Ted Halibrand, Wheels and Quick-Change Rear Axles...

Ted Halibrand, a key figure in American motorsport history is best known for his groundbreaking innovations in automotive engineering, such as... his Magnesium Wheels and Quick-Change Rear Axles.

Born in 1919, Halibrand grew up in Southern California, surrounded by hot rod culture.
During World War II, he worked as a machinist in the aircraft industry, where he was introduced to magnesium, a lightweight, durable metal that would later transform his career.

In the late 1940s, Halibrand began producing magnesium wheels for sprint cars.
These wheels quickly gained popularity due to their light weight, which improved acceleration and handling. His wheels became essential for Indy 500 cars during the 1950s and 1960s, helping legends like Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, and Mario Andretti claim victories.

Halibrand's influence extended beyond racing.
His wheels became a status symbol in the hot rod community.

Though magnesium had its challenges, such as flammability and corrosion, Halibrand's precision engineering ensured the wheels were safe and reliable.
Despite facing personal and financial difficulties later in life, Halibrand’s contributions to motorsport are undeniable.

His lightweight wheels set new standards for performance, leaving a lasting legacy in racing and custom car culture. Today, vintage Halibrand wheels remain prized collectibles, representing a golden era of automotive innovation.

Ted Halibrand also innovated with quick-change rear ends, allowing racers to adjust their car’s gearing with ease.

The Halibrand Quick-Change Rear Axle is another of Ted Halibrand's significant contributions to racing technology. Introduced in the 1940s, this innovation allowed racers to quickly change the gear ratios in their rear differentials, enabling them to adapt their car’s performance to different track conditions and racing needs with minimal effort.

Here’s how it worked: traditional rear axles required time-consuming disassembly to change gears. Halibrand’s quick-change design featured a special housing that allowed easy access to the gears at the rear of the axle.

By simply removing a cover plate, mechanics could swap the gears in a matter of minutes, allowing them to optimize the car for either speed or torque, depending on the requirements of the track.

This system became extremely popular in sprint cars, midget racers, and later on in hot rods and even some Indy cars. The versatility and time-saving benefits of the Halibrand quick-change rear axle made it a staple in motorsports for decades, especially in dirt track and oval racing, where conditions and gear demands can vary from race to race.

The design's simplicity and effectiveness have stood the test of time, and replicas or variations of Halibrand's original design are still in use today.

For enthusiasts, Halibrand’s quick-change rear axles became as iconic as his magnesium wheels, helping cement his status as a leading innovator in American racing technology.

Ted Halibrand passed away in 1991.
His legacy, however, lives on through his revolutionary contributions to motorsport, particularly the aboven mentioned magnesium wheels and quick-change rear axles, which remain iconic in the world of racing and custom cars.

Here's a cool link to a Halibrand Catalog Page: @ vintagewheelcatalogs.com

Article By VonSkip'

Godspeed Kenneth Schmidt ( Roling Bones)

Yesterday, 20th of March...
One of the founders of the Rolling Bones sadly passed away at the age of 77.

If you've seen my post (27-2) of the Three Mile movie by Brian Darwas you must remember Kenneth.

Kenneth Schmidt
April 23 1946 - March 20 2023

R.I.P

The Motor Underground: A Hot Rod Revolution Ep. 1

Just out on the tube... By Hemmings
Cool (Southern California ) Hotrod History Video
Feauturing The Shifters CC... Check That Out!

Like this... check part II HERE

The McGee Roadster...

Here's a cool vid of the McGee Roadster wich at April 12, 2017 became part of the National Historic Register and the U.S. Department of the Interior Historic American Engineering Record.
Source / Credits: Hagerty (Youtube)
For more information on the McGee Roadster and the National Historic Vehicle Register, visit www.historicvehicle.org
*

M(ech)anic Monday - R.I.P Pete Chapouris

No good strart for 2017 ;-( January 6 Hot Rodder & industry icon Pete Chapouris passed away due to complications from a stroke. 

He died at the age of 76.

In 1974 Pete was co-founder of Pete & Jake’s Hot Rod Parts, www.peteandjakes.com

Chapouris’ build a bunch of really cool hot rods in his career.

