I learned something cool about my neighbor

My neighbor across the street passed away last week. I knew that he was retired and we would exchange pleasantries as we both opened garage doors and worked on the weekends. He had some typical small woodworking tools in the garage. While searching for his obituary I found out that he published a book about old tools that is highly esoteric (440 pages!!) but pretty cool nonetheless. I'll miss you Ray. I wish I would have known about this so that we could have talked more.

http://www.amazon.com/Nail-Pullers-Raymond-Fredrich/dp/1420874527

pretty awesome.

440 pages on nail pullers? Wow.

Sounds like he was a really neat person. I have a lot of respect for lineman.

However... I did stifle a chuckle when they referred to his wife as (a producer of children) in the author bio.

Sorry for the loss of a good neighbor.

A friend of mine moved into a new house and the nice old guy next door came over to chat for a while. My friend mentioned that he was an engineer at Sikorsky Aircraft for a while, and the neighbor said that he too had worked there a long time ago.

A few months later, the neighbor came over and asked for help moving some heavy stuff in his garage. My friend went over and on the garage wall were a bunch of old photos of him sitting at the controls of the VS-300. Standing next to him was Igor Sikorsky.

A bunch of years back, my wife mentioned that one of her friends from the choir said her dad, living with her here in Massachusetts, used to fool around with race cars. Find out more, I suggested. A few days more she told me it was when they lived in California, and it was some sort of off road stuff, some car called the Baja Boot. For some reason this name sounded familiar. Got to meet this guy.

A few weeks later I did meet him at a church dinner. Bill Howes was his name, IIRC. He worked with Vick Hickey preparing various GM based vehicles for off road racing back in the day. The Baja Boot was a full bore off road racer, built quietly by GM and prepared by Hickey and company. Google it, there are a couple of these still in existence, selling for big bucks at auctions.

Anyway, he spent the evening telling stories. At times the Boot, and other vehicles such as an off road Olds sedan, were prepared in his front yard, and the drivers, Steve or Jimmy, would stop by to check on the progress. That would be Steve McQueen and James Garner. I wish I could remember all the stories he told about the desert races, running against Parnelli Jones in the Oly Bronco, etc.

He showed me his old Jaguar XJ6 one day, a normal looking machine until the hood was opened. A 350 Chevy resided in place of the original Jaguar lump. An immaculate installation, no cobbled brackets or adapters, it looked like it belonged.

Sometimes its just amazing what interesting folks are living just around the corner.

Stu

Baja Boot:

http://www.mcqueenonline.com/bajaboot.htm

In reply to glueguy:

Kudos to you for finding out more about your neighbor—even if it was after he passed away. Pretty impressive accomplishment indeed, Ray.

I jog past this guy's house every day on my run. Can Am driver, AutoWorld slot car magazine and emporium owner, PRDA founder ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3NhmB0PBY0

I've never met him.

In reply to glueguy:

having a small collection of dusty woodworking planes, I can understand 440 pages of nail pullers. very nice tribute.

Boy, I'll bet Oscar has some wild stories. I used to really look forward to getting those Auto World catalogs! Some of the early PRDA stories from the original Cannonball Runs would be amazing to hear from the actual people involved. Take the time to meet Oscar, he used to be quite a character!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I jog past this guy's house every day on my run. Can Am driver, AutoWorld slot car magazine and emporium owner, PRDA founder ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3NhmB0PBY0 I've never met him.

I have.

My father used to work for him on the sales floor selling "full scale" automotive performance parts back in the 70's. As a little kid I was mesmerized by the slot car track layout and there was always a race car on the floor. My dad used to, on occasion, auto-x Oscar's Bug Eye which was painted red/white with white meatball numbered 54 just like his early Can-Am's. allthough street legal, it was gutted with only a drivers seat and made a racket with it's interior exit side port exhaust when my dad pulled it up to the house. My brother still has one of the "Hop-Rods" sold thru the catolog in his garage.

Many years later I'm introduced to my future wife's uncle and we begin discussing our hobby interests: slot cars, scale models, remote control cars. He starts talking about hand built scale model cars he built back in the 50's with his god son, Oscar, that wound up being displayed at the Smithsonian. Yep, that Oscar. Turns out, at one time or another, most of the wife's family has worked in the AW warehouse.

Side note, my avitar is actually Oscar but with my name photoshopped.

GPS, if you ever want to meet him he usually shows up at Giant's Despair every year. Feel free to talk to him, he loves to talk about himself! He still have that tacky yellow Vette?

(edit: number 54 not 52. . . "car 54 where aaaarre yoouuu?")

Hey Purple,

One day just jog up to Oscar's door and say hi.

I've been in racing over 40 years and he is still one of the most gracious and outgoing people I have ever met in the sport.

UGH! And in all that time he never asked to pull your nail?!

