History 60s Funny Cars..Corvairs

The Corvair was one of the most famous cars of the sixties, but for the wrong reasons. Ralph Nader dubbed it unsafe at any speed, but Chevy's little rear motor experiment was speedy and successful when converted to a fiberglass shell and mounted on a funny car chassis. Thanks to Bill Pratt for the info

 

These pictures make me happy

 

I met a guy named Bob Shukert in Omaha in 1968 and he had a Corvair funny car. I remember feeling very claustrophobic sitting in that thing.

Anybody here remember him ?

 

i drive a 62 corvair monza 900 with a 140 in it as my daily.... its amazing how many people have never seen one or dont have the slightest idea what they are

i got it when i was in high school for 200 at the pomona swap meet and drove it home...=) 12 years later i dont think ive had to put another $200 in it

 

Guzman, (Ward) & Dekker ran the "Assassination" Corvair funny around here in the mid-to-late 60's...also ran an Gasser (or was it an Altered) MG roadster for a while...

Sorry, don't have any pix...

R-

 

Early "Assassination" picture-




Later, when it was lettered-

 

Well, they were funny cars. I love them. Definitely under-appreciated. I think if tuned right, they were quick , road-gripping cars even with the rear, air-cooled engine. Relatively fuel-efficient, too. I'd love to own one, but I don't think I'd fit too comfortably in one. I'm 6'5". Better than in a Honda or Saturn though!

 

From Manhattan, KS AHRA race in 1969.

 

A few more ............... ;-)

 

here you go-

 

i fit in mine ok im 6'2 255lbs.... but i do have some real low seats in it and the wheel is kinda on my balls.....

 

Neat drag cars...
I bought a '69 'vert last year....neat cruzin' car...
521 made !!

 

I have seen a pic of a steel 60-61 funny car too.
before the local wrecking yard crushed for good they had about 30 corvairs sitting around.
I never understood it, they would crush really good pristine stuff, and still there sat the corvairs, until one day it was all gone......

 

I love covairs I really want a 65 or 66 they are so much fun. Torn a few 110 motors apart in my day lol. Sucks nader and his book so many false things for a good car.

 

Here's the Doug's Headers car at The Original Irwindale

 

Thanx, 35window, for the pix of the Assasination cars...brings back a lot of memories...I used to work for the ad agency that handled all of CDR's advertising, programs, brochures, etc... I HAD to go to the races every Sunday at every trak around...!!!

R-

 

Great thread. I love these cars. I wanna buy a Corvair Funny Car body.
Keep 'em coming

 

This was one badass Corvair that Frank Pisano shoed, then Sush Matsubara drove it for the first time and destroyed it.

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The Southern Bros. from Denver bought it from Roger Guzman and ran it with the name "Bodacious" lettered on it,
I found it for sale and bought it for $900.00 and sold it to Alan Daum, Alan bracket raced it with the name "Illusion" on it, I later bought it back and sold it to a guy in Alton IL.
He parted the car out. The body ended up in a land fill
What a loss....

 

There was one brought to Australia as well. This is a major brain stretch, but I think it was a Machine Gun Kelly car. Or not?? Was a long time ago.

 

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NitroFC,
Thank you man.

 

This was the Doug Thorley Corvair FC, Pisanos bought, and Sush had an accident in...Bad ASS

 

Sush Matsubara and the Pisano Bros. ..an eyewitness account by Karl Stalcup

I had just arrived at the track when I heard, "This is Sush's first pass in a funny car—he's one of the premiere altered shoes in the business—now he's going to drive for the Pisano Brothers."

Needless to say, I ran for the rail on the spectator side, right at the starting line as the car fired up. The car was in the Spectator lane. Sush did an awesome burnout. The dry hop looked great. He staged the car. Green! He left hard, coming right up on the rear tires, carrying the front end past the tree. The front end came down about 200 feet out, and it was "Left Turn Clyde."

So ended the life of the strongest pure Chevy on the left coast. I have the impression in my mind of the Corvair being up on the right side tires only as it hit the pit side guardrail. Back of the mind going, "that's a different view of the car."

Sush got out of the car fine, but it was a sad ending for one of my favorite floppers.

In the aftermath of the crash, the ill-fated race car's bits and pieces were collected and loaded on a flatbed. That Sush Matsubara walked away from the crash is a tribute to the professionalism of the Pisano team, the track operators and the sanctioning body, who's safety standards and systems are often underappreciated by drag racing participants and spectators.

 

NitroFC Thanks!!! Corvairs and Black Oak Arkansas, priceless.

 

A pic of Malcolm Durham's Strip Blazer IV taken at Aquasco MD circa 1966.Body work in progress.

 

Yeah, Ralph Nader is a @&*&^#"%#@? SOB. Read somewhere that he never owned a car. Might never even have had a drivers liscense?

 

The Funny Factory will have Corvair bodies after the first of the year.

http://www.nostalgiafunnycarbodies.com/

 

The late Al Brown from Pennsylvania had a rear engine flip top bodied Corvair Funny Car it had "Island Dragway" lettered on the sides.
I think Bruce Larson may know where the car is.

 

Bob, didn't I hear that a few years ago Runyan's Blue Hell was found in MO and was being restored? What ever happened to it?