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Cris DaBica
USA
48 Posts |
 Posted - 07/05/2019 : 16:16:50
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Samuel Chew belonged to the Automobile Racing Club of America and participated in a couple events during his time with the club, including a 7th place finish in the 1937 Roosevelt Raceway Coupe Sport race.
Chew was from a Philadelphia Main Line family and it's believed his car may have stayed in that area for a time after the war. While researching the history of an NA we own (which also spent years in Philadelphia,) I was able to get in touch with Chew's son some time last year. He gave me this photograph of his dad in Havana, Cuba in 1937. From what he knew of the picture, his dad was there for a race of some sort.
Try as I might, I can't find much on any 1930s race activity in Cuba. Would anyone know any more details about this interesting (and somewhat distinct) car, including its chassis number, whereabouts, or the like?
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George Eagle
United Kingdom
3228 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2019 : 17:00:51
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What a lovely picture, I like the alteration to the bonnet side to aid cooling.
It would be great if the car could be traced via the number plate. I am not aware of a list of chassis numbers for any N types exported to the USA.
George
Registrar. F/L/N types |
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JCB
United Kingdom
384 Posts |
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LewPalmer
USA
3208 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2019 : 21:15:42
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Chris, is the NB pictured a car that you and your dad currently own. I was able to enhance the photo and am 90% certain that the license plate is Pennsylvania with the number VS/17. It is the old style plate with the shape of the state of Pennsylvania in the background.
Lew Palmer
PA1169, PB0560 |
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Cris DaBica
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2019 : 23:12:00
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Lew, no. We were chasing a lead down and this is where it ended, as a lost NB; ours is an NA. It's great to see a photo of the car, all the same, as some of the available ARCA documentation was ambiguous as to whether Chew's car was an NA or an NB (we were hoping his car was ours...) And Chew's son was a delight to connect with.
Cris |
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LewPalmer
USA
3208 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2019 : 19:08:08
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Chris, I have dug up some information on the Chew family and their estate (Cliveden) in the later years. As well, I have found a reference to a S. Chew racing an MG Magnette in the Sept. 25th 1937 running at Roosevelt Raceway. I would like to forward it to you, but since you are not a member of the NAMMMR and have not posted your email address in your profile on this forum, I have no way to reach you.
Lew Palmer
PA1169, PB0560 |
Edited by - LewPalmer on 08/05/2019 19:22:24 |
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Mike the M
United Kingdom
481 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2019 : 20:30:38
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S. Chew is recorded in the Reuter book on American Road Racing on page 135 as competing in the 'New London TT' in 1938 as S. Chew MG (disappeared)!
Mike Dalby |
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mgtommm
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2019 : 22:20:52
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Noting the ARCA badge, this would be one of the Collier import NB's -- NA0871? It's definitely a 2 seater.
Where are you, Peter Ross? I note Peter's records show the Chew MG to be an NA so something is amiss somplace....
Chris, can you explain Philadelphia Main Line family?
tommm in warm & sunny Ohio |
Edited by - mgtommm on 08/05/2019 22:33:19 |
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LewPalmer
USA
3208 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2019 : 23:59:09
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The Reuter book also notes it ran in the 1937 Roosevelt Raceway Coupe Sport race, as Chris noted, but the book doesn't list the finishing result.
The Main Line proper is a line of communities extending northwest from the City of Philadelphia. From Philadelphia, the stations on what is now referred to as the Paoli/Thorndale (formerly "R5") Line are: Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford and Bryn Mawr, which inspired the mnemonic "Old Maids Never Wed And Have Babies". The Main Line now encompasses many communities past Bryn Mawr including the Upper Main Line communities of Rosemont, Villanova, Radnor, St. Davids, Wayne, Strafford, Devon, Berwyn, Daylesford, Paoli, and Malvern.
Lew Palmer
PA1169, PB0560 |
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Cris DaBica
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2019 : 01:15:14
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Lew, thanks for the offer; I have all the published info on Chew's time with the ARCA. (My dad forced the Reuter book on me at an early age, I corresponded and met with Joel Finn quite a bit, and I have a fair amount of George Rand's ARCA archive in my possession.) I know Peter's presentation on MMM in the ARCA had a note about the car possibly being an NA, but I think that was probably down to the lack of definition about the car in his source material (Finn's transcription of the 1937 Roosevelt race simply notes it as an "N Magnette" and that he came in 7th overall. I can check my files and see if there's anything in there...
Chew's son (also named Sam,) was great to talk to, and is very much a car enthusiast himself. Expanding on Lew's "Main Line" definition, they are effectively "old money" Philadelphians.
Cris |
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Oz34
United Kingdom
2494 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2019 : 12:07:42
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No one has mentioned that all Ns whether NA or NB had an NA chassis number. Could this not have caused confusion?
Dave |
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Cris DaBica
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2019 : 14:48:52
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Dave, hi. It may have, but I don't know if Joel Finn had the chassis numbers for the N cars; he led me to believe he either didn't, or didn't want to publish them (via his book) if he did.
Cris
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Cris DaBica
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 22/08/2022 : 01:18:26
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Apologies for not following up on this sooner. Last October at the VSCCA Castle Hill Hill Climb (photos link to photos at the end of this post,) my father was talking to one of his friends who he's known since he was a teenager, Jerry Letierri. Jerry had his supercharged N-Type on static display at the event. My dad told him about my search for info about the Chew car, and described the odd hood sides. Jerry said when he bought his car (at auction years ago,) it came with a spare set of hood sides that matched the description my father told him. When he forwarded a picture of them, it was obvious the cars were one and the same.
The Chew ARCA car is NA0878 and is an NB and went on to have a post-war racing career on the West Coast of the USA. Some information about it can be found here: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19680/lot/351/?category=list Obviously, the "Benjamin Franklin" note in it is incorrect.
Castle Hill photos (no photos of NA in this album...) are here: https://flickr.com/photos/133762659@N07/albums/72157720035404419
Cris |
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Digby
United Kingdom
125 Posts |
Posted - 29/08/2022 : 07:04:35
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| Hello Cris, Lovely photo and interesting topic. Could you contact me direct as I would like to feature some information on Triple-M cars in Cuba in the U.K. Triple-M Bulletin that I edit. Digby Gibbs |
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mgtommm
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - 29/08/2022 : 22:51:07
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Interestingly, those original swept front wings from NA0878 eventually ended up on my duo-blue NA0870, many decades later. Mike Jacobsen told me the pair had been in the family garage attic for many, many years - since the day his dad removed them, and when they arrived from California (to Ohio) I was dumfounded at the overall condition. Very nice original green paint and absolutely zero rust or dents. They were literally like new.
Mike also told me the story about his father finding the car (heard about it from a fellow racing friend in CA) and flat trailering it back to California from PA. Today, with modern interstates (motorways), that's a 40 hour drive and about 2,700 miles. Who knows how long it would have taken back then, pre-interstates. Both directions would have taken two long weeks.
I think the license plate is 1938 PENNA.
Pic below shows same front wings reincarnated to my NB (NA0870), just 8 cars earlier.
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Edited by - mgtommm on 29/08/2022 23:04:06 |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
5987 Posts |
Posted - 30/08/2022 : 03:00:54
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That’s the Jerry Keuper car, Tommm?
Simon J
J3437 |
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Topic |
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ARCA NB in Havana, Cuba, 1937
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