July 22, 2024 • 32 mins
THE LEGENDARY LARRY ERICKSON is a passionate automotive enthusiast who first found himself at the Bonneville Salt Flats during a college break. Alone at Speed Week with just a sleeping bag in his El Camino, he began sketching the impressive vehicles he encountered. His artistic talents didn't go unnoticed, sparking connections with fellow racers and enthusiasts, and leading to him designing some iconic Speed Week posters.
Larry's early experiences evolved into a fascinating career in hotrod and car design. Designing cars for notable figures like Billy Gibbons, Larry goes through the creative processes behind some of his design vehicles such as Gibbon's Cadzilla and Coddington's Aluma Coupe. Listen as he recounts his personal experiences building a roadster for the Grand National Roadster Show and the unique partnerships that have fueled his passion for automotive design.
Listen to Larry's takes on some of his favorite land speed cars and motorcycles. His views on these cars are fascinating from a design point of view. His love for land speed and its cars did not stop with his admiration for them. He eventually designed his own and very beautiful roadster which is featured on this year's Speedweek Poster.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:01):
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast talking to
the men, the women, the legendsthat make land speed racing
great.
Discover the stories of theseordinary people whose passion
for land speed racing has madethem legendary.
And now here's your host theBonneville Belle, the High Boy,
(00:23):
honey, the salt princess, alisonVolk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean (00:31):
Tell me about how you first came out here.
That was a neat story.
Larry Erickson (00:36):
Well, like a lot of kids that grew up you know
60s and 70s and 80s, my dad wasjust a Bonneville fan, you know,
never came up here, but youknow people talk about it.
It was like big deal.
You knew what a big deal wasand we'd always had cars and old
cars and stuff like that.
So I was at Art Center, whichwas a college in Southern
(00:58):
California, and it was theirweek break and I remember
looking in Hot Rod magazine andit said, okay, speed Week is the
same week as your week break.
And I called my mom up and Isaid, hey, I'm going to take a
little side diversion toNorthern.
California and I came out to thesalt and I put my sleeping bag
in the back of my El Camino andI thought how hard is this?
(01:20):
Well, it wasn't how hard it was, it was how cold it could get
at night.
So, yeah, I slept that firstnight out here and I thought,
man, this place just looksamazing because you're watching
the sun go down, but freezing,and so, yeah, that was my
initial trip and it was just outof that legacy.
You know the history of theplace.
Allison Volk Dean (01:39):
Yeah, yeah and so, and you kind of got
hooked up with some other peopleracing.
So what was that?
Larry Erickson (01:48):
Well, you know, I've always been drawing cars
and so I was going around withmy little sketchbook and I was
drawing cars and I'd spent along time in Larson Cummins
because I just loved that LynnYankle streamliner, you know,
and it just was an incredibleleStreamliner, you know, and it
just was an incredible purelittle shape.
You know, I was going to designschool, so automotive design, so
(02:10):
looking at that thing's likelooking at a dream you know, so
I'm drawing away and and sooneror later somebody got bored and
come over and like, what are youdoing here so much?
And I said, oh, I'm drawing acar and all that other stuff.
And he says, oh, yeah, you drawa lot of cars.
I said, yeah, he goes, you'regoing to finish this one.
I said, yeah, and he goes.
Well, where are you staying?
And I said, well, I was stayingin the back of my pickup.
(02:32):
He goes well, we got an extraroom.
You know, that was just thebeginning of people being really
nice to you.
And I also drew I can't rememberthe first name, but it was
Young Brothers, it was a 39Chevy and I'd had a 38 Chevy
drag car, and this was a 39Chevy with the fenders pulled
(02:53):
off and I was drawing that carand a couple other ones.
So then I got to meet thoseguys and somewhere along the
line I met Monty Wolf and he'slooking at my stuff and he goes
well, what'd you think aboutdoing a poster?
And I said, man, I'd love to doa poster, you know.
So I did their posters forabout oh, I guess about five
(03:19):
years.
And you know, at the time yougot a lot of things going on and
you're young and you don'trealize how significant that is,
and so I kind of fell out ofdoing it.
I think I got married moved toDetroitroit.
Allison Volk Dean (03:27):
All these things going on.
Larry Erickson (03:28):
You know life, but uh, I still have that plaque
that gave me, with astreamliner on it.
It's just just so fine and ofall the things you do in a
40-year career, you know thingsstay with you yeah, yeah, that's
really neat.
Allison Volk Dean (03:43):
And um, monty wolf is.
I don't know if you knew this.
He was like one of the reasonsthat I started this podcast.
Oh, cool yeah because he wouldcome and sit with me and when he
died I was like dang, I wish Iwould have had some of those
stories because they were funnyand crazy, and I'd have people
like Otto Reisman come and sitnext to me when I was doing the
two club booth, and I was doingthe two-club booth and anyways.
So after you kind of had thislittle, how did you get back
(04:05):
into Bonneville?
Larry Erickson (04:25):
I got a friend of mine, Jack Chisholm, owned
know 200 hours on forming with afile and I just couldn't get
over how nice it was.
And Jack walked up, I didn'tknow him, we started talking and
he said what were you doinghere?
And I said, oh, I got somesketches with these guys.
We went over and looked at themand he goes oh, that's cool,
you know.
And he obviously was interestedin design and all that stuff.
(04:47):
And uh, what I didn't know wasJack was putting air
conditioning in Billy Gibbonscars.
So he calls me up modern aboutsix months later and he goes uh,
he goes, hey, uh, billy'sthinking of doing a cattle
custom Cadillac, you know.
And uh, I said, oh yeah, what'she doing?
And we started talking and hegoes what would you do?
(05:08):
And I said, well, I like the 48, 49c net because it's got the
you know, suede back.
You know, it looks like astreamliner you know back
section of it, not the front,and he goes, yeah, what would
you do to it?
And I said, oh, you know theusual things, you know section
it and stuff like that.
He goes well, send me a notetelling me what you would do to
(05:30):
it and what kind of motor itwould be.
And because I'm not an Englishmajor and because I draw cars,
every day.
I just drew him a picture so heshared it with Billy.
Billy liked it.
We did one sketch, so he sharedit with Billy.
Billy liked it.
We did one sketch.
And the next thing I knew I wassitting in Hot Rod's offices up
there on Wilshire or whereverthey were, and there's Billy.
(05:54):
I hadn't met him up until thatpoint.
There's Billy and Hangred 8Harry was there, hibbler he was
a big get in it and these guystogether.
But I started working withBoyd's Shop in Southern
California.
We did a couple of other thingsbesides Kadzilla.
We did the Illuma Coupe, whichwas all custom built body and
(06:15):
really that was styled after theChristman Brothers Coupe.
It isn't literally like it, butit's the same idea.
You know where you got thesetwo matching shapes together
which, in the case of ChristmanBrothers C coupe, were two 44
hoods welded together, and I'msure someone's going to email
you and tell you they were 39s.
Intro (06:32):
But anyway they were two.
44 hoods.
Larry Erickson (06:34):
and then this really chopped five window body
with a hemi stuffed in the backof it and we were supposed to
put a Cadillac in the back ofthe Illumacoupe and Cadillac was
like hot rods.
So Boyd found another motor andthat got me into trouble, but
Boyd worked out for Boyd, okay,anyway, so, yeah, so that was a
(06:55):
long winded version of, andevery one of those guys I dealt
with, you know Boyd, all theguys.
There were two things there wasBonneville and there was Harry
Miller.
And the rest of the stuff was ina club way behind that stuff,
yeah.
And both those things areSouthern California things.
Intro (07:12):
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (07:12):
Harry's shop was in LA and Bonneville started
primarily by people from LA.
Yeah, you know it's supportedby the world now.
Allison Volk Dean (07:20):
Yeah, very cool.
So at what point right now youdo own a car.
Do you go from there to kind oflike your current car, or where
is it in between?
Larry Erickson (07:32):
Well, I was building a roadster to go to the
Grand National, because that'swhere I grew up, northern
California.
