DEL PORTO ROADSTER

BARE WHEELED BEAUTY

images Chris Sutton

Coming from a place where bare wheeled cars can still be driven on the road without fear of prosecution, we’re currently in love with the Del Porto Roadster.

This slick, black beauty was originally designed in 1951 as a racer on the Salt Lakes. In fact it apparently set a record there of 155MPH – and at the drag strip was clocked crossing the top end at a terminal velocity of 118 MPH. It was a star on the rod scene back then, made magazine covers and scored props at top shows too.

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In 2010, having been wrecked in 1953 and sitting in storage for over 50 years, it went through a 3000 hour restoration at Classic Craft Motorsports in Springfield, Ohio.

The car is powered by a 265 cubic inch Flathead V-8 Engine with four Stromberg carbs and there’s a competition 3-speed gearbox that deals with about 220 BHP.

The thing we’re loving the most is the attention to detail about the resto. You can feel the clunk of metal and the smell of leather from these very beautifully rendered images from photographer Chris Sutton.

There’s a real sense of drama and passion encoded in these sorts of machines. They come from a time when mechanical ingenuity was a passionate obsession – an enthusiasm that bled out and infected the world through the aesthetic of rock’n’roll. You won’t find one as clean and beautiful as this anywhere.

Loving it.

[via influx magazine]