Discover Top Posts Tagged with #larry mcbride

Larry "Spiderman" McBride 1/12 Top Fuel by Dirk Joseph Sr

View On WordPress

#Dirk Joseph Sr #Drag Bike #Dragster #guest build #Larry McBride #Top Fuel

Fred Merkly gets down n’ dirty with a 1928 roadster in the lane behind 870 East 33rd. It is 1953 and the California hot rod trend has hit Vancouver hard. Garages all over the city have become chop-and-channel shops where worthless jalopies are transformed into sleek street racers.

Today the alley is still a dusty path and the machines hatched in Dan Wittenberg’s backyard have long since been scrapped, but at one time, these unpretentious neighbourhoods shook with the roar of open-muffler rods.

The trend’s epicentre was Kingsway and Fraser, because burgers were good and cheap at the Aristocrat drive-in, and it was close to the Horticultural Hall (1260 East 20th), where the B.C. Custom Car Association met after it formed in 1952, and close to Cal-Van Speed Equipment & Accessories for all your velocity needs. Also, Kingsway had a nice cruising rhythm to it – lined as it was with motels and used car lots. The Junction was the pit stop, but a lot of the race action happened south thereof, in South Van.

In fact, the whole hot rod phenomenon burst onto the front page of the city papers in 1949 with a racing mishap at Fraser and 53rd. 19-year-old Larry McBride decided, during a wintry joy ride, to rub his ’32 deuce against the tires of 17-year-old Len Biskey’s ’33 Ford coach. The wheels met and the coupe took flight towards a telephone pole, but before the vehicle could hit the stantion, the car ran 40 feet up a guy wire and dangled there. McBride and his passenger, Bill Murray were thrown through the roadster’s canvas top and landed in the snow. Two tykes were among the first on the scene. One of the lads quickly assessed the semi-conscious Larry and declared: “This one’s had it! Let’s go look at the other guy!”

The human projectiles survived and both drivers were convicted of dangerous driving. The roadster, which split apart, was pieced back together again and can be seen in the pic with McBride and his ’39 Merc.

Check out Vancouver’s checkered-flag past in Bernie Loughran’s, Hot Rod Memories: Remembering B.C.’s Hot Rod Beginnings.