No, I'm not saying it doesn't or can't happen back there, I'm just saying it doesn't happen nearly as frequentiy back there. Between L.A. and Phoenix, there are just enough serious bugs still running around that it isn't uncommon to hear that magic sound behind you in traffic. And if you ever have heard 2000 or so cc's sucking through 192mm's of Weber carbs, well damn, I can't begin to discribe it to you! Anger and Airflow in one glorious noise! just sayin' your lots more likely to hear it here or in So-Cal. Flat-n-Low described having bent stingers and such trying to keep this stuff on the ground. To this day if you walk behind my shop to out door storage you'll find a fairly large graveyard of broken and bent dual quite packs, bent, broken, and just flat worn through stingers and merged collectors. Oh, that and a couple of transaxle cases broken in half through the differential. Something magical happens when you stuff a couple hundered horses you can still carry into a stripped out car that weighs as much as one of my shoes and has a 70% rearward bias! Talking like this is very bad for me, you know. Any more and I might fall off the wagon and build that big by huge, best of everything engine that has been waiting in my closet for soooo many years! I've been a recovering VW DORK for about 18 yeras now without falling off that wagon (or squareback!), and being able to freely talk about it for just a day, well, you know...
Im an "eastie" who "gets it"! And back around 1998 there was a '69 or so Chevelle owner who got a good idea of what my little bug could do... Fate (huge shop fire) seperated me from the foreign aspect of things, but the love is neverending in an existentially weird way. Ive still got a full race big jug motor sitting in the corner of my shop...someday...
Well I must say I grew up with them German cars, pops had lots of them, I worked for VW too way back. There's also at least one of those VW's in my garage .....and it will hold it's own...trust me I even got a boner when I saw the pictures of that dragster, but sorry to say it was short lived when I read the post....there's more people than you think that love those little cars
That would be some big damn fun!! Best thing about glass buggies with lots 'o horsepower is when you launch, They go straight up! Ya kinda gotta be ready for whatever dirrection it wants to go when it comes down though!
Had some bugs,none were hi-po. Just neat little cars with heat only in the summer! Remember reading about the Yanks making the trip across the "Pond" and how things were a little different over there. Sidney Allard was their big gun with a hemi powered dragster and most of the other cars had small engines, but were very lightweight. Just a different way of going fast. Tata, Cat
Ryan, can you ask if your classic Porsche loon in England knows something about this thing? Its a sidewinder powered by a aircooled German engine. But I think its must have been built a British Drag racer. ( Because it has Lotus mag racing wheels in the back)
8 0r 10 years back, motor trend or car and driver did an article on porsche doing some testing at Daytona on their latest super car.It just so happened Rusty Wallace was testing his nascar ride at the same time.long story short,he blew them out of the water.I wish i kept that article.maybe someone here remembers it.
Thanks for posting this Ryan. It's not running right now but I love my 356, there's something about these cars... They communicate to the driver in a way that no other car I have ever been in can. I have heard about that car before, but until today all I knew was "someone built a 356 engined dragster".
I'm sure that Big Daddy ran quicker than mid 11's that day. Perhaps, diplomatically, "we" could agree that James Dean's Spider was cool.
Cool, my dad came to the the states in '57 and soon bought his dream car, a 1962 356SC cabriolet hard top. He couldn't afford it in Germany.
The "Modern Specialist" X/Dragster was built by Long Beach, California VW-Porsche specialists Bob Cowen, Phil Tenwick, Bob Haislett, & (driver) Doug Church ... and was featured in the September 1964 issue of Hot Rod Magazine: As evident by this Blog/thread, it was also a part of the "United States Drag Racing Team" that made the trek over the pond in September of '64 to participate in the 1st British International Drag Festival: click thumbnail to view entire program click thumbnail to view a video on the BRITISH PATHE website In 1966, the dragster was sold to Joe Vittone (EMPI) and campaigned as the "EMPI dragster" ... with Lee Leighton driving ... and Dean Lowry building the VW engines. The "EMPI dragster" was restored ... and currently resides in Tokyo, Japan (as part of the FLAT4 collection):
Thank You for recognizing me in the VW scene started back in 1969 and did hang out with the people you mentioned above and many more. Even the fact that I build my first Hot Rod with a V12 was a challenge but I had rebuild over a dozen V12 in the past 23 years I am now doing 4 various VW engines for buses that one day will be on Barrett Jackson auction. And I am doing a 912 Porsche motor for a customer. So this is part of the hobby regardless of what make they are. But for now I have to go back in the garage and work on my 1929 track T. You can also check my website Frenchysrides.com Thanks again Frenchy ( Doc Detail )
They have an incredibly cool array of machines dont they? On a note. How can you not love the sound of the flat 4? Even for a V8 only guy it has to be some kinda cool. Those rappin pipes and the sound of all those moving parts doin their job....mmmmhh...i miss it.
