Hot Rod Delux turned up a great story this month... a found deuce had unexpected history, on El Mirage, and a timing tag turned up!

I just keep getting Hot Rod Delux, it never seems like Hot Rod and Car Craft, wasting our money on endless pages of ads and warmed over articles on rebuilding engines and transmissions... they stick to old photos, cool old cars, and lots of interesting stuff turns up... like this duece.

Lewis McMillan bought this one at the LARS (LA Roadster Show) in 1978, and had no idea it had dry lakes racing history. (I label dry lakes racing as "dry lakes racing, LSR, racing. LSR" in the post labels)

He shipped to his home in Lexington North Caroline, and stored it away til he could get to it... 24 years later when he'd collected all the parts he wanted to add, like a Halibrand quick change, boxed frame, etc

Speaking of cool parts, those headlights are 1943 Seagrave fire truck lights!

So when he dug into fixing up the car, he discovered a matchbook with a guy's name on it, and it turned out to be the guy who raced it in 48! Arvel Youngblood. The new and old owners met and Lewis learned about the car... somehow a friend of Lewis found the timing tag and reunited it with the car. Awesome.

Don Lee Specials, how many did he have? Here are 3...

The above two shots are from the courtesy and sharp mind of Stephan Marjoram, who knew that there were at least 3 "Don Lee Specials" and he let me post the above Fiat Tipo B two from Goodwood http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanmarjoram/5009392962/in/set-72157624870187185/

the one I photographed this summer:  http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/06/don-lee-special.html

And the 1936 that Frank Kurtis built below that I just posted from finding it int he 1940 Harper Dry Lake racing film, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/12/anyone-recognize-this-hot-rod-ive-seen.html

A Bugatti racing on Harpers Dry Lake in 1940...Tommy Lee's, same as the next posts streamliner, wow, wonder if it recieved a timing tag for the dash?

The Bugatti was owned by Tommy Lee, who's dad owned some type of car dealership in LA (thanks Travis!)

These are screen shots from the 1940 Harpers Dry Lakes racing video that Dave from http://www.seabrighthotrods.com/  just added to youtube

the Don Lee special, built by Frank Kurtis. Ford body and chassis, Cord fenders, Offenhauser engine

This is the Don Lee special, built by Frank Kurtis in 1936. The other four "Don Lee Specials" are posted in different posts and without much finesse http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Don%20Lee

 Tommy approached Frank with a project. He wanted the best looking and fastest hot rod in Southern California… and he wanted Frank to build it.

Frank thought the Cord was a smart look and Tommy agreed. Frank felt a Cad motor would be appropriate, but Tommy balked. He wanted the best of the best and that meant this car was going to get a 318-inch Offy. A direction was set and work began.

Frank started with a 1936 Ford chassis and Cord front and rear fenders. From there, the car just blossomed into something VERY unique and VERY fast

Don left millions to his son Tommy, who at age 45 jumped from the 12th story of the Wilshire hotel, leaving 10 million to potential heirs to fight over

Tommy’s roadster ran on the dry lakes of Southern California with limited success. Improvements might have been made and potential realized if not for a tragedy that happened just prior to the war. On an intersection in Hollywood, CA, Tommy was t-boned by a truck and he was badly injured.

Tommy lived the rest of his life in a great deal of pain. He tried to play through and continued buying a number of hot rods and race cars as well as a few fighter planes (p38). But the joy of speed just wasn’t enough to overcome the pain.

On January 13, 1950, Tommy had his driver take him to the dentist. He got on the elevator and went to the 12th floor roof. He then jumped to his death leaving behind a 10 million dollar fortune, a huge automobile and aircraft collection, a radio station, and a television business http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=7365

These are screen shots from the 1940 Harpers Dry Lakes racing video that Dave from http://www.seabrighthotrods.com/ just added to youtube

Comparing the above photo with the last photo below that shows this car in street form vs racing form, I don't see a door handle or hinge in the above racing form

notice that the street exhaust is different from the racing exhaust

these last two images from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=7365

For the other Don Lee Special that I posted this summer http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/06/don-lee-special.html

1940 Harper Dry Lake SCTA racing home video from a 8mm camera thatSeabrightHotRods.com Dave's uncle brought in

And credit to Travis http://perichbrothers.blogspot.com/2011/12/first-100-unearthed-hot-rod-video.html
 for getting the screenshots, and Santa Cruz Dave for getting the home movie digitized and share with everyone! Dave's website is http://www.seabrighthotrods.com/

Thanks Travis!

if you get a kick out of dry lakes hot rodders, check out the color photos from 1947 and 1948 that have turned up on the internet last year:
 http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/looks-like-el-mirage-in-1948-they.html
 http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/back-to-1948-and-el-mirage-im-excited.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/chris-at-speed-seekers-foudn-more-1947.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/on-lake-in-48-oh-wonder-and-amazement.html

Vic Edelbrock's highboy, set 13 world speed records, and is an icon of streamlined dry lakes racers

Looks like about 4 or 5 inches of lift

The resurrection of the SOCal Streamliner that Dean Batchelor and Alex Xydias set speed records with in 1949 and 1950 at the drylakes and Bonneville

 Here is a bit of hot rod history, reborn. This just gets more astonishing, because the original was destroyed in a racing accident, and this recreation is another dead on perfect remake from Dan Webb http://webbautomotiveart.com/... he remade the Golden Submarine of Barney Oldfield http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/unusual-things-that-cought-my-attention.html, and the Phil Remington Mod !
The original SoCal Streamliner was destroyed in a bad crash at Daytona in 1951.

