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PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝚂𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟼, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

One hundred years ago today on 6/6/1926, Thomas Samuel Sparks was born in Stuart, Iowa. At the age of 9 he and his father moved to Los Angeles after Tom’s mother passed. On his 2nd day in LA Tom met Freddie Carrillo, they became fast friends and the rest, as they say, is history. We’re proud to say that Tom Sparks ( joined by Ray Brown ) was the very first interview conducted by AHRF Director Henry Astor when we began our Pioneer interview series back in 2003. Known as one of the greatest flathead engine builders of all time, Tom was far from a one-trick pony and had one of the more varied and impressive careers that we have documented. He began in midgets and hot rods, racing on the dry lakes and the circle tracks of the red circuit. He built engines alongside Ray Brown, Fred Carrillo, Phil Remington and Ed Pink and competed successfully in sports cars, early NASCAR, and during the first years of drag racing, winning at everything he tried. Incredibly, in ’55 he bought a racing bicycle and by ’58 was State Champion. In ’60 he was a 1st alternate for our Olympic team and continued to race and win into his 70s! As a restorer of pre-war Classics, he won or placed in his class at shows like Pebble Beach an amazing 33 times. Tom passed in March of 2011 and we can’t imagine that he could have packed any more into his 84 years. He was our earliest supporter, a great friend, and the very definition of a hot rod pioneer.

To learn more about Tom, you can read his story on our website - https://ahrf.com/pioneer/tom-sparks/.?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_pfrm0glmgl Happy Birthday, Tom “Tommy" Sparks!

©AHRF/Tom Sparks Collection (TSC_159)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Here we see the trophied mantel inside the home of Karl and Veda Orr located at 4213 Vinton Ave in Culver City, CA.This shot was photographed by their teenaged neighbor and admirer, Stedman Profitt in either 1947 or 1948.This image speaks to how close and trusting the Orrs were with young Stedman, as they clearly felt comfortable enough to allow him into their living room to take pictures. The Orrs were very active in their racing world during the late’30s, 1940s and early/mid 1950s, sometimes owning and campaigning up to four race cars at a time. They competed on circle tracks, the dry lakes, hill climbs, and even early drag racing, oftentimes using any one of their cars for each of these forms of racing. They constructed well-built and very attractive race cars that were highly competitive with either of them behind the wheel, so it is no surprise to see such a collection of awards. What is surprising is that we would get to see these trophies pictured above, nearly 80 years after the fact. Through complete happenstance, our friend, the hot rodder, racer, and restorer Chris Wickersham, ended up as caretaker of what is likely most of the Orr’s awards and was nice enough to allow us to photograph them several years ago. Little did we know that a few years later we would take in a photo collection showing the very same trophies as they were when displayed in the Orr home! Again, a million-to-one shot. Can you match any of them up?

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_196)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟺, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

This 1947 Stedman Profitt photo shows a close up of two real heroes from the early days of the SCTA. The “first lady of hot rodding”, Veda Orr, is about to make a run at El Mirage in her ’32 roadster. Just off to her left with cap and what look like mechanics coveralls is SCTA Treasurer, Mel Leighton. Veda and husband Karl had been active in both circle track and dry lakes racing since before WWII and by the time this photo was taken they had opened one of the earlier Speed Shops in southern California, located near their home in Culver City. Mel Leighton was born and raised in Iowa and got the racing bug at a very young age after attending the board track races at Des Moines Speedway with his dad during the teens and early 1920s. There he saw his childhood heroes, Ralph DePalma and Barney Oldfield, running flat-out and vowed to someday take part in this thrilling sport. Fortunately for young Mel, much like early hot rodding and dry lakes racing was to southern California, Iowa was at the center of what was ( and still is ) the midwest hotbed of dirt and board track activity. Every town had a circle track of some kind and the racing went on five nights a week. Taking part in this racing became an obsession for young Mel and by 1937 he had saved enough to buy himself a Riley 4-port Sprinter. Although Mel enjoyed his time behind the wheel, a series of serious accidents sidelined him. Still wanting to be involved in racing, Mel simply became the car owner and hired top notch drivers to drive for him- notably, Johnnie Parsons, Jack McGrath and Bob Sweikert. During this time, Mel joined the Board of the SCTA (in 1941) and would serve as Treasurer for the next ten years. Veda and Karl Orr would go on to run a very successful speed shop, all while continuing with their racing well into the 1950s. And speaking of circle track racing, notice that the doors on Veda’s deuce roadster are welded shut. This was a typical safety precaution performed by circle track racers of the day and Veda’s roadster saw double duty both at the lakes and on the circle tracks.