You go to the Grand National.
I spent about 10 years doingthat and Boyd and I were trading
efforts.
You know I'd work on Boyd's car, he'd work on stuff for my car.
So I had Boyd's corners on it.
(07:54):
I had a Potvin blown small blockin it which, if you're
listening to this podcast, theydon't work on the street really
well, but they're really coolAnyway so in fact I got it from
Dean Moon, and I got it fromDean Moon because he'd seen the
posters and he wanted to reprintthem, I'm sure without
permission.
But anyway so and then Deanwanted me to do a cover of his
(08:15):
catalog and I said, well, if youget me a potvin set up, you
know it took forever, but so,yeah, I built that roadster
didn't win the AMBR award.
When they told me it was goingto cost me $15,000 to have it
detailed, I said I'm happy withcoming in second.
Allison Volk Dean (08:33):
Yeah, yeah, no kidding.
Larry Erickson (08:35):
Yeah, so that kind of led to meeting a lot of
people in Bonneville and Ithought, you know I went to all
this trouble to build this, whatif I built a race car?
Allison Volk Dean (08:43):
you know, I'm not that far away from a race
car from here, yeah Well it wasreally low and it was long.
Larry Erickson (08:49):
I probably should have just stripped that
thing down and worked on that.
It would have been easier.
Allison Volk Dean (08:53):
So you built this race car.
Larry Erickson (08:59):
And what did you build?
We took 32 Ford frame because Ihad it left over from a
personal project and I juststarted drawing.
You know these Bonneville carsin side view they're so low and
they just look like you know 100miles an hour standing still.
You know they're really tuckedin.
You got these great tires, lovethose 18 inch rims on the back
(09:21):
and I set the whole thing up.
In fact I got some oldFirestone IndyCar 18s to
proportion it and the ruleswould allow you to stretch it
All the good things.
And I wanted it to have a deucegrill and Frank Iacona's I
think it's Iacona's, frankIacona's Bonneville car, little
29, orange and black.
(09:42):
It was in Rotter's Journal acouple decades ago.
That was one of the cars welooked at.
We looked at that car I thinkit's Ruiz's car out of Santa
Barbara, that Sam Foose painteda 471 car, jerry Kugel's car,
the little 29.
And those were probably the bigones at that time and that was
(10:05):
when I started.
That thing was probably rightwhen folks were starting to
settle them down, really bringthe body down.
Allison Volk Dean (10:11):
What year is?
Larry Erickson (10:11):
this it's a 28.
Allison Volk Dean (10:13):
I mean, what year are you doing this, sorry?
What year are you starting this?
Larry Erickson (10:16):
Oh God, I started in seven, I think.
Allison Volk Dean (10:18):
Oh, seven.
Okay, and so sorry, but whatyear is the car?
Did you say?
Larry Erickson (10:21):
The car's a 1928 , late in the year because it's
date stamped still on the cowlCool.
And it's a Ford Model A pulledout of a Montana ditch got two
bullet dents in the cowl.
Oh wow, the only thing we couldsave was the cowl and the door
inners.
Everything else was eitherrolled by a friend, so I work
(10:42):
with metal shapers.
So it's steel from the cowlback, except for the tonneau,
and then it's aluminum with thetonneau and there forward with a
deuce grill.
Allison Volk Dean (10:53):
Yeah, it's a beautiful car.
Larry Erickson (10:54):
Well, thank you, a lot of really talented people
help Just get it right.
It's one thing to sort of drawit, it's a world of difference
to make it.
Allison Volk Dean (11:04):
Yeah, so okay , well cool.
So what year did you get itdone?
Larry Erickson (11:09):
Well, technically we didn't get it
done by the first Bonneville.
We spent four days in a—.
Allison Volk Dean (11:14):
Were you trying to get to the 2008
Bonneville we?
Larry Erickson (11:16):
were trying to get to—no, we were trying to—oh,
no, no, no.
Allison Volk Dean (11:20):
Okay.
Larry Erickson (11:21):
The first time we tried was 18, it would have
been 20.
First time we tried was 20.
So you know, as we built it welearned more.
And then we had Gary Maurer, afabricator out of Michigan who's
(11:41):
built a lot of drag race cars.
He came on to the project andprior to that it had been Dennis
Kelso and myself and you knowwe'd been around race cars and
stuff and knew some of thethings, but Gary knew all the
trick stuff you know.
And so then it kind of got morecomplicated and that was
probably about I don't know,five or excuse me, 15 or so, and
(12:03):
really a good friend told meyou don't want to drive a car,
you want to build a car.
You know, and I really love thebuild, you know, and meeting the
people and talking.
I mean, jerry Kugel wasfantastic, I'd call him up
answer questions and Jack andSeth, so yeah, the people and
(12:27):
the craftsmen.
Allison Volk Dean (12:28):
Yeah, we're very kind to you and good to you
.
Larry Erickson (12:32):
And so, yeah, we got to.
For the 20 event, we got to arented house mask on In.
Allison Volk Dean (12:42):
Tooele.
Larry Erickson (12:43):
Tooele.
Allison Volk Dean (12:44):
Tooele.
Yeah, he was telling me, it'snot Tooele, not Tooele, it's
Tooele.
Okay, sorry about that, itlooks like Tooele, though.
In all, fairness.
Larry Erickson (12:51):
The house is great.
It's huge, had a pool, hadeverything.
Allison Volk Dean (12:55):
Oh nice.
Larry Erickson (12:55):
But mostly has three bay garage with no
dividers.
So we got it together, we gotout here and that's when I
really got a feel for the folksworking here.
You know a lot of people helpedus out.
They took us through tech.
Russ Ayers helped us.
Allison Volk Dean (13:11):
Oh yeah.
Larry Erickson (13:11):
You know, and we got it through tech and it was
literally the last hour on thelast day because I think it was
World Finals, it wasn't SpeedWeek, oh wow, so you were really
just getting there at the endand we almost ran out of wind
and Bill Lattin pulled up inthis giant pickup, got out and
said I hear you guys are new andwe're going.
(13:33):
yeah, and he goes.
Well, we're going to get you tothe line and he goes.
When are you going to be ready?
And we all looked at each otherand we said try an hour.
And he came back, took us up.
We made one pass, we broke somesmall thing.
They gave Dennis his rookielicense because he managed to
pull a chute under power enoughto hold air in it.
(13:54):
And we came back.
The year ran 178 in third gearhad a much better motor.
And so now we're back with evenmore motor.
And this year we got two runsin.
We had a new water system andsomething wasn't quite right and
we thought, hey, you know, wewent through tech without an
issue, you know we ran on ashort course, got those two
(14:18):
passes in, let's be happy.
Allison Volk Dean (14:21):
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (14:22):
So we got a long list of things to do and we'll
be back.
Allison Volk Dean (14:25):
Okay, so that's what you did this year is
those things?
Larry Erickson (14:29):
And it was painted this year.
Allison Volk Dean (14:32):
It was painted.
It looks like it's all metal.
Larry Erickson (14:34):
No, it's a Porsche gray.
We picked a color that lookedlike metal, because everybody
said it looked good in metal.
Allison Volk Dean (14:39):
It does it really is.
It's really a beautiful car.
You can tell that it's done by.
So is that what you do by trade?
Is you just like draw the cars,yeah, or do you Okay?
Larry Erickson (14:54):
I've been in the automotive industry of the
vision Automotive industry.
That's really cool, so like ifyou pick a car you know, mid 90s
Cadillac, the 92.
Allison Volk Dean (14:59):
Seville we did all exterior surfaces.
Oh cool yeah.
Larry Erickson (15:01):
And you start out with drawings, but you work
with clay modelers and engineerand data, and it takes, you know
, hundreds and hundreds ofpeople to come up with a form.
Allison Volk Dean (15:10):
Yeah, but you're kind of the visionary,
well, yeah somebody.
Larry Erickson (15:14):
Some folks wouldn't call it quite that.
No, you know you take in a lotof requirements and out here.