Rest in pieces, Nail puller. And if someone tries put you back together, you know how to get back apart.

Its the way he would have wanted to be...

Jim Pettengill wrote: Boy, I'll bet Oscar has some wild stories. I used to really look forward to getting those Auto World catalogs! Some of the early PRDA stories from the original Cannonball Runs would be amazing to hear from the actual people involved. Take the time to meet Oscar, he used to be quite a character!

He still is! See him at the Rolex every year. GPS, you need to meet Oscar. He's been a reader since our earliest days, loves to talk cars and everything else, and he is an absolute sweetheart.

Margie

Anyone who fits a Chevy van with 248 gallons worth of fuel tanks (not to mention topping up the oil while moving) to run in the first Cannonball race has to be met. I may have paid for that van with all the stuff I bought from Auto World with my paper route money.

One of my neighbors designed the first commercially available overhead projector and the non permanent magic marker while working for 3m. He is a draft dodger who snuck up to Canada in the early 70's.

Jerry From LA wrote: Anyone who fits a Chevy van with 248 gallons worth of fuel tanks (not to mention topping up the oil while moving) to run in the first Cannonball race has to be met. I may have paid for that van with all the stuff I bought from Auto World with my paper route money.

A lot of us helped pay for that van & all of Oscar's other unusual projects. I was in my mid 20's when I first met him and can't imagine anyone being more full of life & humor!

I actually drove from Ky. to Pa. more than once just to see what was going on at the time at Auto World. And no matter how hard I fooled with my slot cars all the teen aged hot shoes whipped my butt every time. Most competitive slot track I ever saw!

Not myself because I knew this, but my future uncle to be Gary found this out...

He was sitting at dinner with his then fiance (my aunt) and my grandfather and grandmother one night. They were discussing road design and things like that. Gary was lamenting what Minnesotans call spaghetti junction (what used to be 35w/crosstown/etc.... it's been redone, sorta.). He mentioned that he'd LOVE to meet the civil engineers behind that show, because he had to know who was crazy enough to do that. My grandfather politely excused himself, went to a storage area, and returned with plans for the area Gary was talking about. My grandfather was one of the lead design engineers on the project.

Rupert wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote: Anyone who fits a Chevy van with 248 gallons worth of fuel tanks (not to mention topping up the oil while moving) to run in the first Cannonball race has to be met. I may have paid for that van with all the stuff I bought from Auto World with my paper route money.

A lot of us helped pay for that van & all of Oscar's other unusual projects. I was in my mid 20's when I first met him and can't imagine anyone being more full of life & humor! I actually drove from Ky. to Pa. more than once just to see what was going on at the time at Auto World. And no matter how hard I fooled with my slot cars all the teen aged hot shoes whipped my butt every time. Most competitive slot track I ever saw!

Did you hit any of the parking lot flea markets he would put on?

Marjorie Suddard wrote:

Jim Pettengill wrote: Boy, I'll bet Oscar has some wild stories. I used to really look forward to getting those Auto World catalogs! Some of the early PRDA stories from the original Cannonball Runs would be amazing to hear from the actual people involved. Take the time to meet Oscar, he used to be quite a character!

He still is! See him at the Rolex every year. GPS, you need to meet Oscar. He's been a reader since our earliest days, loves to talk cars and everything else, and he is an absolute sweetheart. Margie

Ask him about his '56 Ferrari with full Chevy drivetrain (motor, trans and rear) that had a bounty on it because it was beating NART Ferraris!

Oh, and Jim:

The Story of the PRDA and the Cannonball Run, By Brad Niemcek

There are six chapters total. Links to following chapters are at the bottom.

Now I'm on a mission. I hope I don't get picked up for stalking.

In reply to phaze1todd:

Yes,

I tried to time my trips when a flea market was to go on. Even if you weren't a buyer the assortment of "treasures" was always amazing.

Oscar raced with my parents in the late '50's and 60's. He was/is a real character. One of my earliest memories was of him dressed in a full Frankenstein outfit including 6" block shoes. Being terrified of the monster as a 4 year old I promptly locked every door of my parents tow car with the keys and my Dad's driver's bag inside. Took both my parents and Oscar a full 10 minutes to convince me to open it in time for his start. Got a lifetime free subscription to Autoworld as an apology. I'm still looking to return the favor. src="/media/img/icons/smilies/unhappy-18.png" class="smiley" alt="" />

In reply to RipR2:

I know around that time he was also dabbling in oval at Bone Stadium, Pittston. Did your parents race there and if so what were their names? Race car make and number? My grandfather was racing there at the same time (along with 5 mi Point and other area tracks) running '39 and '40 Fords, two tone red/white with yellow #29 with black back shadow. His name was Al Gregory. I have inherited a sizeable amount of pictures from that timeframe and may have some scans to give you.