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_198)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝚆𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟹, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

This incredibly rare view of the inside of Karl and Veda Orr’s home garage was shot by a young neighbor boy of the Orr’s named Stedman Profitt. Stedman, barely of high school age when he took this photograph in 1947, was a car crazy kid who hit the jackpot by not only growing up in Culver City, but growing up just down the street from the Orr’s. Fortunately for Stedman, the Orr's took him under their wing and convinced his parents to allow them to take their boy to the races with them as early as 1945 ( Stedman’s first trip to the dry lakes ). Interestingly and to our great benefit, Stedman never got the bug to race but found his passion in the documenting of all of this activity going on around him. He saved his money, bought a good camera, and then went as far as building a dark room in the closet of his bedroom based on a how-to in Boys Life magazine. Stedman would tag along with the Orr's to everything from the lakes to circle track events, shooting roll after roll of film, and would make photographing motorsports a lifelong passion that continued into the late 1980s. Because of his closeness with the Orr’s and his fascination with their speed shop and the cars they built, we are happy to say that there are several rolls of film ( some in color slide format ) of the Orr’s and their cars in and around their home in Culver City that we will be sharing with you as our scanning of his collection continues. But for now, enjoy this 1947 image showing the garage of one of the most famous racing couples the sport and hobby have likely ever known, complete with two of the Orr’s beautiful modifieds and Veda’s own ’32 roadster.

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_031)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝚃𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟸, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Regular AHRF contributor Joel Driskill strikes again! This time with a rare and evocative photo of the late great Dave MacDonald, shown here at Cotati in 1961. There are very few photos of McDonald in his Don Steves ’61 Corvette. MacDonald had developed a competitive ’57 from new and raced it into the 1961 season, with its final being the Jan ’61 event at Palm Springs. Because the ’57 was essentially identical to the following few years of straight-axle Corvette, Dave saw no reason to walk away from his trusty '57. But, when the 315hp version debuted in ’61, it was enough of a bump from his 283hp ’57 that, along with Steves' nudging to advertise the latest, Dave gave in and took a new ’61 315hp model off of the dealership lot and sent it to his good friend, Dean Jeffries, to receive its MacDonald/Don Steves/00 livery. But, no sooner did the car shown above hit the track that two new options for Dave popped up- the upcoming 360hp 327 Chevrolet engine, and, more importantly, the hatching of his plan to build a scratch-built modified Corvette with his friend, Max Balchowsky. Starting with a tube chassis in the style of Max’s highly competitive “Ol’Yeller” sports special, they clothed it with a paper thin and scaled down ( approx. 7/8ths in size from stock ) Corvette body that strongly resembled a stock ’62 model at a glance. By October of ’61, MacDonald was campaigning both cars- his shiny new ’62 360hp production model at Riverside and his modified special at Laguna Seca, running a bare, white body. The 1950s and early ‘60s saw a tremendous amount of Corvette racing on the west coast, with many hot rodders taking to road courses to show the European manufacturers how competitive our great American sports car could be. Inspired by the American specials of the immediate post-war years, GM designers whipped up a production car that put names like Bondurant, Porterfield, Jeffords, Thompson and MacDonald in the winner’s circle, with many going on to great, international careers. Sadly, Dave MacDonald, died on May 30, 1964 on the second lap of the Indy 500.

©AHRF/Joel Driskill Collection (JDC_062)

Coming at ya, Live on tape from North Hollywood, California . . . it’s The Rodcast with our special guest and lifelong hot rodder, Lary Reid! Check it out wherever you listen to your podcasts or follow the link - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahrf-rodcast/id1218954318?i=1000770660256 #americanhotrodfoundation #savinghotrodhistory #hotrodhistoryaliveandwell #therodcast #therodcastpodcast

Coming at ya, Live on tape from North Hollywood, California . . . it’s The Rodcast with our special guest and lifelong hot rodder, Lary Reid! Check it out wherever you listen to your podcasts or follow the link - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahrf-rodcast/id1218954318?i=1000770660256 #americanhotrodfoundation #savinghotrodhistory #hotrodhistoryaliveandwell #therodcast #therodcastpodcast

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟷, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

