{"id":490963,"date":"2009-10-01T15:00:11","date_gmt":"2009-10-01T15:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=44968"},"modified":"2024-10-29T16:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T16:00:03","slug":"tom-bamford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/tom-bamford\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Bamford"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My father, Tom Bamford, first got involved in motor sport in his late teens when he bought an Ariel motorcycle in the late \u201930s that he had to keep down the street at a gas station because my grandparents didn\u2019t want him to own it. One day he was following along behind a \u201cHare &amp; Hound\u201d race. This is a form of motorcycle racing where one motorcycle, the \u201chare\u201d would take off down an open trail. A few minutes later all the other racers or \u201chounds\u201d would take off to try to catch him. This particular day the hounds missed a turn and went in the wrong direction. Young Tom was far enough back so that when the dust cleared, he was able to see what happened. He took off after the hare and earned his first trophy! We have a picture of him sitting on that motorcycle with a big smirk on his face, just wearing a sweater, no helmet or goggles, holding the trophy.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_682554\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-682554\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-682554\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p1-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p1-71x100.jpg 71w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p1-293x410.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-682554\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Bamford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I recently came across an album with photos of four or five different Ariels he apparently owned. He liked the Red Hunter singles and Square Fours. He rode motorcycles on the local dry lakes with guys like Ernie McAfee, Phil Hill, and others who would get together out there on Sundays. I have a picture of him on a Square Four on El Mirage dry lake (now part of Edwards Air Force Base, where the space shuttle lands when it\u2019s in town). There\u2019s also a great one of him flat-out on an Ariel single going across the beach, right at the waterline like something you\u2019d see at Daytona, only it\u2019s in Malibu.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">His transition from two wheels to four probably started when he went to work for Gough Industries, the MG distributor, or International Motors, with people like Phil Hill and Ken Miles back when the MGs were first coming over from England. It\u2019s hard to say exactly when, except that some of the people with whom he raced Speedway motorcycles also got into sports car racing about the same time. Of course, you could race motorcycles professionally and be paid for it, but at the time you could not do that in sports cars, due to the sanctioning club rules. There were, however, wealthy sports car owners, who wanted to hire drivers and did; they just had to do it on the sly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">About this time, he met up with movie actor Keenan Wynn, probably while out riding motorcycles. They became good friends and decided it would be a good idea to open a sports car and motorcycle repair shop across the street from the Warner Brothers studio gate. They named their shop British American Motors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I would imagine it was at the time of British American Motors in the early 1950s that my dad started racing cars. I\u2019m not sure what cars he raced before the ex-Tommy Lee Alfa. [Featured on pg. 34]<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_682553\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-682553\" style=\"width: 972px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-682553\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"972\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3.jpg 972w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3-270x300.jpg 270w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3-922x1024.jpg 922w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3-90x100.jpg 90w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3-770x856.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p3-293x326.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 972px) 100vw, 972px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-682553\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bamford began his motorsport career with motorcycles in the \u201930s.\u00a0Photo: Bamford Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tommy Lee was the son of Don Lee, Los Angeles\u2019s Cadillac dealer, owner of radio stations in the \u201920s and \u201930s with employees like Frank Kurtis and Harley Earl. Don Lee was a very wealthy man who collected the finest European touring and racecars. When Don passed away, Tommy inherited the collection. The Alfa my dad later owned started life as an 8C touring car. The original engine, for some reason, had expired, and the car was sold off. At this time it was re-bodied as a two-place sports car using a Mercury V-8 and current Indianapolis technology. Around this time, the car came into the possession of Keenan Wynn and my father.