Hot Rod History at 3 Dog Garage

A big thanks goes to 3 Dog Garage, not only for the tour, but for keeping some of the most historic and impactful cars in automotive and hot rodding history alive and well for future generations. History is always an important part of the future. 3 Dog Garage has all sorts of cars but here were some of the hotrods in specific that had a some of our favorite stories.

Ike Roadster

A '29 Model A roadster converted to a drag car like so many were, it was powered by a hopped up, Hillborn fuel injected, Nitro/Methane burning GMC truck 302 inline 6. In the early and mid 50s it was dominant until the ban of Nitro/Methane for its class in 1957 where it was sold shortly after. There were so many fantastic engines in this time (check out all our adapters!) but of all the choices, a big bore GMC inline 6 designed for 2 1/2 ton military trucks was one of the fastest for its time.

Chrisman Bros Coupe

Years before Zora Arkus Duntov dreamed of a mid-engine Corvette, the Chrisman Brothers found that putting the engine behind the driver in a heavily chopped and modified 30 Model A was a fantastic way to get weight over the rear wheels to go faster on the drag strip, and on the dry lake beds. Originally powered by an Ardun (Zora was busy designing Overhead Valve cylinder with his brother before joining GM) headed bored Mercury Flathead, they ran multiple runs in excess of 160 MPH (again, on a lake bed, in 1953 looking out a 6x36" windscreen!).

It was later converted to an early Hemi engine with the help of WilCap (and Sharp), where it ran 180, then 196 MPH before being sold.

Henderson Roadster

Built by Don Casselman in the early 1940s then purchased by an 18-year-old Pete Henderson, the clean and unassuming high-boy roadster is most famous for its biggest race, not involving another car. It was known to be one of the fastest cars in Pasadena California in the early 1940s, and the story goes that a hustler would go around to bars looking for hotrods. He would find the owners (in most cases intoxicated) talk them into a race the next day, and when they showed up, there was a jockey and quarter horse. With its quick acceleration, the horse would always win, as the cars did not have enough grip or power out of the hole to catch the horse on the short races. Some friends of Pete heard of this and organized the race. It was close, but the roadster pulled it out by the length of the hood. It sounds like one of the old stories that was execrated through the years becoming more and more spectacular, and it might be, however, a picture of the race (and the roadster winning) exists to provide credibility to at least that portion of the tale. The story says this is where a drag race distance became a quarter mile, as they raced the distance between 2 telephone poles, but at the end of the day, we know we can at least give the car the credit for beating the horse.

Jack Calori's 1936 Ford 3 Window Custom Coupe

This beautiful custom was built as all customs and hotrods are, from plenty of different parts from all different models. The 39 LaSalle grill is seamlessly molded into the body; 40 Chevy headlights sit next to it. The car is chopped 3 inches and the back end is set down for a tail dragger stance. While the car had a stunning style, it also had plenty of go. A stroker Mercury flathead pushed the car to just under 115 MPH in an un-official run, as coupes were not allowed to compete in the Russetta Timing Association rules. The car was later featured on the November 1949 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. In 2005, the car also won the award for "Most Significant Hot Rod" at Pebble Beach.

Jim Busby’s 1932 Ford 5 window Coupe

A personal favorite, the Jim Busby coupe started as a hotrod built in the early 1950s. Jim had seen the car in high school and followed it as it was road raced and eventually swapped with a Hemi, and drag raced. After the car was no longer competitive it was retired and sold. Nearly 40 years later, Jim found the car though a friend, and restored the car back to how he initially remembered it, a mid 50s era Cadillac powered hotrod. In 2000 the car was a centerpiece at Pebble beach, and won a street rodder top 10 award.

Hot rodding has been one of the most influential parts of the automotive world. Customizing, making a car your own, making it faster, better, cooler than the factory version ever was. One of the amazing parts of these cars is to think- a 1932 Ford, customized and hot-rodded in the late 40s or early 50s was an not a very old car. To think, some of these cars built in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, have spent 5 to 10x more of their life as customs and hot rods, as they ever did as a stock Fords. 60, 70 or 80 plus years as a historic time capsule, and when they were modified, they might have just been a discarded 10-year-old car.

Thanks again to 3 Dog Garage for keeping these historic time capsules alive and well.

Pictures courtesy of 3 Dog Garage and ThrottleXtreme.