OT- Tour of Ed Pink's race engine shop--soon to be torn down to make a bus stop

[rcoope]

But according to the map above its not going to be a bus stop, its going to be a maintenance depot, that said, the maintenance crew might have more appreciation of its history. Several things about this vid seem fishy, the bus stop vs maintenance yard issue, and the short notice that they need to be out by a set date. I'm having a hard time believing this was a first notice, they cannot bulldoze the place till they own it, and that could take years. I got notice from the state 4 years ago, along with everyone else within a 1/2 mile of the proposed new road, and they have still not determined the new route.

The station I was thinking of is that one half a block east, currently the Van Nuys commuter rail station, which will now connect to the proposed streetcar line. But you're right, the discussion is a bit odd.

 

[GregSY]

I'm sure that the Olympic / City government people can make things happen fast when it suits their need.

They domain'd a section near me to widen the highway and add a bridge. My friend owned a transmission shop in the zone. They had him notified and out all in under a year. In this case, he didn't care as his old building was falling apart and had been illegally added on to many times over the years and had all sorts of fluids leaked into the ground. The government - using funds they confiscated from taxpayers - paid him so well he was able to move into a brand new, purpose built shop closer in to town and he also bought a new Chevy Laramie Eddie Bauer Yellowstone Ranch Cowboy Lariat Grand Dragon Diesel 4x4 Crew Cab pickup.

 

[David Utidjian]

It is also worth noting that when the government (federal, state, municipal) spends your hard earned tax dollars they *mostly* spend that money on equipment, materials, and services made by US based companies and contractors. This is all part of major upgrades and expansion of mass transit services for people who live here (*mostly* Americans) and they are spending about US$1.2T (trillion) in the LA area alone. Anyone who lives in or near the LA area or has driven through the LA area that it is in desperate need of bigger and better mass transit systems. Private enterprise (*mostly*), by itself, can't do this.

 

[Steve in SoCal]

I worked for Ed in the late 1970's. I don't believe Ed ever "owned the property" As noted the business has been owned by another individual for some time. The "history" of the shop will go on with the shop. Many of the iconic names in racing are long gone. Like the storied names in every industry time marches on.

That place in large measure looked like it did in the 70's except the shop was all on one side of the building, a marching band had the west side of the front building. There was only one Okuma lathe and all Sunnen or Tobin-Arp era stuff. A Storm-Vulcan and Kwik-Way boring bar. There was no CNC equipment, Ed subbed out alot of work from castings to full assemblies. That was in the era of job shops on every corner in L.A. We had platers and heat treat shops in several places, foundries and pattern shops aplenty.

L.A. was the center of the universe for hot rodding. That was the time when aerospace was a major part of SoCal with Douglas, Lockeed, North American, Northrup and Convair. The number of guys that tinkered with cars at night while working in aerospace was huge. That tallent and resource pool was a major factor in the creation of the hot rod industry. That pool of tallent allowed guys like Ed Pink to tap into the aero industry resources that were far and wide in SoCal. I grew up in that time and place, it was magical to be a kid there.

To put a final point on the shop. Raymer the street the shop is on was never a great place. Years after working at Pinks I had a shop on the other side of the tracks from Raymer, Armenta st. Raymer and Armenta front the railroad tracks that were just west of the old Van Nuys GM plant. It was a seedy industrial area as long as I can recall. The building was nothing special and the area is long overdue to be redeveloped.

Steve

 

[Larry Dickman]

Ya, not exactly the neighborhood you want to have a flat tire in late at night. I notice Vibrasonic moved out of there. I went to that strip club once , maybe 35 years ago. Place should have had "Skaggs" somewhere in the name

 

[John Garner]

A "lighter note" bit of trivia: The Buick engines that powered the SR-71 start-carts were hopped up by Ed Pink.

A second bit: The Air Force's rumor mill was convinced that a spare SR-71 start cart engine was stored at Base Supply of every SAC base that was identified as a first-choice SR-71 emergency landing site.

Those same bases also had otherwise-unused secure hangars so that the aircraft having the emergency could be stashed out of sight within a few minutes of touching down.

 

[GregSY]

Anyone who lives in or near the LA area or has driven through the LA area that it is in desperate need of bigger and better mass transit systems. Private enterprise (*mostly*), by itself, can't do this.

The 'need' for mass transit is at the very core of liberalism. It's one of the cornerstones of their platform; it's an excellent way to control people and dictate how they live. Every major city that is diseased has multiple and extensive mass transit systems. The two go hand in hand.

Mass transit is not a need. A place to poop and pee - that's a need. Food. Water. Energy. Those are needs. Mass transit is the modern version of bread and circuses. It's the shit liberal elitists shovel at the minions to keep them down.

