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Post by kip on Oct 10, 2014 7:26:49 GMT -5
If anyone has any pictures of Herk's 1962 Jim Robbins ride (I have the qualification picture--oil tank side view)could you post them. If I can modify a nose piece correctly, I think this will be my next build. GWS is doing the decals for me. Did such a nice job on the Tombstone Life Spl.
thanks
kip
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Post by Calvin on Oct 10, 2014 9:35:07 GMT -5
Oh my! This might a tough one to find pics for! I already did a quick image search and nothing is really coming up. ;(
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Post by oldphotos on Oct 10, 2014 11:39:15 GMT -5
Kip
You have a PM that should answer all your questions about this car.
OldPhotos
Walt
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Post by kip on Oct 10, 2014 14:31:48 GMT -5
Thanks Walt. PM sent.
kip
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Post by hurtubise56 on Oct 12, 2014 17:29:11 GMT -5
Gee, any chance this info could become public? Other Herk fans want to know!
Brian
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Post by kip on Oct 12, 2014 20:22:29 GMT -5
If Walt says it is OK, I will be glad to share the information he gave me. In addition, Gary from GWS decals gave me some history on this car. If he says it is OK, I'll post that.
kip
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Post by gwstexas on Oct 13, 2014 9:09:41 GMT -5
Kip, feel free to post it if you want. It came almost straight from my book, "The Watson Years: when Roadsters Ruled the Speedway," so it's already public.
Gary
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Post by kip on Oct 13, 2014 11:20:57 GMT -5
The Robbins car started life in 1958 in A.J. Watson's shop in California. A.J. intended to sell it at the Speedway, so he entered it as the Watson Spl. Watson's employer, Jack Zink, was none too happy about the arrangement, and would become even less happy before the end of May.
The car sat in the Zink garage until a few days before Pole Day, when Dick Rathmann, recently fired by the Sumar team, asked his bar-hopping buddy Lee Elkins to buy it for him. Elkins agreed to buy it, but he didn't have the cash. Eventually, Elkins borrowed the money from his mechanic, Floyd Trevis. After about three days practice, Rathmann put the car, now called the McNamara Spl. on the pole, which further pissed off Jack Zink, who didn't like being beaten at anything, especially not by a car he thought should be his.
In the 500, Rathmann tangled with Ed Elisian (in one of Zink's cars) on the first lap and virtually destroyed the McNamara car. Trevis rebuilt the car from the ground up over the winter, using what he could salvage from the original car and fabricating the rest. Elkins entered the car in the 1959 500 as the McNamara Chiropractic Spl.
After the 1959 500, Elkins and Trevis parted company, but Elkins had never gotten around to re-paying the money Trevis had loaned him to buy the car in the first place, so Trevis took over the car. Trevis sold the car to Jim Robbins. One of Robbins' suppliers was the Wyandotte Tool Company and, in 1962, Robbins agreed to transfer the car to Wyandotte in payment for some work. The deal never worked out and the car was turned over to a lawyer in Indianapolis in sort of an escrow agreement. He entered the car in the 1962 500 as the Jim Robbins Spl. but the Wyandotte logo, the Indian head drawing that appeared on the oil tank was still place.
Robbins stored the car in a warehouse until 1970, when he sold it to a supermodified driver named Jack Conley, who converted it for supermodified racing in Ohio. Conley never got to drive the car. He was injured in a crash just as the car was completed and he parked it until 1981.
Jack Layton, a noted car collector and restorer found the car in Conley's garage and, seeing the Indian head logo, knew he had found the 1958 McNamara Spl. Layton restored the car as Floyd Trevis had re-built it and kept it for several years before selling it to an Indianapolis car dealer named Lowell Blossom.
Floyd Trevis was forever angry that the car was listed in Speedway documents as a Watson chassis. He insisted that the car was a Trevis chassis built with some Watson leftovers.
As an interesting footnote, Elkins named his cars for the McNamara Trucking Co., which he owned. There was no McNamara. The name had no significance whatever, the eccentric Elkins just liked the sound of it.
In addition to the info Gary provided, the book "Herk" didn't give any background on the car, but it did say that Herk stuffed the cockpit with wooden blocks and foam rubber so he could see.
kip
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Post by kip on Oct 14, 2014 14:03:35 GMT -5
Walt said it is ok to post the photos so here are some of the photos Walt sent me. They show the 1959 car but it’s the same as the 1962, just different paint. (This would be a cool car to build--really neat paint job IMO.)
I am still looking for a Sellers 1958 nose for this car. I put it in the "wanted" section but got no responses. I also sent an email to Lance to see if he had any left over but have not heard back. If anyone has this nose, I will pay nicely for it as I don't really want to try to make one myself and I really, really want to build Herk's 1962 ride. I think it was the highest he ever finished in the 500.
kip
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Post by alterrenner on Oct 15, 2014 5:14:19 GMT -5
What's going on with the starter hole? It looks like a tow hook! Something unique to a show car? Maybe a debris plug?
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Post by harveythedog2 on Oct 15, 2014 7:40:08 GMT -5
I know you have this one but thought I would post for everyone to see. Love the Indian  |
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Post by sandysixtysfan on Oct 15, 2014 8:14:53 GMT -5
That is one gorgeous race car.
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Post by Calvin on Oct 16, 2014 13:34:36 GMT -5
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Post by oldphotos on Oct 16, 2014 14:15:18 GMT -5
The loop inserted in the starter tube is used for towing it is removable so you can insert the starter shaft.
Oldphotos
Walt
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Post by kip on Oct 16, 2014 16:20:51 GMT -5
Thanks Calvin. You are amazing. I don't know where you find all these photos. (I searched all over the internet and only found the qualification photo.) I think the oil tank photo might help GWS Decals in doing the decals for me.
kip
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Post by Calvin on Oct 16, 2014 16:32:04 GMT -5
No problem  |
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Post by Michael Chriss on Oct 16, 2014 18:49:10 GMT -5
They had fantastic paint jobs back then.
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Post by Calvin on Oct 16, 2014 19:02:41 GMT -5
I agree Michael C.
I cant wait to see a WIP on this one!
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