#Pontiac Deluxe Streamliner Sedan-Coupe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

itsworn · 6 years

Text

Backstage Past: Streamliners, Customs, Race Cars, and Hollywood Stars Made 1959 Memorable

If you could see the hundreds of rejected 1959 images currently covering our cutting-room floor (digital version), you’d be shocked and awed; shocked by the volume and awed by the variety. You’d be forgiven for wondering aloud why 34 others made it to print instead. Heck, who wouldn’t?

No two humans granted access to the massive film collection compiled by late publisher Robert E. Petersen could be expected to make identical choices. Going in, we’d advise an aspiring editor to bury any and all biases about racing types and organizations, vehicle makes and models, heroes and villains, other personalities, aftermarket companies, engine designs, magazines and their staffers. He or she would be reminded that many mature HOT ROD Deluxe readers made firsthand automotive memories during 1959 (though not your correspondent, who turned 10 that October, nor editor Hardin, who turned 2 that August).

While the objective of this series is to share never-before-seen scenes alongside the mugs of the lucky Petersen photographers and writers who worked behind the scenes during one calendar year, what three-dozen such photos would most appeal to most of you (thus encouraging nice reader mail and subscription renewals)? How many artists and entertainers should steal space from steel subjects? Rods or customs? Open-wheeled versus full-fendered? Shouldn’t some space be made for significant shops and shows? Don’t forget the drag bikes and dream cars. How about this killer action from Indy, Daytona, Bonneville, Sebring, and Pomona? Or a tortuous road test of Detroit’s hottest 1959 iron?

Petersen’s in-house photo lab processed more than 3,000 rolls of black-and-white film between January 4 and December 31. Most rolls contained 12 exposures (though the compact, versatile 35mm format’s 24- and 36-frame rolls appear more frequently as the racing season progresses). Of these 50,000-odd individual images, your editor has room for 34, no more. He’s also got a deadline with an inflexible Midwestern printer whose giant presses will roll right on time, ready or not, little HOT ROD Deluxe. You’d better get busy.

That’s just the fun part. The hard part is research—not the unreliable kind done online, either. You can’t beat 60-year-old paper and ink, particularly the monthlies published by Petersen. All too often, though, a person, place, or thing that shows up on old film in the archive never did show up in a magazine, forcing modern-day editors to reject interesting images for want of caption material, rather than commit publishing’s mortal sin of omission. Another, more common cause for rejection is prior publication. In most of the latter cases, at least one scanned outtake can be found to surprise and amaze even those readers who have seemingly memorized every photo in every issue since 1948 (e.g., invaluable HRD contributor Greg Sharp).

Indeed, unpublished outtakes buried in the archive vastly outnumber the photos printed in Petersen periodicals and other, so-called “special interest publications” (yearbooks, pictorials, how-to compilations, and so on.). Film was relatively inexpensive; printing and binding and storing and mailing never have been. Then, as now, the number of editorial pages in print magazines is largely determined by projected combined revenue from subscriptions, newsstand sales, and advertising. Because so many of you good people support this one, we’re getting space in 2019 to tell a 1959 story. These 34 frames will hopefully be as enjoyable to view as they were painful to pick.

Lost in the aftermath of a certain blue streamliner’s 363.670-mph American record was mechanic Athol Graham’s one-way 344.761 on the bitter-cold 29th of November, making a former Mormon missionary the fourth-fastest driver in history. The Allison-powered Spirit of Salt Lake didn’t need a push car; Graham simply spun its onboard electric starter and drove away on a surface that hadn’t been touched since Mickey Thompson persuaded the Utah Highway Department to smooth the course with a grader two months previous. Graham’s pit crew consisted of wife Zeldine and teenaged mechanic Otto Anzjon, who are possibly the two people shown witnessing a late-afternoon return run. They didn’t have much company; published aerial photos from tire-provider Firestone’s plane reveal the least-occupied lakebed we’ve ever seen for such an attempt. Most of the witnesses appear to be volunteers with the Salt Lake Timing Association who set up Chrondeks. HOT ROD sent staffer Ray Brock, who shot these photos, and author Griff Borgeson. After testing his new Firestones at 277.499 mph in the morning, Graham described the ride in the Feb. 1960 HRM as “Smooth as the way to heaven.” Those words would prove eerily prophetic a year later, when the 36-year-old father of four young children went into a skid and flipped at 300-plus.

