Cars
James Dean: Intensity Personified
2.4.12. Here's a fine shot of James Dean, above, sitting in a race car at the start of a race, ready to rock. You see his intensity and see that he was no Hollywood poseur when it came to automobile racing; he was into it. As I write in Wheels of Change, I thought the photo was taken in Bakersfield. But no, it was Santa Barbara, as author Lee Raskin points out here, while adding some nice details about other people who were involved:
Hi Kevin...I forgot to mention earlier that the photo you used in your book of JD ...was taken by photographer, Frank Worth at Santa Barbara, May, 1955. Jimmy is actually sitting in #75, a RHD Ferrari Mondial, owned by Johnny von Neumann (standing on other side of Jimmy with hands on the door in photo), who was the Porsche dealer and owner of Competition Motors in Hollywood. This Ferrari was raced by JvN's step-daughter Josie in the ladies class at Santa Barbara. In my James Dean: At Speed book, there is a sequence of photos taken by Frank Worth and my text as the narrative.
My post last time was a letter from Lee about Dean, which you can see right here. [end]
The Real Scoop on the Life and Death of James Dean
1.29.12. Recently received this letter from Lee Raskin, author of James Dean: At Speed, a 50th anniversary collection of photos and stories about the actor's all too short life and car crash death. So long after his passing, Dean still moves people. I found this out after Wheels of Change came out. It included a chapter on Dean and the circumstances of his death; this in turn generated a letter from a car enthusiast who wanted to correct the record on something I had said. Lee Raskin is also interested in making sure the real James Dean story is out there, not just the myths, and I applaud him for it.
Hi Kevin...It was nice to read your article on James Dean with real facts, and a nice contribution by Steve Conlin of LA to match the 9-30-55 color photo taken at the Mobil station. James Dean continues to live on with this particular photo, which is undoubtedly worth a thousand words!
Yes, Rolf Wutherich, Dean's mechanic/passenger took the photo of Jimmy and the Porsche Spyder at the Mobil station at Beverly Glen and Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. Too bad that both Bill Hickman and Sandy Roth were out of the shot, but Jimmy's '55 Ford Country Squire and the loaned car trailer made it into the frame. James Dean: At Speed was the first to publish all of this historic information about this photo and hundreds more.
Four hours later, the two-car crash took place on CA Rt. 466/41 near Cholame. The Leica survived the fatal crash as it had been stowed behind the passenger seat of Rolf Wutherich. Competition Motors' owner, Johnny von Neumann, coincidentally arrived 30 minutes after the accident, and retrieved the camera from the wrecked Spyder. It was given to Rolf Wutherich, who had four color prints (three taken at Competition Motors and the final one at the Mobil station) developed. They were later published in Porsche, AG's Christophorus Magazine.
I also wanted to mention how much I enjoy owning your Wheels of Change. Perhaps we can meet up one day at AutoBooks in Burbank for each other's book talks as well! Best regards...always keep your revs up! Vroom, Vrooom!
Lee Raskin, James Dean historian/author
[end]
New (Old) Review of Wheels of Change: 'Superbly Entertaining,' Say the Brits
Aug. 29, 2011 The other day at the vintage races at Laguna Seca, I picked up a couple of copies of Classic and Sports Car Magazine, an entertaining English monthly about vintage cars. One of them was an old issue dating back to July 2010. Last night I was reading it and lo and behold, stumbled upon a review of Wheels of Change that I had never seen before. They liked the book in England too! If you're curious, here is the review:
My New Screensaver
Aug. 26, 2011 We spotted this Jaguar GX75 in the concept car section on the grass near the front door of the Pebble Beach Lodge at last Sunday's Concours d'Elegance. Unable to afford to buy one at this time, I snapped this picture and it's now the screensaver for my iMac. Nice wheels, dude!
A Website for Those Who Love Cars and Movies
Aug. 12, 2011 If you're ever watching a movie and you wonder about one of the cars shown in it, here's the website for you: Internet Movie Cars Database, or IMCDb.org. Similar to the all-movie site IMDB.com, only about cars, IMCDb.org is an encyclopedic site that identifies cars in the movies, including reader comments that tell you year, make and other features. Last night, as we were watching "The Fast and the Furious" (not the 2001 film with Vin Diesel, but the 1954 black and white "B" movie made by Roger Corman and set at the Pebble Beach Races and Concours d'Elegance, where I'm going next week), my wife flipped over to IMCDb on her iPhone to see what cars we were looking at. IMCDb catalogs most of the cars seen in the movie, including these two fine English sportscar imports.