I think the most famous one is the flamed black 1934 Ford Coupe which became the star of the 1974 “The California Kid,”featuring a young Martin Sheen as the outsider getting revenge on a corrupt sheriff.  (See this weeks Midweek Movie )

Pete Chaporis & Martin Sheen with 'The California Kid' 1934 Ford Coupe

The Movie but also the car made Chapouris some sort of a celebrity and also played a big roll for the return of hot rodding as a popular culture.

Chapouris continued to build cars through until 1997, when he struck a deal with hot rod hero Alex Xydias who founded the So-Cal Speed Shop ( www.est1946.com ) in 1946.

Chapouris wanted to bring back that legendary shop, which had closed its doors in 1961. The two struck a deal and ever since Chapouris’s name has been connected  to the shop, which is still going strong in Pomona, California.

After the "California Kid", Chapouris is also known for creating ZZ Top's guitarist Billy Gibbons’ Kopperhed Ford Shoebox and for rebuilding and restoring the Doane Spencer hot rod that won its class at Pebble when Pebble finally acknowledged hot rodding as an art form.

Billy Gibbons Kopperhed

Doane Spencer’s 1932 Ford roadster

So you can say...  Pete had a great influence on the history of Hot Rodding and will always be a big inspiration to others. 

Thanks Pete Chapouris, R.I.P

Richard Zocchi R.I.P

Another Great Lost in Kustom Car World,
Too Many are Leaving This Year...
Richard Zocchi... R.I.P

Richard Zocchi with his first Kustom... 1962 Pontiac

 1939 Dodge by Richard Zocchi

Richard Began Kustomizing Cars at the Age of 16...
Read More about Him & See Some of His Awesome Creations at:
www.zocchicustomcars.com

R.I.P Bill Hines

Sad News today for the Kustomizing world...

Legendary Leadslinger Bill died today 20-05-2016

Sure there will be a bigger post of Bill and his life here in the near Future! For now... no more words. R.I.P Bill ;-/

'35 Ford Delivery

Thanks to G / JSFury for doing some research on this one and adding folowing as a comment!

Car Shown above... is Southern California Plating Company 1935 Ford delivery truck that was customized by George DuVall and finished in 1936. It was used by Earl Bell Gilmore son of oil tycoon Arthur Fremont Gilmore for promoting the company by hauling a midget racer around the Southern California area.

Lead Sled Saturday...the beginning

Here’s a new "Label" post on request... “Lead Sled Saturday”

First... What’s a Lead Sled also called Led Sled. 

Well... mostly a car, generally built before 1960 ( 49/50 mercury, 49-54 chevrolet) that has had custom work done to the body. That involved finishing/molding with lead, as in the days before there wasn’t any Bondo.

Originally, the Lead Slead referred to extensively repaired/modified cars due to the use of lead as body filler and was, for the most part, an insult.

Since the introduction of artificial fillers (such as Bondo), the term has come to mean a post-war, large (full size, heavy) American car, mostly from the 1950s that tends to have all extra side moldings shaved off and filled, with the suspension lowered.

Lead sleds are mostly built for style, not for speed, however that doesn’t mean that they can’t be fast!

For more bodymods... like Top Chop, Frenching, Shaving, Channeling, etc... see in my Hot Rod Dictionary

In future... I will post about the Legends thats started “leading” and some that still do...

Shirley Muldowney...

Born... as Shirley Ann Roque on June 19, 1940 in Burlington, Vermont USA, Also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing.

She’s an American pioneer in professional auto racing and was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) in 1965, to drive a Top Fuel Dragster.

She began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady, New York. All she wanted was to race up and down the streets in a hot rod," declared Muldowney. At the age of sixteen, she married nineteen-year-old Jack Muldowney, who would build her first dragster.

In 1958, the then eighteen-year-old made her debut on the dragstrip of the Fonda Speedway. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980 and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles. She has won a total of 18 NHRA national events.

Read more about Shirley Muldowney @ Wikipedia 

Hemi History X

The Hemi engine was designed by Chrysler in 1951 and launched in a new line of V8 engines that year. The name was evolved from the shape of the cylinder heads, which had a hemispherical design. There are two Hemi engine designs...  One where the combustion chamber is hemispherical and one where the top of the cylinder head has that shape.

The hemispherical design helps improve thermal and volumetric efficiency when fuel is ignited in the engine's combustion chamber, creating more power without requiring a higher octane fuel to create more compression.