Contrary to suppositions put forth in the previous installment of this series (Nov. 2018), Mickey Thompson’s 294-mph car made at least this one public appearance (in far-off San Mateo) after its record-setting 1958 season, adorned in a quickie coat of new paint (notice oversprayed rear slick). The Harman-Collins lettering led to further Car Craft research confirming that it was, in fact, Cliff Collins—not Ed Iskenderian, as erroneously reported—who produced steel-billet camshafts for the dual Chryslers. For the Aug. 1959 issue, Mickey confided to Don Francisco that one of those bumpsticks had to be pried out of the forward engine after two connecting rods came apart during an unsuccessful return run. “The thing that fouled us up was time,” M/T explained. “When we saw we were beginning to run short of time, we got frantic, and when you get frantic at Bonneville, you dump more nitro into the fuel tank. That’s just what we did.” He planned to bring six Pontiac engines, developed with Mr. Isky’s grinds and personal assistance, this time, back to Utah with a new car, boldly promising to “break the World’s Land Speed Record. I’m as sure of this as I am that Bonneville salt is white.”

Bob D’Olivo shot countless concerts and doesn’t remember Johnny Mathis’s gig at the Cocoanut Grove, L.A.’s first and biggest nightclub (originally named the Zinnia Grill in 1921). The 1,000-seat venue was part of the 24-acre Ambassador Hotel complex, which closed in 1989.

Tom Nelson (left) and Nick Nicolosi demonstrate the ideal weight distribution of Dragmaster’s 1,100-pound prototype. “Featherweight frame design works so well, duplicates will be marketed,” gushed HOT ROD. NHRA didn’t hurt sales by awarding a special Safest Constructed Car trophy to builders Jim Nelson (an old pal of Wally Parks from their dry-lakes days) and Dode Martin at September’s gas-only NHRA Nationals at Detroit, where the Chevy-powered rail set overall low e.t. of 9.12. Later, a small ad in the back of the Mar. 1960 HRM assuring that the 96-inch chassis “Will not be obsolete by rule changes” referred to NHRA’s new minimum-wheelbase requirement, which happened to be the same 96 inches, thereby rendering illegal hundreds of early Chassis Research dragsters, modified roadsters, and competition coupes and sedans produced since 1956 by NHRA critic Scotty Fenn. (See Apr. and Nov. 1959, Jan. 1960 HRM.)

In July’s HRM, technical editor Ray Brock revealed a new business arrangement enabling C-T Automotive to deliver hard-chromed stroker cranks for just $16 more than its standard welded versions ($172 versus $156). In this outtake to a similar lead shot, photographer D’Olivo posed Brock with the 12-foot-long, 2,000-pound arms that Chrome Crankshaft Co. prepared for diesel-electric locomotives.

What evolved into the National Roadster Show was conceived as an all-encompassing exposition of antique and sports cars. After the few invited hot rods stole that 1949 event, Oakland promoter Al Slonaker wisely changed the name and focus. For this 11th edition, painter-pinstriper Jerry Anolik returned with the homebuilt Thunderbird (foreground) that was voted 1957’s People’s Choice as a mild custom. Driving home to San Francisco from that trophy presentation, the T-bird was sideswiped into a guardrail. Rather than repair the extensive damage, Anolik took the opportunity to create a radical custom. (See July 1959 Car Craft.)

