Posts that don't fit anywhere else

That is one big beastie Eric.

On a related note to posts that have no home there was a great deal of panic in our neighbourhood last weekend as a local politician went missing after doing some rounds of the ward. Thankfully those folks who always step up when trouble shows up found the missing politico. Lots of concerned folks who were relieved.

I have seen plenty of polar bears in the wild and they are not afraid of you. A few years ago a couple was attacked (maybe killed, I don't remember) way up in Northern Labrador in the Torngat Mountains by one and I know the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard has people killed every few years.

Like the idea of this thread. Somewhere to toss out some pics or knowledge that perhaps does not fit in elsewhere. Good one @Rruuff Day.

These are for @1 BAD 9T9. The first one reminds me of your Bob McJ story of putting a new motor in the car using the bedroom window sill. Nothing dangerous going on here!



Some pics of the Karbelt cars I think from Niagara Dragway.

Here's a rare shot of Percy Also especially for you Murray. Don't know if Curly caught him or not, but he was an NHRA record holder so I assume he won.

@1 BAD 9T9 that is a great shot of Percy. Foot prints in the firewall. LoL

I say he caught him at the big end!!

Thanks for posting the pic.

Rruuff Day said:

As many, (but not all) know, I have an online antique and whatever's sale site that I run from December to April or so each season. The rest of the year, my buddy and I go fishing, and picking items for the next sale season, and of course hunting to fill our freezers. Anyhow... I digress (which is totally unlike me...lmao)...
Two days ago I had an opportunity to buy something I had never run across before. A complete taxidermy Polar bear rug (or wall hanging). It was described to me as 9 foot 7 inches long 8 foot 3 inches wide, complete with head and claws, etc. So I jumped at the chance to at least have a look and jumped in the truck. Well, to say the least, I was impressed. This thing is huge...actually huge doesn't describe. It was gorgeous. To make a long story short, I purchased it, wrapped it in sheets to protect it and brought it home. Thought I would share some pictures of it as I have a buyer already for it and won't have it long. As a side note, the polar bear is NOT an endangered animal in Canada and 600 are culled every year in the north near populated areas. They are a ferocious meat eater and will track and hunt humans if given the chance. If you're an animal lover and are disgusted already, please do not scroll down any further, call your local PETA, and cook up some tofu for supper.






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Your concern for PETA is well intentioned Rruuff.
I hope they take your advice to heart and cook up some Tofu to celebrate the occasion

You don't often see "The Jap" Carl Skura in pictures of Percy Also, but here he is at Bristol, TN.

Black 03 Z06 said:

Like the idea of this thread. Somewhere to toss out some pics or knowledge that perhaps does not fit in elsewhere. Good one @Rruuff Day.

These are for @1 BAD 9T9. The first one reminds me of your Bob McJ story of putting a new motor in the car using the bedroom window sill. Nothing dangerous going on here!

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Some pics of the Karbelt cars I think from Niagara Dragway.

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Not sure if I ever sent you the picture of Mike Mcgill's bedroom window where where Bob McJ sat on the bed with the beam stuck under it projecting out over the driveway.

More about Percy.

Here is the mostly unknown story of how the little Fiat came to be named Percy Also. Prior to the Fiat Carl Rowland and Carl Skura had a '49 Ford Prefect as a C/A drag race car. It was very fast but not fast enough. They named this car "Percy the Perfect Prefect" but it did not have the right weight balance. George Foote who owned Karbelt Speed and Custom was looking for an advertising medium and Dave Pratt who worked for George got involved with the two Carls and became a partner. As the new car was being built it had the weight in the right places. It was then a no brainer to name it "Percy Also" and to sponsor the car by painting Karbelt on the side. George had influence with his supply base and I know Percy had one of Harvey Crane's prototype camshafts. Lots of other engine race car parts were obtained through Karbelt. The rest of the race car is common history.


