10/19/2026
John Ambler was born this day in 1901. John teamed with brother Bill (pictured on right below) as a car builder and owner in the 1920's and 1930's. They were known as the "Casting Brothers" because of their skills in casting steel and aluminum. In fact, Ralph DePalma used some of their casted eight-cylinder blocks in his racing efforts. Wes Johnson was one of the pilots of their Amber-Ford Specials, which featured their overhead valves and cylinder heads. In the mid-thirties, they changed to Hispanso-Suiza "Hisso"-powered "big cars". Vern Orenduff built two of these machines during the winter of 1934, one from the left bank of a Hisso and one from the right bank. Their drivers for these cars included Orenduff himself, Ted Linn, Chuck Tabor, Ken Fowler, and others. Their cast aluminum tanks, hood covers and under-pans were well known through the eastern racing community. They quit running their own cars in the 1940's. John passed away in 1979, and was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum with his brother Bill in 1995.