The 1st Bonneville Nationals in 1949 was a successful endeavor for the So-Cal streamliner. The team ran top time of the meet at 187.89 mph & set a class "A" streamliner record of 156.39 mph. They also set the class "C" streamliner record of 189.745 mph.

After a successful Bonneville and regular S.C.T.A. season where Xydias/Batchelor came 2nd in the points championship. The streamliner was repaired and the front end changed it was repainted white with the 2 painted on the front wheelcovers. At the May 1950 S.C.T.A. meet the repaired streamliner ran strong on Saturday with a 152.28 qualifying run. Come Sunday Dean was backing up with his return run, there was a strong crosswind which he was steering into to keep straight. When the wind died the streamliner veered right putting the car sideways, it skidded, the tires dug in, went up on the 2 left side wheels and the car flipped and miraculously landing back on its wheels the belly pan had flown off and Dean was knocked unconscious after he smacked the steering wheel with his head. Dean never raced again after that accident.


 At the 2nd annual Bonneville Nationals (1950) the Xydias/Batchelor team broke the "A" and "C" class streamliner record setting the "A" streamliner record at 162.950 mph and a "C" streamliner record of 208.9271 mph. The So-Cal streamliner also ran the fastest one-way speed of the meet with a 210.8962 mph, beating the Kenz/Leslie Streamliner which ran 210.6489 mph. The So-Cal liner was featured on the cover of the October and November 1950 Hot Rod

 In February 1951 the So-Cal tank ran on the sands of Daytona Beach


 But are you are surprised to learn the So-Cal streamliner used the chassis from the original So-Cal belly tank Alex Xydias & Dean Batchelor ran in 1948, and that Valley Custom Shop built the streamliner body. Dean Batchelor worked at Valley Customs.

info and magazine outakes from http://hotrodsofthedrylakesera.blogspot.com/2010/12/so-cal-streamliner-part-2.html I've told you how cool that blog is!

More cool stuff from 5window.tumblr.com

all from http://5window.tumblr.com but beware that it's changed a bit from being primarily race cars and hot rods, there are lots of nude women, lingerie, etc etc. Yup, that's awesome, but don't let your boss sneak up on you to see what you are surfing the web looking at

Oldest surviving dragster, and it was the first to 140mph, Art Chrisman's "the 25 car"

This was racing on the lakes 80 years ago. Sheesh.
Photos from http://www.blogger-index.com/feed424779.html

Generally acknowledged as the oldest surviving hot rod in existence, this historic vehicle dates back to the Muroc dry lakes competition of the 1930s. It has had just about every engine under the hood, from a Model T four-banger to an injected Chrysler Hemi.

After the car's wheelbase was stretched from its original dry lakes configuration, Art Chrisman used it to record the first quarter-mile clocking in excess of 140 mph, in Santa Ana, Calif., in 1953, and it made the first run down the track in Great Bend, Kan., during the ribbon cutting for the inaugural NHRA Nationals in 1955.

Chrisman had retired the car from competition in 1957, when he constructed his Hustler dragster, but painstakingly restored it to its original running condition.

Info from http://www.nhra.net/museum/features/feature36.html

May 14 2011 at El Mirage, dry lakes racing from start to finish in a glance

the start line is under the flag in the top center of this above photo, and the truck being pushed into position is right of center in the below photo

click on the above to see the crowded starting line in full size, and in all that mess is just one starting official that lets just one vehicle begin their pass

the above yellow panel delivery is in a"Best of" photo from last year or the year before, when I caught it on the sidelines, but never caught it running the course






Gene Winfield was on the lake again this day.





Cool little belly tanker, and I saw someone driving it about through the sidelines









First time I've ever caught a parachute popping with my camera


these two photos remind me that I was told a cars aerodynamics can be critqued by experienced pros by looking at the dust cloud it rooster tails


















quite something to bring this mobile bar to use as a tow rig






here is the gallery from last year http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/06/scandanavian-street-rod-bellytanker-was.html




















the above racecar, is on the trailer that the below photo shows is being raised about 8-12 inches to get the car off the trailer without it high centering. The guy at the bottom of the ramp is moving 4 inch blocks under the rear tires to help keep it from high centering. My guess is that ramp extenders would be a better idea.