Jerry Anolik bought the ’55 T-bird brand-new upon his discharge from the Army. No babied show car, it was driven daily, towed Anolik’s ski boat to mountain lakes, and turned 12.50s and 113 mph at the drags. It even ran Bonneville during a cross-country road trip, shocking veteran lakes racers with a record-bettering 161-mph pass that qualified for a record attempt—which proved disastrous. After gasoline leaked from one of the four Strombergs onto an exposed plug-wire clip and ignited, Anolik quickly killed the ignition, but both fuel pumps continued blasting fuel onto the hot engine, melting the heavily leaded front end. The remains sat hidden in his home garage for the next half-century, finally resurfacing—still scarred from fire, but complete with the blown 364ci Cadillac pictured—at the 60th Sacramento Autorama in 2009. Anolik later sold the Moon Rocket to collector Joe Hickenbottom and saw the famous custom fully restored before passing away last year. (See May 1959 MT, July 1959 CC, June and Oct. 1959 ML, and July 2010 HRD.)

Oakland promoters Al and Mary Slonaker were interviewed by Editor Dick Day for his Feb. 1960 Car Craft column and show coverage.

Pontiac chief Bunkie Knudsen uniquely capitalized on automakers’ infamous AMA ban of racing involvement to remake his stodgy GM division into a high-performance brand by discreetly arranging for hot V8s to power race cars ranging from NASCAR, USAC, and NHRA stockers to Mickey Thompson’s Challenger I and even the Kurtis Indy roadster that tested high-speed Firestone rubber at the newly opened Daytona International Speedway. A Hilborn-injected, 370ci, rpm-limited Ray Nichels Pontiac powered Jim Rathmann past 190 mph in the straights, with a best 2.5-mile-lap average of 172.8. Few action photos exist from the top-secret session (which further involved Paul Goldsmith in a pair of Grand National stock cars). Bob D’Olivo cleverly composed this one to include a Pontiac support vehicle.

Inspired by the one-piece Shadoff streamliner’s fiberglass body, Ed Roth rocked the custom-car world by reinterpreting the Model T in moldable silica cloth and resin. Introduced as the Excaliber (an unintentional misspelling of King Arthur’s mythical sword), the revolutionary roadster was renamed Outlaw after Roth realized that some showgoers were unaware of the literary reference and/or proper pronunciation.

The off-road champion and fence-jumping stuntman immortalized on a big Triumph in 1963’s The Great Escape looks sheepish posing for Rod & Custom editor Lynn Wineland’s Aug. 1959 article about a vehicle type so new that nobody knew what to name it. R&C went with “go-kart cycles” here. We found other 1959 references to “kart bikes” and “miniature cycles” (but no mention of “minibikes”). Bud Ekins gamely tooled around his San Fernando Valley dealership for a low-speed action shot that ran in the story.

Norm Grabowski landed a speaking part in the campy movie Girls Town. His T tub is the coolest car involved in a Los Angeles River showdown between hot rodders and sporty-car types, but here’s what Petersen photographer Pat Brollier brought back from the set instead. Mamie Van Doren’s costars included 17-year-old Paul Anka (driving the Dodge) and a bunch of 30ish actors pretending to be slang-slinging teenagers. The cult classic is easily found on YouTube, as is a short spoof of highlights done decades later for the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

If you know any of the Petersen ad guys pictured, we’d love to learn what actress-singer Joi Lansing was doing at the annual L.A. sales meeting hosted by boss Robert E. Petersen (kneeling, far left). Yes, she played Shirley Swanson in the 1955-1959 series The Bob Cummings Show/Love That Bob and was Lester Flatt’s wife in The Beverly Hillbillies. Lansing also appeared in many movies, including Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil, during a career cut short by breast cancer at 43, in 1972.

Custom-airbrushed “weirdo” or “monster” shirts were high fashion for 1959 hot rodders. Editor Dick Day devoted his Aug. 1959 Car Craft editorial and a major inside feature to the fad. Artists Pete Millar (shown), Ed Roth, and Dean Jeffries each painted an example for the article.

