I've seen Flatdog's coupe run...but he used a blower. Flatdog was a VERY knowledgable person and a leading edge flathead developer, and the Bingelli car was an ongoing bur under his mental saddle: The car was just plain too quick for what there was! There had to be some interesting secrets there. Bingelli also had some four bangers in his past...ran into some connection there in an ancient magazine.
the funny thing is i think ed was real quick to go hi tech...he was a speed shop owner he just wanted to go fast , i believe the reasoning i heard was he had all this flathead stuff laying around and really wasnt worth the price of scrap in the late fiftys early 60s ....ed thought he could make it fast , and he loves a challenge ...hes a thinker.... one of the storys i heard was in the 60s he adopted a gm color he really liked to paint his motors known as bing blue , rumor has it if you showed up with your hard top at the races with a blue motor it was pure intimidation factor ! i hope i get to see ed and his new creation soon, awesome guy and legend!
Great story Mike. I remember that magazine article from a pile of old mags I once had, I was also pleased to be introduced to Bing when I called at Tardel's the first time. Thanks for the intro. Glad to hear the old boy is still up and at 'em. Also pleased to see you puttin pen to paper (well finger to keyboard) and giving us all a little insight to Bing's mastery of his craft. Mart.
There was a willys shaped lump under a tarp in Ed's drive way a couple of weeks back, You can look forward to looking forward to seeing that car again.
I just came here looking for updates on the "new" Willys. Thanks Bad Dad! Anyone have more pics/specs on it?
Great story. I have a little to share. A drag racer in portland seen this in hot rod magazine and bought that flathead from bings for his willys coupe. He ran it in his 39 willys for a few years. Then later built a anglia with glass nose, doors, decklid. This flathead is still in the car today. It is one bad ass sounding flathead. My friend now owns both the 39 willys coupe and the anglia. He had both cars at eagle field drags last year. Both cars are blue.
Bing Speed Shop, His was the man's records I chased back in 64. Never got within a second of his times. Was always a second behind a half a country apart. He got more out of a flathead than most. Good luck you ol F/Gasser.
I too was absolutely stunned by the performance of that car when I first read the article. Absolutely amazing. heres a thought, wonder if maybe there was a little Nazi WWII aircraft technology goin' on there???
Just ran the old Willy's numbers through the AJ calculator formula used by many racers. Assuming a 175 lb. driver, car weight is 2475, and trap speed was listed as high as 110mph. Horsepower required is 247, and assuming 15% drivetrain loss, puts flywheel hp. at about 284. About 1hp/cu. in. for the 286 cube flatty. --- Steve ---
That kind of power would be achievable today, fantastic for the time. Not wanting to take away anything from this man or the performance of his car, how ever, I remember my dad telling me that they everyone was sneaky about weight back in the day, and depending on the track officials, some race tracks were a bit slack about enforcing weight/conducting surprise re-weighing of cars during or after eliminations. He and his partners had a nearly 200 lb. Man hole cover in the trunk during tech and weigh in at the beginning of the race. The car also retained the stock gas tank that did double duty as a cooling resevoir and a adjustable weight bias (by removing or adding water). The trunk floor had a cut out above the tank where they hid the man hole cover. Once they passed tech and weigh in, they could remove nearly 300 lbs before trial runs and qualifying, and they were never re weighed. That being said, Eds Willys may have run much lighter than was actually legal, which would take a bit less HP to run those numbers. I have no idea personally of how legal he ran his car, but I know alot of guys played shinanagans with weight back then. Heck, at some of the bigger races at San Fernando, our '56 ran methanol! The tech guys may or may not have known, but may have turned a blind eye as the car could run high tens at 127+ on hard pie crust slicks as a B/Gasser in '67 and since San Fernando was a non NHRA sanctioned track, they enjoyed thumbing their nose at NHRA, and having a reputation for a "fast" track. Just wandering.
As I recall, F/G and G/G were for flatheads only. being F/G ,it didn't matter how much he weighted. Just goes to prove he could make a flathead at 2400 lbs. run it's ass off. My 1900 lbs. Anglia counldn't touch his times with the same cubes.
Know what you mean there. The track I usually ran at would frequently make the cars go over the scales during eliminations, sometimes even in the first round. I heard a lot of bitichin and moaning about it's only 5 or 6 pounds, but the track had a "zero pounds under" policy. Sometimes cars drove around the scales and to the pits knowing they were to light. I always tried to keep about 10-15lbs heavy and never got disqualified for weight. --- Steve ---
I thought Bing had passed away in the last six months or so? Am I misinformed? One of the reasons the car (Willys) ran so well was approx. 10 lbs of weight was removed from the crankshaft and the counterweights appeared to be knife-edged to help slice thru the oil in the pan.I know this because years ago,Vern sent me a picture of the crank I keep in my flathead scrap book. Flatheads Forever!
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