Indholdsfortegnelse for September 1950 i Hot Rod

Who’ll be the Bonneville champions this year? Your guess is as good as any. From all indications there is every reason to believe that hot rod builders in other parts of the country are bent on taking their share of honors away from Southern Californians who dominated last year’s competition. Although the most coveted goal is that of setting the highest speed of the entire week-long event, there are still 22 classes for competition, with records and trophies available in each one. Many new classes have been added since last year’s initial event, among which are six separate divisions for competition coupes. Although no extensive interest has been shown by owners of sports cars or foreign made cars, these are nonetheless welcome, and in a few cases challenged, to attend…

The Cal-Neva Roadster Association, not yet two years old, is rapidly becoming to the Northern part of the state what the SCTA is to the lower half: coordinator of far-flung club activities, organizer of events intended to promote the sport and to bring more pleasure to its followers, propagandist for the ideas of craftsmanship and safety. Working with a dozen affiliated clubs whose total membership numbers around 200, Cal-Neva has found it possible, within the past year, to stage two roadster shows, four lakes meets, two road races, and a reliability run. All meets are accurately timed and competition points are awarded as well as the customary trophies. In other words, Cal-Neva fills a long-felt need, and rapid growth of the organization can be safely predicted. The ’50 season got…

The popularity of organized roadsters has been weakened in past years by a minority who have been unable to resist matching their cars in illegal street drag races without heed to imperiling themselves or the spectators. With the present safety-mindedness toward “hopped-up” cars, however, organized drag racing continues to grow in popularity. One of the first and smoothest groups to grow from the need of a controlled meet is the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association. This club has held some exceptionally fine meets since its inception in October, 1949, and is gaining momentum steadily. Although the competing cars come largely from the Los Angeles area, there are some very rapid cars in the club. One of these, a beautiful red ’32 roadster owned by John Quinton, was the fastest in the…

Class winners at this year’s Bonneville Nationals will be in for a big surprise when they see the new array of trophies for presentation. Donated by Hot Rod Magazine, the new awards have been specially designed and manufactured for this specific occasion. Exclusive SCTA figures, in gold, silver, and bronze finishes, all mounted on genuine walnut bases, will be given to winners in the Roadster, Modified, Lakester, and Streamliner classes. Special Coupe cups with onyx bases will be awarded to the winners of the six Competition Coupe class divisions. A beautiful new 4-foot gold trophy, known as the Hot Rod Magazine Trophy, will be presented for the fastest clocked time of the meet. Created by Awards, Inc., of Los Angeles, suppliers of this year’s Bonneville trophies, it is to be…

Motorcycle vs. hot rod proved to be the peak of a day’s racing activity recently, even though the scheduled event didn’t get under way until most of the paying spectators had gone home. In a joint-sanctioned event, held at an inactive Navy blimp base near Santa Ana, California, members of the American Motorcycle Association and the Southern California Timing Association pitted some of their finest bikes and hot rods against each other in a brief series of match drag races. Fans and rooters for both factions lined up alongside the asphalt runway and kept busy screaming their praises or disappointments, depending upon which type of vehicle came out in front. This was the initial full scale venture of its type, in the Southern California area, and was scheduled as a…

Four models of four cylinder Ford engines were built during the years of 1928 to 1933, inclusive. The first of these engines, the “Model A,” became famous for its simplicity and dependability. Many Model A engines were converted for use in race cars, straightaway cars, and roadsters and although the performance of these converted engines was nothing short of terrific at the time, dependability was practically nil. Most of the failures encountered originated in the crankshaft, connecting rod, and bearing assemblies. In 1932 the Model A engine was replaced with the Model B. Although similar in design and dimensions to the A, B engines were fitted with larger rod and main bearings and had pressure lubrication to the main and camshaft bearings. B crankshafts had slightly larger counterweights than those…

The eager reception accorded MOTORAMA, the exciting exposition of motorized equipment to be held in Los Angeles this fall, indicates that this show will be a most successful event. At a get-together held in mid-July by the management of MOTORAMA for prospective exhibitors, more than 6o representatives of local and national firms in the automotive, motorcycle, boat and airplane fields gave their hearty approval to the show and expressed great enthusiasm for its basic aims and purposes. Much outstanding equipment, such as record-breaking cars and motorcycles in the sport and speed realm, will be given prominent display space in this show. Numerous personalities, whose names are associated with championship and record-holding accomplishments, will attend during the four days of the exposition and will appear on the regular daily entertainment program.…

The most taken-for-granted part of most automobiles is the exhaust system. In your own search for increased performance and greater driving satisfaction you have probably installed special equipment on your engine and kept it tuned to perfection but possibly have not given any thought to the exhaust. Many makes of passenger cars are equipped with restricted and inefficient systems which effectively silence exhaust noise but in so doing develop excessive back pressure. Back pressure is a positive pressure in the exhaust system and has a detrimental effect on engine performance. It is caused by manifolds and mufflers which either do not have the capacity to handle the volume of exhaust gases created by the engine or are so restricted by turns or bends and small passages that the gases cannot…

SCTA JULY MEET One-way runs were the order of the day as the SCTA went into its third two-day meet of the 1950 series at El Mirage Dry Lake, July 8-9. 1950. Although the total length of the course, from starting line to finish point, was only 1.3 miles, the car speeds that appeared in the final results were higher than the usual level in most classes. Most of the opening day’s runs were made into the face of a direct head wind but a sudden wind shift, late in the day, brought new life to the competition and a sudden flurry of enthusiasm which enabled 116 timed runs to be made within a two hour period. With steadily increasing speeds, more and more cars were finishing “in the points”…