Thanks that answers my guestions. I was hoping it still belonged to the same owner. It couldn't be in better hands Craig does fantastic work. Ron
The car looks really great. I spoke to the owner who certainly has a passion for the car. He told me he may take it to York and may even run it. I asked him if it would still turn 12s and he told me he thinks it would. I told him he should also take it to the Meltdown but I am not sure he is familiar with it. Would be great to see this car out at shows and meets.
Yes that's right about York. I just got off the phone with Craig Ive seen that car in his back storage room for many years. Had no idea he had finished it a big congratulation was in order. On the time slip I'm thinking mid 11s. Ron
Just got home from Detroit and seeing this car was the high light of the show for me. Talked to Craig for awhile,really nice guy by the way, and he told me he was coming to York so he could put Mr. Ripes back in the seat.
A Corvette was required to meet the same shipping weight requirement with an aluminum transmission as with a cast iron. Of course, there is an advantage in putting the weight in a more optimum location but the car is still pulling the same amount of total weight. There was no provision in the rules for a weight box so weight had to be added in specific ways and had to be disguised and/or secreted carefully. I remember scrounging through the attic for my folding soft top in order to make weight with an aluminum glide. c
No doubt they had to make 2827 pounds to be legal for class. My 57 Vette weighed in at 2744 on a 2737 minimum for a stick car back in 1963. If I had only been smart enough to go to a glide when I was offered a sponsorship on my 57 two door post car I would have been famous, instead of just being rich and good looking. Luckily I did finally wise up and found that my 67 wagon was much faster with a glide than a four speed, plus it broke a lot fewer parts.
Does anyone know the history of the car as to what happened to it after it was raced by Marv? Was it put back on the street?Please fill us in. thanks.
Lyn, Tony Janes knows at least part of the history of the 'Vette and Gary Glover may as well. I don't think that it was "streeted" but it surely dropped out of sight for a lot of years. It was my understanding that it went first to Texas but I could be wrong. I've heard that the '57 two-door wagon that was built after the 'Vette is still somewhere in western Pennsylvania, still with the same paint job. John, Is that a California "black plate" on your car? I still have pictures of the black plates on my '57. That license plate number will be imprinted on my brain until they slam the lid on the box. Bayboar, I had to be careful about "doctored" spares. I usually raced alone and I couldn't afford my own cherry picker to hoist a "loaded" one in and out of the tire well. Also, if I recall accurately, for most of the early years I had to flat-tow and it was imperative to carry a working spare for the race car in the event of a tire problem on the road. It's mostly from the vantage point of 50 years down the road that things "back then" looked so much simpler. I think that was mostly an illusion. It is my theory that we tend to complicate our lives to a certain degree and then maintain that level for as long as we can stand it. Then, we quit caring. c
John, understand when being alone it would have been impossible to remove the spare as it took 2 of us get it out of the well! As for your theory i believe I have reached the point of not caring anymore about the things in life that made it complicated the past 40 years and that is the reason I enjoy this thread as it brings back memories of what i believe was a simpler time all those years ago. Keep this thing going
I talked with Craig at length about the car as well. Super nice man. This car was certainly a highlight at the show for me as well. Craig didn't get into the history of the car after it's short racing history with our conversation, but he told me that he purchased the car back in the early 80's with the understanding that it was an original "fuelie" w/powerglide trans equipped car (very rare, about 200 or so were made, i think he said) and with intention to be totally restored. After researching the car prior to resto, he discovered that it wasn't a fuelie car but rather originally equipped with 270hp (dual quad) and three speed. Craig went on to say, that being that this car wasn't as rare as first thought, it kinda put the car on the back burner for him, turning him instead to concentrate on other projects, etc. Some of the cool details he went on to say, were that the rear chrome bumpers were original to the car and were filled with lead for extra hidden ballast! He said one of the hardest parts to locate was the vintage fuel cool-can! It's great that this Vette got restored as a drag car especially with it's awesome race history, rather than just another NCRS style restored '57 Vette. I certainly don't want to speak for Craig, but that's basically the story he told me at Autorama. I'm sure others that are Craig's close friends on this forum, can maybe elaborate and add details about this neat car a little further. Super congrats to Craig on doing the all the work himself to the car as well! He told me he only knows of 4 vintage pictures that exist of this car in original race trim and that made this resto quite a challenge! Bob
Sure is Chuck. I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Newport Beach summer of 63 and the Corvette was for sale in a local news paper. I bought it for 1800 dollars as you see it in that picture. I drove it back to Indiana. It had a 270 horse 283 and a three speed when i bought it. After i got it here back I had Ozzies Speed Shop build a blueprinted engine and I bought a Studebaker four speed, shortened the input snout, put 4.56's in the car and went street racing and drag racing at Osceola Dragway. Sadly, I sold the Vette to another drag racer that totaled it at Indy when he hit an oil slick left by a blown engine from the car that ran just ahead him. I kept the black plates for years and just sold them a couple of years ago on ebay. They're probably re-registered now since I brought the plates back to Indiana in 63. I never registered the car in my name till I got back to Indiana. The plates were only on the car in 63 and and some of 64 cause the local po-leece gave me a ration of chit for running the Cali front plate with an Indiana plate on the rear. The car was a local legend for years. Every once in a while I run into people that knew me back then that still ask about the car. Sure was a fun time.