"... Most of these shots were taken at Blackbushe – an air strip 35 miles southwest of London..." Thanks, I had no idea there were TWO dragstrips in England! "...enemy..." Ackamo? Surely not. Now, that guy hoarding speed equipment for flatheads and early OHVs...
I have 3 weaknesses when it comes to cars Mopars, Hopped up Vw's, and Rotary engined Mazda's. All underrated things that consistently make peoples jaws drop.
Climate is a factor in this... I think Peter Egan said the "Beetle was not just a car... it was a counter-cultural statement against the importance of life sustaining footwell heat..." BTW my brother had a blue 57 Beetle with skinny whites on chrome reverse in 69-71ish. I LOVED that car.
Never thought about that! Out here, the first thing that hits the trash is the heater boxes and teir attendant ducts and crap. I have been told that neither 356 Posches or Bugs ever had enough heater to function well back East. On the one or two that I had and kept the heater stuff, it worked great on those 30 degree desert winter nights.
**!!WARNING!! UNPOPULAR OPINION FROM NEW GUY** I enjoyed this post, and while I understand Ryan's "us-versus-them" tone with the article was mostly for the sake of making it an intriguing read, it underscores what I see as a major problem with the traditional hot rod "scene." I hang out with what you guys would probably call "ricers." I've spent many late nights in the garage, just like you guys, tuning and tweaking. I've spent a good percentage of my adult life hanging around gas stations with other guys just chatting about cars, just like you guys. I've helped friends paint cars in their driveways, just like you guys. My friends all drive different cars than me, but we all get along, because we like everything. Just because my buddy drives a Subaru or a BMW dosen't make him "wrong," it makes him different. I've got Mazda rotaries, a late-model Mustang Cobra, and a Cutlass Supreme. Some of my best buddies have even more diverse stables than that. What we all have in common is that we are car enthusiasts. We are enthusiastic about cars - all cars. We'll geek out over Curved Dash Oldsmobiles, chopped and channeled Model As, Tri-Five Chevy gassers, GTOs, Beetles, Pacers, Deloreans, Supras, Mustangs, Mitsubishi Evos...you name it. While it may not be our cup of tea, we can enjoy it, and appreciate it for what it is, and the work that went into it. So when a guy like me parks his RX7 next to a clean traditional rod and tries to strike up a conversation with the owner, it's pretty damn disconcerting when he acts like you don't know squat about cars - or are a lesser car guy - or that your car is a pile - because you have a different badge than him, because you drive "ferrin junk," "Jap scrap," because "you can order the whole damn car outta a catalog"...I've heard it all. Maybe the next time you're sitting around, wondering what went wrong, wondering who will carry the traditional hot rod torch when you're dead and gone, just remember that you had your chance and blew it. Maybe the next time a kid pulls up in a neon-colored import showing genuine interest in your hot rod, be a car enthusiast and tell him about your machine. He'll listen. And maybe one day, the kid with the RX7 will sell off a few projects and build himself a proper jalopy.
Yeah, this isn't directed at anyone in particular...if you're a real car enthusiast you know who you are.
I enjoyed the post, but I also love Porsches. They are some of the finest cars I've ever had the pleasure of owning and driving. But they are not hot rods!
VanDerHorst. I feel what you say. While its not everybody, a good % is like you describe, which i hate.
The Jalopy Journal