The camera (left) bears NBC’s logo, and the star-studded panel and “Ballad” signage surely indicate a music-themed production, but our search for any such TV series or special went nowhere. (Help, mature readers?) Along with the best-selling singers visible here, a fifth panelist, Dick Clark, was seated to the right of Connie Francis in other frames.

Sure, Dean Moon’s dual-purpose drag-and-lakes Devin was plenty cool, but it’s the background vehicle that put this shot over the top in final eliminations. Online research into the Oscar Mayer empire revealed this to be one of five ’52-model Wienermobiles adapted to Dodge chassis by Ohio coachbuilder Gerstenslagger. Upon their replacement by a new, streamlined fleet in 1958, this one was presumably put out to pasture in Santa Fe Springs, California. Like us, the kid pedaling past must’ve wondered why it sat behind Moon Equipment Co. As for the race car, Rod & Custom’s subsequent Mar. 1960 cover story credits the frame to Moon’s in-house-fabricator, Harley Klentz, and describes a Potvin-supercharged ’57 Chevy engine bored to 291 cubes. At the time of publication, the 2,000-pounder had hit 170 mph at Bonneville and El Mirage, and made 12-second, 125-mph passes in Modified Sports classes. Eric Rickman got the shot.

Fifty-nine years after little Danny Thompson (foreground) watched his daddy shake down Challenger I at Rogers Dry Lake this August, the kid was destined (at age 69) to average a record 448.757 mph in this car’s successor, the half-century-old Challenger 2. His proud mom, Judy, was also in attendance on both historic occasions.

Bob Petersen’s first two fulltime photographers were themselves rarely photographed at the same event, let alone in a single frame. As Mickey Thompson buckled in for his checkout pass in the Mojave desert, Bob Greene, HRM’s managing editor, captured both Eric Rickman (right), hired in 1950, and Bob D’Olivo (left), a staffer since 1952. (See their photos in the July 2016 HRD.)

Here’s one that didn’t show up in any magazines. Direct from the salt flats, D’Olivo drove the Borgward to Detroit for the NHRA Nationals then home to Los Angeles, a 5,000-mile extended road trip that required a lift near the end.

Scrounging junkyards and horse-trading parts reportedly held Ed Roth’s cash investment in the game-changing Excaliber/Outlaw to under $1,000 (equivalent to $8,500 today), including a fully chromed ’50 Cad built by Fritz Voigt, Mickey Thompson’s in-house genius. A two-piece aluminum T-top seen in construction photos blew off while the car was being trailered between shows and was abandoned, literally. Roth would pull an unknown number of reproduction main-body sections from his mold, but a stiff $230 retail tag resulted in few takers and fewer finished clones. The original debuted in late summer at a Disneyland show and remained a major attraction even after Ed sold it. No price is mentioned in a Mar. 1960 HOT ROD Mart photo ad, but the car reportedly fetched more than $3,000 from the second of multiple owners. In 2018, the T was among the Roth creations brought together for the Amelia Island Concours and presently resides in the Petersen Automotive Museum’s underground vault. (See Jan. 1960 CC cover story.)

Major Petersen Publishing Co. (PPC) advertisers were treated to a deep-sea outing in September, accompanied by at least one ringer: lifelong fisherman Tom Medley, the former cartoonist and editorial staffer working “the dark side” as HRM’s ad manager.

Sorry, your guess is as good as ours! The odd image of what looks like an animal cage was found amongst six rolls exposed by staffer Al Paloczy at Disneyland’s September custom-car show

“Mechanical troubles” sabotaged the dual-engined Kartliner’s Bonneville debut, but what it lacked in displacement (7 ci!), power (12.4 hp), and performance (65 mph) was more than made up for by the massive publicity it generated. Wheelbase was a scant 50 inches for the 193-pound, 29.5-inch-tall prototype built by Rod Schapel (right) and Bill Orndorff of the Rocket Kart engine shop. Copies of their swoopy body would soon be advertised for $250 (about $2,100 now), plus $58 for a canopy. (See Dec. 1959 HRM, Jan. 1960 CC, and Jan. 1960 R&C.)

