Hi Paul, Thanks for your reply about my mention of the bygone
Vacaville, California drag strip . This was just a part of an email I sent
to a friend of mine ...... but I thought a few on the list might like to read
it ..... but not all ( they can delete it, as I do some of the stuff that
gets
posted that isn't of much interest to me ) I am quite busy with dozens
of projects : photos from five different Speedweeks, and loads of drag
meets, and also some from the "coupe" era of modified stock car racing,
and car / shop / yard projects, and some very interesting automotive
articles I have been wanting to send to our list for months now ..... they
take a bit of time for this one finger typist ...... that must tie in with
my being left handed ! You wanted some old rodding articles ......
I will forward some stuff I wrote before, and you may put it in
your newsletter, if you see fit to . They are just old memories and
recollections from about the late Forties on ...... pretty dusty stuff !
It is sunny here, too, and I should be out reorganizing my larger shop
( 48' X 28', two story ) and enlarging my welding area !!! I have a huge
collection of rod / custom / drag & oval photos that I took from the early
Fifties onward ...... but no scanner yet . I get asked to bring my photo
displays to some of the car meets and reunions ...... many of the guys
enjoy them, but, as always, many people ( NOT just in cars & racing )
seem to have no interest in, or reverence for, the PAST, or the people
from our past ! I can only chalk that up to : We' re All Different
.......
and we must realize it' s best we are !!!
At last Sunday's drag reunion many guys were interested in the one
I made up of our ( Doug, Darrell, Bruce Ferguson ) Black Radon altered
debut at Speedweek 2000 ...... I got more than a few nice words on the
posters of our car, and of coupes & roadsters on the salt .......
the Real Hot Rod types from the Thirties that ring my bell !!!
The altered is featured in this month' s Gearhead Magazine, along
with a good article on the World of Speed salt outing, and just last night
my "samestate" buddy Bob ( want1937hd ) Swanson emailed me to look
at the new T-shirts on Jon' s landracing.com Picture Post ......I was very
surprised to see our car on the T-shirt behind Jim Dincau' s
great looking, and running, modified roadster !!! The rendering on the
Picture Post almost looked like a photograph ! If you look closely on
the exhaust shields I made for the front fenders, you will notice a very
small dark horizontal line at the rear of the teardrop ...... in reality
these are decals on each side of the car that Douglas put on, and they
read " LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES "...... a rallying cry for many bikers !!!
Incidentally, the car is NOT in primer ...... the boys wanted a flat
dark grey or black color with only stainless or aluminum pieces
showing, to give it a "sinister" look ...... so the paint is flattened,
unlike the primered cars I owned in the fifties ( still have a couple of
cans of that DuPont / Duco primer somewhere ..... it must be solidified
after all this time ...... like some of my joints in the morning )
If you have a REAL interest in the EARLY ERA of REAL
HOT RODS, NOT street rods, let me know ....... I will steer you onto
some of the good / GREAT books and mags, etc, about them !
I have never been to your beautiful country, or set foot in the UK,
but did go past the White Cliffs of Dover on a troop ship in 1958 and ' 60,
after Uncle Sam removed me from the Fifties Delights of the Los
Angeles area ..... to the Delights around Stuttgart in Deutschland !
I have a great love of the History of MANY, MANY things ......
right at the top of the list, after fast cars and all that, is The Industrial
Revolution, Steam Engines, Railroads and Locomotives ( since ONE
year old on them .... now my two year old grandson is train crazy, too ! )
If he could only see a small fraction of the trains and railroading I
have
seen and been on ....... ), and also canal boats, and the whole Canal Era
and the Iron Age, steel mills, Arms & Armor ...... maybe that' s why I love
to work with steel and metal !
Many of us that once may have thought we were pretty proficient
at tin bending, body work, or fabrication should take a close look
at what the armorers and blacksmiths of the Middle ages did with
an anvil and a few hammers, files, chisels ...... just basic tools !!!
It is VERY humbling ..... yet inspirational, to view the incredible
craftsmanship from those artisans of centuries long gone !!!
I am fortunate that the finest collection of Arms & Armor
in North America is just 75 miles away, at The Higgins Armory
in Worcester, Massachusetts . My father took me there in the
40s and 50s ..... I did the same with my family, and should again
make another visit this summer, to recharge my outlook on what CAN
be attained with metal, human hands, and outstanding talent .
Again, I ramble, as usual ...... my "senior" privilege, I now
call it ! Use whatever you want in your projects ...... if I had
a SCANNER I could send you a nice slice from rodding's past .
First, though, I want to get my own TIG welder ...... was looking
at some yesterday ...... race car building sure has gotten
" PRICEY " ...... I think that's the term is nowadays ......
THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT .
Bruce Ferguson
Leaving you with a thought from my being around many racing
people at many racetracks in my lifetime ..... I didn't think this quote
up, but am just passing it along, as it seems to apply all too well to
some that I' ve met over those years, thankfully, only a small
percentage of them all :
" It's Nice to be Important ......
BUT, It's More Important to be Nice "
- - - & - - -
" Make Time for Others ......
For Things Can Change So Quickly "
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