Coop's Old Crow

Thanks to Coop for painting up a logo for the Bellytank.
I really think it captures all the elements of this car.


Here is a quick mock up of what were going to paint on the tank



Some people have asked where the name "Old Crow" came from, so here is the official story. On a trip to Connecticut last year to look at a Sprint car, I stopped into a local antique store, and came across this vintage bar display for Old Crow Whiskey.

Now being a bar owner, I am always looking for cool old bar stuff, and this guy really stuck out. The Old Crow has a simple yet strong aesthetic to it, similar in my opinion to the Western Exterminator man, my favorite promotional character of all time.

So naturally I had to buy him. But the thought had not crossed my mind to name a race car after the old whiskey until I was watching the History channel one night. The show was about the p-51 Mustangs of WWII, and what do I see flying through the beautiful black and white grainyness of 1940's film??? A famous P-51 Mustang called the "Old Crow" !! How cool is that.



So then it hit me, what a perfect blend of Booze, character and WWII aviation. A match made in heaven for an old Bellytank turned race car. After talking to friends about the concept, Coop had a great idea of taking the crow and giving him a Clay Smith cams feel. Clay Smith was a cam maker in the 50's and many a hot rod/race car donned the famous woodpecker logo.

I think Coop gave the Old Crow a lot more life than he originally had.
So there ya have it.

El Mirage last meet of the year

Just when I was getting started,..... the last meet til next May. Well at least I broke a hundred. 105 mph to be exact, and I know I could get a lot more out of her if I had some more test runs. Oh well. I'll have to wait til next year. Will have lot's of time to tinker and fine tune a bunch of stuff this winter.
Here's some pics of the run my buddy Primo took.

A pigs nose ?

In my never ending search for vintage garage wear, I came across some coveralls with a very peculiar slogan: "Wear like a pigs nose". I'm not quite sure what they're trying to say,..?? Do pig's noses never wear out? Does a pigs nose fit really well? Are they saying you should wear it in a certain piggy way? I don't know. But it was funny enough for my blog. Those silly Fink's

Bellytank pops cherry

Positive Ape Index

Old Picture Ala Coop

Thanks to Coop for the old timey reatment to this photo.

El MIrage test run

Here's a link to Coop's blog. Check it out.



http://positiveapeindex.blogspot.com/2006/10/big-day-at-el-mirage.html

Bonneville rained out. Damn.

Damn damn damn.

We have been thrashing for three weeks straight .... living on caffine and little sleep, and we just fired her up for the first time yesterday, got her all tuned and dialed in this morning...... we were ready to hit the salt Tuesday, then I just got the call..... Bonneville is cancelled. Damn !!.
I guess a huge thunderstorm hit last night and dumped enough rain to call the event off.

The Model B is sounding soo good too. We dailed in the boost on the blower, and she sounds real healthy. Blows a beautiful 12 inch blue flame out the header when you let off.... so nice.Well, I guess we'll run her at El Mirage on the 22nd. and look forward to next August.Here are some pics of the motor. Enjoy

Aircraft latches and you.

Aircraft surplus,.... One of the few rewards of the war effort that hot rodders have taken full advantage of in post war peacetime. When you mention the words Hot rod and aircraft surplus, a few images immediately come to mind.... probably the most popular, being the Bomber seat, a favorite of the post war lakes racers as a cheap lightweight seat for their racecars. But let's not forget, the aircraft seatbelts.... Fuel tanks and filters, ....Oxygen tanks converted for water or fuel, and of course my favorite, the Bellytank..... Years of government paid engineers windtunnel testing pollywogs, just to be taken full advantage of by hot rodders seeking land speed records. Ya gotta love it.
But one of my favorite little items I discovered at my local Burbank surplus supply center, is the aircraft latch. Obviously designed to latch a door or panel while staying flush, and not sticking out in the airstream,....exactly what I need for the door of the bellytank. Modern SCTA rules require that the latches for a door must be actuated from the outside as well as the inside, in case of an emergency.

There is a wide variety of interesting latches out there, here is a sampling:


I picked the latch that had the largest open button.


The two buttons sit flush with the skin of the body



In case your wondering how I'm gonna open the door from the inside, I still have to attach a pull tab to the inside under the "Push" button.







If you use your imagination, you can think of all sorts of uses for these latches on a hot rod.

Accessory turn signals of the 20's and 30's

For a few years now, I have been fascinated by a very odd automotive accessory,..... the add on turn signal / Stop light...... Mainly because of the seemingly endless variety of styles and companies that made these things from the teens through the 40's. I seem to come across a different one at least every month, and they just keep getting stranger and stranger.

You see, ... as strange as it may seem to anyone under the age of 65, most cars didn't come stock with turn signals..... Not until the late 40's early 50's. And as necessity is the mother of all invention, you can only imagine how many model T's and A's smashed into each other due to the lack of information form one driver to another as to which direction you were about to suddenly go. Of course everyone could use hand signals, but you can imagine how many people actually did, I mean,... what if it's raining ?.. are you gonna roll down your window and stick your arm out of the car every time you want to turn? Probably not.

Hence, the accessory turn signal. I hope you enjoy them.











As much as I would love to own them all, and some of them are from my small collection, I have come to the conclusion that trying to get them all would be a very time consuming and money wasting experience, as I have seen some of these crazy things sell well into the hundreds. So for now, I am content with saving the images, and collecting them on my hard drive.