1953 MG-TD
1953 Jaguar XK-120
Another Cool, Old Pebble Beach Racing Shot
August 3, 2011. A coming highlight for me this month is a research trip to the Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach and the car racing at the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca earlier that week. The trip is research—and research of the most delightful kind—for the new book I'm writing about imports and an American import car pioneer. As part of this research I've been exploring a photographic archive with great old black and white photos of the early days of the Pebble Beach Road Races, such as the one of Phil Hill a few blogposts below, and this one of a race driver who is not having his best day.
Beauty and Beauty: Nice Legs, Nice Car
July 26, 2011. Last night at the unveiling of the new Range Rover Evoque at the British Motors showroom in San Francisco, they were giving away an iPad2 to the person who took the most creative photo of the car and then uploaded it to Twitter or Facebook. I didn't get a chance to do that—I was too busy sipping on a Nadared martini cocktail and munching the flank steak pinwheels and mustard-grilled rocky jr. chicken bites, generously provided to the guests by our hosts—but I'm not sure this shot would have won me the prize anyhow. Although I like it. Nice wheels, I'll say.
By the way, for anyone interested in the Evoque, last night was a sneak preview for the new edition to the Land Rover line that will be available in the fall. Until then, feast your eyes. On the car, my friends the car!
[end]
Insight into Car Guys, Circa 1950
July 24, 2011. While embarking on my latest project, a book about an import car pioneer, I stumbled onto this vintage black and white photo of the great race driver, Phil Hill, after he had just won his first major sports car race, the 1950 Pebble Beach road race, the first one ever held there. It's a wonderful, and wonderfully fun, photo because not only is it a portrait of Hill when he was young and just coming into his prime as a driver, but it also provides insight into the minds of men who love automobiles and are passionate about them. Are the fellows here congratulating Hill on his triumph or better still, ogling the comely young lass presenting him with the winner's trophy? Nah, they're studying what's truly important.
Phil Hill, 1950 [end]
Another Winning Review for Wheels of Change
April 18, 2011. Choice, a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, posted a winning review of Wheels of Change, my award-winning book on the history of automobiles in California. In recommending the book for purchase by libraries, the reviewer describes it as "a great deal of fun and full of information. Author Nelson writes beautifully, with an air of wonder, appreciation and enthusiasm. One gets the feeling that he likes the people he writes about and is genuinely sad that so many have passed on." Indeed.
The Acceptance Speech I Never Gave, For the Book Award That Almost Was
Wheels of Change was one of three books nominated for "Best Book of the Year," an annual award presented by the Los Angeles Motor Press Guild, the most prestigious organization of automobile journalists and industry professionals in the country. Awards were given in the categories of photography, articles, audio-visual, and books. The awards dinner took place Dec. 7 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and about 150 people attended. Jay Leno appeared and made some opening remarks.
Designed to honor "excellence in automotive journalism," the awards are presented in the name of the late Dean Batchelor, a truly excellent writer and journalist and one of the founding fathers of the hot rod revolution in this country. Book of the Year honors (and the Batchelor Lifetiime Achievement Award) went to Can-Am Cars in Detail, by Pete Lyons, who spoke briefly when he came to the podium to accept his award. The ceremony was not set up for Lyons and the other winners to give acceptance speeches, and so even if Wheels had won I likely would not have said much. But because it was Pearl Harbor Day, it started me thinking about what I would have said if a) the judges had chosen my book and b) if I'd had the guts to actually stand up and say the things I was thinking. This, then, is the acceptance speech I never gave, for the book award that never was: [...more...]
"Today is Pearl Harbor Day, and 69 years ago today Dean Batchelor, Wally Parks, Bob Petersen, and other young men of their generation faced a tough choice. Their country had just been attacked, and they had to stop their lives, stop whatever it was they were doing, and go defend her. It was no choice at all really, it was what they had to do given the awful circumstances.
"And after they were done over there, after they had done the job they had to do, they came back to the country they loved and began the hot rod revolution. Of course, hot rodding began before the war, but it really got going after it, thanks in large measure to Batchelor, Parks, Petersen and so many of those young men who had gone away to fight and now were lucky enough to come back. In a very real sense it was the hot rod revolution that built this building and created this fine institution where we are tonight.
"It took me three years to write and research Wheels of Change. During those years I used and relied on and drew inspiration from The American Hot Rod, Dean Batchelor's book about the early years of hot rodding. The American Hot Rod is an authentic book, and an authentically great one. Open it up and a puff of exhaust smoke or dirt from the Mojave dry lakes will come out.
"And now, at least for one night, to be recognized as someone who is working in the tradition of Dean Batchelor—well, that's a real honor. For Batchelor—and Parks and Petersen and so many others of their generation—did not just drive cars or work on cars or race cars or write about cars. They helped build America and make her the great country she is. Thank you."
