"Black Widow" 1957 Chevrolet Racing Cars and NASCAR

 1957 National Champion, Buck Baker
 Buck Baker (87), Jack Smith (47), Nance Mattingly(154), Ralph Moody(97)

At Daytona, Johnny Beauchamp leads this pack

Thanks to Samuel Matchett for making  me aware of a topic I knew nothing about -- in truth, I am quite a novice historian when it comes to racing.

The history of the "Black Widow" Chevrolet racing car turns on the creation of SEDCO -- Southern Engineering and Development Company -- headed by former Hudson chief of racing, Vince Piggins. Set up in 1957 and with the blessing of Ed Cole, GM sent to Atlanta "the cheapest cars they could make race cars out of them," according to former employee Bradley Dennis, who also had a business that was created in support of SEDCO, the "Atlanta Tune  Up Service." the cars were distinguished with 6 lug axles "that had been lying around" and stiffened frames.
Among the great drivers behind the wheel of the "Black Widows" were Fireball Roberts, Larry Frank, Speedy Thompson, Bob Welborn, and Joe Lee Johnson.

A Brief Review of "Frank Lockhart: American Speed king," by Sarah Morgan-Wu and James O'Keefe

I finally had a look at the Frank Lockhart book authored by Sarah Morgan-Wu and James O'Keefe.  A great resource on Lockhart and auto racing during the 1920s, with a fabulous collection of photographs and related documents. But is it the last word on Lockhart?  Absolutely not.  What is missing in this work is broad context, more specifically placing Lockhart into the culture of sports and American life during the 1920s.  the 1920s was a new age of mass consumption on the part of fans and heroic accounts written in the popular press. That is the work of the next serious biographer.  I kept thinking, how does Lockhart's experience parallel that of Charles Lindbergh, a contemporary who evoked similar comparisons related to American individualism, technological innovation, pioneering traditions of class and education, and more. How would a good read of the sports pages of major and minor newspapers  in this era shed light on the topic? Auto racing has enormous promise as a topic worthy of serious work, despite the mass of materials already in print.

Stolen Cars: the use of post cards to transmit vehicle information during the 1920s

 Hi folks-- the preferred way that information about stolen cars was transmitted during the 1920s was via the mail. In an age before teletype communications and computers, police in large cities received daily "hot sheets." But for descriptions of stolen cars to go beyond a municipality the insurance companies involved sent out these postcards to police departments. Note that this 1925 had a Fox wheel lock and a hub odometer, and that the thief is identified as Allen C. White. If he crossed the state border he violated the Dyer Act, and then theleagal penalties became quite serious.

From Ed Garten: Below the Surface of Repurposed Buildings -- Boston's Automobile Row

  Below the Surface of Repurposed Buildings: Fascinating Automotive History


 While serving as a consultant to the Institute for Professional Studies at Boston University last week my team and I found ourselves working in an elegant and beautiful old building, now owned by Boston University.  Inquiring minds like mine wanted to know: “What purpose did this building serve in an earlier era?”  Quietly I asked our hosts this question and was led down a hallway where I was shown a door leading to an elaborate concrete circular ramp inside the building – a ramp that led up to the fifth floor.  I was told that this building, designed by the important American industrial architect Albert Kahn, had been part of the nation’s first downtown “Automobile Row” where many brands of automobiles were showcased and sold through a dozen or so dealer franchises from the early 1920s through the late 1970s after which most of the dealerships either closed or moved to the suburbs of Boston.   Boston’s “Automobile Mile” was the forerunner of today’s contemporary auto malls typically now found in our suburbs or alongside our Interstate highways. Two websites showcase this important development in the consolidation of dealerships in the downtown of a major American city.  In the first website, posted by the Public Relations department of Boston University, view the neat video where you’re given a tour of the old dealerships as they now appear in their repurposed state.   Both websites offer a fascinating view into an earlier time when folks “went downtown” to  be amazed with the new cars coming to market, wheel and deal, and then perhaps drive away with new wheels for the family.  While downtown dealerships are few and far between these days, its great to know that gracious old buildings like these aren’t just being torn down, but rather are being given new life.  Certainly in the case of 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, this earlier elegant multi-franchise automobile agency is now serving the purposes of higher education.

And what about that circular ramp inside of 808 Commonwealth Avenue?  Well, in earlier days autos of all the brands sold downstairs were stored on various floors of the building.  During a break in our consulting work, our client led us up that ramp to the 5th floor where we discovered, under a tarp, a Model T Ford Pickup truck that had been left behind after the University took over the facility.  Perhaps this was a parts car for someone who worked at one of the dealerships, then restoring a Model T.  Who knows, but the 1922 Oklahoma license plate on the old vehicle might tell many stories if only it could talk.  That truck, also, can be found on the video found on the first web link.

808 Commonwealth Avenue Boston

http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/a-trip-down-automobile-row/ 

Early Internal Combustion Pioneers: Lenoir, Otto, Clerk, Bernardi, and Delamare-Deboutteville

Lenoir Engine

                                                                      Otto Engine

                                                                      Nicholas Otto

                                                                    Ad for Clerk engine

                                                                Delamare-Debouteville

                                                                        Enrico Bernardi

Many Europeans experimented with using illuminating gas and petroleum as fuels for mechanical transport through internal combustion in the 1860s and later; notable among these were Etienne Lenoir in Paris, Nicholas Otto in Cologne, Dugald Clerk in Scotland, Enrico Bernardi in Italy, and Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville in France. But the first successes of major consequence in applying lightweight gasoline engines to vehicles came in southwestern Germany.

Some very nice customs from Ed Brown's Garage, near Leechburg, PA

Photos sent to me by Samuel Matchett!!