Lost Muscle Car Dealerships. Duncan Scott Brown
serving in the US Air Force in the Korean War. Richard became heavily involved in the family business and convinced Russell that they should sponsor popular drag racer Gas Ronda. There is no doubt that the action across the street at Clippinger helped inspire Russ to agree to the plan.
Cobra Jets
Ford finally got with it and listened to Hot Rod readers and Tasca Ford and built a Mustang 428 Cobra Jet. In late 1967, Ford built 50 Cobra Jet Mustangs to qualify it for drag racing in NHRA stock class.
This night photo of Russ Davis Ford was also taken of the 1960 models. It shows the length of the display lot stretching along San Bernardino Road. This view is west of the photo that showed the curved sales office area on Citrus. (Photo Courtesy J. Scott Shannon, Covina Past blog)
Gaspar “Gas” Ronda
Gaspar Ronda was born on August 25, 1926, in Hollister, California. After serving in the US Navy in World War II, Gas ran two dance schools in San Francisco and Oakland. Bill Waters Ford at 9600 East 14th, Oakland, was Gas’s first drag racing sponsor with a 1962 Galaxie 406.
Gas relocated to Los Angeles and became a car salesman while racing his 1963 Ford Galaxie 427. This car was sponsored by George Newtell’s Downtown Ford at 1900 S. Figueroa.
Gas changed dealerships for the last time when he became a salesman at Russ Davis Ford. He was now racing a factory Thunderbolt 1964 Fairlane 427 lightweight. Russ Davis later sponsored Gas in a 1965 A/FX Mustang drag car. The Ford factory sent 11 Mustang fastbacks (missing the 289 engines) to Holman-Moody, where they were built to compete in A/FX class. Top racers were allowed to choose their cars according to their ranking. Gas Ronda got one of the five best cars with the exotic 427 SOHC engine. His Poppy Red Mustang set a new A/FX class record at Winternationals AHRA World Finals.
Gas posted a 9.25-second 156.79-mph run to win top fuel stock eliminator in the AHRA July 1966 race with his factory Mustang. Gas spent two years driving Funny Car Mustangs before stepping back to campaign the potent Super Stock Mustang Cobra Jet in early 1968.
Russ Davis took delivery of this 1968 Mustang 428 Cobra Jet, which is one of the last 18 in the run of the first factory 50 built to qualify for drag racing. The CJ is a lightweight seam sealer and sound deadener delete car.
David and Patty Garton rescued the Russ Davis 1968 Cobra Jet. After his death in 2008, Jim Heidenreich’s car collection in his Glendale, California, backyard included this CJ. Also hidden under tarps was a 1970 Boss 429 that Jim had purchased new from Russ Davis Ford. (Photo Courtesy David Garton)
Amazingly, the Russ Davis 428 Cobra Jet was street driven. More than a few people had their doors blown off by this beast. Engine failure sidelined the car. It was parked in Jim Heidenreich’s backyard around the time of the insurance sticker expiration date. Note the Russ Davis license frame and original California black plates.
The heart of the Russ Davis Cobra Jet is a monster motor that is easily accessible because the hood hinges were replaced with four pins to hold it in place. Phil Glass signed the inner fender. Phil is the original owner, and as a friend of Gas Ronda, he got one of the lightweights. After racing it, Phil sold it to Jim Heidenreich.
The Russ Davis Cobra Jet received this sticker on the oil pan after competing in the NHRA Springnationals 1969. The sticker has remained intact because the Cobra Jet has a mere 178 miles on it.
This reversion to stock class certainly helped Russ Davis Ford sell cars once customers could actually order a Mustang Cobra Jet at the dealership through Gas Ronda himself. In fact, Russ Davis Ford was allocated 6 of the new 1968 Wimbledon White 428 Cobra Jet Mustangs built in that first run of 50 race cars. Only heavy-hitting dealers such as Tasca Ford and Paul Harvey Ford got more CJs than Russ Davis.
Modern collectors refer to this first run of 50 factory 1968 Mustang Cobra Jet 428s as the “135 series Cobra Jets” because the first three digits of their unit numbers are 135. David and Patty Garton rescued the Cobra Jet with VIN 8F02R135045. It is an original paint car that spent its life in a backyard very close to the Russ Davis dealership after a blown engine sidelined it.
The Cobra Jet name had an enduring identity with both 428 and 429 versions powering all sorts of monster machines over the next few years. When Ford finally got everything in place, the muscle car era was on the wane. Ford always had great image cars and now it had the power, too. Russ Davis Ford sold all sorts of insane beasts before the end of the muscle era.
The remnants of a motto painted on the glass of the Russ Davis building references the old days of service. It is likely this was put in place by Ray Andrews Ford or Clippinger Pre-Owned Auto Center after Russ Davis had vacated the lot.
The end of the 1960s saw the start of the coming Pro Stock racing movement. Despite the Cobra Jet accruing both street and strip success, Ford didn’t fully embrace stock classes again. The automaker really should have rode the wave of racers who were shying away from nitro-fueled cars to return to the roots of stock class. Instead, it continued to campaign Funny Cars, which proved to be tragic for Gas Ronda.
Gas’s return to Funny Cars with a 1969 Mustang ended in disaster when his engine blew up. Gas was severely burned in 1970 and underwent a long recovery period. By the time Gas was up and around again, the movement toward Pro Stock was gaining a lot of strength. If Pro Stock had come sooner, Gas would likely have enjoyed an injury-free career.
The main offices of the former Russ Davis lot circle around this front display area that features the 1960s-themed angled support posts for the canopy. Note that the building was repainted by Clippinger when they took over this building as a used car lot.
Clippinger’s new 1967 building sketch places its neon sign farther north up the side of the right corner of the lot. The sign was actually erected right on the corner of the intersection. The blank buildings and lot on the bottom of this image on the opposite side of the street belong to Russ Davis Ford.
Russ Davis Ford is long gone now, but the sign proclaims that it is open. The main doors open in front of that sign. We are standing close to Citrus at the far west corner of the building in this photo. The glassed-in offices curve around to the right.
Clippinger Chevrolet Expands
All the racing action going on across the street certainly kept Clippinger Chevrolet on its toes. Having two major dealerships in one block brought in a lot of traffic to both dealerships. Clippinger was doing so well that in the spring of 1966 the father/son team embarked on a massive upgrade to the dealership. Work was completed in early 1967 on a brand-new, 70,000-square-foot building that took up the whole block when the parking display area was added. The new premises had 96 service stalls, 35 salesmen offices, and a 16,000-square-foot parts department.