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I'm building a 1920's style dirt track/street race jalopy. This car looks very similar to what you see on old oil cans. I wanna do the paint scheme in Gilmore with some cool graphics like the old Gilmore Red Lion airplane had. Where to begin? I don't just want to throw some gas pump decals on it and be done. I want it to look right. Like the pumps I restore, I'm very picky about color, quality and detail. I guess I should go to the antique mall and start looking for old magazines with Gilmore racers to get some ideas? Thanks, Goob

Mike Slama Decals

Okidoke, thanks Dick. Sent you an e-mail the other day? I'll keep an eye out for stationlighters. Goob

9/26/12 Crashed my emails, AGAIN!

The Internet. Search GILMORE RACE CAR on Google and there you will find pics of Gilmore race cars.



Are you talking about the Indy 500 style cars? Not sure what you mean by "jalopy" as it has different meanings with people nowadays. In the '30s, the term was used for cars in races involving older, broken down cars, as well as races with the modified coupes/sedans and roadsters. Today, people use it to often for me to know exactly what type of car you mean.

From the '30s "jalopy" cars I've seen and have photos of, if one had any Gilmore livery, it was a decal of the Lion Head or one of the "leaping" lions they used for Red Lion Gas. They usually didn't put much effort into the appearance of these cars. They were often "run what ya brung" races.

Gilmore didn't sponsor any race cars in the '20s, so you won't find any examples from that period.

Below are two types of '30s race cars... 1st pic below is the only one I found of a Gilmore "jalopy" car that had a paint scheme/graphics. The 2nd pic is what they would call a "big car" or "champ" car. This is what I was referring to as Indy 500 style. In the later 30s-40s, they started calling them sprint cars and open wheel.

A couple of images from the net; both from the 30s:

Goob,

You wrote:

"I wanna do the paint scheme in Gilmore with some cool graphics like the old Gilmore Red Lion airplane had".

I sure would like to see the photo of that airplane you mention above. Does it have this LION?

Hey everbody! Thank you so much for these pictures because I'm really getting some great ideas as to how I'm going to approach this paint scheme project. If you'd like to see an example of the Gilmore airplane just google Wedell Williams and his flight story of the 1920's and pictures/stories will pop up. My car will look similar to an Indy 500 sprint car (like the No. 5 Gilmore racer above but mine is a 2 seater) my body is a little wider. My frame is finished now with spoked rims and tires on it. My new wife won't know about this car until she has to bail me out of jail, its well hidden! Thanks again! Goob

Here is a photo of a documented real racer I took at Sears Point, Ca 2010.

Awesome photo!

I don't think I've seen that one before. Do you remember what they claimed it was "documented" to be? Did they claim it to be a former Gilmore car?

Not to nit-pick it, but it's a shame they put a $10 decal on it, when they likely spent near six figures to build it.

Just to clarify and give a bit of history... Wedell-Williams is two different people- Jimmy Wedell and Harry Williams. Neither ever flew/raced for the Gilmore Co. Their company built a racing plane, in 1932, for aviator Roscoe Turner and the Gilmore Co. That's the plane your talking about. Red Lion gasoline was introduced in the Summer of 1932. It wasn't around in the '20s.

To my knowledge, the Gilmore Co. wasn't involved with any type of racing in the 1920s nor did they sponsor much of anything, other than supply oil/gas for a few endurance runs. The first aircraft they sponsored was in early 1930- a Lockheed Air Express for Roscoe Turner. Turner persuaded Earl Gilmore to buy him the plane. To ensure Gilmore's support would last, Turner adopted a lion cub and named it Gilmore. The plane, and lion cub, made its debut flight in April, 1930. The first sponsored race car appeared later in the year in Nov.- the #35 Gilmore Lion that was owned by racing legend Peter DePaolo.

Here's a pic of Turner and the two planes (Lockheed on the left, WW on the right)...

Another view...