Berlin was a divided city in 1959, and boss Bob Petersen came no closer to the Communist side during a tour of West German automakers. He was accompanied by Motor Life editor Don Werner, a future competitor who cofounded Argus Publishers (Popular Hot Rodding and so on) with another PPC defector, circulation specialist Gordon Behn.

Do you suppose the boys at Advance Mufflers minded an interruption by British model and actress June Wilkinson? Pat Brollier burned through four rolls of silly setups during a visit presumably arranged by PPC’s advertising team.

Late photographer Colin Creitz left us a rare peek inside Chassis Research Co., the originator of mail-order drag cars. We recognized founder Scotty Fenn (left). A search for his helper’s identity ultimately led to an email address for former employee Roger Wolfard. “The fellow in the picture is me,” came the surprising response. “I worked for Scotty from 1959 to 1964. From there, I wound up at Mickey Thompson’s and got involved with his racing programs.” Perhaps best remembered for the blown-fuel Jeep that was among the few independent Funny Cars competitive with Mercury’s revolutionary ’66 Comet floppers—and, consequently, partly responsible for NHRA’s subsequent ban of topless bodies—Wolfard still wonders what became of his crowd-pleasing, 392-powered Secret Weapon. (If anybuddy knows, kindly email editor Hardin, and we’ll pass the info along.)

Dapper D’Olivo designed and managed a busy photographic department charged with filling the pages of an ever-growing roster of Petersen publications. Starting in 1955, Bob also assumed the task of organizing the massive film archive that makes an historical series like this one possible. At 91, he remains the incomparable authority on the approximately 8.5 million individual frames accumulated before digital photography superseded negatives and transparencies.

Beatniks and their drinking girlfriends were evidently too racy for editorial director Wally Parks and/or his editors, all of whom passed on coverage of a “beatnik party” hosted by Ed Roth. Everyone else captured on two rolls is unfamiliar to us, though Bob D’Olivo recognized a couple of short-haired Petersen ad guys, ironically, who’d traded their usual suits and ties for costumes of freshly torn shirts and shorts.

Notice how close unprotected spectators and photographers were to Jack Chrisman (far lane) and Eddie Hill as the A/Dragster finalists hit top speed at Inyokern (California) Airport’s inaugural Texas versus California championships. Wally Parks wisely kept his distance while shooting the close trophy dash. (See Feb. 1960 HRM.)

The unidentified crewman who wandered into this shot seems to be reacting to whatever curse was hurled down from Eric Rickman’s ladder perch. The unfortunate intrusion was probably responsible for an otherwise wonderful composition’s omission from HRM’s Feb. 1960 Inyokern coverage. Dig the contrast between bitchin’ 1934 Fords, both classified as B/Altereds: the chopped Hart’s Automotive entry versus George “Boltloose” Bolthoff’s full-fendered, wire-wheeled beauty.

Last but not least, from the Hell Hath No Fury Dept. comes Bob Petersen’s Mercedes 300R. His actress girlfriend left his hillside house in a huff one December night, yanked the car out of gear, and released the emergency brake. The fence and shrubbery belonging to his downstream neighbor prevented the car from flopping into that guy’s home. Needless to say, this is one new-car durability test you never saw in Motor Trend or Motor Life. Bob D’Olivo related the story, adding that the car was eventually repaired and traded to a local import dealer.

The post Backstage Past: Streamliners, Customs, Race Cars, and Hollywood Stars Made 1959 Memorable appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/streamliners-customs-race-cars-hollywood-stars-made-1959-memorable/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hot Rod Network

0 notes