Last night I cruised out to South Austin Speed to check out Fat Lucky's latest creation (perfect as always) and found myself in a conversation about vintage drag cars....<P><P>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Are you sure that 22jr is Ivo's? I sure thought that was Tony Nancy's car...... even looks like him with the car in the picture. Sure looks the same to me....... driven sometimes by Dante Duce. http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2481365630039034472ECjZcL
The first car that comes to mind is Hanna's masterpeice... But for true vintage peices I have always loved the GBP 33 car...
Hanna's car is a work of art, but not a real drag car with a real history. Sure it runs, but its a new car...only. Beautiful, though, a real piece of automotive jewelry...
That second car is RAD! I love the fact that Nancy was running BB Mopars, one of my favorite engines......If I ever build the FED of my dreams, it'll be a BBM.... I really like the early Chassis Research and Drag Master rails.....short wheelbases, simple bodywork....they've just gotta be a blast!
the speed and sport roadster was my favorite till i just saw these pictures of that 27. What magazine(s) was it featured in? Id like to find a copy.
As far as dragsters go, I think it probably shows a lack of imagination, but the GBP car is the first one that comes to mind when discussing beautiful diggers from the early '60s. The car that really gets me going is Hugh Tuckers AA/SR. I saw him race SWC at the beach the very first time I went to the drags, and have'nt been the same since.
Ever since I was a punk kidd and built the model a thousand years ago, it's been the MoonEyes dragster. No swoopy bodywork, very utilitarian with jewel like attention to detail.
This was the time period I wish I had been young and building cars.........but born way too late.........I built DeathsDoorStep to just visually kinda fit into the cars that were built in this time period..whether or not it refects that?.......my favorite time hands down..Littleman
Anybody old enough to remember the " Scotty's Muffler" Ardun T ? The exhaust pipes, of course, were unbelivable.
For me the all time coolest drag car is Jocko's Porting Service Streamliner. I think later on Big Daddy tried to bring it back into competition.
The Glory Days of drag racing icons to me: Anglias of the Kohler Bros., Skippers Critter, Johnny Loper Altrereds of Pure Hell, Wild Willie B., Beaver Hunter Fuelers of GBP (1st choice), Black Beauty, Ongais, Stellings and Hampshire, The Shark Car of Adams and Mongoose, any Ivo car, especially the Barnstormer, Freight Train, Kalitta's SOHC Ford, Dode-Martin "Two-Thing", Drag Coupes of Dye-Hampton, Lonnie Butts, Flamin Frank P., Aggravation, the Animal Misc. of EJ Potter, Untouchable and Valkarie Jets, any wheelstander My favorites of all time were the A/FX cars of Dick Landy's '65 Coronet, Phil Bonner's Falcon, Gas Ronda's long nose Mustang, the Eliminator Comet of Dyno Don, Doug Thorleys Chevy, Tasca Mustang, Dick Brannan's Mustang A day doesn't go by that I don't think of how lucky I was to have "lived" at Lions, San Gabriel, Fontana and Irwindale as a teenager...
The Herrera and Sons car is an Austin A40.I think Mazmanian had one as well done in Candy Apple. Keep on Roddin'
1. M/S #554 Fuel Coupe 2. Gabby Bleeker's Fuel Sedan 3. Winged Express AA/FA Oh yeah... 4. the G/B/P Dragster
I personally don't love that T, it is extremely nice, and innovative with it's rear mount engine, but it just doesn't do it for me. I love the Shubert and Herbert car, it might be because it ran a small block, but the way it sits, with all the dump on the motor just looks so badass. The Magicar comes to mind, as does the Freight Train. I think Poison Ivy was gorgeous, and just about anything Ivo drove. I'm a huge fan of legs under cars, they just sit perfect to me. It's not just the cars that come to mind, but the way the driver looked in there, with the mask, goggles, aluminized suit, etc. They almost looked evil and scary, it just made the cars look that much more dangerous. I really liked the AA/FA's, now those were some wild rides.
A lot of the cars pictured, pretty cars... sure... but they aren't a direct result of the fuel ban. My favorite fuel-ban car would have to be the Dye and Hampton "Two-Bad" twin SBC car. I would not consider it a "Pretty Car"... more "sinister" than anything... You just look at it and it is just screaming "I HAUL ASS!!!", "I WILL SMOKE MY FREAKIN TIRES HALF WAY DOWN THE QUARTER MILE!!!" "NITRO? I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' NITRO!!!!" Another car that comes to mind are some of the "sluggish" multi-motor cars. The Showboat (recently re-created... anyone got pics?) and the Iron Maiden. Then you have Arfons' arcraft powerplant cars... not real fast by gas dragster standards... but impressively engineered and innovative. Pretty late 50's "Fuel Ban" dragsters? Crisman and Cannon's Hustler. Looks big and bulky in old pictures... but bad-ass in person.
Speed Sport Roadster, Sharp 554 fuel coupe, Tony Nancy's 22jr A roadster, Winged Express, Jocko's liners (Damn Norm Longfield for killing one!!).................. Man this list could get seriously long!
Does anyone have a picture of the Strode Brothers rear engined sidewinder 27 roadster from the early 60's? It was a great looking Northwest car that would go through the lights sideways. I had Bob Strode for a shop teacher and he brought the car to school one day to explain what it was all about. It looked really good on stage.
I've always had a soft spot for the Mooneyham Sharp coupe...just bad ass. But I really like the body work on this one. Probably heavy and non-competitive, but sexy as hell.
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