Dom Romney is an internationally award winning automotive and motor sport photographer working out of London, England. At only seventeen Dom started as work as a press photographer before decided to set up his own business – Dom Romney Photography was born in the spring of 2010, and has grown quickly in to a brand with clients across the globe.
Working solely with editorial and commercial clients, Dom’s high contrast vibrant work has already won him numerous awards and recognition from his peers. Along with his success as a photographer, Dom also provides lectures at the world renowned Citylit centre in london, teaching on a mix of techniques and technologies.
Dom writes “I got the call from Fast Car magazine to shoot this awesome aircooled for their wild card section, however to do justice to its American barn-find heritage, it needed to be shot in barn! Typical English barns are normally of concrete and corrugated steel construction, a far cry from the traditional timber barns you get in the States and hardly a nice photographic backdrop. After locating a plausible wooden barn in middle england (a task that was harder than you’d expect) we set about shooting it. To add to the vintage, weathered feel and to give the image the same feel as that satin, suede patina, we processed the images with some warm muted textures which I think really make the feature. Here is a small selection of my favourite images from the shoot.”
You can view more of Dom’s photography at domromney.com
What went on in history this week in the world automobiles?
Frank Duryea drove the first car he built back in 1893 and just two years later almost to the day Duyrea Motor Co. Incorporated in 1895.
What was Frank driving?
a one-cylinder “Phaeton”
One year later in March 1896, Charles and Frank Duryea offered for sale the first commercial automobile, the Duryea motor wagon. Two months later, New York City motorist Henry Wells hit a bicyclist with his new Duryea. The rider suffered a broken leg, Wells spent a night in jail and the nation’s first traffic accident was recorded.
Frank went on to win the first car race. A 54 mile event with the winner earning $2000.00.
The racing version!!!
The Duryea brother’s car evolved much like the rest of the cars of the era.
1905 Duryea Tourer
and
The 1913 Model C
Sept 4 was a big day for Ford.
First the founder Henry Ford was born in 1917 and 40 years later (1957) the Edsel when on sale.
Richard Cleer stumbled onto the 1946 Ford coupe his uncle built in the 1950s while searching for a flathead engine. He had to trade this tractor to bring the Ford back in the family.
By Angelo Van Bogart
Richard Cleer of Ipava, Ill., considers himself a Ford man and an International Harvester man, and he probably never thought he would have to betray his allegiance for one to get the other. However, that was the price Cleer had to pay when he retrieved a family heirloom earlier this year.
When Cleer found the 1946 Ford five-passenger coupe his uncle had hot-rodded in the 1950s just 25 miles from his home, he was actually following a lead to a 1939 flathead engine for another car.
“A guy said he had a 1939 Mercury flathead in the weeds,” said Cleer. “The engine in the weeds wasn’t right, so he said, ‘Maybe I have one in the barn.’”
The barn Cleer was taken to last fall was so overgrown with vines, trees and tall grass, it would have taken Indiana Jones to find it. When the owner cracked open the weathered red barn doors, Cleer saw the unmistakable shape of 1940s American iron.
Had he not been led to this overgrown barn, Cleer had little hope of ever stumbling onto the Ford his uncle built. Note the postwar Chrysler lurking in the barn; it was parked in front of the Ford.
“When he opened it up, I said, ‘That looks like my uncle’s old 1946 Ford,’” Cleer said. But he was mistaken. The car at the front of the barn was a 1946-’48 Chrysler. His uncle’s 1946 Ford was actually parked behind the Chrysler.
Cleer asked where the seller had bought the Ford coupe, and the man repeated the name of Cleer’s uncle. It had been parked since the early 1960s, not long after Cleer’s uncle sold it to the man. Cleer was able to further verify it was his uncle’s car, because all of the tell-tale modifications he remembered from his uncle’s Ford were still present. Blue paint still covered the Ford’s body, the push buttons were still in place to open the doors and the hood and deck lid had been de-chromed just the way Cleer remembered his uncle’s car.
Since the doors opened electrically and the long-parked Ford’s battery was dead, Cleer couldn’t determine whether the knob his uncle installed to open the deck lid from behind the seat was still there. Undeterred, he crawled in the side windows for a better look inside. Sure enough, that old knob was right where it should have been.
Despite Cleer’s excitement, he was told the Ford wasn’t for sale. Two months later, Cleer had worn down the Ford’s owner, although the Ford still wasn’t exactly for sale.
“He said, ‘If you want that car, you have to trade me for a John Deere tractor,’” Cleer said. “Well, I’m an International-Harvester man — I worked for International Harvester.”
