BARN FIND RACE CAR | One-off Steel Sports Car, Built by Edgar Smith c.1956, Full History Discovered!
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- This unique one-off roadster has come across our radar a few times over the years and just as quickly disappeared again. The last time it appeared, our friends at the Petersen Automotive Museum, Leslie Kendall, sent it our way in the hopes of finding out more about it. At the time, the car's history, purpose, and heritage was unknown. Just as quickly as it had surface once again, it disappeared only to hit Facebook Marketplace about six months later!
The seller of the car inherited it from her father, who was reported to have purchased it from the original builder / family in the 1970s sometime. Her father had passed away so she was unable to find out more about the car and the mystery continued.
Our newest member of the Undiscovered Classics club, Steven Andrews of @squarepegfab-tb5cm, ended up purchasing the car and we quickly connected to see if we would finally reveal the history on this unique steel sports car. The car is built on a custom tube chassis with fans formed steel body panels, a 1956 Ford Y-block, three speed manual transmission, and a two speed Columbia rear end.
The first clue that sent us on our research journey were two registrations from the original owner, one from 1964 and the other from 1974 which listed the owner at the time as Edgar Smith Jr. In 1964, the car was registered in Palo Alto, California and by 1974 they had moved to Elko, Nevada, later settling in Fallon, Nevada.
Based on the addresses listed, specifically for his time in Palo Alto, I was able to call up the 1962-1965 City Directories, which notes Edgar was a machinist, which was the first likely clue that he was the builder here.
I don't have to tell any of you that the last name Smith is a researcher's worst nightmare. Thankfully, I caught a break when I found his wife's obituary. Specifically, her obituary noted of Edgar that he was a "mechanic, machinist, tinsmith, and inventor", which was starting to paint a more certain picture. It looks like he had his own metal fabrication company with his brother by the late 1940s, known as Smith Brothers Steel Fabrication.
Edgar and Orva had two children, but their daughter died in 2010 and it turned out their son had died in 2017 so we hit another dead end in hoping to connect the car with original living family members.
I spoke with the archivist at the Elko, NV historic museum who kindly went through all of their files to see if they could find anything further. Unfortunately, they did not come across any local news articles about Edgar and the car, just the same obits I was able to dig up myself so no further threads to pull on that front.
I did some more digging and called the funeral home that handled Edgar's cremation and memorial service back in 1980. Luckily, they were still in business and the gal operating the front desk was very kind. She went into their old hard copy files and did in fact file all of the original paper filings the family did for his funeral. Unfortunately, there wasn't much more there than what we already knew.
Orva's obituary didn't know where she had her funeral services, but it did list the care facility she was living in at the time of her death. Thankfully, they were still in business and willing to help! That lead us to an active phone number for their son, who at the time we didn't know had already passed away, so another dead end.
I hit pay dirt in the most recent stretch of my research into this car when I heard back from the archivist at the Churchill County History Museum in Fallon and that's been the crucial link to get information about the car and Smith family that wasn't anywhere else, including vintage photos.
The handwritten notes on the back of the historic photo for this car, reads "The last race car built - this would be about 1965" which tracks timeline wise with the registration from September 1964. It doesn't give us a definitive answer on when the build started, which I still think looks more like 1950s styling than 1960s, but that information may still yet reveal itself.
There is no mention of the car being built for the Salt Flats and certainly nothing about it being a Batmobile prototype, neither of which I think had much credence to begin with, but it does confirm they purpose built it for racing.
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Thanks for watching the video BARN FIND RACE CAR | One-off Steel Sports Car, Built by Edgar Smith c.1956, Full History Discovered!
Edgar is my great-grandfather. That's my uncle, mom, and aunt at 6:50. It was absolutely mind blowing learning about this after Steven called my mom. Full-circle moment for sure since I follow motorsports very closely now.
Hey! Thanks for chiming in, so cool to officially meet one of his living relatives here! Have you guys had any luck digging up any more info or photos in your talks with Steven? It was so much fun researching the history on this awesome car, I’m just dying for more! 😄
Seeing the smooth underside, I wonder if it was built for Bonneville?? If so, the prolific Eric Rickmann may have shot build photos of it, which would be in the Petersen Publishing photo archives. See if Dave Wallace has any info on that!
