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Subject: More Midget racing history


Author:
Greg B.
[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
Date Posted: 16:27:25 09/28/12 Fri

After reading today's chapter, I thought I'd try to find a Ford 60 V-8 for sale, out of curiosity. Instead I found a pretty good history of Midget racing from the 30s through the 60s.
http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_blixt_auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-that-could.html

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Replies:
[> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Boyd Percy
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 00:09:53 09/29/12 Sat

>After reading today's chapter, I thought I'd try to
>find a Ford 60 V-8 for sale, out of curiosity.
>Instead I found a pretty good history of Midget racing
>from the 30s through the 60s.
> >href="http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_blixt_
>auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-that-co
>uld.html">http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_bl
>ixt_auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-tha
>t-could.html



Thanks for posting the link to that interesting web site. I got a kick of the author's last name, Blixt. Maybe Wes based his character, Frank Blixter, on that person's father.
[> [> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Wes
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:01:28 09/29/12 Sat

You got it right. I was reaching for a name not long after I found that website in my research phase and guess what popped out?

V8-60s are getting pretty hard to find. When I went to that vintage race to get cover photos, one of the guys told me they are next to impossible to come up with any more. Since they have a tendancy to overheat, they are pretty careful with the ones they have.

-- Wes


>>After reading today's chapter, I thought I'd try to
>>find a Ford 60 V-8 for sale, out of curiosity.
>>Instead I found a pretty good history of Midget racing
>>from the 30s through the 60s.
>> >>href="http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_blixt
>_
>>auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-that-c
>o
>>uld.html">http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_b
>l
>>ixt_auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-th
>a
>>t-could.html

>
>
>Thanks for posting the link to that interesting web
>site. I got a kick of the author's last name, Blixt.
>Maybe Wes based his character, Frank Blixter, on that
>person's father.
[> [> [> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Boyd Percy
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:50:02 09/29/12 Sat

>You got it right. I was reaching for a name not long
>after I found that website in my research phase and
>guess what popped out?
>
>V8-60s are getting pretty hard to find. When I went to
>that vintage race to get cover photos, one of the guys
>told me they are next to impossible to come up with
>any more. Since they have a tendancy to overheat, they
>are pretty careful with the ones they have.
>
>-- Wes


By the way, I enjoyed the pictures of the midgets you took for Bullrun Days. You mentioned that you used your Nikon camera. Is that the same model that Trey Hartwell uses?
>
>
>>>After reading today's chapter, I thought I'd try to
>>>find a Ford 60 V-8 for sale, out of curiosity.
>>>Instead I found a pretty good history of Midget
>racing
>>>from the 30s through the 60s.
>>> >>>href="http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_blix
>t
>>_
>>>auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-that-
>c
>>o
>>>uld.html">http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_
>b
>>l
>>>ixt_auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-t
>h
>>a
>>>t-could.html

>>
>>
>>Thanks for posting the link to that interesting web
>>site. I got a kick of the author's last name, Blixt.
>>Maybe Wes based his character, Frank Blixter, on that
>>person's father.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Wes
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 19:59:55 09/29/12 Sat


>By the way, I enjoyed the pictures of the midgets you
>took for Bullrun Days. You mentioned that you used
>your Nikon camera. Is that the same model that Trey
>Hartwell uses?

Nope, Trey's is film, although I don't remember the model without looking it up. Mine (actually, the office camera) is digital.

Up until the late 90's I did a lot in the darkroom -- all black and white. It got to the point where I hated taking photos since it was such a pain in the butt to screw around in the darkroom. Color photos? If I actually had to use color it involved a trip to a one-hour photo shop.

Then came digital photos, and the end of darkroom work. It's still there but we just use it as a place to dump stuff. It hasn't actually been used since 2002, when my daughter used it for some class work. I do stuff with a few clicks of a mouse that I would never have dreamed possible when I started working with film.

As an aside: I had more or less given up on taking night football shots. The lights we had at the football field at the time looked steady to look at them but in reality they were flashing on and off sixty times a second. When you went to take a photo, the focal plane shutter moving over the film meant that a night football photo was bright-dark-bright-dark and it was all but impossible to correct in the darkroom. The only way to get a good night football show was with a big flash, and then you didn't want to be too far away.