Despite his allegiance, Cleer began searching for a John Deere tractor of the same value as the Ford, and one that would also satisfy the seller, to complete the trade.
“It took until May or June to find a tractor, because I didn’t want to get one he didn’t want and be stuck with it,” Cleer said.
Eventually, a John Deere was located at a dealership in Missouri, so Cleer called the Ford’s owner and asked him to call the dealership to make sure the tractor met his approval.
“He had the dealer run it for a half-hour, and he said it would be fine,” Cleer said.
After Cleer purchased the John Deere, the next challenge was retrieving the Ford from its approximately 50 years of storage. Although the brakes weren’t stuck, the Ford had been parked on a sandy floor, which helped preserve the sheet metal, but also caused the car to sink into the ground.
“It took four people five hours to get it loaded on the trailer,” Cleer said. “It had two flat tires, so we loaded it with used tires.”
After five hours of work, Cleer was finally able to retrieve the Ford from hiding. It was in remarkably good condition and exactly how his uncle had built it.
Once it was in the daylight, he finally had a good idea whether all of his efforts had been worthwhile.
“When I looked at it the first time, I didn’t have a flashlight and I didn’t know what it looked like,” he said. “It’s in really good shape — it’s really unbelievable. There’s just a little rust in the driver’s floor.
“It still has the same paint, and the interior my aunt put in it,” he added. “It looks like the seats and door panels are drape material.”
The Ford is still powered by the 1950 Mercury flathead with a 4-inch stroke that Cleer’s uncle installed with high-compression Edelbrock heads and dual 94 carburetors on an Edmunds intake. Cleer has already begun rebuilding the setup to make the Ford roadworthy again.
The 1950 Mercury flathead in the Ford still has its Edelbrock heads and Edmunds intake.
“I’m going to leave it that way,” Cleer said. “I had to pull the heads because it wouldn’t turn. I do all my own engine work but the machine work, and the machinist said [the engine] is in pretty good shape and the heads have never been ground.”
“It’s a good hot rod,” Cleer said, and one worth temporarily forsaking one tractor allegiance for another, even if the John Deere had the last jab.
“We had to use the tractor I traded to pull the cars out of the barn, and after we got the car loaded, I had to load the tractor and deliver it to his farm.”
This another post where we are amused by the content of the write-up and this time the pics as well. At the bottom check out the very cool dash.
Here is an excerpt from the write-up:
“”Car stopped running due to a split in the intake. I could not find a replacement part, but have not looked in 6 years. I talked to a machine shop about fabricating the part, but just never followed through. At the time, this was the *only* thing mechanically wrong with the vehicle, although this was over 6 years ago.
Please excuse my dog and my thumb in the pictures. Dog and thumb not included.””
Thumb
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Dog
Thumb again.
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Ok, joking aside. I love this dash. Love the way the gauge clusters are separated and the AC unit in the center sitting on a shelf.
Is this a 360? I feel an engine spec article coming on.
Artlessly spliced together in Brundelian fashion for some unfathomable purpose: an Olds Alero nose, an ’62 International pickup cab, and a Grand Am rear. The result resembles a FWD GM with some kind of terrible goiter. It’s one thing to build a tasteless and terrible pickup conversion, but what are you supposed say when the builder used the wrong part of the pickup? Strangest of all, the seller is asking for, and seems to believe that he will get, $3000 for this abomination because he has “probly twice as much invested.” I suspect that someone is about to learn a hard life lesson. See the ad on Craigslist, via Hooniverse.
for sale 1962 international truckcar, has every optional that a car could have ,has frontwheel drive driveline disk brakes all around , has air bags that are in working order has oldsmobile dash with tilt cruise , power seats , air -did work but i low of freon due from setting -can drive it anywhere, every light works as well as new cab lights allready has grandam door handles installed and work great, has alloy wheels and this truck has a good title which is titled as a international, has a grand am rear with the original duel exhaust, car is fuel injected and there are no check engine lights on?everthing is in working order but the aircondition is low of freon call if interested to much to list lots of time put in this car , have to many other projects to ,do so call 606 456 xxxx -no emails please -price is firm -have probly twice as much invested .-this vehicle will be sold where is as is…thanks
I love combing through ads for selling cars. Every now and then you read some really good ones.
Here is a guy selling is 1963 Catalina.
This vehicle was a daily driver until the late 80’s. It was then parked in hopes of restoring it as a show car…The clock is accurate twice a day but the “accessory plug” aka cigarette lighter functions so you can plug your cell phone in and keep track of the other 22 hours in the day….. There is damage to the front right fender and the back left door. Both occurred in parking lots as a result of an individual unable to see the land yacht parked in front of them.
