Quote:
Originally Posted by unclebilly
My dad was a gear head and got his first car when he was 13. It was a 38 Ford sedan. He fixed it all up and used to go out driving around - this would have been 1955. When my grandfather found out, he took off the wheels so dad and his buddies used to go sit in the car and listen to the radio. Then something happened and my grandfather sold the car. My dad was so pissed off that he moved out of the house (he only told me this recently). When things simmered down, he moved back home (maybe a month or so).
Dad then built 2 dragsters with a friend. The first was a model T with a Chrysler 392 he built they didn’t like the high speed stability of the flat windshield. The second had a Messerschmidt body and was the first car in western Canada to run a supercharger at NHRA sanctioned events. Dad was 16 when they started racing the Messerschmitt that he and a friend built.
Here are some early photos of the Messerschmidt (no blower yet).
Taken behind my grandfather’s garage in Edmonton and has been posted all over the interwebs, notably by jalopnik.
Another taken behind my grandfather’s place.
Dad prevented me from getting into racing when I was younger. He always said that all you get is a bunch of trophies that your kids wreck, they promise to fix them but never do. |
I just had the wrong dad. I would have slept in that car every night. After every race when I was 14 I cleaned my kart with a toothbrush and my mom would let me drag it into my room. I will never understand that. I think I slept in it several times.
My dad never once drove me to a race. I always had a friend who had a kart take me and my kart with them while he played golf. Later in life I took other kids to the track. with their karts while their dads played golf.