A few nice cnc milling and turning photos I discovered:
Black Widow – Christopher Allison Photography –
Image by christopherallisonphotography
Christopher Allison Photography
619-368-2202
ALL Photos ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED & Accessible FOR Buy OR LICENCING
The Original Black Widow restored by Richard Riddell
Constructed in 1952
“THE BLACK WIDOW” Builders: Wally Olson (1952), Bill Scott (1954) and Richard Riddell (2005) The garage locate of the century! How long have you been hot rodding cars–because the 1950’s? Many of us got started in the 50’s and 60’s. (For you actual old birds out there that keep in mind hot rodding “T” roadsters with Roto-Faze ignitions, Ruxtell 2-speed rear axles, Riley 2-port heads and Laurel lowering kits, nicely what can we say you’re a generation just before us and we take our hats off to you ‘original’ hot rodders.) BUT for all of us “The Black Widow” is a severe piece of 1950’s hot rodding annals and a benchmark for the sector! In an report in Hot Rod Deluxe, July 2008 entitled, “Tangled Web” the full-story of Richard Riddell’s quest to restore the original Black Widow had its public debut. Hot Rod Deluxe reported the car’s winning the 2008 Grand National Roadster Show which was a dream come correct, taking “Best Early Altered T Roadster”. (See also Rod and Custom, June 2008.) It was also a contender for the Bruce Meyer award at the ‘Grand Nats.’ Why do guys like Richard Riddell (and the rest of us) devote years (3400 hours in Richard’s case) restoring a car we located in a barn? Answer: ‘For the love of the sport!’ All of us remember some other automobiles with comparable names, for instance the ‘Black Widow’ Monogram model auto (“1/24 scale model/Ford ‘T’ Pickup Rod/removable top” by Mattel quality hobby kits). Also, we bear in mind Common Motors/Chevrolet coming out in 1957 with their very first racing version Chevy referred to as “The Black Widow.” But predating both of these historic vehicles is the “The Black Widow” constructed by Wally Olson to support keep his little ones out of trouble in 1952 and initial débuted in Hot Rod magazine, September 1954 in an write-up entitled, “Lil’ Beau T”, which read, “Wally Olson, Fresno, California, automotive machinist, is the fortunate owner and builder. Duane Taylor was named in for the body perform.” It added as to why he constructed the automobile, “What with so much present upheaval in the teen-age ranks, Wally figured that a sure-fire way to eradicate those free of charge-time, nothing-to-do troubles would be to interest them (his 9 and 12 year old sons) in a rod. So far the thought has worked like a charm.” In time the loved ones moved on to other projects and Bill Scott bought the car and redid it with fenders, headlights and all the stuff to make it ‘street legal’—as we utilised to contact it! The 1st documentation of the vehicle getting referred to as “Black Widow” is located in the magazine Rodding and Re-styling, August 1957 problem. That write-up reported Bill Scott’s modifications to Wally Olson’s auto, “The front end was revised to incorporate a tubular axle and tube shocks. The new owners also equipped the vehicle with a new power plant. The original mill is a ’41 Merc bored out .100 inch more than stock, ported and relieved…includes 8.five-to-1 Offenhauser heads, a Weber complete-race cam, and an Evans 3-caberator manifold.” [Note: The a number of engines that have been housed in this automobile later varied see final Merc construct information beneath.] Don’t you love the sound of that “ported and relieved” and “full-race cam”—when’s the last time you utilized those terms? By the time the 1959 Hot Rod Annual was published the vehicle-title stuck for all time “The Black Widow.” Riddell’s two-Year Renovation! According to extended time race car builder Richard Riddell’s log he states, “Sometime in 1955 Wally sold his roadster to Bill Scott. Bill once again known as on Duane Taylor to turn the vehicle into a bonified street rod. With the extra of windshield, head lights, tail lings, and fenders it was ultimately able to jump into his little Hot Rod and go crusin’. The pin stripping was done by none other than Dean Jefferies with the familiar cobweb and spider on the turtle deck.” He reports that the car’s very first win was “…a five foot trophy at the Sacramento AutoRama in 1957 for ‘Best Roadster’. Yes, Bill’s automobile was getting the time of its life becoming one of the greatest seeking early California street roadsters of all time.” Richard states, “Bill Scott died about 1987…for several years the car languished…getting worse and worse…as is so frequently the case for old Hot Rods.” The garage find in 2005 notes, “At a glance the roadster didn’t look that negative.” But the Naugahyde and carpet had been shot, fenders, original wheels and hub caps to name a couple of troubles for the yet to begin restoration. Riddell notes, “Under a somewhat decent body and paint job lurked a mess that went beyond your worst nightmare.” He adds, “I started asking yourself how I could salvage this tiny beauty in the rough. Not that many men and women have restored an old Hot Rod but, those who have know what I’m talking about. It’s considerably tougher than building a rod from scratch. But the roadster was begging to be restored and I’m glad that I was selected to do it.”and#9472Richard died shortly right after finishing the project but happily he was in a position to see “The Black Widow” win the ‘Grand Nats’ and have a feature center-spread article in Hot Rod Deluxe. Right here are a couple of of the Riddell-engineered refinements to this original auto. and#61692 Recessed pockets had to be built in the frame rails to accept the front motor mounts which double as water pumps. and#61692 New front radius rods were constructed out of heavy wall chrome-moly tubing. The original ones were so poorly produced that they had been unsafe. and#61692 The correct master cylinder banjo fitting was not available so, he fabricated a new 1 from scratch. and#61692 The tooling mandral had to be CNC machined to facilitate metal spinning new brass tail pipe end bells. Hey would you agree? Hot rodding is an art type and some Hot Rod Artists have mastered the craft and Richard Riddell is one of them!!! Reconstruction points of interest: and#61656 Original steel physique and doors welded shut and#61656 ‘42 Merc 274 c.i flathead (present engine) and#61656 ’39 Lincoln-Zephyr tranny and#61656 ’34 Ford rear with Halibrand fast-modify center and enclosed drive shaft and#61656 ’39 Ford hydraulic brakes all about and wide “5” 16-iunch wheels and caps and#61656 ’37 Ford tube axle and#61656 Engine by RPM Machine and#61656 Chrome by Ace Plating and#61656 Frame done by Capps Powder Coat and#61656 Body/paint by Showtime Customs and#61656 Upholstery by Brents Why is the car becoming sold? To quote his wife Pat, “Unfortunately, Richard passed away on March 18, 2008 and will not get to get pleasure from seeing the new owner drive away with a piece of automotive history.” Richard’s loyal wife Pat grew up around racing given that she was 9 years old. Her maiden name was Rodriguez. If you grew up at Lion’s Dragstrip, as she did, you may remember her father’s rail? He and his brother ran an old prime alky rail below the name “Rodriguez Brothers”. Pat stated, ‘As I was growing up I frequently wondered how I would ever meet an individual to marry, considering that all that our family members ever did was go to the drags. Then a single day Richard came along and met me at the Winternationals.’ Well the rest is history. For Pat right after Richard’s death there are just also a lot of memories attached to all the memorabilia, race cars and hot rods in their storage—she would like to sell “The Black Widow” to some deserving hot rodder. Terms of sale: five,000.00. Please get in touch with Don Burdge at DreamRodLocator or contact him at 619.804.8033. You must get in touch with me prior to Leno does! We have hundreds of additional pictures and numerous 50’s and existing magazine articles available to seriously interested purchasers.