Actually, it's pretty cool! A crying shame someone warped the metal. Kudos to the late Mr. Smith for creating this.
One would assume it was the second owner and not Edgar who did the metal warping. I mean, he was a metal worker after all!
Pre fiberglass? Would have been even better😊
Could always take a splash mold and do one in fiberglass 😎
@@UndiscoveredClassicsUSA And make *another* car that looks like *that*??? 😁
Then I could have one too! 🤣
My grandfather named in this video is Edgar Smith Junior-he had no middle name. Some of the comments listed below I agree with. The car was not a thing of beauty but it was very loud and fast. The car was built in Palo Alto and eventually made its way to Golconda, Nevada. My grandparents moved to Elko around 1975 and nobody knows when the car was sold upon them moving. As mentioned in the video, Edgar was an excellent machinist and inventor. Not bad with only an 8th grade education.
Thanks for chiming in! Appreciate the info and glad to see your family history preserved with your grandfather’s car
The way it looks, I’d assume Smith as a pseudonym. 😂. Actually, that is super-cool for Mr. Smith to build a car his way. Lots of skill and chutzpah! Major kudos.
Definitely could use some refinement, but he had some of the right ideas!
Nice one. Agree this is a 50s build. The cars they built in the 60s were very different.
Agreed, definitely doesn’t have 1960s styling
@@UndiscoveredClassicsUSA Styling? at the moment it looks like the love child of Chitty chitty bang bang and "the Car". 😁😁
@@UndiscoveredClassicsUSA very much influenced by Lotus' 9 and 11 sports racers to me, which he must have seen racing in the US. But a lot bigger😀
I can see some of that influence
I mean, I love both of those cars too 😂💀
Love that long throw shifter; and the longer throw headlights 🤠. Great to see it rescued and running!
Thanks, Steve has done a great job getting it back on the road!
Very interesting build on that old race car. It runs and drives. Very cool. 😎 Thanks for sharing! 💯👊👍
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for being here!
Hi Steve! Good afternoon from Canada! Our home is an hour east of Toronto Canada, in cottage country. Wow! My husband (Steve) and I just found this site this afternoon referencing to your amazing find! We both WooHoo'd!! ourselves when you successfully started it up! The amount of original pieces & the fabulous history that's been unearthed are astounding and testament to tenacious following thru on the leads. We were both right along with you on that road test. Nothing barks like an old Ford LOL. Looking forward to more as you progress. We'll be joining your channel as well! Great and keep up the good work, both of you guys! :D
I’m sure Steve appreciates your encouragement! That’s great 😄
I really like your videos please keep them coming !
Great examples of one of a kind cars.
Thanks very much!
Mr Smith was a craftsman from the old school. His ingenuity and workmanship were very advanced they don't make them like now days. It isn't a pretty automobile but is very functional. kudoes to Mr Smith. 😎🏁
Indeed! Thanks for chiming in and being nice 😄
Very cool one of a kind car! And those old Y blocks always sounded great with a decent exhaust!
The Y-block sure suits the car
He'll that's racer X first car. Love it. GREAT FIND!
😄
This is ........AWESOME!!! It seems like it drives great! Other than the things that need to be buttoned up. I didn't know they were going to show the car in working order until the end! WOW! Just incredible! That shifting mech looks like it would be really good. But that could be deceiving mind you LOL.
Nice to see more people enthusiastic about the car. Thanks for chiming in! Be sure to follow Steven’s channel for future updates there too
what a find! thanks for sharing. would love to see the future progress of the car. It definitely deserves to grace pebble beach one day )
Thanks for following along!
I love that car....that is so awesome
We dig it too!
Original bias ply tires...I love it. Flat bottom.
Probably haha
Newer is not always cooler, vintage is our great heritage,!
Hell yeah 💪
I had a feeling from the first episode that this was built by a sheet metal fab shop. It's really long for a race car. Can you register it for the street with the plex windscreen and no wipers? So many magazines like Popular Mechanics did articles on how to build your own car in the 50's. If only I could finish my dream car...
