The subscriber cover of Issue #50 features Jim Farley’s ’34 Ford five-window coupe shot on location at Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge complex just outside their Dearborn, Michigan headquarters. Also in this issue are the cross-country trip Jim Semon made in 1958 to visit the Barris Kustom shop and Jim “Coop” Cooper’s view of drag racing’s golden age from the pits and staging lanes.
Maryland’s Frank Morawski recently finished his exquisite restoration of the Fred Carrillo Model T Modified Roadster. We shot it in our studio while Morawski was on the West Coast to attend the Pebble Beach Concors d’Elegance. First debuted at the Bonneville Speed Week in 1951, the roadster went on to turn a respectable 178 mph. It was also featured on the July 1952 Hot Rod Magazine cover as well as a Rex Burnett cutaway rendering. The heavily researched and comprehensive article, written by Jay Fitzhugh, details the original build as well as the recent restoration.
In 1958 18 year old Jim Semon, along with his mother, brother and girlfriend, drove from Sandusky, Ohio to Los Angeles, California to visit the Barris Kustom shop as a high school graduation present. He documented the trip with his small brownie camera and was lucky enough to stumble upon the Crazy Painters where he caught Ed Roth pinstriping a mild custom DeSoto sedan. We have over 20 of his original photographs along with his story of this memorable road trip that beats most graduation gifts.
Bobby Walden and Jim “Jake” Jacobs have assembled a chopped Deuce three-window coupe that we had the opportunity to shoot in the studio before paint and upholstery. With Bobby’s metalworking skills combined with Jake’s hot rod suspension geometry it’s hard not to be impressed by this aggressive looking highboy.
Pat Ganahl delves into the history and evolution of Ron Aguirre’s 1957 Corvette, “X-Sonic”. The amazing story of how it was purchased brand new off the showroom floor, immediately turned into a mild-custom and evolved into a show stopping, bubble topped, custom creation. Each of the car's incarnations are pictured in this article, chronicling its interesting transformation.
We take a look at the golden era of drag racing as seen through the lens of Jim Cooper. Jim was based in the Pacific Northwest, but made annual pilgrimages to Southern California to shoot the NHRA Winternationals back in the 1960s. Although we are fans of his action photography, we were drawn to his behind the scenes pit photos and have published a selection in TRJ #50. You'll find that these images contain just as much action.
Contact us today to secure your copy. Delivery early February.
