The "Die Valkyrie" https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2020/04/people-have-done-lot-of-weird-stupid.html
I kid you not, I've never seen these all posted together, and realized it had to be done to show what ugly cars he came up with, in contrast to the beautiful vans, trains, etc etc
"Weird & Ugly" what a perfect descriptor! I always considered them ugly.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to check out the stuff Ray Besasie Sr. and Ray Besasie Jr. did. Ray Sr. was Brooks' bodyman for a bunch of cars and go karts. Ray Sr.was a master metal former that built a whole series of amazing futuristic cars called the "Besasie X Cars". He also designed turbo charger as well as aircraft accessories. Brooks was credited with designing a go kart for the Gilson Compay called the Excalibur Jr., I suspect the Besasies were the ones that actually designed and built it. They also designed two FKE go karts in 1964 that raced at Meadowdale International. (https://vimeo.com/666977820) In his later years Ray Sr. formed the body work on the land speed car The Blue Flame.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan! I didn't want to rush into this last night, so I held off til today. I looked around and there's a LOT there to work with, but I just don't want to wrangle a post out of it. Lots of customs, and that bit about doing the body work on the famous blue flame is very cool. That tail on the 57 Besasie Explorer https://customrodder.forumactif.org/t1408-1957-chevy-besasie-explorer-ray-besasie is too much
DeleteThe Besasies are largely unknown and underappreciated for their contributions to car culture. They had a super close relationship with Brooks Stevens (go look up his CV!!!), who in my opinion got the credit, but the Besasies we're the actual genius designers and builders.
ReplyDeleteI got turned on to them via one of the '64 FKE go karts I purchased. The metal work is like nothing I've ever seen! What he accomplished is simply amazing! I have pics if you're interested. I tracked Ray Jr. down back in 2008 and had a long telephone discussion about the build. Unfortunately Ray Jr. passed last year, but I am in touch with his daughter.
I also spoke with Dennis (https://www.benzworld.org/threads/ot-besasie-x3-explorer.2997221/) a couple years back. He owns one of the X cars and is very knowledgeable about them. Supposedly it runs.
Here are a couple of resources about the karts:
https://www.vroomkart.com/news/43267/gilson-excalibur-jr
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/besasies-bodacious-blast-the-130-mph-excalibur-kart/