You know a lot of therequirements you learn are once
you're running.
Allison Volk Dean (15:24):
Yeah, you know.
Larry Erickson (15:24):
So coming out here figuring out what people
are doing, Everyone is great,you know, even your direct
competitors are great at sharingknowledge.
Allison Volk Dean (15:33):
Yeah Well, that story you told about Bill
Latin reminds me of World'sFastest Indian.
I mean, it really is that waywhere they're very accommodating
.
Larry Erickson (15:54):
They want to see people succeed and you want to
see people do good, because welove this sport and we want it
to keep going.
So, yeah, and and you know Ispend a lot of time with people
around cars and what drives themto their you know their
decisions and their, you knowpurchasing choices and stuff
like that and it really is aninteraction and it can be with a
person or an event and and youjust come out here and it's, uh,
you know it's.
I mean, there's so manydifferent kinds of cars.
I went down the line yesterdayjust photographing every
(16:16):
different type of car I couldfind.
Oh, yeah, oh yeah, mini pickups,you know.
Allison Volk Dean (16:20):
Well, tell me about some of your like
favorite ones, like what issomething that really stands out
to you?
Some of the cars just Well on atraditional end the 199
Roadster.
Larry Erickson (16:31):
I mean that's just nailing it down.
They're just a beautiful car.
And then there's another one,and I'm going to forget my
numbers.
That's okay.
It's a modified Roadster,really pointy nose.
It's cherry red with scallopson it.
Allison Volk Dean (16:45):
I got my phone out.
Larry Erickson (16:47):
I think it's the Cornfield Customs car.
Yeah, it is Cornfield Customs.
I think that's called the.
Salty Bitch is the name of thecar I think that's called the
salty bitch is the name of thecar.
Yeah, I think that was on hisshirt, and then there's a blue
rear engine Lakester that showedup.
They're out of California.
Metal work was killer.
I mean just obviously somebodyhad been around a lot of cars
(17:08):
because where they terminatedtheir body panels and how they
broke the body up and nice forms.
The metal guy is somebody outof Roy Brizio's shop in Northern
California and you know whatyou'll find is you'll find all
of these crossovers.
I was in line in front ofwhat's his name?
Eric Hansen, I think it is, andhe had Chip Foose wheels and I
(17:31):
know Chip Foose, yeah, and Ididn't know he made Bonneville
wheels.
He goes.
Well, my shop used to be nextto his shop.
Oh, that's cool so there's allthese little connections.
Allison Volk Dean (17:40):
Yeah, Really cool.
I love hearing the cars thatyou look at and how you look at
them.
It's very, you know it'sinteresting.
Larry Erickson (17:47):
Well, there's a couple that aren't up here, like
the wagon, that big crazyPlymouth wagon, that matte black
thing that's on the shirt.
Allison Volk Dean (17:55):
Yeah, the event shirt.
Yes, it's so cool?
Larry Erickson (17:58):
I mean, that car was never cool, ever.
They made it cool.
Intro (18:02):
It is now.
Larry Erickson (18:04):
But yeah, and you'll see things like you know,
there's a guy up there with a72 Ford I'm trying to remember
the model name that they had butit's two-door coupe.
It's got the oval grill in itbecause in 73 they ruined them,
put big bumpers and I used towork the ford dealership.
I always liked that littlecoupe.
(18:24):
Yeah, torino, torino torino,okay, yeah and uh, and it's
brown and it, he lowered it andyou know, just it upright.
And so all the things they do,all the things they do, you know
, in a lot of ways the guys inthe studio would like to do that
.
Allison Volk Dean (18:41):
That's the one you were talking about.
The rear engine, that was EricHansen.
Okay, sorry, keep going.
Larry Erickson (18:44):
Yeah, but you know, GM used to have a standard
formula in their studio of howyou could cheat the drawing.
So we used to make these fullsign drawings of a car before
you'd start a clay model.
They wanted to make sure theywere making the right decision.
But what they would do is theywould lower it a little bit and
they'd stretch the axles out alittle bit, and so all that
(19:05):
thing falls in line with whatpeople do with Bonneville cars
so you'll see some mini pickupout here, and and it'll
just—there was a little likegold-colored one yeah yeah, oh,
it's beautiful, yeah, and thenpeople will put the work into
them.
You know, not everybody builds a.
You know, grand National level.
Pomona Grand National level car.
(19:26):
But there's some serious workout here, tight fit, you know
just great craftsmanship.
Allison Volk Dean (19:31):
Yeah, and speaking of the Grand National,
I, you're a judge.
With it there's a whole bunchof them up there.
Larry Erickson (19:38):
There's some other ex-Bonneville people on
that judging group.
Allison Volk Dean (19:41):
Cool though.
Larry Erickson (19:43):
But yeah, there's a group of us that
basically judge the AMBR AwardAmerica's Most Beautiful Roots
and I won't give out any namesbecause we'll probably receive
the threats but it's supposed tobe a secret who the judges are.
No, I think it's just thatthey'd just rather like get on
with their job and you know notget any emails about why their
(20:07):
roadster should be.
I don't think their pictureshave been put in a paper though
to tell you the truth, yeah.
But no, it's, it's a huge honorto be in with that group, you
know, and a lot of buildingexperience there.
You know, no-transcript, you gothrough those cars and a lot of
that is craftsmanship but a lotof it is a subjective decision
(20:30):
on how things go together.
You know, and some of them justhit you like a brick and some
of them are just spread all overthe place and you go well, what
were you really trying?
But no, it's incredible efforts, people to go to win that award
.
Allison Volk Dean (20:42):
Yeah Well, and I just like to hear the
breakdown of how you look at it,because I just look at it whole
car they'll stand backliterally and they look at the
(21:10):
proportions in the set of thecar and the gesture of the car.
Larry Erickson (21:14):
And other people will go up and they'll look at
some little part of the car youknow, yeah, but generally it's
broken down to things likeproportions.
So that's you know where arethe wheels sitting in the
relationship.
So like drag cars, you know, inthe old gasser days they'd take
that rear axle, move it forwardto get weight transfer and it'd
look goofy as all the get out.
(21:35):
That's where a funny car camefrom.
And then.
So proportion's a big thing,and generally lower and longer
works well, and even though carsare really going higher and
taller right now, you know,they're going.
You know they're getting thicker.
If you look at all those linesthey put through the car that's
to break it up.
It's a little bit like your youknow outfit.
(21:56):
So you know they're trying toshapes.
You look at the way lines turnand one of the ways that you can
tell whether a person at adistance is skinny or not skinny
is not to look at the part ofthe person that's pointed
(22:19):
towards you.
Intro (22:21):
It's to look at the outer profile of them.
Larry Erickson (22:23):
And a car is the same way, so you have cars that
look great from certain anglesand then as soon as they rotate,
they go.
Something's wrong.
So you know a car needs to siton its wheels in a solid way,
you know, like a 50s cars, andthe wheels tend to be tucked in.
And there are some beautifulcars that will break the rules,
an E-Type.
The wheels and tires are wayunderneath it, but the way the
(22:47):
shape of the body is it kind offloats.
Yeah, it just works sointeresting.
So there's no set rule, and ifyou look at auto companies,
they've spent billions ofdollars trying to come up with a
formula, and AI won't come upwith it either.
No, it'll just copy what's outthere.
Yeah, exactly so you see theseguys, and some of them built
them.
They just simply wanted to gofaster.
(23:08):
Yeah, and the aerodynamics arereally pushing things around.
Allison Volk Dean (23:11):
Yeah, and that's.
Larry Erickson (23:12):
that's the whole purpose of the car.
Generally speaking, lower isbetter.
Allison Volk Dean (23:17):
Well, that's cool and so out of your
experience.
So you OK.
So we talked about some of yourcars, but is there a specific
car like the way it runs, oranother car that you just have
that's not by the way it looks?
I don't know how to say whatanother car that's a favorite of
yours, I guess would be a carin general.
That's a favorite, yeah, likemaybe of the faster ones, Like
(23:39):
what?
