History For the "old guy's", who built the 1st "funny car"?

I believe the term " Funny Car" came from the altered wheelbase A/FX cars, which I think were Mopars. The first tube chassis all glass body car was Pellegrini's Mustang, which is now the modern day funny car. I helped build this car which was a fuel altered chassis with the roadtser body removed and the glass Mustang body mounted to that chassis. This was also the start of Ron Pellegrini and Chuck Vesley's company, Fiberglass Ltd.

 

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Well that's news to some of us...I'm always happy to be educated by some of you who are equipped with your magazines and DVDs.

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Gas' stock wheelbase Mustang was a Holman Moody-Performance Associates, not the long-nosed one in the photo....looks again
The term "funny car" and it's origin will never be known or proved.

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Here's what Ron Logghe has to say:
Ron Logghe remarked that they literally introduced the coil-over design to the racing industry, still a standard design today in many racing applications. MMSHOF Inductee Al Bergler did all the interior tinwork on the Logghe Bros. cars. The Logghe Brothers customer base over the years has been a virtual who’s who of Drag Racing: Maynard Rupp, Dyno Don Nicholson, Fast Eddie Schartman, Jack Chrisman, Connie Kalitta, Butch Leal, Bill Lawton, Bruce Larson, Gene Snow, Roland Leong, Don Schumacher, Mr. Norm’s Grand- Spaulding Dodge, Jungle Jim Liberman, Gas Ronda, Tommy Grove, the Ramchargers, Roger Lindamood, Al Bergler, Terry Hedrick, Jay Howell, and many, many more. While the racing chassis component of Logghe Stamping was discontinued in 1975, the company lives on to this day, along with Ron’s son Dan, and Gene’s son John serving as Vice Presidents.

A/FX Mustang


Funny Car


next question?

 

What is your name?
What is your quest?
What is the capital of Assyria?

 

That car was built by Landts brother

 

Grants tomb and the War of 1812...

 

Chrisman Comet-nitromethane- nitromethane=Funnycar, gotta have NITROMETHANE to be a REAL FUNNYCAR !! Chrisman Comet, first Funnycar !! Chris

 

If you want to use the definition of Funny Car as being Tube frame, Fiberglass Body then my dad was the first , it was early 1963 I helped him make molds off his Model A I was 9 years old at the time he would have me mix resin and wet out the mat and we layed it up over the steel Model A. I recall waxing the mold over and over so we could make the first body. He ran the car from 63 to around 68. I just recently took the molds out of storage. Gartlits ordered one for the Museum ; Regards Rick Jr

 

Okay, we've beat this horse all around the corral but haven't mentioned where "funny cars" came from.

Anyone else remember '60's "Match Races"?? I remember reading an article that said the rules were "Let's all be gentlemen and not look too closely under the hoods."

Started out as new cars with big engines, then bigger engines, acid dipped fenders, etc, and generally trying to "out cheat, I mean out think" the other guy.

Sometime in the '60's at Amarillo Dragway I saw one of those fastback Barracuda's with a fueler engine in it. Smoked the tires the full quarter but went faster than any other full bodied car had.

So they generally evolved, one little "innovation" at a time until the sanctioning bodies wrote some rules and standardized them.

But up til then there was some great grudge racing.

 

now heres some more shit, can any of you michigan guys tell us the name and owner of the buick, yes buick funny that was in the gilmore museum during the drag racing display a couple years ago? if i remember, it was claimed to be the first funny. i have a pic somewhere i think. dam cant remember the name, car was red.

 

sorry guys i googled it, it was the only buick funny body! 1967, cars name was called Ingenue. i will shut up.

 

Consider this as first funny car. 1963 Nova

 

I would say it was the ramchargers with the high and mighty. The articles on the car state how the wheelbase was altered to play with weight distribution for testing and experimental purposes.

 

ok i just realised i was beat to the punch on this one. lol by a couple of years. but to me, this was truly the 1st funny car

 

This one didn't even cross my mind, but I'm pretty sure you guys nailed it. For sure it was funny looking, then and now.