Bungholers of Hollywood

Eugene Von Arx, "Baldy" Bob Baldwin, George Homer and Fred "Tiger" Baymiller with Arnold Birner's 1928 Ford Model A Roadster at Harper Pony Express Station. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

Bill Blystone's Model T. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

A photo of Bob "Baldy" Baldwin in his Model A Roadster. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

Bill Blystone and Richard Grow's Winfield powered Modified at Harper Dry Lake. Bill is looking at the engine, Richard is behind the wheel, Tommy Davis back of him and Bud Hinds is the fellow with the white cap.

Tommy Lamon, Fred "Tiger" Baymiller, and Arnold "The Little General" Birner in front of Arnold Birner's 1928 Ford Model A Roadster. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

George Homer, Arnold Birner, and Eugene Von Arx next to Eugene's Modified Roadster at Arnold's house. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

Alex "Ike" Williams, Bill Jacobi, Fred "Tiger" Baymiller, Gordon "Gordie" Williams, Arnold "The Little General" Birner, John Attan, and Tommy Davis with John Athan's roadster. Athan is sitting in the car. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

Ed Iskenderian's 1924 Ford Model-T Roadster. Ed bought the roadster from his buddy and fellow club member John Athan.

The Eugene Von Arx Special was built by Frank Kurtis.

The 1937 Kurtis Tommy Lee Special. In 1936 Bungholers member Tommy Lee contracted Frank Kurtis to build him the fastest and best looking hot rod in Southern California. The build was completed in 1937.

Arnold Birner's 1928 Ford Model A Roadster.

Arnold Birner's 1928 Ford Model A Roadster at Harper Dry Lake in 1940. Arnold is at the wheel in the photos. Ike Williams is at the fra left, Tommy Davis is at the far right. Photo courtesy of James Donoho.

Bill Blystone and Richard Tregilus' Ford Model A Roadster

A photo of Bill Blystone with his modified at a dry lakes event.

Tommy Davis, Ernie McAfee, Bill Blystone and Jackie Robinson with Tommy Lee's 1940 Cadillac V-16. The photo was taken in November, 1943.

Founding Bungholers member Robert "Swordfish" Larson with his 4 cylinder lakester. Swordfish used to run the lakester with Richard "Feets" Cleveland.

Isky: Ed Iskenderian and the History of Hot Rodding - Check price and availability on Amazon.com.

The Bungholers of Hollywood, California was a Los Angeles-based hot rod club established in 1937.

The Origin of the Name

According to Ed Iskenderian, Bud Hinds is indirectly responsible for the name of the Bungholers club. "Bud lived by the pass through Hollywood. Anybody going to Muroc would have to go that way, so we'd hang around there before going to the races. His dad would say, `You guys are a bunch of a**holes.' Instead of calling themselves the A**holes, they decided to call the club the Bungholers." Bud and his buddies used to hang out at an electrical shop that his family owned.

Julian Doty, who was close friends with the Bungholers had another version of the story that he told Richard Parks; "Bud Hinds' father had a place with a large pepper tree and the garage was called The Pepper Tree Garage. Har Bridges, who made parts for the Indian motorcycle and was an expert machinist, was listening to the younger kids struggle with a name for themselves. They were an irreverent bunch and wanted to call themselves a name for a lower body part that would have caused the SCTA to deny them membership. The SCTA was always trying to act professional and give the public a sense of their maturity and responsibility and the name that these young men were mentioning wouldn't have been acceptable. Har remarked, "why don't all you guys call yourself the Bung holers, because you can't call yourselves (objectionable pejorative)." It suited the young men because Bunghole is the opening for the tap in a beer keg and this suited their sense of humor."

Members

Alexander Frazier Williams aka "Ike"
Arnold Birner aka "Arnie" or "The Little General"
Bill Stroppe
Bob Knudson
Bob Seanor
Boyce Smith aka "Doc"
Bud Hand
Chuck LaMon
David Scully
Donald Rhodes aka "Don"
Donald Weber
Edward Iskenderian aka "Isky"
Esan Thun
Eugene Von Arx aka "Gene" or "Beaky"
Frank Britt
Fred Baymiller aka "Tiger"
George Homer Jr.
George W. Blystone aka Bill Blystone
Gordon Levant Williams aka "Gordie" or "Gordy"
Harold Johansen
Henry Earl
Herb Farrington
James Butler aka "Jim"
James Tucker aka "Jimmy"
Jay Chamberlain
John Athan
John Cambard
Mancusi
Oscar Ampriam
Richard Cleveland aka "Cleve" or "Feet"
Richard Grow aka "Richie"
Richard Stringfield aka "Dick"
Richard T. Hinds aka "Bud"
Robert Larson aka "Swordfish"
Robert Baldwin aka "Baldy" or "Doc"
Robert DeShields
Robert Miller aka "Bob" or "Grumpy"
Robert Setrion
Si Perkins
Thomas Davis aka "Tommy"
Thomas Dowlen aka "Don"
Thomas LaMon aka "Tommy"
Thomas Lee aka "Tommy"
Thomas Robson aka "Tom"
Walt Share
Wayne Story
Willard August Sommerfeld aka "Gus"
William Mors aka "Bill"

Club Cars

Ed Iskenderian's 1924 Ford Model T Roadster
Arnold Birner's 1928 Ford Model A Roadster
Bill Blystone's Modified
Walt Share's 1928 Ford Model A Roadster
Bud Hinds' 1929 Ford Model A Roadster Pick Up
Bill Blystone and Richard Tregilus' Ford Model A Roadster
The Eugene Von Arx Special
Eugene Von Arx's Modified Roadster
The 1937 Kurtis Tommy Lee Special
B&S Garage Lakester