47 Hammer, my friend Jeff Robbins --that sold Charlie the Vette tells me that Charlie used the 4WD Olds to cruise down Nichols Canyon. As we all know Nichols is about as wide as an alley --so Charlie used the car to bowl down stop signs. The car may still be parked in his Mom's Drveway , about 3 blocks from me. I had completely forgotten about the Chevron station (then Standard ?) at Beverly / Crescent ...my folks took us there for Foster Freeze cones at the corner ;) Jeff R. is a part time stunt driver, and did some cool driving for DiNero's "Ronnen" .
This is my '69 SS350 that Jeff bought in the '70s , I prepared it with Traco heads and dynod it regularly at Nobu's Hollywood and Fiasco NHollywood. It was mostly a Lions drag racer/ street racer--as the turbo hydro trans was not really at home in the twisties ;)
Anyone seen this '69 around in SoCal? It has tow bars and an Endura front bumper.
Marty

The '69 Lemans Blue SShttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171219831.jpg

"1985 VW DoppleCabine/ LT1- 400bhp"


Yikes !!!

...actually goes thru mulholland pretty sweet !http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171232178.jpg

I like it.

OK, so now it's:

" Corvairs, Fiestas, Bonsai Caddy's, DoppleCabines mit V8 and a DKW "

You buy that from Martin Schneider? Or ... ARE you Martin Schneider? ;)


-Marco

Wassup Marco ? I should pay you guys a visit one day...long overdue !
marty

Jeff Robbins? Did he drive a tow truck in the early '70's for Art Levin Auto Service on 3rd St? and he had that cool '64-'65 Black Vette with the flares and sidepipes and now owns a tire shop on Washington near Arlington in LA? If so I know him. I also brought my car over to Nobu's a time or two. Did you know Bill S and his hot '67 Chevelle? Amazing...

Hammer, yes that's Jeff R. He considered himself the King , then sold the vette to Charlie. Jeff's partner Henry at the Washington/ Arlington biz, died of a sudden illness, and Jeff moved on to a new shop in Redondo beach. Art Levin's old place was sublet and became (the first) RPS automotive (Rick's) . Art's mom and dad lived in the same apt bldg that I did back then. Remember Nobu's supercharged malibu? That was trick. I drove up Kirkwood Dr. today and no sign of the 4WD Olds in any driveways. If Charlie's mom still lives up there , it may be parked inside a garage.

Right, Herny worked with Chuck Francis at the Shell Station/Tire shop on Fairfax next to the Farmers Daughter Motel and then moved to the tire store on Beverly Blvd and Laurel. Henry was the big buff guy, real nice to me. I don't remember ever seeing Cupcake up on the hill other than to winch out a car that had gone over the side. Jeff towed John Hall's blue bug off the hill the night a friend hit the phone pole and totaled it.

RPS was owned by Rick Norris and I hung out there every so often. I was good friends with his brother Marc, he now owns BMW workshop in Canoga Park. He was always a good wrench. Do you remember Art's award winning German Shepards?

Art's (& wife Dotty) doggy company was known as Von Bessler Schloss . I designed his logo. Dogs were trained in the German language of course ! Art tried one of every avocation known to man, and did every one well.
Chuck F. is still there , but no longer a Shell Gas...mostly Mustang , muscle car restos, and movie car rental.
The more I know about Mulholland, the more I like Willow Springs:D
The old sign at Lions Dragstrip read: "Drive the highways, Race at Lions" I totally respect Mulholland today, coming up on a mountain biker even at 35 mph can be a life or death situation .
It might even be me on the bike:eek:

I bought these 'Vette wheels from Chuck in Summer of 1978...


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...n/img150-1.jpg

Re: REX RAMSEY
 

Rex had family in FL, so he probably likes the climate. ;)

Jeff,
Le Mans was the last true Road Racing film.1969 It seems that the top actors since
don't have the Passion that Steve Mc Queen had.He put it on the line and no filmakers have .John Frankenheimer Director of Grand Prix
made RONIN with great chase nearly as exiciting as Bullit was sole
director of great car films. It seems that there is a vacancy for true race films. HPV

Jeff ,
speaking of those gorgeous Lola T70's Never having met you,I'm guessing you met John Mason ? John built many T70 ,RSR'S over the years. John worked with Newman Haas,BMW Ma Claren etc. HPV

SSB (Peugeot 505) Wrote: ""I like it.

OK, so now it's:

" Corvairs, Fiestas, Bonsai Caddy's, DoppleCabines mit V8 and a DKW """

Well, you were always the first to have some variety , right?

Too bad we can't park up on the hill after dusk- it would be a fun reunion of sorts to get the various players from the different generations to meet up there one night to shoot the breeze. I am sure a lot more stories would surface

I spoke with John Ward again this morning. For a guy who is semi-retired he is busy still doing bodywork and refinishing cars.

The Evil Seville: based on a 79 Seville body and grafted the upper body skin onto a Speedway Engineering Chassis. John's best friend is Ken Sapper (started Speedway Engineering) and is known throughout the stock car circle. The Seville was powered by a LS7 454 with twin turbos, propane powered and aided by a cold shot of laughing gas. I asked why he built it (dumb question). I cannot put in text his exact words but something to the tune of blowing the ******* doors off Ferrari and Porsche's with a laugh.

Also John did modify the Lola T70's used in THX 1138.
They were real Lolas not kits or clones. According to John Dan McLaughlin did some glass work for him and that was all. One coupe was returned to the Studio and the other (the first one wrecked in the film) John kept and rebuilt. That coupe ended up with Dan McLaughlin via a trade was traded back to John shortly after. Haggerty didn't end up with one of these. Dan may have made body molds off this coupe?

John also is a former 24 Hour Daytona winner (1st, 3rd in class). He ran the Titus/ Godsall Camaro/ Firebird in 1969. Here are photos of the restored bird from Daytona.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171314076.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171314087.jpg

His secretary is going to try to get a pic of the Seville. All were done on film back then so may be (in Dan McLaughlin's words) un-obtainium.

Articles on Johns cars:
New West 1981 (Bonzai addition)
Auto Week 4/6/1992 -11/13/1995
Sports Car International 4/2002- 2/1992
Muscle Machine 3/2007

Speaking about Lemans. This is how they did the crash scene of the 917. The car was a Lola T70 chassis that had the 917 bodywork on it. (Much cheaper to sacrifice than a 917). The car was rigged with a remote control and set free. The car actually lost its radio signal and full throttled away into the Armco producing a stellar perfect crash with multiple camera's running. On another note it was not this crash that driver David Piper lost his foot. .
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171314788.jpg

Driverless car at full throttlehttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171314844.jpg

Radio control man after the wreck of the first Ferrari in the film. This was also a Lola sacrificed as they were cheap and expendable.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171315104.jpg

Ford Gt40 camera car just for the film. I dont recall a spyder version. Hum? Where is that car today?
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1171315306.jpg

Jeff Hail

Thanks to all you guys for re-living all these stories here. I was just a kid in the 70's, but I read every story I could about what was going on in SoCal back then and it's a big part of what's fueled my passion for cars ever since.

I remember reading about that Seville. I wonder where it is today?