What do you look at when you'relooking at them?
Larry Erickson (23:42):
Well, you know, some of the streamliners are
just stripped down to thatsimple shape.
Allison Volk Dean (23:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Larry Erickson (23:48):
And then other ones are more complex.
Yeah, you know, like when webuild surface for a car, there's
simple surfaces.
It's like it's called a dragsurface.
It just goes straight through.
Then you get to things likeSpeed Demon.
That's a very complex surfacebecause it has to do with
pressure differentials and soit's got kind of a little wave
to the side of it you know, andI'm sure an aerodynamicist could
(24:11):
discuss why it's doing that.
Allison Volk Dean (24:14):
You could ask Tom Berkland, there you go, he
would know exactly, you knowthat is a beautiful car.
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (24:21):
It looks more like because it doesn't have a
relationship to its wheels.
They're not visible.
I think it's more of abeautiful shape.
Allison Volk Dean (24:29):
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (24:29):
And when I go to you know beautiful cars, you
know I mean Cessol Streamlinerwhen it was originally built,
and I forget who was the firstowner on that one, but that was
a front engine one.
That was a nice little car, youknow just had this little
tucked back canopy, but it hadopen wheels, you know, yeah, so
you tend to like something inevery category.
Allison Volk Dean (24:50):
Yeah, it's very interesting the mini
pickups this year there's acouple of them that are looking
pretty cool they were, and theydid good too.
Larry Erickson (24:57):
I saw them in impound a lot and then there's a
little Scirocco, a little whiteone that's with the Hudson Boys
, or no, it's not a Scirocco, itmight be a Scirocco, it's a
Volkswagen two-door coupe justcleaned up and dropped down, Not
a lot of add-on stuff and andjust pulled out nine inches over
subtle things and I used to dochopper bodies for this crazy
(25:33):
guy in Santa Barbara for aboutnine months, and so we looked at
a lot of motorcycles and Istill like looking at them.
One of the guys I used to workwith runs Harley-Davidson's
group, Brad Richards, and I knowhe's run a bike here before and
Brad's just a real hot rod guy.
He just knows you know it'slike you give him any car and
he'll fix it.
Allison Volk Dean (25:53):
Yeah Cool, yeah Cool.
So what are your guys' planswith your car for next year?
You got you kind ofaccomplished some things this
year and or I don't know ifyou're coming back in September
or October.
Larry Erickson (26:04):
Well, probably not September, end of October.
I've got some other commitments, but definitely next year we're
kind of on the line.
We sort of what we wanted to dothis year is find out how much
horsepower went to go about 210.
And we thought we had enough.
But you know, we had a problemwith the water tank and that's,
(26:25):
you know, something we've got tofix.
So we bowed out but we gotabout 591 a horse.
If the car's slick 591, youknow, john, I'll get his name.
It's a maroon car.
He held the C record for awhile.
Anyway, a couple people Jerry'slooked at at it and he said,
(26:46):
yeah, I might get to two, youknow, with that little of
horsepower, cause some of theseguys are running like eight,
nine or a horse.
Allison Volk Dean (26:53):
Yeah, and what is the engine size?
Larry Erickson (26:55):
Small block Chevy but it's a old school so
it's a, you know, original Chevy.
It's a world products with aset of AFR heads on it.
It's got a good torque curve soit should pull the gear.
It's pretty flat going out.
Allison Volk Dean (27:08):
Is it?
Larry Erickson (27:08):
C-class.
Intro (27:10):
It's.
Larry Erickson (27:10):
C-class because of the displacement.
But we actually have two motorsunder construction.
One is the sponsor of the car,american Speed.
He's got a Buick V6, and we'relike a bunch of ex-GM guys.
So we like the old GM motors.
So this is a stage two Buickwhich guys have run out here
(27:30):
before.
It's like a race motor with acouple cylinders cut off.
So we got that and we thinkthat can go 600 horsepower and
then we're thinking of buildinga DAIR car because we love
302Z28 motors, and so it'sreally to find a speed that you
can run and be competitive.
(27:51):
You know the guys driving.
Yeah, they got a Jones for ahat, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (27:56):
Oh, yeah, they want that right now.
Well, those roadster classesare hard, they're not easy.
Larry Erickson (28:02):
Well, that's what's great, and that's one of
the ones that started it in thevery beginning you know, I love
the.
You know I was talking to GregSharp used to be the historian
at the NHRA Museum.
He's just a great wealth ofknowledge.
And I said, greg, I want tolike gather all these pictures
of roadsters over the years andsee how they evolved, you know.
(28:23):
And I said, could you send mesome?
He goes, how many do you want?
And yeah, so many cars run outhere in a roadster class.
Allison Volk Dean (28:33):
It's just a great place to run, even though
it's a hard place to run.
Yeah, yeah, well, that's cool,that's exciting what you guys
are going to do, and it soundslike you are.
You're hat hunting a little bit.
Larry Erickson (28:41):
Yeah, and hunting is a key word, not
capturing, no, I think you know.
One of the things that tippedthis over was the picture of the
Sad Teague and Bentley down inthe Mexican desert, and they're
sitting around the back of thecar and it's the end of the day
(29:02):
you know, and they're out in arunoff area, hopefully someplace
safe.
Allison Volk Dean (29:05):
Anyway, probably not, and it was.
Larry Erickson (29:07):
I think it was a Tom Senter article and it was
just about the comeback of thecar after it had been damaged a
year before, I think, anaccident, and it was just that
mojo of something that's sotimeless.
It's like you want to win inroadster class.
Just go take your head and beatit against a tree.
(29:29):
You know it is that muchcompetition and there are people
with more motor and and moreexperience, and so you're always
going to be behind.
Allison Volk Dean (29:37):
But just to run with those guys, it'd be
great yeah, well, and you neverknow, like you never know, until
you're out there doing it untilyou know yeah, well, and then
you were telling me that youhave some posters that you've
designed that are at Carmen'sBlack and White, to go look at.
I'd like to go look at them,now that I know, yeah.
Larry Erickson (29:56):
When I was in school and Monty said that to me
, monty Wolf and he said, yeah,send us something.
The first one I did wasatrocious, it's like the worst
poster on the wall.
Then I got better and betterand my favorite one was I think
it's the 37th or the 38th, butI've got like a front.
(30:17):
Like you're looking down thelineup, I had Al Teague's early
car when he had the rear motorhe hadn't gone to the enclosure
yet, I think, but the frontwheels were underneath and so
his streamliner.
And then a guy out of MichiganMattson, I think was his name
who was running a Vincent, andjust the way it ended up.
(30:40):
And out here you got thisincredible perspective.
Everything's on perspectivehere, you know, even the
mountains.
So but yeah, it was fun doingthose posters and you know, and
you look back on that stuff andat the time you're you're just
trying to get them done at thelast minute.
Allison Volk Dean (30:57):
I think I drove.
Larry Erickson (30:58):
Monty nuts for a couple of years, and you know,
just to been a little part ofsomething.
Allison Volk Dean (31:04):
Yeah, what years were they that you did?
Larry Erickson (31:06):
Mostly, I think, 83 through about 87 or 88.
Allison Volk Dean (31:10):
Yeah, now we know what to look for.
Larry Erickson (31:11):
Yeah, and then I did a couple of later ones.
I did one just recently of the911 car and without having run I
got it, leaving the line andthe parachute removed before a
flight flag is still on it.
Allison Volk Dean (31:29):
Oh no, I got some shit over that which I
deserved.
Larry Erickson (31:35):
But no, you know , yeah, really cool and then I
worked with Greg on the otherone.
I did the 40th anniversary one,88, and it had all the little
cars in it.
Allison Volk Dean (31:46):
Yeah, really cool, that's really neat, lots
of fun.
Yeah, that is fun.
Anything else that you want toadd I don't want to take the BNI
to SCTA.
Larry Erickson (31:54):
But you know, hopefully they're.
You know it was a rough weekbut you know everything we got
was worth the haul.
Allison Volk Dean (32:04):
Yeah, it was worth staying.
