversed-rim steelies with Moons, then later chrome "spiders" with beauty rings, and finally 56 Olds Fiesta caps.

Peabody . . . let's get in the Wayback machine . . .

My '55 Ford had '57 Dodge Lancer wheel covers.

For my 55 Ford I chiseled off the rivets that held the rims on the wheel centers, turned them around and welded them including the rivet holes ( tubeless tires were becoming the norm this was in 59-60 ) put 820-15s on back, cut the front coils a couple of loops and had some lean into it---course the valve stems were then on the inside !!!!Then I took out my dual quad Y-block and put in an E475 Edsel that I cut the firewall out and set engine back into dash 10% of whatever the wheel base was so I could run gas classes

Today-------


Jerry

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

That was Bakersfield, probably 68 or 69 ( going by Linda's age/looks)

---

actually i was thinking 66' when he beat warrern & coburn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dzz7EMl4P8 :D