It would be interesting to see when this ad came out. I read it thinking it was most likely after the 71 rule change and was converted to MP as well.
So, we are left to speculate on the significance of the mention of the Olds rear end in the ad? That one will just get added to the expanding list of mysteries that will follow Junior Stock into eternity. Using an Olds or Pontiac housing, while being relatively obvious to even casual observers, would have eliminated one of the weak links in the Tri-Five line-up. I suppose that an obvious question would be, since the sedan delivery was classified as a truck, did it have the freedom to up-grade the rear axle and still fall within the boundaries of the rules? I recall investing a significant amount of my limited resources in aftermarket axles and a billet steel retaining cap on the driver's side of the carrier in the Corvette housing because the stock axles had such a limited life span. c
^^^^^ I've sunk a fair amount of money into the "stock" rear end in my 56 Sedan Delivery, "Psuedo-Junior Stocker". It's a street car, but I've used as many old "race parts" as I can find, along with a few new/aftermarket parts. I have a pair of billet rear end caps, with stronger bolts, that I actually found on E-Bay (really rare!), new Yukon axles, the later Positraction carriers with the larger spider-pinion trunnions, 7 leaf rear springs, and traction bars. One of the biggest issues to control with these rear ends is spring wrap up (wheel hop); the loading and unloading of the rear ends added to breaking, what really is, a fairly weak setup for racing, and even on the street with any kind of power or sticky tires. I decided not to use the 57 Olds housing and Eaton Positractions/Tracklocs I had collected, along with an old pair of Summers Brothers axles, so I sold everything about a year ago. I wanted to keep the car as close to "stock appearing" as I could. Aubrey Bruneau of Bruneau Performance in Canada, used to make a spool for these rear ends, but he has quit doing that. He still makes the rear end cap support kits, and sells a few other parts for them. I've gotten to where I buy up every Positraction third member I stumble upon; I'm trying to add yet another 4.88 Positraction to the horde of three 4.88 Positractions, and a 5.13 equipped Positraction. It seems most of these Positractions I find, are leftovers from someones former race car, and the gearing is't too "street friendly". As the Sedan Deliveries were built, licensed, and titled as trucks, would there have been the possibility of using a truck rear end, similar to the loophole of allowing Hydros in the Sedan Deliveries? I wonder why that was't attempted? There were only two factory gear ratios available for them, a 3.90 and a 4.10. I doubt the aftermarket would have made any lower gears for such limited use, but it would have been a stronger rear end, especially with full floating axles. Was there even a Positraction available for those rear ends back then? ^^^^^ Anyway, keep this thread going guys!!!!! I also have a pair of Power Pack heads I bought a few years back, that were supposed to have been used on the Mr. ZIP 57 Sedan Delivery. I'd researched the machine shop markings on them in a thread I posted here on the HAMB. They'll be going on the 57 block 265, along with a factory dual quad setup, and one of my own built aluminum Powerglides. Like I said, a "Pseudo-Junior Stocker". I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Butch My high school 57 would break axles with a stock 283/4 speed and street tires, I can't imagine how those ever lived on the dragstrip. About 1970 one of our local street heroes had a legit 327/365 hp with 4 speed in a 56 sedan. I seem to recall it also having 4.56's, but the old memory is starting to get foggy.
I had a racecar that had previously been 427 SOHC powered, it had a nine inch rear with Henrys' axles that looked like that and he told me they were known for that and wouldn't twist any farther.
Chuck , Could it have been Super / Stock in 1972, by the time that add came out? Somewhere along in there, any rear was allowed in S/S. You remember, The Hardy Boys had a Dana 60 in SS/U in the 70's ? Just a thought.
Those are "Chubby Checker" axles...... "Come on baby, let's do the twist". I wonder if the splines had't been cut so far UP the axle, they might have been a little stronger; or possibly just broke where they stopped engaging the side gears. Junior Stockers were limited to a 7" wide slick, and track prep was nothing like it is today; they'd probably be snapping them right and left today. The average Junior Stock Class guys were using mostly stock parts, and probably had several pairs of spare axles and third members. I'm glad NHRA has finally, once again, allowed the Tri-Five Chevrolet's, and some other cars, back into Stock. I sold my single 4 barrel, 55 intake, to a guy in California building one. I personally have't seen any however; anyone else? Pics? I am Butch/56sedeandelivery.
Butch, I think that you answered my original question by asking about the "truck" housing. If you had never even heard that sedan delivery with truck housing was produced, there's practically no possibility that the combination ever existed. I'm sure that you know a great deal more about sedan deliveries than I'll EVER know. I do, however, remember some gasser type tri-fives in this area that had the full floating rear assemblies so some sort of gears must have been available. They would have been hard to miss in the day. The appearance is very distinctive. Posi? Who needs a posi? Just weld up those spider gears and drop the hammer! Sounds as if your car will be a blast to drive. Good luck, c
They didn't live on the dragstrip. The recipe that I followed included axles and rear cap support from Henry's Machine in Bellflower, CA and that solved most of the problems. At one time or another I had gear ratios between 4.56 and 5.38. Broke more axles with the 4.56 than any other. Much later, while running a '64 Impala in Stock Eliminator with the same rear set-up, we broke all the gears we had but the axles survived. Finally pulled the motor and sold the shell of the '64 to Pick-a-Part for $8. c
Mark, sorry I missed your question last week. I'm up to my neck in jury duty and I haven't had much leisure time for surfing. I suppose that the Mr. Zip ad could have antedated the Purge of '72. I never saw the car and was only peripherally aware that Mr. Zip was a player "back east." I originally responded to the wording of the ad because the Olds rear end was included. That one sort of stuck out as an anomaly. Nice to see the Monte running so well! I'm sure that you've having a blast1 c
Val Heradworth & Crader again but different different again Just Val Heradworth Watchamacallit Wilson Automotive
Ran a 59 Biscayne 283/185 4 speed in the late 60s with 4.56 posi. Ran it for 15 months and never broke a thing. We then broke 6 in a row never leaving the starting line and called it good
George Chaltin's 57 Ford Skyliner was runner up at the 59 NHRA Nationals in Detroit. The rules changes and the weight of the Skyliner dropped the car into lower classes. George won his class at the NHRA Nationals in Indy 2 or 3 times, and won a lot at the tracks around the Chicago area. He later was an advisor to the Tom Coward "Tom Cat" AFX Comet team.
What was the approximate shipping weight on a '57-'59 retractable? One of my neighbors had a couple of those cars and they HAD to be heavy. I don't have a Class Guide that includes those cars. Kentuckian?? I'm sure that you have it. c
My old NHRA red book Classguide shows the shipping weight for the 1957 retractable with biggest engine and automatic trans was 3999, 1958 was 4140, and 1959 was 4270. I will say that it was very hard to get a Ford from back then down to shipping weight as I saw some of the Fords as much as 400 lbs over shipping weight. For a comparison, I had a 1957 Chevrolet 4dr station wagon back then that I played with in T/S. I only removed the heater and radio to get the car down to shipping weight.
How often to we get to see a custom on the strip. posted by straykatkustoms in the custom thread Starbird worked his magic on this El Camino. Pictures by Gary Glasgow at the Wichita air strip turned into drag strip.
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