With a New Year just underway, one canstart reflecting not only on the future but the past as well. It can get prettyinteresting when you’re looking back 75 years and start clicking offthe redlined high points. You also add in Father Time and Mother Gravitycalling in their chips. Case in point, Don Nowell of Don Nowell Design.
We’ve known about Don forsome 30-odd years…and there have been some really odd ones…but youcould say anything he touches turns to gold in one form or another…especially when horsepower, performance and innovative design figure into theproject at hand. When it comes down to it, Don is an “artist”in the real sense of the word, one gifted with an analytic mind and a workethic that nudges fanatical in its attention to details.
Let’s start from thebeginning. When we made the call to check on his current doings, we heard hisreply to our opening query “Is this the famous Don Nowell?”to which he replied “I think you’ve got the wrongnumber.” But before he could hang up, we explained the reason for ourvisit and started gathering the facts.
Don was born in Inglewood, CA on May22, 1941 at 4:30 in the morning. Since then he likes to get an early start. Byten he was earning money mowing lawns, hawking newspapers and selling flowerson the weekends. In Junior High during the ‘50s it gave him some cointo buy some nifty clothes. “It was all about impressing thegirls,” chuckles Don. “They were all wearing their poodleskirts and tight sweaters, so we guys had to look cool.”
His first wheels was naturally abicycle which he “hot-rodded” by placing playing cards inthe spokes to produce some “vroom-vroom.” Then in 1956 Donwas in high school taking shop classes where he earned his first award, winningBest in Class in a Rotary Club competition for his electric motor, the best of320 entries. “It was at this point I learned to operate a lathe. Ialso couldn’t resist hopping up that little motor, trying to get themost rpm out of it and had it smokin’ and jumping all over the bench.”You could say the die was cast, as this was Don’s first motor, one ofa long line of high performance engines that would power cars, bikes and boats.
Another milestone arrived at age 16,when after working his butt off after school at a model toy shop, he savedenough to buy his first car, a turnkey 1951 Chevy Bel Air coupe, paying a grandtotal of $325. “Most of my friends had ’49, ’50Fords but I just liked the look of the ’50- ‘51 Chevysbetter.” The car just had a stock 6-cylinder, but Don took it rightto the Cohia muffler shop in San Fernando and had it slammed to the ground witha spindle kit, leaving ¾ inches of inch ground clearance.” magazine to see whatLarry Watson was doing, his work just taking off.” But when he tookhis “low-rider” to Bob’s Big Boy in Van Nuys, hegot turned away. Only hot rods allowed. This was 1957, the year of Sputnik anda rapidly changing world.
Graduating high school, he wrangled ajob at the San Fernando based Tom Carroll Chevrolet as a lot boy handlingdeliveries. One day he spotted a spiffy ’59 Impala, white with aturquoise interior. It happened to be a repo and the price was tempting. SaysDon, “It came with a 3-2-barrel carbed 4-speed with a hydraulic camso it wouldn’t turn much rpm, but it was a pretty car, a neat car. Ipainted the wheels the color of the interior and street raced it all over theValley.”
Then one night, Don’s’59 got bested by a ghost white ’57 Chevy. Later he spottedthe car, now parked and went to investigate. “The owner’sname was Kenny Safford and we became best of friends. He later became famous asa fuel dragster racer. He was also a member of the Road Kings and I startedhanging out with those guys. It eventually brought me to a ’57 Chevywith a motor built by Ray Cash. I sold my Impala and got it. It was my firstserious street racer and skirt chaser.”
Since the motor had seen plenty ofracing and was a bit tired, Don decided to rebuild it, his first time tacklinga pro hot rod motor. When asked where he got the skills to do the wrenching,Don laughs again and says, “I didn’t. I just took the headsoff and started doing it. Rappa-rappa, I got it together.”
In late1960, Don took another quantumleap, buying a ’37 Chevy Coupe bodied car was not in topform after being flogged at El Mirage and Don had to work his magic to get itup to snuff for the B Gas drags, choosing that class because it was the mostcompetitive with more cars to race. He then took part in the early NHRAsanctioned events and at independent ¼-mile drag strips at SanFernando, Long Beach and Irwindale. “My pit crew was me and my buddyJohn with my tow car tied with a rope. It was run what you brung.
“The first time I raced the car at SanFernando, in September 1963, I ran 11.85 on an 11.84 record, beat everybody andtook a trophy home. That was a good day.”
People started taking notice, Don andhis dragster featured in the December 1965 issue of HotRod. It would also get him invited to join the HotRod crew for both the ’65 and ’66 events at theBonneville Salt Flats. He would campaign his Gasser for four years,lastly setting the speed record in ’66 at Irwindale with 121.80 mphin B Gas.