This beautiful Stedman Profitt photo shows the equally beautiful roadster of Culver City’s Jimmy Nairn in the pits during the May 25, 1947 SCTA meet at El Mirage dry lake. Notice the clean build quality of this early, pre-war built, example of a ’29 body on a ’32 frame ( inspired by and modeled after a nearly identical roadster built in 1938 by Nairn friend and fellow tinkerer, John Athan ) , complete with chromed headers, chrome steering column, chrome water pump pulleys, chrome dipstick tube and handle, trim rings and hubcaps with wide whites, and even a chrome generator mount. The 1942 24stud flathead V8 engine sports a two-pot Meyer intake, Clay Smith cam, and a pair of high compression cylinder heads of Nairn's own design. This author is sad to say that he once owned a pair of these exceptionally rare heads and foolishly sold them many years ago. Oh well, you can’t keep everything! The Nairn brothers were part of the Culver City “Thunder Alley” gang where along or near a certain stretch of South Jefferson Blvd you could find shop owners Vic Edelbrock, Ed Iskenderian, Dick Guldstrand, Jim Travers and Frank Coon ( TraCo) , John Athan, and later on folks like Lance Reventlow and Troutman and Barnes. It was a hotbed of talent and makes it no surprise that the Nairn roadster was of such a high build quality. Here we see that the generator and belt have been removed so as to not rob any horsepower when making runs. The car was entered on this day as number 262 in Class C roadster and Nairn listed himself as a member of the Centuries car club before switching to the Low Flyers for the rest of the meets that year.

©AHRF/Stedman Profitt Collection via David Steele (PRO_019)

Congrats to David Nunez for winning May Hot Rod of the Month with his 1932 Ford Roadster!

Nunez says:
"This car was built to mimic a full fendered style hot rod of the 1950's. It is an all steel body that retains orginal Henry Ford front fenders, firewall, rearend with 3.54 gears and frame. The engine is an Art Chrisman built French block flathead. It has an updated 3 speed synchromesh transmission from a '39 Ford. The steering box is from a '51 Ford pickup. Interior is in brown leather with Stewart Warner Vintage gauges. Original drop column ignition switch and floor activation starter. "

See it run here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MKzX34F1J7w?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_xyucrajx8q

Read more here:
https://ahrf.com/hot-rod-of-the-month/1932-ford-roadster-david-nunez/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_cbocluzd7r

Congrats to David Nunez for winning May Hot Rod of the Month with his 1932 Ford Roadster!

Nunez says:
"This car was built to mimic a full fendered style hot rod of the 1950's. It is an all steel body that retains orginal Henry Ford front fenders, firewall, rearend with 3.54 gears and frame. The engine is an Art Chrisman built French block flathead. It has an updated 3 speed synchromesh transmission from a '39 Ford. The steering box is from a '51 Ford pickup. Interior is in brown leather with Stewart Warner Vintage gauges. Original drop column ignition switch and floor activation starter. "

See it run here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MKzX34F1J7w?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_xyucrajx8q

Read more here:
https://ahrf.com/hot-rod-of-the-month/1932-ford-roadster-david-nunez/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_cbocluzd7r

Congrats to David Nunez for winning May Hot Rod of the Month with his 1932 Ford Roadster!

Nunez says:
"This car was built to mimic a full fendered style hot rod of the 1950's. It is an all steel body that retains orginal Henry Ford front fenders, firewall, rearend with 3.54 gears and frame. The engine is an Art Chrisman built French block flathead. It has an updated 3 speed synchromesh transmission from a '39 Ford. The steering box is from a '51 Ford pickup. Interior is in brown leather with Stewart Warner Vintage gauges. Original drop column ignition switch and floor activation starter. "

See it run here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MKzX34F1J7w?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_xyucrajx8q

Read more here:
https://ahrf.com/hot-rod-of-the-month/1932-ford-roadster-david-nunez/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ahrf&utm_content=ap_cbocluzd7r

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟹𝟷, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

The year is 1936 and we see a proud J. Allen Hawkins standing with his 1925 Chevrolet phaeton at an unofficial and pre-SCTA dry lakes meet at Muroc. Although Hawkins chose a slightly unusual ride to be his hot rod steed, the ingredients and look were familiar as he ran a Ford Model A 4-banger and hung a 1934 Ford grill shell out front. Hawkins was member #3 of the Pasadena Night Flyers, a club that would join forces with another Pasadena car club, the Velociteers, in 1945 to become the Pasadena Roadster Club, and ran his club plaque proudly on the rear of his car. This “tub” would evolve and evolve over the next several years and ultimately become a highly finished and very proper street driven hot rod by the late 1940s. A nationally renowned photographer, Hawkins was a go-to for the Hollywood studios when they were in need of a portrait done on a big celebrity… but he was always and forever a hot rodder. This wonderful image came to us via a generous donation by Cherie Hawkins ( daughter of J. Allen ) and is part of a large collection of automotive/hot rod images shot by Hawkins between the early 1930s and mid 1950s. We thank the Hawkins family for sharing these important images with us and for trusting us to preserve J. Allen’s work.

