i have a rod and custom from the late 80's that has coverage of one of the west coast nostalgia shows....pretty sure this car was pictured....but it also mentioned that one of the requirements of the dragster classes was smoking the tires for the run....chrismans dragster was pictured in the caption....lots of cool stuff being beat on.....most are probably just cackle fest cars or in museums now..... brandon
This picture is from Fremont, pre-1988. I saw that thing run several times and the Antique Nationals at Fremont... then at Sacramento Raceway once when he did some exibition passes... It was owned by the late Gerry Moreland who I think is the same GM who had the blacl '40 sedan that ran Nostalgia events... Truly amazing... smoke, noise... nitro!!!!! Yea baby! It would sashay down the track... and leave a shit load of SMOKE! That's a bad image to leave in a teenage kids brain. Sam. Here's more: http://75.141.218.6/554/554.html
I saw the car at Freemont for one of the Street Rodder meets. It broke that time. Jason Sharp was by here last summer and picked up a couple of '92s. I'm looking foward to seeing what happens.
Kool action shot Nosurf, couldn't get the video. What a fantastic car! The photo's are also clear and detailed, great workmanship.
I believe that video was taken at the nostalgia drags in the early 80's at Fremont Dragway near San Jose. For some reason I'm thinking that car was a recreation done around that time by or for Brian Burnett who was Tom Prufer's partner in the NDRA (Nostalgia Drag Racing Association). I saw it run a couple times driver by Jerry Steiner. One pass was tire smoke all the way through. I could be wrong on the recreation...maybe 25 years has made it fuzzy. I may have a Jackson Bros. tape that has it on it. Charlie
Ok I went down to my basement and found my original master tapes of the 1985 Nastalgic Nationals. Now I'm going to have it converted to DVD so I can watch it again. I know I have several runs of the 34 smoking the tires all the way through the 1/4 mile.
Wow!! What a thrill, made my day. Man that thing sounds so fine, great sound on the clip!! Gracious Amigo!!-Sololobo
man,,that was great! thanks for posting that,,have always know of and loved the car,but never seen it in action ! love your jalopy journal entry to,, makes ya think about how that car has been a badd ass pretty much its whole life! thanks!
Hot Heads makes some great products - and I give them lots of credit for the money/time they've invested in making new early Hemi heads. Out of the box, they won't flow all that great (if you're thinking a total race motor - blown alcohol or fuel) -- but you can order them as castings and port them as you'd like. If you're looking to shave a lot of weight off your front end, they will make a big difference. For the street, the valves/ports are probably setup just about right (especially un-blown). I'm building a 34 five-window car that is very similar in concept to the 554 car (didn't even know about that car until a couple months ago) -- kind of a mid 60's top fuel style 5 window. I located a set of vintage Donovan 417 aluminum top-fuel heads and reworked the heck out of them to restore them to running shape. Had the rockers made by RAS - as standard 92' stuff won't fit. Anyway, checkout these ports . . . should flow quite a bit!
I got to see that car run down the track here at a nostalgia meet when Jerry Moreland had restoredit. They were on the way to Garlits at the time. They put down a full, wide open pass smoking the slicks 3/4 of the way down the track! Truly an unforgettable car! jerry
love that clip! my dad makes me chuck it on whenever hes near the computer at the workshop. simply a badass car... shame there no clips of the 15.oz coupe id love to see that thing hum...
Jason, aka slamchop, would reply but his PC isn't working. The third picture down in the first post was taken across the street from Gene's original house. In the background, over the top of the Coupe, is the 40 Ford Panel that was used as Gene's daily driver and also for push starting and towing the 554 to the drags. Parked directly behind the 40 was my 57 Chevy. The nostalgic videos do not quite do justice to how un-fu--king exciting the Coupe was to see and hear run in the early days. Those alumium Hemi heads were designed by Al and machined by Gene. Only a few were produced. Gene, along with being a family friend, was the machine shop forman for Sharp Engineering.
That is so cool, I got to see #554 make a pass at Bako in the mid-late 80's, when there was about 200 people at the march meet.Still have some pics somewhere.
The old drag cars are just soooo... Cool. Yea the run faster now but growing up in the 60's-70's were the best drag cars of all times.My opinion
that was and still is pretty fast for an all steel 34 ford coupe on a 34 frame! OUWW!!!! man....what i'd give for a ride in her!
Hi Ryan - It is nice to see you put up Gene Mooneyham's '34 fuel coupe for all to see. Gene and Carl Johnson ran this car at the drags in 1954 with flathead power. Incidently Carl had a body shop and did the top chop on the car. I was also running in the A/F Coupe class at that time with a GMC powered '32 coupe. The class required stock bodies ( chopped tops were OK ) and full fenders. In1956 Gene and Carl switched to Chrysler power as did I because we could see that was what was needed to stay competitive. By 1957 Gene and Carl had recorded a 134 mph time and I was close with 133 mph. Then the fun stopped when fuel (alcohol and/or nitro) was banned by the NHRA and most of the strips. Gene parked his coupe and after a while I sold mine because there was no class to race the cars. But by 1959 there were a few strips that allowed cars to run fuel again. Bakersfield was the main one. Gene brought the coupe (without fenders) out again with a new engine. Carl was no longer involved. With generous amounts of nitro the coupe was soon going over 160 mph. It used high gear only and without slipper clutches back then it really smoked the tires. It was an instant crowd pleaser. With almost no other fuel coupes around Gene usually raced roadsters or even dragsters. At that time it was perhaps the most popular non-dragster attraction. Gene went on to many drag racing successes and a fine supercharger business. The picture show the Mooneyham-Johnson 554 coupe (flathead power) racing my '32 (GMC power) at the 1955 NHRA So-Cal Regional Championships. My winning time of 120.32mph was the fastest A/F Coupe speed at the NHRA meet that year. It is nice that your readers can get a chance to see how great Gene's success was with the exciting 554 coupe. In the 1960s the fuel coupes and roadsters were welded into the Fuel Altered class.
Thanks for the post! I've really enjoyed this thread and learning more about the car and it's history. Gene was one heck of a good guy - I was fortunate to talk to him a few times on the phone (supercharger business). Wish he was still here making blowers and running his business the way he liked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PRDGRGrcZs IT HAD STEEL HEADS---EVEN IN THIS RUN AGAINST THE CHAMPION SPEED SHOP AA/FD WITH SAMMY HALE IN THE DRAGSTER AND JERRY STEINER IN THE COUPE---DRAGSTER WON BY INCHES---THIS WAS BEFORE MORELAND BOUGHT IT
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