Years back, I took the San Francisco BART from the airport to downtown at the advice of a co-worker I later learned was a full-blown liberal. It was only $16 instead of $35 for a cab. Hallelujah! It also took 2 hours instead of 30 minutes and I had to dick with figuring out which train to take and just how and where to get the right tickets. When it finally got to my stop...I still had to walk up two flights of filthy stairs then down three blocks to my hotel - all while dragging my suitcase. Who wants to live like that?

 

[specfab]

I'm certain BART doesn't take 2 hours from the airport to SF downtown, having used it on a number of occasions over the years when getting from airport to a trade show venue (Moscone Center). I completely agree that hauling a suitcase up those stairs to the street and then having to get to a downtown hotel is a bit of a pain, but this is not the way people use mass transit on a daily basis in a large metropolitan area. It is a means for working stiffs to get from their living quarters to employers' locations, or to school, or anything else you's use a car for, except usually with a car in a dense urban area it takes longer by far than with a subway. Once you use it routinely, it's simply the best way to get to a lot of places in that kind of environment. Many major cities in non-liberal European countries have substantial mass transit systems, as well as Russia having a serious subway system in Moscow; it's simply a utility that makes sense, not a "core of liberalism".

 

[EmGo]

I'm certain BART doesn't take 2 hours from the airport to SF downtown

Double check on that since I just did it a week ago. Three times, actually. BART from Oakland to SFO is just about an hour. That includes going under the bay for six miles or something and then under San Francisco then what, 20 miles to Millbrae ? (where the airport lives). And it was $10 the first time (then I got smart and got an Old Fart's card, trip was $3 for us wizened veterans of the Age War. Not a bad deal.

And they have escalators at every stop I went to, including Embarcadero and Powell St and Daly City. Didn't have to drag my stuff up stairs even once.

It's not quite as nice as Korea or China subway but all in all, not bad. Gets you around fast and easy, as long as it goes where you want.

As usual, Mr SY is making stuff up.

edit: also took BART to pleasanton the same week to grab some jeans, bart ride was fine but even the effing premium outlet jeans prices are up 50% ! what the heck ?

 

[rcoope]

A "lighter note" bit of trivia: The Buick engines that powered the SR-71 start-carts were hopped up by Ed Pink.

That's the coolest thing ever. As a huge Kelly Johnson and Ed Rich (Johnson's successor) fan, I've read and watched plenty about the SR-71 program and guys keep coming back to how those engines were the best part. Take Anrne Gunderson here for example:

 

[jim rozen]

"The 'need' for mass transit is at the very core of liberalism."

Trains and busses are a liberal conspiracy according to you. Possibly you need to get out a bit and see the real world once in a while.

 

[EmGo]

... guys keep coming back to how those engines were the best part.

They retired them from the program real early, you know. Like after the first year or so ...

 

[rcoope]

They retired them from the program real early, you know. Like after the first year or so ...

Well according to old Arne in that video, they overrevved the Buicks because they sounded so good, the Buicks all blew up, and they had to uses 454s instead, which might have worked, but weren't as cool. People are pretty familiar with how aerospace helped influenced hot rodding, but it's cool to see where hot rodding directly helped aerospace.

 

[Laverda]

I was part of a tour of Kieth Blacks shop in about 1973. I was only thirteen at the time and did not understand most of what they were showing us. On thing I remember is they were trying to go CNC to make crank shafts for Chrysler Hemi's out of a big piece of steel. The billet went outside in the back yard of the shop and allowed to rust for years. It was then put in the machining center and rough machined and then back out in to the yard for months. Then back to more machining. The rough machining took about a week if I remember correctly and then another few days to finish the crank. So they were only able to produce about one crank shaft every two weeks. They were very proud of the machine making the cranks as no one else could do it at the time.

I assume they can do it much faster now!

This was a junior high school field trip and we were supposed to take notes and write a paper about everything we had seen.

 

[Steve in SoCal]

You guys are bringing up old memories.

Henry Valasco was THE crank guy that made stroker hemi cranks for top fuel Moldex was another. Henry may have been at KB back then? The aluminum block was still kinda novel with half dozen or so companies trying their luck, KB was the stand out for ease of use. The blocks with girdles were strong but were a bear to change rods let alone mains between rounds. I do recall an aluminum Boss 429 block that was a Can-Am 492 or something, may have been a leftover from Mickey's Boss powered funny car.

When I was at Edwards early 90's the SR-71 start cart was 4- 454's it was still in use. That and the dedicated tanker what a dog and pony show that was.

There was a lot of aero-auto and boat interchange in the area. A friend built Prudhomes first top fuel engines then went on to do Merlins for boats and planes. Nitrous oxide injection was taken from aero engines as was water injection. Unlimited hydros in the piston engine era were very cool and blown fuel flats are just crazy.

I went from cars to airplanes and left drag racing in the early 80's Personally I think that was the "golden age" of top fuel/funny cars. The funny cars and pro-stocks still resembled real cars. I enjoyed it at the time but in hindsight it just diverted my attention from more important endevors. It is all water under the bridge at this point.

