Projects A/SR Model A Survivor Drag Coupster

Perfect Riverdale car !!!

 

Wow - Congrats

 

So nice! You should run it at TROG west, with the recaps even. Love it.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Oh man that is just so cool. Should give the rest of us hope of finding stuff out there. I found a dead racoon this morning but no where near as exciting at this.

Enjoy.

 

Good ''shit''!
Very happy your roll of the dice paid off. And that you don't regret it. Good vibes.

 

"The car went to Thun Field Rod And Custom". And right next door to the former Puyallup Dragway!!! Wonder if the car ever ran there? Where was it found? I've come across a couple of old cars; course the owners have't been really interested in selling them; "I'm going to build it/restore it one day". Then after that never happens, and the owner passes away, the family has no real idea what they have, and sell it to the first guy with cash money who usually just flips it. And then the car sits again. Keep posting the build. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Very cool!

 

I'm sure the car ran Puyallup back in the day because of where it was found. Out of respect for the previous owner, I won't say exactly where it came from, but it rolled out of a very nondescript shop behind a very nondescript house just southeast of Tacoma. Probably ran Shelton and Bremerton too.

 

Hope to see it at Toutle this summer.

 

could I ask about the exhaust....maybe a picture.....do they have long tubes to a collector or ?

 

Got the Coupster home this morning:


And just for a laugh, I threw one of my other projects on top of the block, for a laugh, or not...

 

Come hell or high water, this thing will be making a pass or few there in August

The exhaust is Belond style tube headers feeding straight back into tubes that run to the rear of the car through a pair of "cute" little glass packs. Just under the cowl are big dumps with block-off plates.

Street Roadster Class rules (from the 1958 NHRA book) stated, "Must be equipped with mufflers suitable for street use. Headers, with a maximum of two head pipes per car, will be permitted, but exhaust system shall be so constructed that mufflers remain on car at all times. Header plugs or by-passes may be open during competition."

 

That's a very neat car!

 

@stillrunners here's a pic...

 

Coupster fun ! ...

 

Borrowed the headlights of my Tub, and threw the hood on for some mockup fun...


...not to worry guys. These headlights are far too big and early for the car. I'm on the hunt for some small King Bees and early aluminum stands.

 

Sure don't know where you get an "A" class with that "Coupster" in Street Roadster.

The motor is not an "A" in any association I remember.

And a "Coupster" allows more driver set-back than a Roadster -- so probably not legal for Street Roadster in most associations.

Why not call it an AA/BGAlt?

 

I am going off of the 1958 NHRA Rulebook, which is probably the year in which this car was last competitive and/or run seriously (the roll bar is questionable for meeting even the '58 requirements). This car was almost certainly built for the early iterations of the Street Roadster class, it has the specified "full" exhaust, and has wiring for head and tail lights and has brackets for fenders telling me that they were there at one time.

Prior to 1960 there were only two classes in SR, A for less than 6.59 lbs/cubic inch and B for cars above 6.60 lbs/cubic inch. Being that this car ran a 284ci flathead, and it clearly doesn't weigh more than 1874 lbs, that puts it in A/SR.

It wouldn't fit into the Altered or Modified Roadster classes as it doesn't have the engine setback that would place it into those classes as they were at the time.

 

I agree the class "A" distinction is incorrect, with un-blown Flathead on gasoline, it would have been C/SR. However, as far as removal of the top, this is from my 1964 NHRA Rulebook. Great Project, I will be looking for it at Toutle !

 

Here's the 1958 NHRA rulebook:

 

As you can see, the classes as most guys came to know them were really in their infancy in the mid '50s. Specifically to our case, there were only three classes where an open bodied car could run, Roadster, Modified Roadster, or Street Roadster, and in those classes there were far fewer engine classes. C/R, C/SR, or any other Flathead/Inline specific classes didn't show up until 1960.

 

WOW!!

 

And just incase you don't believe that a Coupster wouldn't have run in SR, check this out...


Bearing in mind that this '32 Three-Window with its top lopped off, is pictured in at least 1961 based on the cars in the background and the C/SR designation which came out in the 1960 season.

 

Well, my Street Roadster ran in the C class in 1955.

And running a chopped-up coupe with more driver set-back is certainly changing the body "contour". But, then again, I saw flat black painted cardboard scattershields in that period, too.

 

And, "Hi, Marty!"

Sure enjoyed visiting with you at Wendover a few years ago in the casino parking lot.

 

Wow, that's a great find.
Glad it went to a Hamb home.

 

Speaking of 1955, this shot is from that time period. I really enjoyed our visit at Wendover, we also took your "Sage" advice, and switched to smaller front tires, lowered and enclosed the roll cage on the Roadster. Thanks !

 

Having not been there myself, I can only go off of what printed material that I have available to myself. My NHRA books don't show a C class in roadsters until 1960, but that doesn't, by any means, mean that there wasn't a C class in other bodies or local associations.

The newest parts that we could identify in the car were the firewall mounted master cylinders, which are 1952 Ford. I also got a "Tonneau Cover" for the car that covers the gap between the seat and where the trunk sheetmetal starts. This cover doesn't have provision for the roll bar, so we assume the bar was the last thing added, to comply with the rule changes, before this car was hung up. Based on those facts, I date the car's state to somewhere in the 1956-58 timeframe, and so I used the '58 NHRA rulebook to "assign" the class designation.

If anyone that was there, or who is just more knowledgeable than me, can help more accurately help identify this car, I would gladly, and humbly, take anything they can give.

 

Just for reference . . . here's mine when I first saw it in 1956 . . .