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Golden-Era Hot-Rodding

HOP UP

Vendor
Messages
92
Location
"Hollywood", Australia
Some more faves from the stash....

181409_10150909130310954_817851391_n.jpg 383497_574154575958074_685986630_n.jpg 971574_10200877678842782_1415677686_n.jpg 1004445_592034480836750_271526311_n.jpg Vic Snrs roadster.jpg RaceofGentlemen_YYY-100-130.jpg RaceofGentlemen_YYY-100-134.jpg RaceofGentlemen_YYY-100-107.jpg 1157557_10201127915533831_1048307688_n.jpg DSC_0476.jpg DSC04576.jpg IMG_0221 resize.jpg 800px-Kustomrama-so-cal-speedshop-1934-ford.jpg 61297_10151339829942457_1088848178_n.jpg 164919_410967422344236_1801727213_n.jpg 485586_574154465958085_754804159_n.jpg 1226_520456664657919_763456381_n.jpg 970253_574198582620340_2050697002_n.jpg Bonneville_Gas-1.jpg
 

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
Photos of pre-war hot rodding are rare enough, but just this evening I discovered some pre-WWII home movies of hot iron in action on the dry lakes--something I thought could only exist in memory and imagination.


Edit: There's nothing new under the sun--Stanley Doble posted this years ago. Oh well, it's worth a second look if you haven't seen it in a while.
 
Last edited:

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
Found an early Model T coupe body for sale cheap and was attempting to entice some of my friends to contemplate building a gow job around it. I happened across a few pictures I thought I'd throw up here for kicks.

Multy Aldrich coupe.jpg

A photochop of the Multy Aldrich roadster into a coupe.

Multy Aldrich coupe.jpg
Burbank 035.jpg

A 1917-'22 runabout.

Multy Aldrich.jpg

The Multy Aldrich car before it had Buffalo wire wheels. This is very similar to the vision for my '23 touring car.
 

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
I'm slowly slogging along on a gow-job project and, of course, I'm keeping a good file of inspiration. Here are a few that have been on my radar today.

1933 CKC_1926_San-Jose-33.jpg

This was taken at some kind of race in San Jose, California, in 1933. Note that the Model A's in the picture are also hopped up and stripped down.

Bob Estes 02.jpg

This car belonged to Bob Estes when he was a young man. Estes later owned several car dealerships in California and sponsored race cars in the '40s and '50s. Supposedly he raced against Clark Gable in this car, back in 1933 or '34.

21272237_10215089338851983_7969679920811419969_n.jpg

I don't know anything about this orchard truck, but the raked windshield and full fenders are very much inline with what I want for my touring car.
 

EngProf

Practically Family
Messages
608
I'm slowly slogging along on a gow-job project and, of course, I'm keeping a good file of inspiration. Here are a few that have been on my radar today.

View attachment 93583
This was taken at some kind of race in San Jose, California, in 1933. Note that the Model A's in the picture are also hopped up and stripped down.

View attachment 93592
This car belonged to Bob Estes when he was a young man. Estes later owned several car dealerships in California and sponsored race cars in the '40s and '50s. Supposedly he raced against Clark Gable in this car, back in 1933 or '34.

View attachment 93593
I don't know anything about this orchard truck, but the raked windshield and full fenders are very much inline with what I want for my touring car.
I give up - what's a "gow-job"?
 

EngProf

Practically Family
Messages
608
It's a slang term for any vehicle that has been modified in order to improve it's performance (i.e, speed), but more specifically refers (or used to refer) to one that has had that performance enhanced by weight reduction.
Well, a great thing about FL is the learning of "regionalisms". I have been working on race cars, hot rods, sports cars, etc. for over 50 years and have never heard the term "gow-job".
 

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
In modern use it's shorthand for a pre-WWII hot rod, since the term hot rod wasn't in common use until the late 1940s (and remained quite pejorative through the early 1950s). Gow job, hot iron, and hop up were all common terms for modified vehicles during the Great Depression--with speedster being a similar, but slightly earlier thing.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,762
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Model T Fords were being radically altered by college kids for racing purposes even while they were still in production.

MV5BYTVjMjZlYTEtZDY5MC00NjcyLTg3N2UtM2YwNzNjNjNjYjA4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ@@._V1_UY1200_CR82,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg


This tricked-up car was regularly featured in "The Collegians," a series of two-reel shorts dealing with the adventures of a group of zany 1920s college stereotypes, made by Universal from 1926 thru 1929. This particular episode had amateur auto racing as its main theme, and most of the cars featured were altered Model T's.

Although not too legible in this image, the car is covered in snappy slogans per the fashion of the twenties, most of them emphasizing the "shakiness" of the car due to its overpowered engine. "Not Nervous -- Just Shakey!" "This is a Rattling Good Car!"
 

EngProf

Practically Family
Messages
608
Model T Fords were being radically altered by college kids for racing purposes even while they were still in production.

MV5BYTVjMjZlYTEtZDY5MC00NjcyLTg3N2UtM2YwNzNjNjNjYjA4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ@@._V1_UY1200_CR82,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg


This tricked-up car was regularly featured in "The Collegians," a series of two-reel shorts dealing with the adventures of a group of zany 1920s college stereotypes, made by Universal from 1926 thru 1929. This particular episode had amateur auto racing as its main theme, and most of the cars featured were altered Model T's.

Although not too legible in this image, the car is covered in snappy slogans per the fashion of the twenties, most of them emphasizing the "shakiness" of the car due to its overpowered engine. "Not Nervous -- Just Shakey!" "This is a Rattling Good Car!"

Ironically, the Chevrolet brothers made speed equipment for the Model T Fords, most famous of which were the overhead-cam Frontenac cylinder heads. The results were referred to as "Fronty Fords".
 

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
Meet “Le Nain Bordeaux”, my concept for a personalized 1926 Ford:

Le Nain Bordeaux.jpg


I have a ‘26 roadster frame that I intend to build into a period vehicle. I don’t want a restored, stock Flivver, though. I’ve been evolving my plan, which started out as a ‘23-‘25 roadster built in the Multy Aldrich style.

My plan is to use a Model A engine (with period hop ups yet to be determined), front axle, and wheels; and a Model T “Ruckstell” 2-speed rear axle (the A trans and T torque tube can be mated with a special U-joint). My intent is to use no parts of a newer design or style than 1932.

What do you think? I intend for Le Nain Bordeaux to sit a bit lower than this (with reversed spring eyes), but the color scheme and the raked windshield were what I was testing out with this Photoshop (courtesy of HAMBster “Russian”).

-Dave

Just remembered this. Evolution of a dream:

856202_10203410633731654_644439341_o (1) (1).jpg

From when I had my '26 touring car body that I planned to power with a 1928 Chevrolet four-cylinder.

Fenderless Tilly.jpg
From after my buddies gave me a '23 body to replace the '26, which I had to sell in a move.

Tilly Illustration sm.jpg

To the current plan, which is back to the hinged windshield and will run a Model T engine and trans.
 

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