El Monte, 1954. Mickey Thompson poses in front of the '54 Ford he would drive in his second Carrera Panamericana race. Thompson's Panamericana car from the previous year, a '53 with a 6-banger, was destroyed in an apocalyptic crash in Tehuantepec that killed five race fans. The '54 was equipped with Ford's new OHV V8 (yet wasn't any faster than the six in spite of being thoroughly M/T-ized) and did pretty well up to the point at which a tie rod end failed and sent the car into a stone wall. This photo is pure SoCal Hot Rodding Golden Age, and you'll find plenty more like it at the Thompson Motorsports site. – Murilee Martin

Mickey Thompson History [Thompson Motorsports]

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