20 replies to this topic

[Frank S]

Gifted the loan of some good ol' photos by Phil Binks, racer and
photographer from days gone by, I am no longer able to restrain
myself. Herewith six views, incompletely described as a challenge
and request for identifications. I know where they are; some of
who and when.


One: A car that starts with "V" at a One-time-only
Central California venue, September, 1953 (1952?).



Two: I'll need some help on pronouncing the name of this car;
no idea who is/are owner/driver; same date and venue as No. One.



Three: Same time and place, easier for me to say,
no more information re: driver / owner.



Four: I know where and driver name, not the car;
can you see the label says, "SCUDERIA SSS"?;
I heard this fellow now lives on the Isle Of Man.



Five: Car, driver, place should be easy; year?;
is it worth dicovering who are those others?



Six: Place is easy (Amazon finally shipped the book,
they say); when?; who are those guys?




Frank S

[David McKinney]

Two
That'll be an Effyh, perhaps the one raced by John Fitch

[Jonas]

Originally posted by Frank S
I'll need some help on pronouncing the name of this car;

The pronounciation is pretty straight-forward, I'd say. Try "Offy" but switch the "O" with an "E"
For those who don't know about the Effyh car: These cars were constructed and built for the 500 cc F3 class in Malmö, Sweden by the brothers F olke and Y ngve H åkansson, whose initials also formed the name. The cars were mostly fitted with a JAP speedway engine. In the beginning these cars were ment to be raced on horse trotting tracks and lacked fraont breaks. But as "normal" racing grew more popular with time even in this class, the cars were fitted with drum brakes on all wheels.
The cars had been successful on the dirt tracks but apparently prooved too short and unstable at higher speeds. I know several people here in Sweden that races these cars in historic racing and can confirm this..

[Hse289]

Picture 5. Ken Miles, Dolphin Porsche.

[WDH74]

I have a small bit of Information on Number Six (sorry, couldn't help myself!). It's Elkhart Lake, obviously, and my barely educated guess puts it as September 1952. See that two tone Buick parked on the sidewalk, in front of the window of the grey building? The same car is parked in the same exact spot in a picture on pg. 62 of "American Sports Car Racing in the 1950's" . The red car (furthest from the camera) looks suspiciously like John Von Neumann's LeMans Porsche coupe after Emil Diedt cut the roof off in the summer of '52.
'Course, in the same book there's a picture of the same corner, looking more up the street, of a pair of Allards being chased by a pair of Cunninghams, that's dated 1951, and the Buick is still parked there.....I'm guessing that car was owned by a bartender at Schuler's.
-William

[Doug Nye]

'SSS' emblem is that of the youthful Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata's Scuderia Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia. That I recognise - the driver I do not...

DCN

[Gerr]

Photo 3 is Josie Von Neumann's Lincoln-Allard. She used the #12 in the Madera airport race(s), November 9, 1952. Won a 8 lap "Ladies Race".

Madera also had the perforated metal (is that called Marsden Mat ?)paddock surface.

[dolomite]

What appears to be the same Effyh as that in Photo 2 is pictured in David Hodges' A-Z of Formula Racing Cars, page 82. Hodges states that this car is one of a handful that was exported to the USA in 1951.

[antonvrs]

Number 1 would be a Veritas- probably at Madera. This could be the one that later got a SIATA V8 installed- maybe one of the most esoteric engine swaps of all time?
Anton

[Frank S]

Thank y'all for your valuable responses.

I have a little more information about the #1 car with a "V":
It is pretty certainly not a Veritas, and therefor not the one with the exotic transplant. That one was owned and raced by Walter "Watsie" Roach, and can be seen trailing a Kurtis on Tam's Race Car site. More information farther down that page.

Phil Binks said the car was sold away with the two powerplants, the buyer offering $9,000 for the Italian engine and getting the car and spares for an additional $1,000.

Another bit or two of info about the #4 formula car appears in thread "Experiments, weird, bizarre, useless, etc"


Frank S

[dbw]

sort of related...i have some shots of ed ingalls in his "ingalls special" [car #9] at madera sitting on the perforated strips...when i owned the car it had old race plaques still on the dash!...the car still exists but sadly without the spitfire six....

the red topless porsche still exists and now resides with chuck forge just a few minutes drive from my house in calif [wheel spats and all]

when my brother finished his residency at uc he took over a practise in turlock cal...one day he suggested we drive out to a small field to see his private plane..we drove thru crop rows on dirt roads to a place that could never be found unless you knew exactly where it was...it seems that it was serving as the fueling stop for the local cropdusters...the runway was made of the perforated strips and were still in daily use!..parked close by was a rather tatty b-25 that frank tallman had purchased and was flying down south when the hydraulics failed...he managed to land it at the small nameless airstrip and when i saw it it had a huge oil slick under it....my brother said 2 weeks later it was gone...he also said the central valley[of california] was dotted with such airstrips used for training during WWII....most abandoned,some still in use[sort-of]...the FAA would s*it if they saw the antics of the dusters getting on and off the ground!


the car in photo # 2 right behind the "98"...could that be a muntz jet?

