I stumbled upon this old race car in a museum on the east coast. What caught my eye, other than these cool looking exhaust pipes, was the obvious connection between this exotic race car and Seattle. More specifically to my little neighborhood of Ballard in the northwest part of the city. Can you name the car, and the connection?
Need another hint? How about a 40′ one lit up in neon!
How’s that for some old-time Seattle nostalgia?
From the deafening silence it appears you guys need some hints:
It is an Italo-American design.
It ran at Indy.
Here’s another view…
“From the deafening silence it appears you guys need some hints”
>crickets chirping<
Bueller? BUELLER???
More clues, plz….!
Well, the Cavalino on the starboard side is a dead-giveaway for half of the car’s ID. The type-on-a-curve logo across the bonnet covers the other half.
It was supposed to run at the 1956 Indy 500, but weather prevented it from completion of qualifying… it was driven by a former Spa 24 Hours co-pilot of Mike Hawthorn, who retired shortly after failing to qualify at Indy.
Thanks for the hints !it was a challenging one, even with the color. Hawthorn drove for Ferrari with Farina and Ascari (winner at Spa in 1953;Ferrari 500).With Wikipedia help I found that Farina did not qualify its Bardhal-Ferrari for the Indy 500.Bardhal (located in Seattle) was a leading motor oil brand in the mid 50’s in the USA.
Hmmm, this is tricky; please excuse my ponderous logic.
Ole Bardahl, founder of Bardahl Mfg, set up in Ballard, Seattle.
The car is likely to be a Bardahl Kurtis 500D special with a Ferrari 4.4l 6 cylinder engine.
The driver was probably Guiseppe Farina.
Arrgh, Philippe has jumped in ahead of me as I was writing out my answer.
Had me stumped! Great CPoD, CG!
OK, with enough obvious hints you guys finally got it:
It was fun to be in a museum in upstate New York and stumble upon the Bardahl name. The neon sign I posted above as a hint is a landmark in the Ballard area of Seattle. It is a huge neon sign at the north end of the Ballard Bridge, looming above Mike’s Chili Parlor. I miss old Ballard… sigh.
“Ole Bardahl, founder of Bardahl Mfg, set up in Ballard, Seattle.”
Ole…of ‘Sven and Ole’ fame?
😀
Bardahl was *almost* as deleterious to use, long-term, in an engine as was STP! Interesting factoids, Chuck, none of which I knew about, vis-a-vis Bardahl/Seattle et al.
I never used the stuff… I just lived in the neighborhood. 😉
STP -I’d forgotten all about that stuff. According to some it was an acronym for “Stop, Turn and Push”!
Or…Sex Takes Patience!
Great stuff, in a old, worn manual gearbox, absolute rubbish in an internal combustion engine, at least in the long haul (Kinda hard to separate the two in yer Mini, MD!). Both STP and Bardahl (and Motor Honey, for that matter) were snake oils, inasmuch as they were adverted: They were essenitally viscosity increasers but in the presence of combustion blow-by, would turn into a REALLY ugly and REALLY difficult-to-remove varnish.
Chuck et al: Know what the shaft is for, sticking out the nose of the car?
Cranking the engine over I believe.
I concur with Chuck on the shaft thingy.
Yep….all Indy roadsters were started externally, as the modern ones are today. And a lot used to carry the oil tanks on their flanks….!!!!