I’m not sure as to how or if it’s registered, but it’s been done for sure so it’s totally feasible
With those old Ford Wine blocks a lot of times they took up line off the oil pressure sending unit in the back of the motor and put it up in through the valve covers because they were oiled through the cam, and that dirty oil would plug up the passages, so I remember an old guy used to put kerosene and transmission fluid in it and all kinds of stuff at the gas station. I work in when I was a kid in the six days and clean it all out and keep keep doing it until the full 30 waitthey
Good advice!
The motor's very quiet, brakes squeekin' ! I'm sure once everything i gone over, it'll look totally different !! ❤❤🤘🤘
Steven has it coming along nicely after a long hibernation!
Rad. Glad I found this channel. So cool.
Thanks a lot! Glad to have you here
I wish the hobby was still as affordable as it was in the 50s, 60s, and 70s
The cars we focus on are still quite affordable compared to traditional production cars.
Very cool build im so glad you guys saved it and got it up and driving. I would contact Gene Winfield this looks like something he would have the best knowledge on. Plus it would be really cool if gene painted it for you maybe even take it out on the salt flats
Geoff actually met with Gene years ago to talk about the CRV Piranha as Gene had customized one for the Man from Uncle TV show. I haven’t seen much about him in the last month or so since all that unpleasantness with the woman who was swindling him :/
Just sounds like a valve noise. You'd want to check the valve adjustment anyways. The old mechanics used to have stethoscopes to track down the source of noises, or they'd just use a big screwdriver and hold it to their ear. That's a beautiful car!
Thanks for the input! 😄
The Teapot Holley four barrel suggests that the motor is a 312 from a Thunderbird. The exhaust manifolds are standard single exhaust Y-block units, converted to dual exhaust. Original exhaust cross-over went in front of the motor.
Great observations, thanks for the input!
Reminds me of luke's land speeder thing from star wars, pretty cool looking
I think someone else said the same and I can’t totally see it. I still dig it too
Thats one sweet ride
A ton of work went into it and the workmanship is awesome nice find mate .
Glad you like it too!
The Burns funeral Home, You're Late,We Cremate.
OMG 😂💀
A little roadster? That thing looks bigger than the F150 pulling it.
Little may be a bit of an understatement 😅
Normally I would say to keep a car as original as possible, especially if it is so rare. The headlights are such an after-thought though, that it could benefit some improvement. If you could incorporate a pair of headlights from an Opel GT, that would give it a better finish look.
They look great closed, but when open it could certainly use some refinement. Good suggestion for the Opel GT
Paint it silver and name it the Cyber Man - Reminds me of the Dr Who nemesis
As a fellow fan of Doctor Who, I endorse this message haha
Trapdoor Headlamps! Very cool
Right? So cool 😎
I LOVE IT ❤️!!!
It’s pretty rad!
In the current color, it reminds me of the landspeeder👍
The one from Star Wars? I can see that!
That shift block is off a Moss gearbox probably from a Jaguar. Looks like they lifted the tach and speedo out of a Jag as well- they were both cable driven and he has maded up his own drive for the tach cable. Good presentation this time- could understand and follow the story and your microphone was good.
Thanks! My intro was used with the new mics and video camera so I’m glad it’s better 😄
Looks like it's made from 16 or 18 gauge maybe? Looks heavy but very well constructed.
I'd say the styling is debatable at best (imo), but in context it likely looked like a UFO to people in the '50s. I could never bring myself to finish a car that looks like this, but do admire some of its details & certainly admire how it's built very much.
I'm huge into originality & auto history, but if mine, I'd change that body entirely haha 😁
Thank you for another grate viddy oh!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks 😄
What color was the car and are you going to restore it that would be awesome
It doesn’t appear to have ever been fully finished. You’ll have to follow along on Steven’s channel to see what he does 😄
Guy build him a pre star wars speedster....
Frikn cool
Oh man, I can see that now that you said it haha
Might of been in a movie the style looks like it was okay thanks again Charles Williams later
Not as far as we can tell or the family can remember, but it would look right at home as a movie car
I think that column is out of a ford box truck circa early 50s
Good observation, we’ll check that out
Very cool 🤙 I'm pulling a 50's custom magazine car out soon. There's not enough excitement about it yet. But it's going to be a big deal I think. It was in a few magazine's and then it disappeared.
