Category Archives: Other cool stuff

Stuff we want to write about that won’t fit to another category.

Stromberg Videos now on Vimeo

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When we were at the Lone Star Round Up in Texas, earlier this year, we talked at length with Piero De Luca about various video productions to bring our products to life a little more. Many of you guys will know Piero as the guy behind the Mad Fabricators CD series so we knew he was the man for the job. And boy, we have been proved so right, we’ve named him “Vice President of Moving Media”. Really. Check out this beauty – the first of many, we hope….

You can view this and all future Stromberg video productions on the Vimeo website. If you already have a Vimeo account, check it out. And please Follow us!

Baldwin Special – Stromberg equipped !

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Scan21Ok, from one to ten, how cool is this picture? The red ‘sports rod’, the chequered flag, the white racing overalls, the haircuts, the big steering wheel, the female interest. Man, it’s got it all. Looks more like a shot from a 1950’s thrills and spills auto movie. But it’s real – entitled, ‘Dad’s win in 1956’.

Huge thanks to Stu Hanssen, of Santa Ynes, Calif for these great pictures of his Baldwin Special, once owned and raced by his Dad, William M Hanssen. Stu managed to locate the car – for sale – in Connecticut via an internet appeal in old race car circles.

Its original builder Willis Baldwin of Santa Barbara, Calif, built four Specials and William’s was the last, built on a ’48 Merc frame with transverse leaf front spring, coils on the ’52 rear end and the big Stromberg equipped Merc flathead with monster Ardun conversion. Raced by William, it participated in at least four races during the 1956 season, entered as a Baldwin Special. It also saw action in the March 12th, 1955 Preliminary Palm Springs Race, where Hanssen shared the track with Carroll Shelby, Ernie McAfee, Ak Miller, and Chuck Daigh. Naturally, Stu is keen to get the car on the track himself, and we certainly can’t wait to see it back where it belongs. There are a lot of great facts about the other Baldwin specials on Tam’s Old Race Car Site and more pics of this cool car on the Connecticut Classix website.

Silver Stromberg 97 !

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Sterling Silver Stromberg 97 Carburetor Pendant by Robert West of WrenchHead Jewelry 07 WM (Large)I’ve gotta show you this. Canadian Robert West makes the coolest custom jewellery known to man. As you can see on his website, his company, Wrenchhead Jewelry is aimed right at the hot rod and kustom lifestyle with awesome rings and pendants –  a ’32 roadster (!), a ’32 grille shell, a striping brush, airbrush, tattoo gun, mag wheel, front engined dragster (honest!) and more, plus a bunch of more traditional jewellery too. And all in Silver, 14kt and 18kt Yellow and White Gold as well as Platinum.But naturally our fave is the half-ounce (18 grams) Argentium Sterling Silver Stromberg 97 carburetor pendant! I mean, it’s 1-1/4″ high and 1/2″ wide! The attention to detail is incredible. And we know because we look at the real thing every day. The proportions are perfect and you can identify the screws, the choke plate, the bowl plugs, the S-jet inlet valve, even the tiny 97 on the side. And that’s only about 1/32 inch tall! It’s like he’s sent a real 97 off to Revell for miniaturization! Rest assured this stuff is seriously hand made by Robert personally. The Sterling Silver he uses has an anti-tarnish quality that’s a by product of a small amount of Germanium used as part of the alloy.

The price? Just $399.00 CAD (Canadian Dollars), including the 22″ Italian-made curb link chain, an upgraded lobster clasp and free shipping to Canada, US., UK. and Australia. Check out the online store (click here) and order yourself an heirloom today!

Stop Carb Percolation!

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HotRodCarbs.com - Carb Insulator Spacers & Shields-1Check out this new product from our buddy Larry Fulton at Hot Rod Carbs, Montana, USA. It’s a line of premium carburetor heat insulator spacers and shields, which protect the base from direct heat transfer and the underside of the carb bowl from radiant heat. The range starts with these babies for 2-barrel carburetors – like Stromberg 97s. To quote Larry, “because of the extremely low evaporation and boiling point temperatures of today’s numerous gasoline blends (some as low as 100*F), carburetor users from around the world have been experiencing many problems related to fuel evaporation, vapor lock, percolation, hard starting and intake manifold staining. I can’t tell you how many cores I’ve taken apart over the years that have heat cycled so often they’ll shatter into pieces like a broken glass when lightly tapped on with a screw driver.”

The new insulators use a patented (and superior) material. They’re black in color for an OEM appearance and they’re only 1/4” thick for applications with limited hood clearance. Each has been designed to be used individually or in stacked configurations for even greater insulation. The material is able to withstand normal wrench tightening of the carburetor hold-down nuts and studs without concern of crushing. And lastly, each shield and spacer is engraved with the HotRodCarbs.com logo to give consumers complete confidence.

AUTOMOTION Hot Rod Carbs
837 – 36th Ave NE
Great Falls, MT 59404
406-453-5395

Navarro 8-barrel Stromberg 48 carb Update !!

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Navarro Stromberg 4bbl top viewUpdate! We got an email from experienced hot rod Journo, Chris Shelton, this week (thanks Chris!) with an update on this cool Stromberg 48 based siamesed carb:

I think I can shed some light on this crazy 4×2 setup.  I wrote the story about Navarro’s roadster in the February ’10 R&C. Barney built that car in the late ’40s—as far as we can tell his engine and the one he built for his then-employee Tom Beatty were the first Flathead Fords if not first V-8 engines ever to get Roots-type superchargers. So that sort of goes with the story that this assembly came to pass in the late ’40s.

The engine that Barney built for that car reportedly exists but Scott Perrott said he couldn’t talk the owner out of it and that it lacked the blower and carburetor adapter anyway. He was forced to recreate the induction system and he did so by Barney’s instructions. Here’s how he described it.

“The hard thing was fitting all those carburetors over the opening in the blower. The holes don’t go straight down; they go at an angle. There’s also a slot cut in it so you can get to the bolts to tighten everything down. I mean it was just a lot of work for a very simple thing that turned out not to be.” But by the benevolence of Scott’s friend, Bob Coutts, it and the other difficult-to-make parts found new life. “He’s just one of these guys who’s been racing his whole life and working out of a little one-man machine shop. He and I are longtime friends and he can make anything I want. And he makes me do all the things that he doesn’t want to do.”

Click here for a photo of the finished product. 

Now did Barney remember exactly how he built that induction system? If so, did Scott understand exactly what Barney described? Supposedly Barney approved of the recreation but there’s a chance that he would’ve politely nodded in approval even if they got it wrong. I met Barney once or twice and he seemed like a thoughtful man.

There’s a good chance that the modified assembly could’ve been a design revision. That would give the carburetors a straighter shot into the narrow 4-71 opening and I can see Barney seeing potential in that. Regardless, that assembly really looks as if it was intended for a blown application