Innehållsförteckning för May 1952 från Hot Rod

This issue’s Hot Rod of the Month is a roadster which always I attracts lots of attention wherever it goes. A bright red '29-A Merc, it is one of California’s finest hot rods, having won prize awards at both the Motorama in Los Angeles and the National Roadster Show in Oakland. Calif. Built by its owner, Dick Flint, the car is the end product of five years work and represents an investment of approximately $3500 in time and materials. Consequently, it gets loving care. Although it was built primarily for street use. the roadster has proven its capabilities at the lakes many times. Fastest clocked speed to date was 143.54 mph. In stripped condition for running at the lakes, the car weighs 1900 lbs. Owner Flint runs the car in…

The time is rapidly drawing near when hot rodders from all over the nation will be wending their way to that Mecca of speed, the Bonneville Nationals. This year, for the fourth consecutive season, the SCTA sponsored speed trials will be run over the flat surface of the gleaming white salt beds of Utah. With each year 's turnout successively larger than that of the year before, officials anticipate a record attendance of participants and spectators at the colorful week-long event. New cars are being built in back yards and garages in all parts of the country, aimed toward taking advantage of this unparalleled opportunity to test speed performances under conditions of utmost safety. The fact that anyone whose car can pass the Téchnical Committee 's inspection is eligible to…

MEXICAN ROAD RACE GRIPE I think your magazine is tops and never miss an issue. But your write-up on the Mexican Road Race was the most biased article I have ever read. If I were Sterling I would either sue you or beat the devil out of that guy that wrote the article. It is time you jerks in California got around to admitting that Chrysler is the definite king of the road. The article states that Sterling’s car wasn’t hopped up at all yet it beat Ruttman’s Merc that was worked over from one end to the other. Sterling placed third, yet the article stated the Merc was the Ferraris’ most consistent threat. How does that figure? And was there any praise for Bettenhausen who averaged 113 mph on…

Of the spring crop of motor shows held across the nation all had one thing in common: an oversize display of hot rods. And it didn’t take an expert to see that most of the rods were masterpieces of beauty and construction. On the West Coast, for the third straight year, the National Roadster Show (Oakland, Calif.) made a tangible acknowledgment of one of these beautiful cars by presenting a nine-foot perpetual trophy to what it termed “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster.” This year’s winner was Bud Crackbon’s pickup (see Feb. HRM, The Car with the Unhurried Look). Bud is a member of the San Francisco Ramblers.…

Vice President Director of Engineering and Research Chrysler Corporation REPRINTED FROM SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS PAPER NO. 750 PHOTOS AND DRAWINGS COURTESY CHRYSLER CORPORATION INTRODUCTION The motor car engine, as we know it, is nearly sixty years old; and by the nor mal processes of evolution it should have taken on a semblance of immutability which would permit no drastic change. It may seem strange, therefore, to have the title of a paper suggest new and, by implication, valuable changes at this late date; yet, such is the intention. Throughout this paper, I shall discuss the spherical segment combustion chamber—its history within our organization, its features, good and bad. and its potentialities for the future. It may be of interest to review the background which led to our decision at…

A couple of young research engineers with a hankering for a hot rod with a real bite went to work at their drawing board and came up with a creation they dubbed the “Anteater.” Production on the car started just three weeks before the opening of a California dry lakes sea son. By working a crew of volunteers un til 4 A.M. the morning of the meet, the young engineers had their Anteater finished and without any testing were able to smash the then existing records. That was back in 1949. The builders, Bob Garrett and Harold Osborn, have used the car mainly for experimental purposes to test equipment manufactured by Garrett. Weighing 2800 lbs., the Anteater is built on a '34 Ford frame and has a Model “A” rear…

HRM TECHNICAL EDITOR Pete Coltrin was an unhappy fellow when he drove his 1949 Olds 88 Hydra-Matic club sedan into the Miller Brothers Automotive Service for a tune-up. One of that ever-expanding group of individuals who desire “just a little more oomph in their automobiles, Pete, who lives in Altadena, Calif., and is a senior at nearby Claremont College, had already milled the heads on his 88.090 of an inch, installed an Edmunds dual manifold with two stock Carter carburetors, a 3/4 cam, Mallory ignition, and dual exhaust pipes with Mitchell 30-inch mufflers. But something was lacking—the car still didn’t have the punch Pete wanted. The Miller Brothers Automotive Service, in Whittier, Calif., is operated by Ak. Lawrence, and Zeke Miller, three veteran members of the SCTA. Pete’s trouble was…

It’s common knowledge that the Willys Jeep will do almost anything. Built for all-around transport use over the most rugged 'terrain, these little machines long ago proved themselves one of the most highly prized pieces of equipment in use by the military, and have since become the farmer’s and sportsman’s best friend. But, versatile as it is known to be. the Jeep has only recently been afforded the opportunity to prove what a vast amount of unexplored possibility it has been holding in reserve. It took the pioneering instinct of an enterprising hot rod specialist, Vic Hickey, owner of Hickey Enterprises, South Gate, California, to develop some simple items which have converted the Jeep into a machine capable of almost double its original accomplishments. And it took a road test…

HRM Technical Editor WE STAND CORRECTED Dear Don: I hope you will not take offense to my being so familiar as to call you by your first name, but I have read your articles in HRM so religiously that I feel I know you. I just received my March issue of HRM and I am up a stump about some of your figures pertaining to butane purchases on your recent trip. You stated that you paid $31.22 for 146 gallons of butane. I am no mathematician, but when I figure the cost per gallon it comes to a bit more than 21.3 cents. You also stated that the butane you bought cost from 14 to 20 cents per gallon. According to my figures the average cost is more than the…

Hot Rod Records, first turned loose on the country last month, are accelerating over the airways with the speed of a nitro-charged full house, according to top disk jocks throughout the nation. Platter spinners report that audience re action to programs featuring the Colossal label has been tremendous, with requests from hot rod fans for Joe Darensbourg and his Flat Out Five coming into radio stations in a steady stream. Southern California disk jockeys, who got first crack at the colorful cuttings, are beginning to burn with hot rod fever themselves it was discovered when several were caught making discreet inquiries at HRM about costs of headers, extra pots, cams, blowers, and the like. Reviews and comments by Hollywood ditty dingers should warm the carburetor hearts of avid hot rod…