Don was also slinging a hammer to helppay for work on his car, and things were getting pretty slow financially, butthen he got a call in April of ‘67 to work at engine shop, and notjust any shop, Don finding himself building Cam Am race motors at the famousengine shop run by Al Bartz. In fact Don was his first employee.
In the process he met a boat racer, TomPaterson, who also owned a helicopter company and ended up building parts forchoppers, including the very first Los Angeles TV station news helicopter, thatfor KTLA Channel 5. Asked if he got in some rides, he says, “No, Idon’t like to fly so wouldn’t have enjoyed that a bit.Airplanes are bitchin’ but I don’t like being up in theair.” But Don was still building car motors and flying as fast as hecould on terra firma, but he did step off onto the water.
Don found himself working on raceboats, even piloting his buddy Paterson’s 385 horsepower, 1300 lb.16-ft long “Crackerbox” class race boat aptly named“Sparkler” with its motor in the center, rider in the back.“It’d scare the wee out of you like an ocean going Sprintcar. We set the record at 95.70 mph in the Flying Kilo at the Colorado River.Tom’s now 88 and still racing boats.”
In 1969, Don got another of thosemilestone making phone calls, this time from the legendary racer and motojournalist Jerry Titus who wanted him to build his engines, 302 Chevy’swith cross ram manifolds, to race the last part of the season. Titus also racedfor Carroll Shelby winning championships in ’67 and a class victoryat the ’69 24 Hours of Daytona. Sadly, Titus aka “Mr. TransAm,” would die in a 1970 crash during the Trans Am race at RoadAmerica.
When asked when he got intomotorcycles, Don points to 1964 when he bought his first bike, a Yamaha 80motocross, then wanting more power went for a 175 Montesa for blasting out intothe desert and through the canyons. Says Don, “Back then people wererunning imported Greeves and the Dots fitted with Blooie pipes, basicallystraight pipes and you could them making bitchin’ music playing offthe canyon walls, but then they went to those expansion chambers for more powerbut they sounded like bumble bees.”
In 1970 he met up with a young guynamed Terry Dorsch who raced AMA Grand Nationals, mostly flat track events onTriumphs against the likes of John Hateley. Terry had ordered a Trackmasterframe and it was specially marked with #1 on its bottom.
Don built the frame out of .049 chromemoly tubing, tipping the scale at a mere 15 lbs. plus a 4 lb. swingarm. SaysDon, “That was a cool thing, building that frame from scratch, a realeducation.” Into that frame Don stuffed a rare Honda factory shortrod, big bore 350cc motor made for the Baja 1000 race. “I justhappened to get one of those trick engines with its sandcast barrel. I got somemetric wrenches and took it apart. The cylinder had a quarter inch lining, so Ibored that baby out to 385. The frame was nickel plated, the gas tank yellow,the seat upholstered in metallic blue Naugahyde. It was some bike, but thenYamaha came out the TT500 and I just had to have it, so like a dummy I sold myHonda, and I still wonder where it is today.”
During the ’70s while working on his race motor builds,Don figured necessity was the mother of invention. Since it was a mother tryingto get the angles of a valve job to meet exactly which then determines thediameter of the valve and where it seats, he came up with a tool of his own design,calling it Qwik-Seat, and it made the job much easier. Gaining a patent, hesold them to machine shops all over the country.
Jumping to 1975, Don took anothercreative tangent when he was signed on by the late J.B. Nethercutt, wealthyowner of Merle Norman Cosmetics, to restore one of his 250 rare classic cars,now on public display at the San Sylmar Museum. In this case, the project was a1923 McFarlan, the chauffeur driven Knickerbocker Cabriolet Twin-Valve Sixoriginally owned by the silent screen star Fatty Arbuckle who went down inflames after a major scandal.
Says Don, “I worked on thatcar every day for four months at the museum’s workshop. It had comeout of the paint shop with just the bare body, so I put everything else onit…all the metal pieces, the bright work, glass…fabricatedthe front grill guard, the tail lights, you name it. The car, painted a ketchupcolor, won a Best of Class at the 1975 Pebble Beach. I was standing there nextto the car when I heard a familiar sounding voice say, can you open the door,I’d like to look at the interior. I turn around and there’sClint Eastwood. And I said, sure, you bet. He looks inside, and he says, thankyou. And I say, oh, you’re welcome.” It sure rounded out acool day. Then later, Mr. Nethercutt came up and said, “Put your handout. I want to give you a good handshake for turning my old truck into a showwinner.”
It was the first recognition of histalents, nor far from the last.
