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Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Leitenberger Offenhauser Special - 1953




This sleek racing creation, the locally-owned Leitenberger Offenhauser Special, is a candidate for the annual 500-mile race at Indianapolis Memorial Day. It will be the third straight year that a car has been entered by the Leitenberger Machine Company of Hornerstown. George Fonder, who piloted the local car last year, sits behind the wheel of the rebuilt machine. He again has been named as driver. Standing behind the speed wagon are (left to right) Harry Kinsey of Johnstown and Charles Alfater of Cleveland, mechanics in charge if the car, and George and Francis Leitenberger, car owners, who had a big hand in the rebuilding job.

1 comment:

Hal Hall said...

This reminds me of two things.
1. There was a doctor in town who traded his Chrysler Imperial in at Leitenberger's every two years. My dad, a steelworker, couldn't afford a new one, so he'd try to buy the doctor's used one each time. He was successful a couple times but finally somebody beat Dad to it and Dad had to drive a cheap Chevy after that. Dad liked the Chrysler because it was big and heavy and he felt it would protect us better in a crash. His opinion of the Chevy was much lower.
2. My cousin and her husband, owner of Fi-Hoff Concrete, used to take their tour bus to the Indianapolis 500 every year. They sold that bus long ago and now go to Florida in the winter.