Larry Erickson (32:05):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (32:06):
Go home and rest.
S-e-t-a-b-n-i.
Larry Erickson (32:08):
You leave it with memories, that's for sure.
Allison Volk Dean (32:10):
Yeah Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate you taking thetime to do this.
Thank you, thank you All right.
Intro (32:16):
Thanks for listening to Land Speed Legends.
Make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss any future episodes.
In the meantime, keep up withthe show on Facebook and
Instagram under LandspeedLegends.
Until next time.
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast talking to
the men, the women, the legendsthat make land speed racing
great.
Discover the stories of theseordinary people whose passion
for land speed racing has madethem legendary.
And now here's your host theBonneville Belle, the High Boy,
(00:23):
honey, the salt princess, alisonVolk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean (00:31):
Tell me about how you first came out here.
That was a neat story.
Larry Erickson (00:36):
Well, like a lot of kids that grew up you know
60s and 70s and 80s, my dad wasjust a Bonneville fan, you know,
never came up here, but youknow people talk about it.
It was like big deal.
You knew what a big deal wasand we'd always had cars and old
cars and stuff like that.
So I was at Art Center, whichwas a college in Southern
(00:58):
California, and it was theirweek break and I remember
looking in Hot Rod magazine andit said, okay, speed Week is the
same week as your week break.
And I called my mom up and Isaid, hey, I'm going to take a
little side diversion toNorthern.
California and I came out to thesalt and I put my sleeping bag
in the back of my El Camino andI thought how hard is this?
(01:20):
Well, it wasn't how hard it was, it was how cold it could get
at night.
So, yeah, I slept that firstnight out here and I thought,
man, this place just looksamazing because you're watching
the sun go down, but freezing,and so, yeah, that was my
initial trip and it was just outof that legacy.
You know the history of theplace.
Allison Volk Dean (01:39):
Yeah, yeah and so, and you kind of got
hooked up with some other peopleracing.
So what was that?
Larry Erickson (01:48):
Well, you know, I've always been drawing cars
and so I was going around withmy little sketchbook and I was
drawing cars and I'd spent along time in Larson Cummins
because I just loved that LynnYankle streamliner, you know,
and it just was an incredibleleStreamliner, you know, and it
just was an incredible purelittle shape.
You know, I was going to designschool, so automotive design, so
(02:10):
looking at that thing's likelooking at a dream you know, so
I'm drawing away and and sooneror later somebody got bored and
come over and like, what are youdoing here so much?
And I said, oh, I'm drawing acar and all that other stuff.
And he says, oh, yeah, you drawa lot of cars.
I said, yeah, he goes, you'regoing to finish this one.
I said, yeah, and he goes.
Well, where are you staying?
And I said, well, I was stayingin the back of my pickup.
(02:32):
He goes well, we got an extraroom.
You know, that was just thebeginning of people being really
nice to you.
And I also drew I can't rememberthe first name, but it was
Young Brothers, it was a 39Chevy and I'd had a 38 Chevy
drag car, and this was a 39Chevy with the fenders pulled
(02:53):
off and I was drawing that carand a couple other ones.
So then I got to meet thoseguys and somewhere along the
line I met Monty Wolf and he'slooking at my stuff and he goes
well, what'd you think aboutdoing a poster?
And I said, man, I'd love to doa poster, you know.
So I did their posters forabout oh, I guess about five
(03:19):
years.
And you know, at the time yougot a lot of things going on and
you're young and you don'trealize how significant that is,
and so I kind of fell out ofdoing it.
I think I got married moved toDetroitroit.
Allison Volk Dean (03:27):
All these things going on.
Larry Erickson (03:28):
You know life, but uh, I still have that plaque
that gave me, with astreamliner on it.
It's just just so fine and ofall the things you do in a
40-year career, you know thingsstay with you yeah, yeah, that's
really neat.
Allison Volk Dean (03:43):
And um, monty wolf is.
I don't know if you knew this.
He was like one of the reasonsthat I started this podcast.
Oh, cool yeah because he wouldcome and sit with me and when he
died I was like dang, I wish Iwould have had some of those
stories because they were funnyand crazy, and I'd have people
like Otto Reisman come and sitnext to me when I was doing the
two club booth, and I was doingthe two-club booth and anyways.
So after you kind of had thislittle, how did you get back
(04:05):
into Bonneville?
Larry Erickson (04:25):
I got a friend of mine, Jack Chisholm, owned
know 200 hours on forming with afile and I just couldn't get
over how nice it was.
And Jack walked up, I didn'tknow him, we started talking and
he said what were you doinghere?
And I said, oh, I got somesketches with these guys.
We went over and looked at themand he goes oh, that's cool,
you know.
And he obviously was interestedin design and all that stuff.
(04:47):
And uh, what I didn't know wasJack was putting air
conditioning in Billy Gibbonscars.
So he calls me up modern aboutsix months later and he goes uh,
he goes, hey, uh, billy'sthinking of doing a cattle
custom Cadillac, you know.
And uh, I said, oh yeah, what'she doing?
And we started talking and hegoes what would you do?
(05:08):
And I said, well, I like the 48, 49c net because it's got the
you know, suede back.
You know, it looks like astreamliner you know back
section of it, not the front,and he goes, yeah, what would
you do to it?
And I said, oh, you know theusual things, you know section
it and stuff like that.
He goes well, send me a notetelling me what you would do to
(05:30):
it and what kind of motor itwould be.
And because I'm not an Englishmajor and because I draw cars,
every day.
I just drew him a picture so heshared it with Billy.
Billy liked it.
We did one sketch, so he sharedit with Billy.
Billy liked it.
We did one sketch.
And the next thing I knew I wassitting in Hot Rod's offices up
there on Wilshire or whereverthey were, and there's Billy.
(05:54):
I hadn't met him up until thatpoint.
There's Billy and Hangred 8Harry was there, hibbler he was
a big get in it and these guystogether.
But I started working withBoyd's Shop in Southern
California.
We did a couple of other thingsbesides Kadzilla.
We did the Illuma Coupe, whichwas all custom built body and
(06:15):
really that was styled after theChristman Brothers Coupe.
It isn't literally like it, butit's the same idea.
You know where you got thesetwo matching shapes together
which, in the case of ChristmanBrothers C coupe, were two 44
hoods welded together, and I'msure someone's going to email
you and tell you they were 39s.
Intro (06:32):
But anyway they were two.
44 hoods.
Larry Erickson (06:34):
and then this really chopped five window body
with a hemi stuffed in the backof it and we were supposed to
put a Cadillac in the back ofthe Illumacoupe and Cadillac was
like hot rods.
So Boyd found another motor andthat got me into trouble, but
Boyd worked out for Boyd, okay,anyway, so, yeah, so that was a
(06:55):
long winded version of, andevery one of those guys I dealt
with, you know Boyd, all theguys.
There were two things there wasBonneville and there was Harry
Miller.
And the rest of the stuff was ina club way behind that stuff,
yeah.
And both those things areSouthern California things.
Intro (07:12):
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (07:12):
Harry's shop was in LA and Bonneville started
primarily by people from LA.
Yeah, you know it's supportedby the world now.
Allison Volk Dean (07:20):
Yeah, very cool.
So at what point right now youdo own a car.
Do you go from there to kind oflike your current car, or where
is it in between?
Larry Erickson (07:32):
Well, I was building a roadster to go to the
Grand National, because that'swhere I grew up, northern
California.
You go to the Grand National.
I spent about 10 years doingthat and Boyd and I were trading
efforts.
You know I'd work on Boyd's car, he'd work on stuff for my car.
So I had Boyd's corners on it.
(07:54):
I had a Potvin blown small blockin it which, if you're
listening to this podcast, theydon't work on the street really
well, but they're really coolAnyway so in fact I got it from
Dean Moon, and I got it fromDean Moon because he'd seen the
posters and he wanted to reprintthem, I'm sure without
permission.