The thing about relocating is, industrial/commercial property in the area is the cost and employee retention. It may be easy to say just move to Santa Clarita but, for folks in Simi, San Fernando or Conejo it is a long drive. I think there is space in Chatsworth or Northridge but prices are going to be high. Keeping the people that make the business work are most important task in this kind of move.

Steve

 

[daringwilliams]

I grew up right in that area, was also the place my father and grandfather had shops

It's going through quite a lot of change as others have said, but ya to act like it's gonna be all torn down for a bus stop by the big bad govmuhnttt is pretty obnoxious and seems unnecessarily charged

 

[Big B]

The 'need' for mass transit is at the very core of liberalism. It's one of the cornerstones of their platform; it's an excellent way to control people and dictate how they live. Every major city that is diseased has multiple and extensive mass transit systems. The two go hand in hand.

Mass transit is not a need. A place to poop and pee - that's a need. Food. Water. Energy. Those are needs. Mass transit is the modern version of bread and circuses. It's the shit liberal elitists shovel at the minions to keep them down.

Years back, I took the San Francisco BART from the airport to downtown at the advice of a co-worker I later learned was a full-blown liberal. It was only $16 instead of $35 for a cab. Hallelujah! It also took 2 hours instead of 30 minutes and I had to dick with figuring out which train to take and just how and where to get the right tickets. When it finally got to my stop...I still had to walk up two flights of filthy stairs then down three blocks to my hotel - all while dragging my suitcase. Who wants to live like that?

It looks like you are trying very hard to ruin another thread. Please stop with the liberal bashing. Where are the moderators in this section? I like to play this game too if the mods are fine with it and it appears that they are.

And this isn't the first post in this thread that you're bashing liberals in. Why don't you go to some site like alex jones infowars where you can be among like minded folks? You seem fine with conservatives trying to overthrow our duly elected government but if you can't seem to figure out how to get around in a large city it's the liberals fault and you blow a gasket.

 

[eKretz]

Yeah, both sides let it go now. I generally don't mind one side getting a lick in with the political stuff and the other getting one back. Let's call it a day after that, with a reminder to try to stick to the more relevant topic.

 

[John Garner]

For some reason that I don't remember, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) terminal "at" San Francisco International Airport (SFO) wasn't built at the airport, but a couple of miles away. And for some reason, riding the shuttle between the BART terminal and SFO terminal required its own ticket.

Having had a couple of experiences with malfunctioning ticket machines at both ends of the shuttle, I gave up on the BART to SFO stuff.

 

[standardparts]

I worked for Ed in the late 1970's. I don't believe Ed ever "owned the property" As noted the business has been owned by another individual for some time. The "history" of the shop will go on with the shop. Many of the iconic names in racing are long gone. Like the storied names in every industry time marches on.

That place in large measure looked like it did in the 70's except the shop was all on one side of the building, a marching band had the west side of the front building. There was only one Okuma lathe and all Sunnen or Tobin-Arp era stuff. A Storm-Vulcan and Kwik-Way boring bar. There was no CNC equipment, Ed subbed out alot of work from castings to full assemblies. That was in the era of job shops on every corner in L.A. We had platers and heat treat shops in several places, foundries and pattern shops aplenty.

L.A. was the center of the universe for hot rodding. That was the time when aerospace was a major part of SoCal with Douglas, Lockeed, North American, Northrup and Convair. The number of guys that tinkered with cars at night while working in aerospace was huge. That tallent and resource pool was a major factor in the creation of the hot rod industry. That pool of tallent allowed guys like Ed Pink to tap into the aero industry resources that were far and wide in SoCal. I grew up in that time and place, it was magical to be a kid there.

To put a final point on the shop. Raymer the street the shop is on was never a great place. Years after working at Pinks I had a shop on the other side of the tracks from Raymer, Armenta st. Raymer and Armenta front the railroad tracks that were just west of the old Van Nuys GM plant. It was a seedy industrial area as long as I can recall. The building was nothing special and the area is long overdue to be redeveloped.

Steve

Great post...you guys had in made in S-Cal.
As you well know there are all kinds of wild stories from the late 60's---thru the 70's long before most of the owners either aged out, died, or sold out to corporations.
In the Midwest, unless you were touring as a pro, we had 3 or4 months to save our bucks and get ready for new season hunkering down in garages drinking beer and bullshitting and callling n favors is someone was headed to the Coast to stop at Earl's or some surplus place to pick up buckets of floor swept fittings and hardware after they stopped at Lockermans, or Erson.
....When Ed Pink talked about the garage stalls for the BIG NAME touring teams I kinda laughed thinking about the mass debauchery and partying that went on. And they all had middle names....Don "The Snake"...."The Mongoose"...."Shirley Cha-Cha Muldowney.....Them were the days.
And......LA area was BIG on so many things including firearms--especially surplus and parts manufacturing. But that would be a story for a different time......