There are two things that really remain in my mind regarding this car. First when Carl Rowland and I were starting Drag Dimensions I lived with Curly and Gloria in an east end basement apartment to save money for our growing business. They would trailer the race car down to a dead end road beside the Don Valley Parkway where they could practice launching the car the building and where the cops did not seem to care. I am sure the surrounding apartment owners and the drivers on the DVP could not believe their ears or eyes.

My second strong memory is helping at the Nationals in Indianapolis. Nick Minialoff's Anglia had the same unique transmission set up as Percy Also. Traditional synchro rings prevent you from shifting that old Muncy 4 speed transmission quickly, especially when the engine is revving to 9,500 rpm. Our solution was to grind off 4 out of 5 teeth on synchro ring and then you just crashed it into the next gear. This worked but the synchros got kind of chewed up and maybe the next time it would not go into gear as smoothly so after Carl had won class in C/Altered he was then in Competition Eliminator - the run for the big one. There was about half an hour between rounds when it came his turn. There were about five of us working frantically with Carl. We would pull the transmission out, tear it apart and replace three of the syncro ring and put it all back together again in about20 minutes. We had to do this several times as Carl worked his way through his competitors. Finally it was the final. Unfortunately Curly lost to Virgil Cates and could only claim runner up in Comp Eliminator at the US Nationals.

Just thought I would throw in Derek and Tony’s BB/A Fiat for comparison. Thanks for permitting me to express my memories from a long ago era.

Great story Peter.

The "Brothers Brown" Toronto was a beautiful altered owned by Derek and Tony Brown running out of the Roadmates Car Club in Mississauga, Ontario. There was a team running an Altered out of Michigan called the "Brown Brothers" and thus the "Brothers Brown" name.

In the picture above the car is running BB/Altered with a front mounted supercharger. That motor has a long history and apparently is still around. My friend Brooke DeShaw bought the Pack Rat altered I believe from Derek and Tony. That car had a long history when it was owned by Roger Miller from London, Ontario. A couple of eliminator victories at the NHRA Nationals in Indy in the early 60's. Brooke ran the car in B/Altered with a small block Chevrolet but the car originally came with the front mounted blower motor that ended up in the Brothers Brown car. These pics show the car with the same motor when Miller owned it. Great times and for a kid who got to pump up fuel pressure on the starting line pretty exciting.



Same motor...


Pack Rat as it ran as a B/Altered. The car was sold and became the "Avenger" then disappeared into history. Has not been seen in probably 40 years. Lots of effort into trying to find the car.

Just by looking at the above pictures made my nose pick up the scent of petrol and burnt rubber.... lovit

Great life stories boys.
I love to hear about them olde days stuff.
thanx.
graham

Dedicated to Rruuff as we all know how dedicated he is to animal welfare.
Everyone Loves a happy ending !

Since this post has gone into nostalgia here is a little info and some shots from the Roadmates and our club house/garage on the QEW service Road at Dixie Road in Mississauga. I think the area was called Cooksville then before Hazel McCallion amalgamated all the small towns into Mississauga. This is all very personal for me where I built several cars, drank gallons of beer, drag raced all over and displayed at Bob Larivee's Speed Sport car show at the CNE. After working on our cars at the club house during the week we would drive down the backroads to the Cloverleaf Hotel and try and drink he place dry. No spot checks back then by the cops. On the weekends it was down to the Coq d'Or on Yonge Street to watch Ronnie Hawkins play.