Ohhhhh tell us more!
@UndiscoveredClassicsUSA it's on my channel I have a short on it and a post in the community section. The car is my friends he inherited it along with 500 others. The other custom posted is mine and will be brought out too.
Cool! Could you link it here for other folks to see too?
@@UndiscoveredClassicsUSA the post youtube.com/@kdsboosted4954?si=2ZHoKvFBQzXIkBTt
@@UndiscoveredClassicsUSA the short ruclips.net/user/shortsDz3doDVtrI8?si=ecJvXWvJFkwEFH9c
That is sooooo cooooollllll. Perfect
Thanks! We think so too 😄
Take that sled to Bonneville with a late model motor
Maybe Steve will do just that!
If there's anyone old enough to remember this car, its ISKY, 100-yr-old Ed Iskenderian, the Camfather himself!
Ed is actually 103 now and still going!
the y-blocks came in 272, 292, or 312.
I thought they came in like half a dozen different size?
Looks like something Bad Chad would build // lol
🤷♀️
It kinda does. He has a very unrefined eye imo.
I think it needs a glass bubble..
Ohhhhh I love that idea!
Looks like the back end is on the front.
The front seems reminiscent of the Chrysler Thunderbolt, which the same could be said of
312/3 speed and no roll bar kinda suggests it's more sports roadster than race car..... Nicely done, but kinda crude and old-school...... Looks like a 40s style build and probably heavy.....It probably was never finished to a show-quality standard, so it can now be brought to a high standard without guilt.....The flip headlights don't match the styling and should be replaced by quad stacked headlights in the front of the fenders (think 67 GTO)
When the headlights are up, it does seem distracting from the overall design intent. I’d probably keep them and just get some hidden ones behind the grill myself
maybe he was shooting for a land speed car. Styling looks like attempt at aerodynamics for straight speed and not corners
I didn’t mention it in the intro, but the previous owner seemed to think it was for a land speed car or a movie car that never was used. Neither of which really seem likely, but the build elements are quite interesting. Maybe the grandkids will know!
I watch a lot of videos but this channel is the one that I look forward to the most./ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
Love that, thanks so much!
IAM in Love. Like could this be like a Vision of 56 57 t bird extrouidenaire
We really dig it too!
Paint it Black Cherry
That would make for a good color on this one!
Hate to criticize ,but those rare cars need to get indoors - quick. I live in Florida and they would be rotten - even fiberglass - in a few years.
Those are actually up here in Buffalo and sat outside for decades before Geoff or I acquired them. That being said, they’ve just been moved out there for the summer 😄
To me its begging to be preserved but not over-restored.....just sayin
Less expensive to preserve than restore too 😄
neato
😄
the radiator fill is over the motor
👍
My name is edgar a smith
Any relation?
il existe en france une barquette identique et 1 seul modele a ete construit
Have a link?
I've seen a lot of homebuilts 50's. "This is a race car" is a stretch. If you're calling this styling, I'm sorry it's an abomination. It's a fine example of someone who completely failed to capture the essence of a sports car. yet I give him full credit for the build.
I hope the buyer who " rescued" it and improves it somehow, but it looks like an uphill battle from the get go. Sorry, I've seen better going through the crusher.
We’re just referring to it as the original builder did and with the chassis build, it certainly had racing in mind. Even if it may not have gotten up to the level per se. We’re just glad it’s in good, loving hands 😄
I hate to be negative but that car is butt ugly. It has to be a home creation because I dont imagine a company would produce something so ugly. There is just so much work to make it road worthy. Those Y blocks were notorious to work on the valve train, the lifters come out the bottom of the engine. Why ford designed it that way I’ll never know. Those engines are solid lifter engines.
It wasn’t produced by a company, it was done by an individual. Did you watch the video all the way through? We think it looks pretty neat as do many others, but it’s alright to have different opinions of course. Design and beauty is subjective after all 😄
One ugly car
To each their own my friend
Looks like crap
To each their own my guy
Don't be a prique.
She ain't too pretty.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there’s a lot of folks here who like it. To each their own 😎