As well, the design places valves across from each other instead of side-by-side, to help improve air intake and exhaust gas flow. Spark plugs also are placed differently, angled to provide maximum ignition combustion in the chambers. More

Is the question of who invented the hemispherical combustion chamber a rather silly way to waste time.
Well... Chrysler didn't, and never claimed otherwise. But Zora Arkus-Duntov didn't either, and I don't believe he ever claimed to. The advantage of the hemi layout, with valves angled away from each other, lies with increased valve size, and greatly enhanced porting...

In The Grand Prix Car Volume 1 by Lawrence Pomeroy, the first mention of angled valves and overhead camshafts is in his description of the 1912 3 liter Peugeot Grand Prix car, designed by a Frenchman named Henri. This was not a hemispherical chamber, it had four valves in what's known as a pent-roof chamber. So it's a level above the hemi. Hence, the inventor of the hemi, if he exists, came up with a way to reduce the potential of the overhead cam, multiple valve design. More/Source

Some Hemi's in cars between 1952 and 1959

1952	DeSoto FireDome 276 ci - 160 hp / 250 ft-lb
1953	DeSoto FireDome 276 ci - 160 hp 250 ft-lb
1953	Dodge Red Ram 241 ci - 140 hp 220 ft-lb
1954	DeSoto FireDome 276 ci - 160 hp 250 ft-lb
1954	Dodge Truck 270 ci
1954	Dodge Red Ram 241 ci - 140 hp 220 ft-lb
1954	Dodge Red Ram 241 ci - 150 hp 222 ft-lb
1955	DeSoto FireDome 291 ci - 185 hp 245 ft-lb
1955	DeSoto FireFlite 291 ci - 200 hp 274 ft-lb
1955	Dodge Red Ram 270 ci - 183 hp 245 ft-lb
1955	Dodge Red Ram 270 ci - 193 hp 245 ft-lb
1955	Dodge Truck 259 ci - 134 hp 243 ft-lb
1955	Dodge Truck 259 ci - 134 hp 243 ft-lb
1955	Dodge Truck 270 ci - 142 hp 256 ft-lb
1955	Dodge Truck 331 ci - 201 hp 311 ft-lb
1956	DeSoto FireDome 330 ci - 230 hp 305 ft-lb
1956	DeSoto FireFlite 330 ci - 255 hp 350 ft-lb
1956	DeSoto Adventurer 341 ci - 320 hp 356 ft-lb
1956	Dodge Red Ram 315 ci - 260 hp 330 ft-lb
1956	Dodge Red Ram 315 ci - 295 hp n/a ft-lb
1956	Dodge Truck 259 ci - 134 hp 243 ft-lb
1956	Dodge Truck 259 ci - 134 hp 243 ft-lb
1956	Dodge Truck 270 ci - 142 hp 256 ft-lb
1956	Dodge Truck 331 ci - 201 hp 311 ft-lb
1957	DeSoto FireDome 341 ci - 270 hp 350 ft- lb
1957	DeSoto FireFlite 341 ci - 295 hp 375 ft-lb
1957	DeSoto Adventurer  345 ci - 345 hp 355 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Red Ram 325 ci - 285 hp 345 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Red Ram 325 ci - 310 hp 350 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Truck 315 ci - 197 hp 284 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Truck 315 ci - 197 hp 284 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Truck 331 ci - 201 hp 311 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Truck 331 ci - 201 hp 311 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
1957	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
1958	Dodge Truck 315 ci - 197 hp 284 ft-lb
1958	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
1958	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
1958	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
1959	Dodge Truck 315 ci - 197 hp 284 ft-lb
1959	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
1959	Dodge Truck 354 ci - 218 hp 319 ft-lb
Crate Mopar	Gen III Crate 392 HEMI 392 ci - 540 hp 490 ft-lb

The beginning...

History of the car...

Did you know?

One of the first Italians records designs for wind driven vehicles was Guido da Vigevano in 1335

It was a windmill type drive to gears and thus to wheels.

Later Leonardo da Vinci designed a clockwork driven tricycle with tiller steering and a differential mechanism between the rear wheels.

Thomas Newcomen did build his first steam engine in 1712

Newcomen’s engine had a cylinder and a piston and was the first of this kind, and it used steam as a condensing agent to form a vacuum and with an overhead walking beam, pull on a rod to lift water

It was an enormous thing and was strictly stationary. ‘

The steam was not under pressure, just an open boiler piped to the cylinder.