©AHRF/ J. Allen Hawkins family Collection (HFC_007)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝚂𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟹𝟶, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

Picking up on yesterday’s post from 1945 Rosamond dry lake, here is an early morning shot of the cars lining up for the foredoomed 10/7/1945 SCTA event, as the day would ultimately be rained out and a rain date set for October 21. Seventy entries showed up ready to run, including the ’29 on ’32 rails of Jimmy Nairn that we see running #100, and Albata members Ed Neally in #19 and Veda Orr in her #17 Denver headed ‘32. Several cars made passes and were officially timed before mother nature had her way. This would cause a good bit of controversy between the participants and the SCTA for a number of reasons. Our late archivist and historian, Jim Miller, recalled,”After the War, Bozzie Willis resumed his role as President of the SCTA along with Mel Leighton as Treasurer and their new Secretary, Thatcher Darwin. They decided to get things rolling again and scheduled a race to be held on October 7, 1945 on Rosamond Dry Lake. After tech inspection and some cars running, mother nature came along and deposited rain on the formerly-dry lake to make it a mud hole. Needless to say the event was called. Some of the boys took off for dry El Mirage where the Pacific Coast Timing Association would time runs for a nominal fee. After that, things hit the proverbial fan. Some guys said it was unfair to hold races without everyone back from their service and two scheduled races, including one that wasn’t even completed, didn't equal a 1945 Championship season. Others said the SCTA hadn’t returned to being a legal organization since paperwork to re-incorporate for 1945 was never completed… not to mention the fact that they only had three positions filled and had yet to hold elections for Officers?”

©AHRF/ Dave “Monk” Thorman Collection (MTH_080)

PHOTO OF THE DAY / 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟸𝟿, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼

On October 21, 1945, Tommy Sparks attended the very first official SCTA dry lakes meet after the close of WWII. Held at Rosamond dry lake, it was a make-up meet after the original date of October 7th was rained out, although several cars did make unofficial runs that morning before the rains came. This would make the Oct 21, 1945 event the first, full SCTA meet since the SCTA called off all racing in June of 1942. Entering his 21 stud, full-fendered ’29 roadster, Tom knew he wouldn’t break any records but he also knew he didn’t want to miss it. Equipped with a Winfield cam, milled heads and 2-pot intake, Tom’s nicely finished street roadster ran a credible 91.27mph that day. By 1947, Tom had stripped the roadster down and installed a hot 59A flathead that he’d built in his off hours at his new job working as an engine builder, tuner, and machinist for Eddie Meyer Speed Equipment. This new set-up propelled Tom’s AV8 to 114.21 at the May 25 1947 meet before Tom decided to concentrate more on partnering with his friend and fellow Meyer equipment co-worker, Ray Brown, on seeing how fast they could make Ray’s deuce roadster run at the lakes. This partnership would ultimately lead to Ray and Tom leaving Meyer’s to open Ray Brown Automotive in 1949, where they prepared winning lakes, Bonneville and even sports car entries for Ray and customers like Joe Maybee. Tom would soon open his own shop, Sparks and Bonney Automotive, before becoming one of the most sought after classic car restorers on the west coast, with his restorations winning or placing in their class at concours such as Pebble Beach an incredible 33 times!

©AHRF/ Dave “Monk” Thorman Collection

If you’ve been following along this week, you’ll know that we’ve been exploring the Pete Henderson collection from our archive. Pete did the wonderful service of documenting a lot of hot rodding that went on around him during the 1930s and 1940s and we’re honored that he trusted us to digitize and preserve his photographs from that era. A detail of Pete’s life that gave him a particularly wide view of early hot rodding was the fact that he had a ten-years-older older brother who had started hot rodding ( long before they called it that ) when Pete was a small boy. In fact, Pete’s brother attended his first unofficial lakes meet in 1933 and took his little brother Pete with him. As Pete told us,”That was all I needed to see. I knew what I’d be doing as soon as I could get my hands on a roadster”. And Pete wasted no time, acquiring a ’31 Model A roadster, equipped with a Riley 2-port and Winfield carbs, by the time he turned 14. As mentioned in an earlier post from this week, Pete also acquired a good camera early on and documented all of this going on around him- including these wonderful driveway shots of his many roadster-owning friends. This time we see Pete’s buddy, Sam Parker, in 1944 sitting in his deuce roadster and looking like the excited teenage hot rodder that we’re sure he was. As you can see, this is a raw scan that shows you the image as it was seen in Pete Henderson’s photo album, complete with Pete’s very valuable labeling. We were lucky to have the late Jim Miller doing this scanning for us at the time that this collection came to us, as he took the time to scan the album in untouched form and then followed that with gently removing each print and doing individual high-res scans. What we’ve yet to be able to do is to learn anything more about our subject, Sam Parker, but he sure does look happy with his new deuce roadster. We would be, too!

©AHRF/Pete Henderson Collection (PHC_009)