But anyway so and then Deanwanted me to do a cover of his
(08:15):
catalog and I said, well, if youget me a potvin set up, you
know it took forever, but so,yeah, I built that roadster
didn't win the AMBR award.
When they told me it was goingto cost me $15,000 to have it
detailed, I said I'm happy withcoming in second.
Allison Volk Dean (08:33):
Yeah, yeah, no kidding.
Larry Erickson (08:35):
Yeah, so that kind of led to meeting a lot of
people in Bonneville and Ithought, you know I went to all
this trouble to build this, whatif I built a race car?
Allison Volk Dean (08:43):
you know, I'm not that far away from a race
car from here, yeah Well it wasreally low and it was long.
Larry Erickson (08:49):
I probably should have just stripped that
thing down and worked on that.
It would have been easier.
Allison Volk Dean (08:53):
So you built this race car.
Larry Erickson (08:59):
And what did you build?
We took 32 Ford frame because Ihad it left over from a
personal project and I juststarted drawing.
You know these Bonneville carsin side view they're so low and
they just look like you know 100miles an hour standing still.
You know they're really tuckedin.
You got these great tires, lovethose 18 inch rims on the back
(09:21):
and I set the whole thing up.
In fact I got some oldFirestone IndyCar 18s to
proportion it and the ruleswould allow you to stretch it
All the good things.
And I wanted it to have a deucegrill and Frank Iacona's I
think it's Iacona's, frankIacona's Bonneville car, little
29, orange and black.
(09:42):
It was in Rotter's Journal acouple decades ago.
That was one of the cars welooked at.
We looked at that car I thinkit's Ruiz's car out of Santa
Barbara, that Sam Foose painteda 471 car, jerry Kugel's car,
the little 29.
And those were probably the bigones at that time and that was
(10:05):
when I started.
That thing was probably rightwhen folks were starting to
settle them down, really bringthe body down.
Allison Volk Dean (10:11):
What year is?
Larry Erickson (10:11):
this it's a 28.
Allison Volk Dean (10:13):
I mean, what year are you doing this, sorry?
What year are you starting this?
Larry Erickson (10:16):
Oh God, I started in seven, I think.
Allison Volk Dean (10:18):
Oh, seven.
Okay, and so sorry, but whatyear is the car?
Did you say?
Larry Erickson (10:21):
The car's a 1928 , late in the year because it's
date stamped still on the cowlCool.
And it's a Ford Model A pulledout of a Montana ditch got two
bullet dents in the cowl.
Oh wow, the only thing we couldsave was the cowl and the door
inners.
Everything else was eitherrolled by a friend, so I work
(10:42):
with metal shapers.
So it's steel from the cowlback, except for the tonneau,
and then it's aluminum with thetonneau and there forward with a
deuce grill.
Allison Volk Dean (10:53):
Yeah, it's a beautiful car.
Larry Erickson (10:54):
Well, thank you, a lot of really talented people
help Just get it right.
It's one thing to sort of drawit, it's a world of difference
to make it.
Allison Volk Dean (11:04):
Yeah, so okay , well cool.
So what year did you get itdone?
Larry Erickson (11:09):
Well, technically we didn't get it
done by the first Bonneville.
We spent four days in a—.
Allison Volk Dean (11:14):
Were you trying to get to the 2008
Bonneville we?
Larry Erickson (11:16):
were trying to get to—no, we were trying to—oh,
no, no, no.
Allison Volk Dean (11:20):
Okay.
Larry Erickson (11:21):
The first time we tried was 18, it would have
been 20.
First time we tried was 20.
So you know, as we built it welearned more.
And then we had Gary Maurer, afabricator out of Michigan who's
(11:41):
built a lot of drag race cars.
He came on to the project andprior to that it had been Dennis
Kelso and myself and you knowwe'd been around race cars and
stuff and knew some of thethings, but Gary knew all the
trick stuff you know.
And so then it kind of got morecomplicated and that was
probably about I don't know,five or excuse me, 15 or so, and
(12:03):
really a good friend told meyou don't want to drive a car,
you want to build a car.
You know, and I really love thebuild, you know, and meeting the
people and talking.
I mean, jerry Kugel wasfantastic, I'd call him up
answer questions and Jack andSeth, so yeah, the people and
(12:27):
the craftsmen.
Allison Volk Dean (12:28):
Yeah, we're very kind to you and good to you
.
Larry Erickson (12:32):
And so, yeah, we got to.
For the 20 event, we got to arented house mask on In.
Allison Volk Dean (12:42):
Tooele.
Larry Erickson (12:43):
Tooele.
Allison Volk Dean (12:44):
Tooele.
Yeah, he was telling me, it'snot Tooele, not Tooele, it's
Tooele.
Okay, sorry about that, itlooks like Tooele, though.
In all, fairness.
Larry Erickson (12:51):
The house is great.
It's huge, had a pool, hadeverything.
Allison Volk Dean (12:55):
Oh nice.
Larry Erickson (12:55):
But mostly has three bay garage with no
dividers.
So we got it together, we gotout here and that's when I
really got a feel for the folksworking here.
You know a lot of people helpedus out.
They took us through tech.
Russ Ayers helped us.
Allison Volk Dean (13:11):
Oh yeah.
Larry Erickson (13:11):
You know, and we got it through tech and it was
literally the last hour on thelast day because I think it was
World Finals, it wasn't SpeedWeek, oh wow, so you were really
just getting there at the endand we almost ran out of wind
and Bill Lattin pulled up inthis giant pickup, got out and
said I hear you guys are new andwe're going.
(13:33):
yeah, and he goes.
Well, we're going to get you tothe line and he goes.
When are you going to be ready?
And we all looked at each otherand we said try an hour.
And he came back, took us up.
We made one pass, we broke somesmall thing.
They gave Dennis his rookielicense because he managed to
pull a chute under power enoughto hold air in it.
(13:54):
And we came back.
The year ran 178 in third gearhad a much better motor.
And so now we're back with evenmore motor.
And this year we got two runsin.
We had a new water system andsomething wasn't quite right and
we thought, hey, you know, wewent through tech without an
issue, you know we ran on ashort course, got those two
(14:18):
passes in, let's be happy.
Allison Volk Dean (14:21):
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (14:22):
So we got a long list of things to do and we'll
be back.
Allison Volk Dean (14:25):
Okay, so that's what you did this year is
those things?
Larry Erickson (14:29):
And it was painted this year.
Allison Volk Dean (14:32):
It was painted.
It looks like it's all metal.
Larry Erickson (14:34):
No, it's a Porsche gray.
We picked a color that lookedlike metal, because everybody
said it looked good in metal.
Allison Volk Dean (14:39):
It does it really is.
It's really a beautiful car.
You can tell that it's done by.
So is that what you do by trade?
Is you just like draw the cars,yeah, or do you Okay?
Larry Erickson (14:54):
I've been in the automotive industry of the
vision Automotive industry.
That's really cool, so like ifyou pick a car you know, mid 90s
Cadillac, the 92.
Allison Volk Dean (14:59):
Seville we did all exterior surfaces.
Oh cool yeah.
Larry Erickson (15:01):
And you start out with drawings, but you work
with clay modelers and engineerand data, and it takes, you know
, hundreds and hundreds ofpeople to come up with a form.
Allison Volk Dean (15:10):
Yeah, but you're kind of the visionary,
well, yeah somebody.
Larry Erickson (15:14):
Some folks wouldn't call it quite that.
No, you know you take in a lotof requirements and out here.
You know a lot of therequirements you learn are once
you're running.
Allison Volk Dean (15:24):
Yeah, you know.
Larry Erickson (15:24):
So coming out here figuring out what people
are doing, Everyone is great,you know, even your direct
competitors are great at sharingknowledge.
Allison Volk Dean (15:33):
Yeah Well, that story you told about Bill
Latin reminds me of World'sFastest Indian.
I mean, it really is that waywhere they're very accommodating
.
Larry Erickson (15:54):
They want to see people succeed and you want to
see people do good, because welove this sport and we want it
to keep going.