Best man at my wedding was Tommy Henderson and Nick Minialoff was my partner with his gas class cars, both were members along with me in the Roadmates Car Club. Of course we were very formal in those days with our official jackets and ties when having our picture taken. Derek "Duke" Brown was the only president of that club from the day it started in 1956 until his passing in 2017. Of course the Roadmates was also home to Derek and Tony's BB/Altered that Murray talks about with Brooke DeShaw.
Then there was Bruce Wilkes with his high boy street roadster. Brooke was not a club member but both he and Bruce were sponsored by Bob McJannett who created and owned Performance Improvements Speed Shop in Toronto. Not to forget Paul Brioux (RIP) and his "Ridler" runner up '27 Ford "Ox Cart" at the Detroit Autorama. Most of the club members had modified street rods as their projects and I have included a couple of those. I bought my 1931 Ford Coupe body from Bob McJannett when he was a member of the EtobiCams for $60.00 and turned it into a very unique show show car. Crossed torsion bar front suspension courtesy of my work with super modified owner and driver Joe Hlywka and a log manifold with 6 two barrel carbs on a much modified 1955 Oldsmobile engine with an original '55 Olds three speed manual transmission. My progressive carburetor linkage made this a perfect street machine. I almost forgot club member Gordie Redpath who had an Ardun overhead valve conversion for is flat head Ford in his hot rod. First and only Ardun I have ever seen.

Thanks for letting me share those days from more than 50 years ago spent with a lot of great guys. Peter




Club house later



Bruce Wilkes




My "Amazon A"



Derek Brown's coupe




The Duke - Derek Brown

Joe Hlywka's early "Super"


Ardun conversion - Gordie did not have blower.

1 BAD 9T9 said:

Since this post has gone into nostalgia here is a little info and some shots from the Roadmates and our club house/garage on the QEW service Road at Dixie Road in Mississauga. I think the area was called Cooksville then before Hazel McCallion amalgamated all the small towns into Mississauga. This is all very personal for me where I built several cars, drank gallons of beer, drag raced all over and displayed at Bob Larivee's Speed Sport car show at the CNE. After working on our cars at the club house during the week we would drive down the backroads to the Cloverleaf Hotel and try and drink he place dry. No spot checks back then by the cops. On the weekends it was down to the Coq d'Or on Yonge Street to watch Ronnie Hawkins play.

Best man at my wedding was Tommy Henderson and Nick Minialoff was my partner with his gas class cars, both were members along with me in the Roadmates Car Club. Of course we were very formal in those days with our official jackets and ties when having our picture taken. Derek "Duke" Brown was the only president of that club from the day it started in 1956 until his passing in 2017. Of course the Roadmates was also home to Derek and Tony's BB/Altered that Murray talks about with Brooke DeShaw.
Then there was Bruce Wilkes with his high boy street roadster. Brooke was not a club member but both he and Bruce were sponsored by Bob McJannett who created and owned Performance Improvements Speed Shop in Toronto. Not to forget Paul Brioux (RIP) and his "Ridler" runner up '27 Ford "Ox Cart" at the Detroit Autorama. Most of the club members had modified street rods as their projects and I have included a couple of those. I bought my 1931 Ford Coupe body from Bob McJannett when he was a member of the EtobiCams for $60.00 and turned it into a very unique show show car. Crossed torsion bar front suspension courtesy of my work with super modified owner and driver Joe Hlywka and a log manifold with 6 two barrel carbs on a much modified 1955 Oldsmobile engine with an original '55 Olds three speed manual transmission. My progressive carburetor linkage made this a perfect street machine. I almost forgot club member Gordie Redpath who had an Ardun overhead valve conversion for is flat head Ford in his hot rod. First and only Ardun I have ever seen.

Thanks for letting me share those days from more than 50 years ago spent with a lot of great guys. Peter

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Club house later


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Bruce Wilkes

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My "Amazon A"



Derek Brown's coupe




The Duke - Derek Brown
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Joe Hlywka's early "Super"

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Ardun conversion - Gordie did not have blower.

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Don't know why but there seems to be a lot more to these "old" jalopies than to the present day rice burners.

Rruuff Day said:

You and Murray (black) should get together and write a book...

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Actually you are half correct Eric. Murray and I have swapped stories outside this forum. We got together when I posted a picture of Susan McJannett in her '58 in XFIRE where we found common ground from our earlier days in Toronto.

I am halfway through writing my memoirs of all of my crazy stunts and adventures. It has taken me several years to write about my entire life taking me up to my days racing with Gary Beck and Jerry Makara in the mid 1970's. Hopefully I can find the time to finish it but don't have a clue who would publish it.