In 1978, while hanging out with TerryDorsch at a party, Don met up with veteran screen actor Bobby Carradine whotold Terry he had a Triumph he wanted to put together. When Terry looked at theTrackmaster frame, he noticed it had #1 stamped into it…so it was hisfirst frame from back in the day. Terry was pretty busy so asked Don if hewanted to handle the project. “I asked how they wanted the bike tolook and they said, just do it like you were building it for yourself. Now inhigh school I had drawn sketches of my dream Triumph and Bobby said go for it.It took two years but I got it done, a real race bike, the real deal.
As Don recalls the moment with hisusual photographic memory when Carradine first through a leg over the bike, hesays, “He’s wearing cowboy boots, pressed Levis, crisp whiteshirt, leather jacket with fur collar, shades, a scarf, no helmet, the bikewafting the distinctive aroma of Castor bean oil, it’s thepre-requisite Lee Marvin/Keenan Wynn classic attire for an actor blasting downSunset Boulevard. One kick and the bikestarts…rappa-rappa!…and he’soff blasting down Sunset Boulevard. Bobby’s riding his dream bikes,laying it over in the corners, wide open megaphone growling. One ofthe better days in my life! And we got the photos. The Triumph was featured asa center fold in an issue of Motorcyclist. Bobby still hasthat bike, almost 40 years later.”
Then Don took yet another jog in theroad, trying out a bit of “downsizing” when he wascontracted by Fred Thompson, the new owner of the famous Los Angeles basedSmith Miller Toy Company (circa 1948-55), known world-wide for their largescale model trucks, beautifully crafted and very expensive, even more so ascollectibles when the company faded out. Getting things going again in 1979,Fred asked Don to turn a flatbed trailer into a low-boy to carry a Doepke D-6Caterpillar Tractor, another top end classic toy. Using vintage photos to takemeasurements, Don made a balsa mock-up, then a metal version as the finalprototype prior to production. In the process he also designed and built apumper fire truck. scale, the largemodels measured from 22-48 inches long. Don laughs and says, “It wasup to me to figure how A fit into B, and I built 20 trucks, about one newdesign a year, both prototype and production, for the 20 years, producing abouta 1000 trucks at my shop in the first three years. The rebirth of the SmithMiller company proved immensely successful, eventually producing 48 differenthand assembled trucks, much sought after in limited editions. Fashioned in 1/16th scale.
Now into the 1984, Don found time tobuild another fire-breathing motorcycle. In this case, it was commissioned byMichael Bowen, another Hollywood actor, and half-brother to Bobby Carradine.The BSA triple project featured a Marzocchi front end as well as a motor beefedup with an 840cc kit by hyper motor guru Jack Hateley. During the build, Dondesigned and fabricated a bunch a neat components as well as the 3-into-1 pipe.The badboy Beezer was also featured in a 1986 issue of Motorcyclist,the magazine recognizing the quality of Don’s work.
Then another quirk of fate occurred.While perusing model vehicle magazines, Don noticed the high-end car modelsgaining attention for French and Spanish artisans. “It got my wheelsturning to try my hand at world class models. But I didn’t know whatto build. Those guys already had a foot hold in car models.” Butwhile talking with his buddy at the aforementioned dental company, he heard himsay, Well, you big dummy, why don’t you build a Harley model.“Yeah, cool, okay, and I thought a ¼ scale, two-foot longman-sized model would be the real deal. So I got it going, that was in1994.”
The prototyping alone took 13 months,the design based on the Harley-Davidson Softail with the Evo motor. Previously, his only scratch-built bike building experience was with the Hondathumper and now he was going from full-scale to quarter-scale. So how to makeit happen? It turned out that Nick Ienatsch, now well-known in the pages of Motorcyclist, was dropping by in the evenings to earn afew extra bucks by doing some spot-welding work on the model cars Don had beendesigning. Don says, “I go up to Nick and say, where’s yourHarley. He says it was at his Dad’s house in Salt Lake City. I toldhim I needed a bike to get dimensions. He says hold on, and a few minutes laterI get a call from Frank Kaisler the Editor atMotorcyclist. I told him my story. Later that day, he gaveme a brand new Softail and I rode it around for a week. I started measuring thelength of frame, the swing arm pivot, head stock angle, all the dimensions andthen divided it by four, took my blueprint paper and started drawing. Ialso got the dimensions from a set of brand new S&S cases. At Mondaynight bike gatherings at a burger stand in Van Nuys, I’d meet Frankwho’d bring me a part, an oil pump, a hand lever, whatever I neededto get my measurements to make an exact scaled bike.”
Get out the magnifying class. Forexample, Don made the swingarm pivot bolts, the rear and front axle bolts andnuts, the front end bolts, the head stem bolts…all cut from stainlesson his lathe and milled to attach the 1/16th inch Allenheads, then polished each tiny piece and we’re talking 152 miniaturescrews for each bike. Talk about labor intensity, just to make the rear axlesleeve nut, it took 55 separate moves. The frame parts alone took months ofmachining. In this case when they say big things come in small packages, theyweren’t whistlin’ Dixie.
