Ed Stewart

Ed "Axle" Stewart of San Diego, California is known as the father of the Dago Axle. Ed was a machinist and heat-treat specialist by trade. In the late 1930s he started caravanning out to Muroc in the Mojave Desert with other San Diego and LA hot rodders to run cars through time traps on the dry lakes. Ed got involved with the Southern California Timing Association, and in 1941 he became a founding member of the San Diego Roadster Club, along with Johnny Vesco, Bozzy Willis, and J. Otto Crocker.

In the 1940s Ed started up a speed shop called Stewart Speed Automotive in his garage in Suncrest, about 30 miles from San Diego. Ed collaborated with Abe Kobeck at Rogers Auto Carriage to learn how to make 1932 Ford dropped axles by the drop hammer method, which made them tougher than taffy-pulled axles. The modified axle lowered the stance of the desert racers for less wind resistance and faster times and became a signature hot rod part known as the Dago Axle after the locale of San Diego.

During WWII, Ed and his friends were making their runs on the salt flats at El Mirage and Ed raced his 1929 Ford Model A with a V-8 flathead. Then he started building a 1932 Ford highboy with a low-stance Dago axle. In 1945, Ed's son Bob, only 11 years old, turned a 98-mph time in the deuce at El Mirage! That same car would become the famous Stewart Roadster in the 1990s, owned by the Stewart family for 63 years.

In the early 1950s, the father-son Stewart speed shop was moved to San Diego. Young Bob became expert at boring, honing, port-and-polish work, and made deliveries of the Dago Axle and other speed parts to Los Angeles. His customers nicknamed him Li’l Axle after his well-known father.

Ed Stewart's Cars

Ed Stewart's 1929 Ford Model A Roadster
Ed Stewart's 1932 Ford