Event Coverage AHRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS NOV. 1962

Is the Wayne Calvert Willys that you were talking about? This one was a clipper (two door sedan) not a coupe.

 

You are absolutely correct, I meant Knighton, THANKS man!

 

OK...after all that effort, now you guys have to indulge me by looking at my old race cars...

 

That was definitely one of Wayne and his brother's Willys cars.
He still drives a '40 Willys around town nowadays!

 

Forgot to add one pic. My last race car build (not finished) before I was drafted.
The Vietnam War probably saved my life!
BTW, the blue TE-440 was stolen from a Dallas Bekins Van and Storage warehouse while
I was fighting for the freedom of the turds who stole it.

 

WOW THAT SUCKS! Thanks for your service! Gary

 

thanks for posting these! this was drag racing period! not the rolling billboards we have today.

 

Blackrat40 can you tell us a little about the cars that you had, maybe the engine and transmission combos that they had and the times that they ran at the track? Also I would like to hear some racing stories from back in the day. Thanks for doing this thread. I had never seen pictures of many of these cars before.

 

Thanks for your interest in real drag racing elgringo71. I can try to dredge up some stories that you
might like from as far back as 55 years ago when I was 16. How about stories in nightly installments?
Hot rodders at my high school, in Dallas, would do street drags in a close by industrial district with a
half mile and no cross streets. We called it "3M" because that company was at the far end of Santa Anna St.
that we raced on. One night, after putting 3 new rebuilt 97's on my '34 pickup, I went to 3M to try it out.
After running it hard ('48 Ford flathead w/3-2's) I began to pump the brakes as I sped toward the end
of the street. I had a poorly rigged swing pedal which the clevis pin fell out of when I pumped it. I was
rapidly approaching the end of the street and RR tracks, that looked like a ramp to launch me into a major
road (Garland Rd.). All I could think of was to floor it and force it into 2nd gear('39 Ford topshift). I never
heard that flathead wind that high before but it slowed me down enough to swerve into the 3M parking lot
on 2 wheels instead of being launched into the busy cross traffic. After idling around the parking lot a couple
of times, with my heart pounding, I stopped and replaced the clevis pin and was on my way! Oh to be 16 again!

 

OK...Check new post

 

Man that's cool.

 

Mickey failed to tell you that after he replaced the clevis pin,,he went home and replaced his underware...

 

Oh, the way it was. Loved the photos and stories. Thank you!

 

Always loved those scoops myself! They were available at Ford parts dept. w/chrome grill for $19.50!
A very nice touch on the dark '37-'39 AM/G Willys coupe.

 

I want to say "no shit" ...but that would not be accurate! ; >)

 

That is a great story blackrat40. That is why I am here for the history of the way it was from the people that lived it. I got infected with the hot rodding disease at a very young age because of my dad. Here he is in the 60s with the 40 Willys coupe that he built in the Houston area. It ran a 327 with a Muncie 4 speed with a 10 percent setback built to gasser rules. They would shift it at 7200 and the weak link was the 55 Chevy rear end. At one point my uncle put a Rochester fuel injection unit on it and got it running good, no easy feat and went looking for 409s to try it out. I have to get my uncle to tell me the story because I just heard about this from my dad.

 

I would say your dad was "the real deal" elgringo! Note steel wheels like all us poor boys ran.
I plan to add another story tonight. It's time for my afternoon nap right now.

 

I am particularly intrigued by the hemi powered T captioned w/2 frames. Looks to me like the lower frame is actually long hairpins that terminate at the rear axle housing. Perhaps an effort to get a lot of weight transfer by lifting the front of the car on launch without lifting the front tires and losing steering. Just a guess. Looks like the sort of homesteader thinking/solution that I would come up with.

 

Can anyone tell me what brand or style of front wheels this Anglia is running? I have seen them on several period cars but can't seem to positively Identify them.

Thanks!

 

Look like VW

 

You have pretty much described how this car was designed and how it acted FabberMcGee.
The front part of the car would come up dramatically with the front wheels remaining on the ground.
The car was a very hard charger and pretty much dominated it's class.

