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Showing posts with label Max Balchowsky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Max Balchowsky. Show all posts

Thursday, 26 April 2012

the Riverside International Automotive Museum, not easy to find, but worth the time to tour

 the museum owns, and restores as well as repairs race cars.  This is the famous Gurney Eagle




 I'll go back and get better photos of the race cars one day, but the lesson you can get from looking at them is how fast design changed after the 70's. Not much is different pre 1960's from decade to decade, but as soon as wings and downforce came into play, a lot changed quick





 Above is a Vector. There were a couple of movies that had them featured... they were made in So Cal, but it wasn't a good business plan, they made them of expensive materials in some ways, liek carbon fiber, but the windows can't open, the interior is really cheap GM stuff like switches etc... and half way through building them, they could no longer get the engines they'd been using and switched to Lamborghini engines
 Tamerlane Thoughts blogspot toured here a year or two ago, and did a much better post about this collection of Maserati, the largest in So Cal I have no doubt

 Ol Yeller 3 ahead of the Cobras and european cars

 Great photos sometimes have great stories... like the above... that is a fridge or bbq grill... in place of the window netting you might be used to seeing. McCluskey arrived at the racetrack to learn that he'd be required to have some form of restraining material in the window... so he went and found what you see above, and put in it in time for the race. I love racing stories.







 Here is what driving to it looks like, that dead end above, well don't go that far. Take the left turn
 Past this building labeled 833
 Past this one labeled 815... it and the previous 833 will be on your right, as well as the museum below, and it blends into the surrounding builds really well. Why the camoflage? Don't know.
http://www.riversideinternational.org/

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Monday, 30 August 2010

Max Balchowsky, creator of the "Old Yeller" series of handbuilt spare parts racecars that won in races against all the exotic European race cars

Max built the Old Yeller cars that defined this era (1958-1964) of California racing.

The Old Yeller legend began when Max and partner Eric Hauser acquired a Special built by Dick Morgensen of Phoenix, Arizona. Max applied his skills, modifying and upgrading almost every part of the car, and created a potent threat for overall wins.

Old Yeller, an assortment of junkyard debris powered by one of Max's killer Buick nailheads, embarrassed many an expensive European sports car and inspired a generation of hot rodders to go road racing... http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/27709714/95-MAX-BALCHOWSKYS-OLD-YELLER-I

Max pulled the engine, and put it into Old Yeller II, which he'd just built.

Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby also drove Old Yeller II. Gurney declared it "The best handling car I've ever driven". ... http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/MaxBalchowsky1.html
Old Yaller 1 was made from the Morgensen Special and all the work Max did to make it better, but Old Yellar II was all Max.

Max Balchowsky who took on the best in the business with his motoring equivalent of a mutt. From their outward appearance, cars like Old Yeller II appeared crude, but all of the Yellers were well engineered and usually competed for overall victory with much more expensive competition... http://www.supercars.net/cars/608.html

"Built from derelict freeway signs, a Coca Cola sign, Chevy truck parts, whitewall tires, and junkyard parts" .. " winning 8 of 13 outings in 1963-64" .. the engine was built with "special pistons, six Stromberg 97 carburetors on two Crower log manifolds, and an exotic camshaft from Ed Winfield" .... Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1969 By Harold Pace

"Max became good friends with Buddy Hackett and did the setups for the VW known as Herbie for the movie 'Love Bug.' Max is most legendary for the movie stunt work he did for the movie Bullit with Steve McQueen, and he knew Steve well. Max worked with Elvis Presley in several movies, and for Viva Las Vegas, Max used two Old Yeller race cars in the movie (one crashed)."
http://www.ada.org/news/3511.aspx

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