[antonvrs]

I'm laughing at myself because I looked at picture #1 this morning and immediately thought "Victress" then scrolled down to find that I had called it a Veritas. I can't find anything to back this up with but I remember that Victress built several different fiberglass sports car bodies in the '50s. I've called a friend who may have the book I remember with pics of many '50s fiberglass bodies and maybe we'll be able to pin it down.

Extra dumb because Fred Puhn had already sent me a pic of "Wattsie" Roach's Veritas.

BTW, a few years ago the Siata engine from that Veritas passed through my hands on it's way to it's current owner who owns a Siata spider.

I hope all this stuff isn't too boring to members in other parts of the world 'cause I'm having fun with it.
Anton

[humphries]

Frank

Although I am the other side of the pond I'll dare to pass some comments on the U.S scene.
If photos #1-3 were all at the same venue and it was only used once that would exclude Madera;
an annual race was held there for a number of years. Therefore could the circuit be Stout Field?
There was an Allard there driven by Jack Ensley, the Canadian, but the car has California licence plates? John Barneson had an Allard around that time, possibly it his car?

The Effyh could be that of Tip Blume or maybe one Brewster? Sherwood Johnston also had one, the Fitch car? However, was there a race class for 500cc F3 cars at Stout Field, as there was at Madera?

The SSS Venezia car could be the Gemini 4A that was raced by Colin Davis in 1962 for that scuderia. The only person I know of who had a 4A in the States in 1963 was Chuck McCarty or possibly Jordan King who had a Gemini that I thought was a 3A. Perhaps this is the same car as King switched to a Lotus. Does either live in the Isle of Man?

Sorry, more questions than answers!

John

[Frank S]

Thank you, John.

I am convinced (for now) that the "Madera" venue is actually Madera: the photos were very pointedly "at Madera", and the "one time only" an offhand parenthetic. Stout Field is a new one on me. I'll be interested to learn about that.

Anyone's information about the Effyh is worthy at the moment; I don't sense a concensus, yet.

I knew from the beginning that it was Chuck McCarty in the Gemini, but Phil the photographer drew a blank for a few weeks until just a few days ago, when "Gemini" finally emerged. I belive he'll be happy to hear your "4A" information.

For me it is great fun and most rewarding to watch these things fall into place. I hope no one objects to its taking place in public.


--
Frank S

[HiRich]

Always good to resurrect old threads.

I've been working throught Bob Norton's remarkable collection of Californian magazines. Although I've come up with no actual results (or entry details) for the Formula IIIs at Madera, 9th November 1952, there was planned a dedicated Formula III race (Race 2, planned to be either 12 or 15 laps).

What I have cobbled together is that in 1952, Effyhs appeared in the hands of Tip Blume and Sherwood Johnston in California - two cars as they appeared in the same race at least once. And Tip Blume was using No. 98 on at least a couple of occasions. So that's Tip Blume's car.

One interesting feature of the Effyh is the wishbones made from spring steel, pictured on the 500OA website:
www.500race.org/Marques/Effyh.htm

[Huw Jadvantich]

Isle of Man....Geoff Duke.........

[RCampbell]

I found another photo of the Effyh that was pictured (the number '98" car). I have no idea where or when the photo was taken.
http://www.flickr.co...roc/2086394919/

Rich

[Barry Boor]

Seeing as we are talking Effyh... here are two Swedish cars from the beautifully sunny ( ) Historic Festival at Brands last June:





Please see apology on next post.

[Barry Boor]

Humble apologies, everyone.

Car #31 is NOT an Effyh, it is a Swebe!

[Frank S]

Yes, it is always good to disinter old threads. I have this from Geoffrey Hacker:

 

Hi Frank…

 

Hope this e-mail finds you well.  The 1^st mystery car in the following post is a “Vale.”  Here’s your post:

 

http://forums.autosp...uiz-assistance/

 

I have been writing about this car on our website “Forgotten Fiberglass” and am the historian for this car marque.

 

http://www.forgotten...r-marques/vale/

 

Would it be possible to get a 300 dpi/hi res scan of this image?

 

Hope you can help and have a great Sunday…

Sincerely,

Geoff Hacker

www.ForgottenFiberglass.com

 

To Find Out More:  http://www.undiscovered-classics.com/about/ 

 

And in response to my request for permission to pass on his message in this thread: 

 

Of course - the Vale is one of the handcrafted sports cars of the 1950s -
it's based on the 1947 (or so) Cisitalia Nuvolari Spyder.  Please share the
links in my e-mail to you below so your readers/anyone interested can read
more stories about the Vale if they like.

Kudos to my friend Marshall Foxworthy for sending my your thread so we could
help.

Best...

Geoff

 

 

So, is that chapter closed?

[eldougo]

That must be a record for a update on a subject,last post Dec 2007.TNF never closed.

 

Thanks Frank.

Edited by eldougo, 30 June 2014 - 06:04.