It used the same vacuum principle that Thomas Savery had patented to lift water directly with the vacuum, which would have limited his pump to less than 32 feet of lift.

Newcomen's lift would have only been limited by the length of the rod and the strength of the valve at the bottom.

Somehow Newcomen was not able to separate his invention from that of Savery and had to pay for Savery's rights.

In 1765 James Watt developed the first pressurized steam engine which proved to be much more efficiënt and compact that the Newcomen engine.

The first vehicle to move under its own power for which there is a record
was designed by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot and constructed by M. Brezin in 1769

A replica of this vehicle is on display at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in Paris.

A second unit was built in 1770 which weighed 8000 pounds and had a top speed on 2 miles per hour and on the cobble stone streets of Paris this was probably as fast as anyone wanted to go it.

Many attempts were being made in England by the 1830's to develop a practical vehicle that didn't need rails.

A series of accidents and propaganda from the established railroads caused a flurry of restrictive legalisation to be passed and the development of the automobile bypassed England.

Several commercial vehicles were built but they were more like trains without tracks.
The development of the internal combustion engine had to wait until a fuel was available to combust internally.

Gunpowder was tried but didn't work out.

Gunpowder carburetors are still hard to find.

The first gas really did use gas. They used coal gas generated by heating coal in a pressure vessel or boiler.

A Frenchman named Etienne Lenoir patented the first practical gas engine in Paris in 1860 and drove a car based on the design from Paris to Joinville in 1862.

His one-half horse power engine had a bore of 5 inchesand a 24 inch stroke. It was big and heavy and turned 100 rpm.

Lenoir had a separate mechanism to compress the gas before combustion.

In 1862, Alphonse Bear de Rochas figured out how to compress the gas in the same cylinder in which it was to burn, which is the way we still do it.

This process of bringing the gas into the cylinder, compressing it, combusting the compressed mixture, then exhausting it is know as the Otto cycle, or four cycle engine.
Lenoir claimed to have run the car on benzine and his drawings show an electric spark ignition.

If so, then his vehicle was the first to run on petroleum based fuel, or petrol, or what we call gas, short for gasoline.

Siegfried Marcus, of Mecklenburg, built a car in 1868 and showed one
at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873.

His later car was called the Strassenwagen

It had about 3/4 horse power at 500 rpm. It ran on crude wooden wheels with iron rims and stopped by pressing wooden blocks against the iron rims, but it had a clutch, a differential and a magneto ignition.

One of the four cars which Marcus built is in the Vienna Technical Museum and can still be driven under its own power.

In 1876, Nokolaus Otto patented the Otto cycle engine, de Rochas had neglected to do so, and this later became the basis for Daimler and Benz breaking the Otto patent by claiming prior art from de Rochas

By 1891 the Daimler Motor Company, owned by Steinway, was producing petrol engines for tramway cars, carriages, quadricycles, fire engines and boats in a plant in Hartford, CT.

Steam cars had been built in America since before the Civil War but the early one were like miniature locomotives.

In 1871, Dr. J. W. Carhart, professor of physics at Wisconsin State University, and the J. I. Case Company built a working steam car.

By 1890 Ransom E. Olds had built his second steam powered car. One was sold to a buyer in India, but the ship it was on was lost at sea.

Running by February, 1893 and ready for road trials by September 1893, the car built by Charles and Frank Duryea, brothers was the first gasoline powered car in America.

The first run on public roads was made on September 21, 1893 in Springfield, MA.

They had purchased a used horse drawn buggy for $70 and installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine.

The car (buggy) had a friction transmission, spray carburetor and low tension ignition.

It must not have run very well because Frank didn't drive it again until November 10 when it was reported by the Springfield Morning Union newspaper

This car was put into storage in 1894 and stayed there until 1920 when it was rescued by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the United States National Museum.

Henry Ford had an engine running by 1893 but it was 1896 before he built his first car.

By the end of the year Ford had sold his first car, which he called a Quadracycle, for $200 and used the money to build another one.

With the financial backing of the Mayor of Detroit, William C. Maybury and other wealthy Detroiters, Ford formed the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899

A few prototypes were built but no production cars were ever made by this company.

It was dissolved in January 1901. Ford would not offer a car for sale until 1903

2 be Continued… Next, We’ll go to Henry’s Ford model T.

Want to read full history of the car and much more… press Here for a real good source!