In the early 1950s, Fred "Spade" Carillo modified several cars for competition in the SCTA Road Runners Club.

This yellow roadster, built in partnership with Robert Betz, it was the fastest roadster at the SCTA Speed Trails at Bonneville in 1951 with a one-way pass at 178 mph. It was the cover car for Hod Rod Magazine's July '52 edition and its Hot Rod Magazine's featured car for September '13.

It features a handmade tubular frame and a roll bar under the cowl.

Carillo would eventually forge a career designing and manufacturing tubular con-rods in Le Mans-winning Ford GT40s, as well as Jack Brabham's 1966 World Drivers Championship-winning racecar.

Immaculately restored, the car is now owned by Frank Morawski of Bel Air, Maryland.

Fred Carrillo’s Reborn Roadster

Hot Rod Magazine, July 11, 2013
By Thom Taylor, Photography by Wes Allison

This relic from roadsterdom's racing era shouldn't exist today. After running Bonneville in '51 and '52—and appearing on the cover of HOT ROD in July '52—this old racer was relegated to a field behind an Indianapolis race shop, where it slowly rusted in peace. That's where the story should have ended.

Monrovia, California's Fred Carrillo originally built the mid-engine Modified Roadster for Bonneville with his brother-in-law Robert Betz in late 1950. You may recognize the name Carrillo. Carrillo Industries—celebrating its 50th anniversary this year—is known as the connecting-rod company, still one of the largest piston-and-connecting-rod manufacturers in the aftermarket and recognized worldwide for advances in piston and H-beam connecting-rod applications. Like many of today's largest aftermarket companies, Carrillo was founded in the earliest days of hot rodding. Fred is one of the few who still remember hot rodding's early days of sun, sweat, and salt.

In 1950, Carrillo was an ex-GI building his second race car since being discharged from the Air Force, with help from both Betz and the military. Living in the Los Angeles area meant plenty of access to cheap aircraft surplus from the war effort. Carrillo utilized the chrome-moly steel wing-strut tubing from a PBY flying boat to form the basis for the chassis. After crafting an inner body structure from steel conduit, '27 T roadster quarter-panels and doorskins were welded to the structure incorporating a "roll-over bar" in case Carrillo needed a place to duck his head should he get upside down. Roll structures were not so common at the time.

Without a stock T frame's dimensions to restrict him, Carrillo kept the body at stock width in back but narrowed it as it progressed forward, helping to eliminate frontal area and cheat the wind. Terminating the body with a flair as it wedged forward, Carrillo used two '47 Buick rear fenders welded together for a nose. Between the rear quarters, surplus Dzus fasteners attach the aluminum sheet forming the turtle deck, with a formed tonneau cover created ahead of that. Topping it off was an engine cover made from Model A headlight buckets cut in half, forming the ends. An aluminum bellypan that wedges as it aims forward is also attached with Dzus fasteners for quick removal. Simple yet elegant, effective and cheap—the very essence of hot rodding.

Inside, the surplus bonanza continued with a B-17 bomber seat, an aircraft steering yoke, stainless fasteners, and even an aircraft battery, all finding an afterlife as race-car parts. A narrow tube axle was created with early-Ford spindles at the ends, located with an adjustable four-bar setup and more surplus stainless fasteners. The Cragar in-and-out box mates to a narrowed Model A Halibrand quick-change rearend. The 16-inch steel wheels were shod with six-ply Firestone Indy tires.

You could say the T roadster body combined with some type of track nose was the hot rod archetype for the time—dozens appeared on the lakes and Bonneville salt. Virtually half the cars on HOT ROD covers in 1948 were T roadsters with handbuilt noses. What made this one a bit different, though not unprecedented, was the mid-engine location, which Eddie Meyer Jr. pioneered at the lakes in 1940.

A 296ci Mercury flathead was built at Evans Speed Equipment using an Evans three-carb intake mounting Stromberg 97s, Evans high-compression heads, and an Evans dual-point, dual-coil distributor. Carrillo was working for Evans at the time.

At the '51 Bonneville meet, with Carrillo driving, the primered roadster hit 178.16 mph in the C/Modified Roadster class. That was quite a bump from the previous year's record of 162.76 set by Don Waite's roadster. The "funny" body dimensions led to protests by some racers, but nothing ever stuck. After Bonneville, it received its bright-yellow paint and an Evans sponsorship, and was prominently featured in Evans Speed Equipment displays at numerous shows throughout the year.

Immortalizing the finely engineered roadster was its HOT ROD cover and Hot Rod of the Month feature in the July '52 issue. The article included one of Rex Burnett's detailed cutaway drawings helping to show the craftsmanship beneath the skin.

By Bonneville time in 1952, Carrillo was working on a new streamliner he planned to debut in 1953. He sold his roadster to Indianapolis muffler-shop owner Ralph Potter, who was an avid race-car owner. Potter retained Carrillo to drive it. This time, the roadster topped 180 mph, coming in Second behind Waite, who stormed back with a 189-mph record run. As told by Carrillo and confirmed by Alex Xydias, Carrillo pulled off a one-way pass at 190 mph, but all mid-engine modified roadsters experienced extreme aerodynamic forces when approaching 200 mph; basically, they wanted to fly. This bad behavior forced the SCTA to ban cars configured this way until only recently.

By 1952, everybody knew the flathead's dominance was waning, and the Chrysler Hemi was viewed as the next step to record heaven. In 1953, the body and chassis were cut apart to be lengthened and widened for the larger engine. But the rebirth was never completed, as Potter's speed interests began leaning toward the regional sprint and Midget race-car scene. Today, Ralph Jr. is a legendary Midget owner with numerous national championship wins.