OLD YELLER II

The History of Max and Ina Balchowsky and Old Yeller II

Max Ernest Balchowsky was born in Fairmont West Virginia January 15, 1924. The first job for Max at 12 years old was to lace spoked rims at a bicycle Shop where he was intrigued with everything mechanical. Max was a Military B-24 '"belly gunner" in WWII and he was once slightly injured (bailed out in friendly territory) during the European campaign. He was re-assigned to the Orient and he participated in the Burma Campaign. Following WWII, Max headed west with the encouragement of his older brother Casper who had a Filling Station and transmission repair shop in Southgate California. With the GI Bill in hand, he would take night school courses in watch repair in Glendale.

Max worked as a dishwasher at Algemac's Coffee Shop for 75 cents an hour. Hot Rodders and bikers would frequent Algemac's. Glendale was a 'hot bed' for some of the greatest 'speed merchants' of the day. Many legendary names came out of Glendale like Ed Winfield (who would influence Max tremendously), Kong Jackson, Barney Navarro, along with well-known car clubs like the "Sidewinders" and "Comets".

Max decided to work with Casper and they became a "hot" street racing duo. Driving past a local High School in a Roadster, Max noticed a beautiful young girl named Ina Wilson. Ina's father had an auto repair shop nearby. Ina left High School, and Max and Ina married in 1949. In the same year they opened the soon to be legendary Hollywood Motors (4905 Hollywood Blvd.) Hollywood.

Starting in 1951, Ina and Max became active in Sports Car racing, with Bill Harrah"s Jaguar XK 120 at the Road Races in Reno. This first "modified" road racer was the Summer's 32" channeled Ford named the Bu-Ford Special which raced in California Sports Car races including the Pebble Beach Road Races. Ina had a special name for the Bu-Ford Special. She called it the "Whistling Willy" due to the sound the wind would make passing across the front of the roadster. The 600 lb. 322 cubic inches 1954 Buick motor would effortlessly produce 310 asphalt ripping horsepower on 91-octane gasoline.

Max was known as the "master" of engine "transplants", which were very popular with Hot Rodders. Max would routinely replace any motor with a Cadillac or Buick motor. One of the original letterheads of Hollywood Motors had the slogan "We can replace anything with anything". There were several Hot Rod magazines that ran feature stories about Max on the "swapping of motors" as a routine job order at Hollywood Motors.

Next came the Swallow Doretti from England. The Doretti was a limited edition Sports Car that was based on the Triumph TR-2. Max quickly replaced the engine with a Buick motor. The Swallow Doretti Sports Car (1954-55- 273 built in U.K.) was built by the Swallow Coach-building of Walsall in England. The car used a tubular frame with aluminum panels. Max modified several Dorettis for Road Racing with the swapping of the stock Triumph 1991cc Pushrod "four" with the mighty Buick engine and linking it with a Jaguar transmission. Max struggled with the difficult steering during racing and the short wheelbase. The sometimes name of the Doretti Racer with the Buick was the "Buretti" Special. Dick Morgensen raced his specially designed road racing race-car named the "Morgensen Special". The Morgensen Special was welded by Boyd Hough and Dick as they used 2 chrome-moly tubing in a truss ladder type frame. The car had surplus aircraft joints, 1940 Ford steering, scooter wind screen, Buick–Lincoln brakes, Ford spindles and rear axle, DeSoto six engine (later Plymouth engine) and other "bits". Max took over the crashed car from his friend Dick Morgensen and Max stated that he changed or modified everything except the steering wheel and seat on the Morgensen Special. In an effort to correct the heavy body with a small motor, Max changed the motor to the mighty Buick and cobbled up some aluminum panels (common Hot Rod trick) for lightness. Eric Hauser was the odd partner who would race the Morgensen Special and he would share the driving chores with Max. The critical learning curve included an experimental brake system using basic domestic brakes with Fren-do lining, new effective geometry changes in the steering, with extensive work on eliminating problems such as "axle hop" and effective handling motor development.

Max developed a "log" type manifold that was copied by the Weiand Company (manifold specialists). The Jaguar XK 120 gearbox was matched with selected rear end gear ratios and made effective use of the brutal Buick power plant.