So, yeah, and and you know Ispend a lot of time with people
around cars and what drives themto their you know their
decisions and their, you knowpurchasing choices and stuff
like that and it really is aninteraction and it can be with a
person or an event and and youjust come out here and it's, uh,
you know it's.
I mean, there's so manydifferent kinds of cars.
I went down the line yesterdayjust photographing every
(16:16):
different type of car I couldfind.
Oh, yeah, oh yeah, mini pickups,you know.
Allison Volk Dean (16:20):
Well, tell me about some of your like
favorite ones, like what issomething that really stands out
to you?
Some of the cars just Well on atraditional end the 199
Roadster.
Larry Erickson (16:31):
I mean that's just nailing it down.
They're just a beautiful car.
And then there's another one,and I'm going to forget my
numbers.
That's okay.
It's a modified Roadster,really pointy nose.
It's cherry red with scallopson it.
Allison Volk Dean (16:45):
I got my phone out.
Larry Erickson (16:47):
I think it's the Cornfield Customs car.
Yeah, it is Cornfield Customs.
I think that's called the.
Salty Bitch is the name of thecar I think that's called the
salty bitch is the name of thecar.
Yeah, I think that was on hisshirt, and then there's a blue
rear engine Lakester that showedup.
They're out of California.
Metal work was killer.
I mean just obviously somebodyhad been around a lot of cars
(17:08):
because where they terminatedtheir body panels and how they
broke the body up and nice forms.
The metal guy is somebody outof Roy Brizio's shop in Northern
California and you know whatyou'll find is you'll find all
of these crossovers.
I was in line in front ofwhat's his name?
Eric Hansen, I think it is, andhe had Chip Foose wheels and I
(17:31):
know Chip Foose, yeah, and Ididn't know he made Bonneville
wheels.
He goes.
Well, my shop used to be nextto his shop.
Oh, that's cool so there's allthese little connections.
Allison Volk Dean (17:40):
Yeah, Really cool.
I love hearing the cars thatyou look at and how you look at
them.
It's very, you know it'sinteresting.
Larry Erickson (17:47):
Well, there's a couple that aren't up here, like
the wagon, that big crazyPlymouth wagon, that matte black
thing that's on the shirt.
Allison Volk Dean (17:55):
Yeah, the event shirt.
Yes, it's so cool?
Larry Erickson (17:58):
I mean, that car was never cool, ever.
They made it cool.
Intro (18:02):
It is now.
Larry Erickson (18:04):
But yeah, and you'll see things like you know,
there's a guy up there with a72 Ford I'm trying to remember
the model name that they had butit's two-door coupe.
It's got the oval grill in itbecause in 73 they ruined them,
put big bumpers and I used towork the ford dealership.
I always liked that littlecoupe.
(18:24):
Yeah, torino, torino torino,okay, yeah and uh, and it's
brown and it, he lowered it andyou know, just it upright.
And so all the things they do,all the things they do, you know
, in a lot of ways the guys inthe studio would like to do that
.
Allison Volk Dean (18:41):
That's the one you were talking about.
The rear engine, that was EricHansen.
Okay, sorry, keep going.
Larry Erickson (18:44):
Yeah, but you know, GM used to have a standard
formula in their studio of howyou could cheat the drawing.
So we used to make these fullsign drawings of a car before
you'd start a clay model.
They wanted to make sure theywere making the right decision.
But what they would do is theywould lower it a little bit and
they'd stretch the axles out alittle bit, and so all that
(19:05):
thing falls in line with whatpeople do with Bonneville cars
so you'll see some mini pickupout here, and and it'll
just—there was a little likegold-colored one yeah yeah, oh,
it's beautiful, yeah, and thenpeople will put the work into
them.
You know, not everybody builds a.
You know, grand National level.
Pomona Grand National level car.
(19:26):
But there's some serious workout here, tight fit, you know
just great craftsmanship.
Allison Volk Dean (19:31):
Yeah, and speaking of the Grand National,
I, you're a judge.
With it there's a whole bunchof them up there.
Larry Erickson (19:38):
There's some other ex-Bonneville people on
that judging group.
Allison Volk Dean (19:41):
Cool though.
Larry Erickson (19:43):
But yeah, there's a group of us that
basically judge the AMBR AwardAmerica's Most Beautiful Roots
and I won't give out any namesbecause we'll probably receive
the threats but it's supposed tobe a secret who the judges are.
No, I think it's just thatthey'd just rather like get on
with their job and you know notget any emails about why their
(20:07):
roadster should be.
I don't think their pictureshave been put in a paper though
to tell you the truth, yeah.
But no, it's, it's a huge honorto be in with that group, you
know, and a lot of buildingexperience there.
You know, no-transcript, you gothrough those cars and a lot of
that is craftsmanship but a lotof it is a subjective decision
(20:30):
on how things go together.
You know, and some of them justhit you like a brick and some
of them are just spread all overthe place and you go well, what
were you really trying?
But no, it's incredible efforts, people to go to win that award
.
Allison Volk Dean (20:42):
Yeah Well, and I just like to hear the
breakdown of how you look at it,because I just look at it whole
car they'll stand backliterally and they look at the
(21:10):
proportions in the set of thecar and the gesture of the car.
Larry Erickson (21:14):
And other people will go up and they'll look at
some little part of the car youknow, yeah, but generally it's
broken down to things likeproportions.
So that's you know where arethe wheels sitting in the
relationship.
So like drag cars, you know, inthe old gasser days they'd take
that rear axle, move it forwardto get weight transfer and it'd
look goofy as all the get out.
(21:35):
That's where a funny car camefrom.
And then.
So proportion's a big thing,and generally lower and longer
works well, and even though carsare really going higher and
taller right now, you know,they're going.
You know they're getting thicker.
If you look at all those linesthey put through the car that's
to break it up.
It's a little bit like your youknow outfit.
(21:56):
So you know they're trying toshapes.
You look at the way lines turnand one of the ways that you can
tell whether a person at adistance is skinny or not skinny
is not to look at the part ofthe person that's pointed
(22:19):
towards you.
Intro (22:21):
It's to look at the outer profile of them.
Larry Erickson (22:23):
And a car is the same way, so you have cars that
look great from certain anglesand then as soon as they rotate,
they go.
Something's wrong.
So you know a car needs to siton its wheels in a solid way,
you know, like a 50s cars, andthe wheels tend to be tucked in.
And there are some beautifulcars that will break the rules,
an E-Type.
The wheels and tires are wayunderneath it, but the way the
(22:47):
shape of the body is it kind offloats.
Yeah, it just works sointeresting.
So there's no set rule, and ifyou look at auto companies,
they've spent billions ofdollars trying to come up with a
formula, and AI won't come upwith it either.
No, it'll just copy what's outthere.
Yeah, exactly so you see theseguys, and some of them built
them.
They just simply wanted to gofaster.
(23:08):
Yeah, and the aerodynamics arereally pushing things around.
Allison Volk Dean (23:11):
Yeah, and that's.
Larry Erickson (23:12):
that's the whole purpose of the car.
Generally speaking, lower isbetter.
Allison Volk Dean (23:17):
Well, that's cool and so out of your
experience.
So you OK.
So we talked about some of yourcars, but is there a specific
car like the way it runs, oranother car that you just have
that's not by the way it looks?
I don't know how to say whatanother car that's a favorite of
yours, I guess would be a carin general.
That's a favorite, yeah, likemaybe of the faster ones, Like
(23:39):
what?
What do you look at when you'relooking at them?
Larry Erickson (23:42):
Well, you know, some of the streamliners are
just stripped down to thatsimple shape.
Allison Volk Dean (23:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Larry Erickson (23:48):
And then other ones are more complex.
Yeah, you know, like when webuild surface for a car, there's
simple surfaces.
It's like it's called a dragsurface.
It just goes straight through.
Then you get to things likeSpeed Demon.
That's a very complex surfacebecause it has to do with
pressure differentials and soit's got kind of a little wave
to the side of it you know, andI'm sure an aerodynamicist could
(24:11):
discuss why it's doing that.