Then came digital. Instead of a focal plane shutter, a chip is on or off and the light/dark just becomes additive. Our first digital camera wasn't real fast and I had to process images deeply to get decent shots, but digital cameras have improved so much that it's no trick, especially with a fairly decent flash, not the monsters needed with film.

The last time I shot film was on my Grand Canyon trip in 2003 -- and then only because at the time digital cameras and wet didn't get along well together. I bought a Pentax WR-95 and shot up well over $200 worth of film with it before I even started to get into processing costs. Haven't used it since. If I were going to go to the Grand Canyon today I'd buy a weather-resistant digital.

Things have changed. And in this, I have to say they've changed for the better. The only reason I see now to shoot film is if I were playing with a large-format camera, something I've always wanted to do but never been able to see my way clear to spend the money to do it. It would be strictly a hobby thing, though, and something I'll probably never get around to doing.

-- Wes
[> [> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Harry
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:46:30 10/07/12 Sun

>>After reading today's chapter, I thought I'd try to
>>find a Ford 60 V-8 for sale, out of curiosity.
>>Instead I found a pretty good history of Midget racing
>>from the 30s through the 60s.
>> >>href="http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_blixt
>_
>>auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-that-c
>o
>>uld.html">http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_b
>l
>>ixt_auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-th
>a
>>t-could.html

>
>
>Thanks for posting the link to that interesting web
>site. I got a kick of the author's last name, Blixt.
>Maybe Wes based his character, Frank Blixter, on that
>person's father.

All the Ford flatheads have a tendency to overheat. The waterpumps pull water from the low side of the block and push it to the radiator. This is the opposite of a modern engine, and contributes to poor coolant flow. The original steel head water passages are small as well.

Aluminum heads improve the heat transfer considerably.

The distributor is in a bad place as well, and tends to get wet. The original coils are not too reliable either.

All that said, the flathead is an excellent engine for it's time. Very compact and simple. The 100hp and 110hp versions had some of the bugs worked out of them The 60hp's were never as popular as the 85hp version, which was a good bit bigger.
[> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Greg B.
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:37:39 10/02/12 Tue

I also happened across this. In case someone is thinking about a midget project, here you go:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-V8-60-Flathead-with-Transmission-V8-60-rat-rod-or-bike-No-Reserve-1937-1940-/140860606902?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20cbf249b6&vxp=mtr
[> [> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
Lew
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:14:24 10/02/12 Tue

That sucker's highest use would be 'boat anchor'. The plus are broken off in the heads(Probably frozen), the crank looks frozen, I doubt that you could get it to turn at all. Real shame that it was allowed to sink to such bad condition.

Lew


>I also happened across this. In case someone is
>thinking about a midget project, here you go:
> >href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-V8-60-Flathead-with-
>Transmission-V8-60-rat-rod-or-bike-No-Reserve-1937-1940
>-/140860606902?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&h
>ash=item20cbf249b6&vxp=mtr">http://www.ebay.com/itm/For
>d-V8-60-Flathead-with-Transmission-V8-60-rat-rod-or-bik
>e-No-Reserve-1937-1940-/140860606902?pt=Vintage_Car_Tru
>ck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20cbf249b6&vxp=mtr

[> [> Subject: Re: More Midget racing history


Author:
K Pelle
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 18:45:39 10/02/12 Tue

>I also happened across this. In case someone is
>thinking about a midget project, here you go:
> >href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-V8-60-Flathead-with-
>Transmission-V8-60-rat-rod-or-bike-No-Reserve-1937-1940
>-/140860606902?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&h
>ash=item20cbf249b6&vxp=mtr">http://www.ebay.com/itm/For
>d-V8-60-Flathead-with-Transmission-V8-60-rat-rod-or-bik
>e-No-Reserve-1937-1940-/140860606902?pt=Vintage_Car_Tru
>ck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20cbf249b6&vxp=mtr


Now we know where " the V8-60 block that we’d scavenged from Frank’s uncle’s barn" went.


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