Great story! I bought my '57 in South L.A. about a year later than that for $1100. It was painted black with a red cove, powered a 245 horsepower/3 speed combination. I bought it with the stated purpose of building a Stocker (at the time, a 245 horse or a 250 horse Corvette would have been a C/S car that needed to run about 13.00 to be considered competitive. I won my first class trophy with it at Fontana in the spring of 1964 in an A.H.R.A. class. I raced the car with a 4-speed (out of a GTO) regularly between 1964 and early 1967 but always in A.H.R.A. because Irwindale, Lions, and Fontana had switched sanctions. In that stage, the car was capable of running between 13 flat and 13.20 at Irwindale. After taking off a year, 1968-69, to go to graduate school, I came back to L.A. and started converting the car into a Junior Stocker. It was finished in time to enter the Winternationals in 1971 and we were lucky enough to bring home the I/S class trophy. I put a 'glide in the car during the summer of 1971 but NHRA wiped the Eliminator off the books at the end of the season and no cars older than 1960 were allowed in the new Stock Eliminator. The Corvette wasn't a viable platform for Super Stock so, sometime around 1973, I pulled the motor and transmission out of it and sold it as a roller for $1000. It was hauled away on a flatbed and, as far as I know, I've never seen it again although I never pass a '56/'57 without looking it over carefully. Those may have been simpler times but it never seemed like it to me. c
I remember the magazine write up. The car was a 56 that they changed the serial tag ( 2 screws) to that of a 57 , the dash mirror was also changed to 57 mirror. With the exception of the HT front moulding 56s and early 57s were the same. 56 and early 57s also didn't have the body bracing in the door jambs and under the dash that later cars had (weight). The rear bumpers and exhaust trim were filled with lead to help replace weight lost with the new trans . I think the body was "Block Sanded" with a cheese gratter or a sander to thin the body thickness (weight). The 283 would have used a 265 crank and rods as they had less mass ( there's that word weight again)
They may have used the 265(266 forging) crank. The rods were the same, 265 or 283. I weighed a bunch of those rods to come up with a lighter set with the smallest bottom weight pad for the most meat around the rod bearing. I can attest to the body tag story because my friend Gary Shelford borrowed the 56 body tag from John Dianna so we could run our 57 250 Glide Vette as a 56 with Gary's 56 225 hp engine and 3 speed, out of his 210 Del Ray, at the 71 Winternationals. Unfortunately we ran up against Herman Chapman and his 69 Chevelle with the 255 hp 350. What an underrated engine. He later changed over to the powerglide, this shot was at Lions. Anyway we not only got beat but also disqualified for being too light by 8 pounds, even with a spare tire, jack and nearly full gas tank. After the 71 Winternationals we put the Vette back to the 250 hp with the Rossi iron Powerglide with 2.19 low gear set. We didn't know about the superceded aluminum Glide. With that 2.19 low we could get Marv off the line but he always won. It's hard to beat a Joe Allread engine, especially with a motor built in 1966. This was our car as a racecar: I see that they used my uncropped picture from the 70 Supernationals on their Display Board. Must have gotten it from Doug. Here's the Stock Eliminator final from the 71 Winternational. Marv was runner up and blew the record down to 12.56. Kinda screwed us. Since he mentioned it, here's Chuck's Vette at the 71 Winters:
Hi Tom. I spoke with Craig, the current owner of the Dianna-Ripes Corvette for the first time 9 or 10 days ago. A friend sent me a few photos of the car from the autorama, along with Craig's contact info. As soon as I saw the restored car, I knew I had to include it in the new, "then and now" book. I immediately called Craig and it was at that time that he told me that he had pulled the photo, your photo from the Junior Stock book for his show board. Anyway, the car turned out beautiful with the majority of work, engine, chassis, interior and paint being completed by Craig himself. He passed along a number of professional shots for use in the new book. Thanks once again for the help you provided me. Doug
Thanks for keeping this Junior Stock thread chock full of photos of the old cars as well as the photos of the restored cars of this important era of Drag Racing. It surely was fun for me. I look forward to seeing some of these in York this year!
I'm thinking one of two places... Yellow River Drag Strip near Covington, Ga. but more likely Warner Robins Dragway just south of Waner Robins, Ga. in Houston county.
Nice write up on the Dianna/Ripes Vette on Hot Rods site. http://blogs.hotrod.com/paint-proje...es-57-stocker-vette-109457.html#axzz2wXtIlsjm
I saw the Dianna - Ripes Vette run in the early seventies at the Avilla In 1/8 mile in NE Indiana with new owner.
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