Mike “Nick” Nicholas founded two events in Colorado: the Hot Rod Hill Climb and Hot Rod Dirt Drags and runs Nick’s Hot Rod Garage.
And he's brought the Wayne Speical T 33 back to racing the hill climb in Colorado, and the hot rod dirt drags
It's been a decade with Duane Helms building an exact replica of the twin-engine Kenz and Leslie Odd Rod pickup truck, which was featured on HRM’s cover in July 1949. How exact? Two hubcaps and the seat are from the original truck.
Here's the build thread on the HAMB http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-stump-puller-otherwise-known-as-the-odd-rod.988007/
I was curious how the two engines were linked, so I searched for more about this truck. I found a discussion on Jalopy Journal with a scan of the original Hot Rod article. There is some advanced design in this truck for 1949. Did you notice the torsion bar independent rear suspension? And Kenz beat all the current rat rod builders by decades, using a connecting rod as the steering column drop.
ReplyDeleteThe original had single carbs on both engines, while this recreation has 3 carbs on the rear.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-odd-rod.289848/
Wow! Thanks! I was curious too, but I just have no time to research so many things. I usually do one research project a day, and the Peeks Brothers was the one the day I posted this "Odd Rod", yesterday it was the carved trains, and another was the post on Mark Dees. Each of those takes 3 or 4 hours (while watching a movie or tv show - I'm not THAT fanatical) but they sure take up the time when you have to read through a half dozen websites to see if that google result was a waste of time, or actually had some good info I can add to a post to fill in the reader
DeleteThanks for the Write up Jesse! We had a great time in Pomona! The truck was built to be identical to the way it was on the salt in 1949, full race with three carbs on the rear. The July 1949 HRM article has a mix of photos taken in 1948 and early 1949. As for the steering drop, that is the original Ford late 1931 drop (not a connecting rod). Ford changed the design because the previous was causing cracks in the fuel tank. Here is a small thread on the truck that I started.
Deletehttp://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-stump-puller-otherwise-known-as-the-odd-rod.988007/
Well, shoot, you're welcome! That's a mighty fine thing, to recreate such a cool old hot rod that no one going to car shows today would ever get to see without the extensive effort and research (and dollars) that were focused on making a replica of this.
DeleteSo much has been lost to history, and without hot rodders today having a passion for all the old time authenticity, we would hardly know the amazing work that those guys did in the 30's and 40's to make something incredible out of Ford's commuters.
I'll be darned, that looks a lot like a con rod, but then, form follows function, and it's essentially doing the same job of holding things together at a desired distance.
thanks for the link!