Don wanted the bike to“feel” right as well as look right. So the swing arm moveswith 3/4 inch of travel as does the front fork. The left hand leverincorporates a spring for the operational feel of a clutch lever. The rightlever is fitted with a rubber o-ring so that as you squeeze on it, you feelresistance, replicating the feel of a front brake lever, the same for thefootbrake lever. For the shift lever, there’s a balldétente, so you click-up, click-down, echoing gear changing, againlike a real bike.
He went so far as to upholster theseats in real leather, added .040 of an inch diameter individual polishedstainless spokes laced to the wheels. He also contacted the Avon Tire Companyin England to secure permission to cast from molds exact rubber miniatures oftheir tires including their logos, and the Avon people graciously agreed, eagerto see the finished product themselves. To thank them, Don handmade a uniquepen and pencil set incorporating the polished wire wheel and mounted tire. Donchuckles and says, “The Avon honcho wrote back saying “Youreally screwed me. Now I have to buy a brand new desk because your pen andpencil set is so nice.”
In 2000, with the dawn of newmillennium, Don shipped a specially commissioned Knuckle version of his modelto the Motor Company in Milwaukee, this before the new Harley-Davidson museumwas completed, so it was kept in their archives department until moved to thenew museum upon its opening in July 2008.
The paint for his bikes was variouscandy pearls, except for the Harley-Davidson Museum model. They wanted aKnuckle chopper that looked like something a guy would have built at home in1960. There was a custom red scalloped, yellow paint job, but no polish on thecases, the barrels black, aftermarket open primary, just like back in the day.
A motorcycle fan in Germany noticedDon’s creations in a local magazine and just had to haveone…to the point that one day he arrived at Don’shouse/work shop in Granada Hills, CA and “went shopping”and upon up close and personal inspection it turned out that he had to have notone, but three…including a black Fatboy based on his own bike andalso a Knucklehead created in the likeness of the iconic Capt. America chopperseen in the classic 1969 film Easy Rider.
2017 and DonNowell’s “Engineered Art Worth Its Weight inGold”
Says Don during our most recentconversation with him, “For a long time I’ve been wantingto build some art for the real art world. I had tried some stuff with the bikesI built, pieces out of wood and aluminum but that didn’t fly, so putthe pieces back in the drawer. But after I took some hard knocks includinglosing both my Mom and Dad and then my lady friend and most recently, in Marchof this 2016, seriously injuring my back which was keeping me mostly bedridden,I was feeling pretty low. I knew I needed to do something to get back on myfeet mentally, something that turned a new leaf, to step in another directionbesides the gearhead arena…so I put head together to create someworld class art.”
“I wanted something bothplain and elegant at the same time. Something that drew your eye and kept it,something that wowed your senses. So I gathered rare woods from South America,Africa and Australia, all with awesome colors and grains. I’m a woodnut and love the grain, and found that the use of clear coating really makes itpop, a mile deep… there’s nothing like it.
Don’s premiere piece wastitled “GoldBlades” and in part was inspired by the vintagemirrors and golden pocket watches he had seen during his experiences at theNethercutt Museum. Deciding to employ blade shapes and gold to create thereflections he sought, Don took out his French curve templates and startingdrawing, counting on the smooth transitions the forms allowed. After makingsome full sized sketches, he started making parts, finally sending the parts tothe platers, focusing on the ultimate richness of 24K gold matched to a blackgranite finish for contrast. Says Don, “When it all came together, itexceeded my expectations, the gold having this rich, rosy finish that isstaggering when amplified by the reflections playing back and forth from anyangle your view it from.”
As for his choice of materials, Donsays, “You can’t ask for anything better than MotherNature’s finest… gold…and the trickest woodsavailable. There’s nothing like seeing the gold and woodstogether…it’s the best of the best.” Toward thatgoal he opted for 7075T6 billet aluminum, the hardest you can get but also thebest for acquiring the 24K highly polished gold plating. The choice of woodsoffered include Maple, Walnut, Burbinga burl, Tasmanian Resin Vein Eucalyptus,Buckeye burl, American Redwood and others, all finished to perfection.
These GoldenWood and GoldenBlade modelsare currently available with more designs in the work. In addition to fine artcollectors, it would seem they would also lend themselves well as exceptionalcorporate gifts or even as exceptional awards of achievement.
If you’re interested in investing in art thatgrows in value every day, check out www.donnowellart.com,email him at dn@donnowelldesign.comor call Don at (818) 363-8564. International delivery as well as local LosAngeles pick-up available.
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