The Lakes. For some people those words might bring up memories of the Green Lakes of Minnesota; or the Great Lakes of Huron, Erie, and Ontario; or the Finger Lakes of New York.
For automobile-oriented people who grew up in the East, as kids, we had lakes plugs on our cars and called our club the Lakesters. Not really associating these things with a place or racing, we just knew it was a cool thing to do, and J. C. Whitney had the goods. It did backfire on us on occasion when improperly installed units fell off at speed and, having wrapped themselves around the rear axle, brought us to a rapid and hair-raising stop. The local police suggested that we had 5 days to get a real exhaust on the car or else!
Meanwhile, on the Left Coast, the real thing was going on at Muroc or El Mirage, making history and producing a certain style of car that is emulated to this day. Harry Craycroft has been going fast and driving cool cars for most of his life. He's had an usual number of roadsters and custom Mercs, and even spent some time on the water hydroplane racing.
During a lull to let his heartbeat slow down after the hot boats, he got wind that Zipper Motors, located in Grand Junction, Colorado, was putting together a lakes modified roadster, and he had to have one. When his club decided to take in a major event in 1998, Zipper Motors was on the way. Darrell Zipp was most gracious and wowed everyone with all the goodies he had in the works, including a partially completed lakes roadster.
Here we are in the next century, and Harry has taken delivery of his '27 Zipper lakes modified just in time to make the Grand National Roadster Show, winning a trophy in the process. Zipp starts out with 2x3-inch tubing for the frame. On the front he hangs a Super Bell dropped axle with a Zipper four-bar, quarter-elliptic springs, and friction shocks. Out back is a Winters Sprint Car quick-change center carrying 4:31/3:91 gears with an exposed independent rear axle. Add quarter-elliptic springs, friction shocks, and four-link radius rods and you have a 103-inch wheelbase. Wildwood discs and twin-master cylinders complete the package along with a Flaming River Vega-style steering gear.
To make this baby fly Zipp slid in a General Motors Performance Parts Ram Jet 350 crate engine and dressed it with modified early-Corvette valve covers. Block hugger headers and stainless exhaust keep everything down to an acceptable roar. Connecting the power to the wheels is a GM 700-R4 tranny with a custom fabbed column shifter and driveshaft. Zipp manufactures his own fiberglass bodies and covered this one with U-Tech Acrylic VW Yellow with silver scallops and lines laid out by Jerry Crim of Grand Junction, Colorado. Made from a combo of aluminum and carbon fiber the hood is matched to the chopped and narrowed '29 A grille shell, behind which rests the AFCO radiator. A Model A Ford gave up its headlights, and the outside mirrors, side aprons, and windshield posts are shop crafted.
The inside of this little rod is unique in that it mixes retro and new, starting with the modified '32 Ford dash outfitted with a carbon fiber insert and Classic Instruments gauges. From there is the Zipper steering column topped off with a Grant wheel that slides on and off via a Speedway Motors disconnect hub. Mike Elliott of Grand Junction, Colorado, handled the stitch work, and he used vinyl leather and tweed for the upholstery. With all this expertise Harry ended up with a right-out-of-the-box award winner, and a great car to hit the road with this season.
Many of us never made it to those great speed-driven affairs of yesteryear, but we can still cheat time with our own lakes modified roadsters. You better hurry though, Craycroft already has a head start on you.