Allison Volk Dean (24:14):
You could ask Tom Berkland, there you go, he
would know exactly, you knowthat is a beautiful car.
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (24:21):
It looks more like because it doesn't have a
relationship to its wheels.
They're not visible.
I think it's more of abeautiful shape.
Allison Volk Dean (24:29):
Yeah.
Larry Erickson (24:29):
And when I go to you know beautiful cars, you
know I mean Cessol Streamlinerwhen it was originally built,
and I forget who was the firstowner on that one, but that was
a front engine one.
That was a nice little car, youknow just had this little
tucked back canopy, but it hadopen wheels, you know, yeah, so
you tend to like something inevery category.
Allison Volk Dean (24:50):
Yeah, it's very interesting the mini
pickups this year there's acouple of them that are looking
pretty cool they were, and theydid good too.
Larry Erickson (24:57):
I saw them in impound a lot and then there's a
little Scirocco, a little whiteone that's with the Hudson Boys
, or no, it's not a Scirocco, itmight be a Scirocco, it's a
Volkswagen two-door coupe justcleaned up and dropped down, Not
a lot of add-on stuff and andjust pulled out nine inches over
subtle things and I used to dochopper bodies for this crazy
(25:33):
guy in Santa Barbara for aboutnine months, and so we looked at
a lot of motorcycles and Istill like looking at them.
One of the guys I used to workwith runs Harley-Davidson's
group, Brad Richards, and I knowhe's run a bike here before and
Brad's just a real hot rod guy.
He just knows you know it'slike you give him any car and
he'll fix it.
Allison Volk Dean (25:53):
Yeah Cool, yeah Cool.
So what are your guys' planswith your car for next year?
You got you kind ofaccomplished some things this
year and or I don't know ifyou're coming back in September
or October.
Larry Erickson (26:04):
Well, probably not September, end of October.
I've got some other commitments, but definitely next year we're
kind of on the line.
We sort of what we wanted to dothis year is find out how much
horsepower went to go about 210.
And we thought we had enough.
But you know, we had a problemwith the water tank and that's,
(26:25):
you know, something we've got tofix.
So we bowed out but we gotabout 591 a horse.
If the car's slick 591, youknow, john, I'll get his name.
It's a maroon car.
He held the C record for awhile.
Anyway, a couple people Jerry'slooked at at it and he said,
(26:46):
yeah, I might get to two, youknow, with that little of
horsepower, cause some of theseguys are running like eight,
nine or a horse.
Allison Volk Dean (26:53):
Yeah, and what is the engine size?
Larry Erickson (26:55):
Small block Chevy but it's a old school so
it's a, you know, original Chevy.
It's a world products with aset of AFR heads on it.
It's got a good torque curve soit should pull the gear.
It's pretty flat going out.
Allison Volk Dean (27:08):
Is it?
Larry Erickson (27:08):
C-class.
Intro (27:10):
It's.
Larry Erickson (27:10):
C-class because of the displacement.
But we actually have two motorsunder construction.
One is the sponsor of the car,american Speed.
He's got a Buick V6, and we'relike a bunch of ex-GM guys.
So we like the old GM motors.
So this is a stage two Buickwhich guys have run out here
(27:30):
before.
It's like a race motor with acouple cylinders cut off.
So we got that and we thinkthat can go 600 horsepower and
then we're thinking of buildinga DAIR car because we love
302Z28 motors, and so it'sreally to find a speed that you
can run and be competitive.
(27:51):
You know the guys driving.
Yeah, they got a Jones for ahat, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (27:56):
Oh, yeah, they want that right now.
Well, those roadster classesare hard, they're not easy.
Larry Erickson (28:02):
Well, that's what's great, and that's one of
the ones that started it in thevery beginning you know, I love
the.
You know I was talking to GregSharp used to be the historian
at the NHRA Museum.
He's just a great wealth ofknowledge.
And I said, greg, I want tolike gather all these pictures
of roadsters over the years andsee how they evolved, you know.
(28:23):
And I said, could you send mesome?
He goes, how many do you want?
And yeah, so many cars run outhere in a roadster class.
Allison Volk Dean (28:33):
It's just a great place to run, even though
it's a hard place to run.
Yeah, yeah, well, that's cool,that's exciting what you guys
are going to do, and it soundslike you are.
You're hat hunting a little bit.
Larry Erickson (28:41):
Yeah, and hunting is a key word, not
capturing, no, I think you know.
One of the things that tippedthis over was the picture of the
Sad Teague and Bentley down inthe Mexican desert, and they're
sitting around the back of thecar and it's the end of the day
(29:02):
you know, and they're out in arunoff area, hopefully someplace
safe.
Allison Volk Dean (29:05):
Anyway, probably not, and it was.
Larry Erickson (29:07):
I think it was a Tom Senter article and it was
just about the comeback of thecar after it had been damaged a
year before, I think, anaccident, and it was just that
mojo of something that's sotimeless.
It's like you want to win inroadster class.
Just go take your head and beatit against a tree.
(29:29):
You know it is that muchcompetition and there are people
with more motor and and moreexperience, and so you're always
going to be behind.
Allison Volk Dean (29:37):
But just to run with those guys, it'd be
great yeah, well, and you neverknow, like you never know, until
you're out there doing it untilyou know yeah, well, and then
you were telling me that youhave some posters that you've
designed that are at Carmen'sBlack and White, to go look at.
I'd like to go look at them,now that I know, yeah.
Larry Erickson (29:56):
When I was in school and Monty said that to me
, monty Wolf and he said, yeah,send us something.
The first one I did wasatrocious, it's like the worst
poster on the wall.
Then I got better and betterand my favorite one was I think
it's the 37th or the 38th, butI've got like a front.
(30:17):
Like you're looking down thelineup, I had Al Teague's early
car when he had the rear motorhe hadn't gone to the enclosure
yet, I think, but the frontwheels were underneath and so
his streamliner.
And then a guy out of MichiganMattson, I think was his name
who was running a Vincent, andjust the way it ended up.
(30:40):
And out here you got thisincredible perspective.
Everything's on perspectivehere, you know, even the
mountains.
So but yeah, it was fun doingthose posters and you know, and
you look back on that stuff andat the time you're you're just
trying to get them done at thelast minute.
Allison Volk Dean (30:57):
I think I drove.
Larry Erickson (30:58):
Monty nuts for a couple of years, and you know,
just to been a little part ofsomething.
Allison Volk Dean (31:04):
Yeah, what years were they that you did?
Larry Erickson (31:06):
Mostly, I think, 83 through about 87 or 88.
Allison Volk Dean (31:10):
Yeah, now we know what to look for.
Larry Erickson (31:11):
Yeah, and then I did a couple of later ones.
I did one just recently of the911 car and without having run I
got it, leaving the line andthe parachute removed before a
flight flag is still on it.
Allison Volk Dean (31:29):
Oh no, I got some shit over that which I
deserved.
Larry Erickson (31:35):
But no, you know , yeah, really cool and then I
worked with Greg on the otherone.
I did the 40th anniversary one,88, and it had all the little
cars in it.
Allison Volk Dean (31:46):
Yeah, really cool, that's really neat, lots
of fun.
Yeah, that is fun.
Anything else that you want toadd I don't want to take the BNI
to SCTA.
Larry Erickson (31:54):
But you know, hopefully they're.
You know it was a rough weekbut you know everything we got
was worth the haul.
Allison Volk Dean (32:04):
Yeah, it was worth staying.
Larry Erickson (32:05):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (32:06):
Go home and rest.
S-e-t-a-b-n-i.
Larry Erickson (32:08):
You leave it with memories, that's for sure.
Allison Volk Dean (32:10):
Yeah Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate you taking thetime to do this.
Thank you, thank you All right.
Intro (32:16):
Thanks for listening to Land Speed Legends.
Make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss any future episodes.
In the meantime, keep up withthe show on Facebook and
Instagram under LandspeedLegends.
Until next time.
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