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After a \u201ccatastrophic failure\u201d with the Mercury flathead in the Alfa with my dad driving in \u201952, he installed one of the \u201cbig\u201d Cadillac engines. At the time the Cad engine was the V-8 of choice and the Cad-Allards were winning everything that year. In \u201953 we bought a house in Woodland Hills with a lot big enough for horses and a quarter midget track for my sister and me! The Alfa had to go. Before he sold the Alfa in \u201953, Dad wanted to go for one last drive, so my sister and I\u2014I would have been 3 at the time and my sister was 9\u2014climbed in and off we went! We were in old Woodland Hills, so a ride around the block was a really long block. It was getting dark, and the car didn\u2019t have a lot of lights, and didn\u2019t have any upholstery either! I\u2019m sure it didn\u2019t have seat belts, but it was fun for the driver and me! I remember sliding sideways a lot. Between the open exhaust and my sister screaming in my ear, it was really loud. That was a memorable moment! I\u2019ve been told the guy who bought it just drove it over to the muffler shop, had mufflers put on it, and took off for Tucson where the Alfa sat in a barn for the next 50 years.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_682551\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-682551\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-682551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"829\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4-1024x786.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4-100x77.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4-770x591.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p4-293x225.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-682551\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bamford shares a ride with actor Keenan Wynn (center bike).\u00a0Photo: Bamford Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After the Alfa, Dad switched to a Cad-Allard. The Allard belonged to a local physician, but this is the car that people most remember Dad racing. In addition to the Allard, he also drove a TR2 a couple of times and a Ferrari that, I believe, belonged to Sterling Edwards. I have a picture of him driving that Ferrari at Hansen Dam.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some time prior to \u201956 he went to work for Ernie McAfee Engineering after he and Keenan Wynn closed British American Motors. When Ernie McAfee left to race at Pebble Beach in 1956, Dad was left in charge. After Ernie\u2019s fatal crash, Bill Doheny, who financed Ernie McAfee Engineering, told my dad he could remain as General Manager, but would have to quit racing because he didn\u2019t want to lose any more friends that way. So, Dad hung up his helmet. It was a really difficult choice for him to make because he loved racing and he wanted to be a paid professional, but he had a new family, he\u2019d lost a lot of friends, and this was a great career opportunity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the 1960s Dad had the opportunity to do stunt driving for the studios, in movies like Grand Prix and the Love Bug. He also drove in a couple of Elvis Presley movies, Spinout and Viva Las Vegas. It was always a group of the same drivers. Carey Loftin, a close friend to Max and Ina Balchowsky, was one of the best stunt coordinators in Hollywood. His specialty was automotive stunts, and he would hire the people he knew and trusted. That\u2019s how my dad got the studio work.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_682550\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-682550\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-682550\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-100x67.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-770x513.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-360x240.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-370x247.jpg 370w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/LS200910-p5-293x195.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-682550\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bamford at the wheel of Sterling Edwards\u2019s Ferrari at Hansen Dam in 1955, where he would go on to finish 2nd.<br \/>Photo: Bamford Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I remember Carroll Shelby coming in with the first Cobra, right after he\u2019d gone to Chevy with it and they turned him down. He was going to pull the Chevy engine out and put a Ford in it. My dad told him, \u201cNah, Ford won\u2019t come up with any money. They (like all of Detroit at that time) didn\u2019t like the carnage that was going on; you\u2019re wasting your time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At that time, all the movie stars, and anybody and everybody drove down that stretch of the Sunset Strip\u2014right by McAfee\u2019s dealership. I\u2019m sure that\u2019s why they picked it as the spot for the shop. Of course, at that time everything was built in L.A. and came out of L.A., so some afternoons my dad would say, \u201cCome on, let\u2019s go for a ride,\u201d and we would go over to Troutman and Barnes or Shelby-American. I saw some great cars back then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My father, Tom Bamford, first got involved in motor sport in his late teens when he bought an Ariel motorcycle in the late \u201930s that he had to keep down the street at a gas station because my grandparents didn\u2019t want him to own it. One day he was following along behind a \u201cHare &amp; Hound\u201d race. This is a form of motorcycle racing where one motorcycle, the \u201chare\u201d would take off down an open trail. A few minutes later [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":682563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,18114],"tags":[65,18435,11346,18107],"class_list":["post-490963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ford","category-people","tag-ford","tag-people","tag-driver-profiles","tag-people-profiles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tom Bamford<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The son of a co-founder of British American Motors considers his dad\u2019s role in L.A.\u2019s early sports car scene.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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