 

Those are stock Anglia wheels Fuelaltereds4life. If you scroll back up to the pic of my black primer C/A,
you will see the same front wheels.

 

Great stuff!, Thanks for sharing.

 

Looking back at the picture of my '34 Pickup, it's hard to believe that me and my brother Eddie
(on the left in the above pic of me with my B/G '40 Ford Cpe.) had 2 girls on our laps in that
small cab! I could only steer and work the pedals while Eddie shifted the '39 topshift between the
girls legs.
Speaking of "2 man operated vehicles", Eddie had a fenderless '32 Ford Cabriolet Roadster with a
331 Caddy engine w/'39 Ford topshift(the choice of "low buck" hot rodders) that he bought, running,
for $125. '32 Fords were cheap in those days('61) as only about 5% of guys were into hot rodding.
Eddie's roadster was maybe the first "Rat Rod" as it was a dangerous piece of junk that required 2
people to drive it. The frame was cracked where the steering box mounted and it moved around.
The 2 bolts that hold the steering column to the dash were snapped off so the steering column had
to be held up by the driver while trying to steer. The throttle was a rod sticking through the firewall,
about knee high, so the driver had to hold his leg straight out(no foot rest) to push the throttle.
Since both of Eddie's hands were occupied, holding the steering column up off his lap, that left the
shifting duties up to me! One day we decided to have a go at a '56 Chevy. We were taking him until
Eddie yelled "shift" and I hit 2nd gear. The hood (which had no side panels) shuddered a couple of
times and then "whoosh" it shot back over our heads(no windshield of course).
Other famous features of the roadster was a block of wood under the passenger side engine mount.
Under hard acceleration the engine would raise and the block would slip out of place allowing the
crank pulley to rub on the front cross member when you let off the gas and the engine settled back down
shooting an arc of sparks in the air. We carried a sharp shooter spade shovel in the back (provided by
the previous owner) to place between the frame rail and the exhaust manifold to raise the engine and
put the block back in place. Seat belts...???...we had heard of those things but had never seen any!
Unbelievably, when Eddie went off to college, our mom gave his roadster to some guys to get it out
of her garden. ARRRRRRGH!!!!! Sorry...no roadster pic.

 

Incredible set of pictures, thanks for sharing!!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the pic's. I really enjoy all of your pic's too!
I envy your time in the L.A. area during the best days of drag racing!
I was stationed at the NAS in LeMoore,CA. in '65. I got to leave a little Texas mark in East L.A.
I went home one weekend with a Mexican guy from L.A. and built a 292 V8 for his '55 Chevy hardtop.
We spent a night freezing broke down on the ridge route when the original engine threw a rod.
It was a green and white Bel Air with a "wicked" lope. He was the guy to beat in his side of town.
Cheers (BTY, how did you end up in Alabama?)

 

Very cool story, yes the ridge route could get cold, broke down there myself one March night towing Nick Van Wagner's fuel Chrysler dragster back from Bakersfield....

I teach at the Air Force's Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery...but still miss LA (I have a Mexican-American colleague who grew up in Boyle Heights in East LA, will have to ask him about the '55.)

 

We're definitely a family with greasy hands linked that span this great land!

 

I was at the Valley in '62 with James and Larry Spray,, They ran a metallic brown Anglia with blue plexiglass windows and no lettering on the car. Injected 377 sbc A/Gas. Possibly the third picture in post 2. I was fresh out of the Army at Fort Hood and worked at Spray's Garage in Killeen. The head work on the engine was done by Hands in Austin and balanced by Calvert in Denton.

 

Good to hear from you Earl! Texas was a hot bed for gassers in the early 60's. My best friend at the time, Jesse Measles, was running a red B/G Anglia at the time with his partner James Beach.
I have a short 8mm video I'm working on getting loaded here.
I worked in J&J Auto Parts engine shop, with the senior Mr. Beach. I was a machinist running the milling machine,
running a STORM-VULCAN BLOCKMASTER. (Cool name for an awesome machine)and doing all the piston
work. Also working in our shop was Joe Athey(B/G '39 Studie 2 door w/327 & Muncie) and the infamous "Tinker".
Cheers...MickeyD