Features Corvette hot rods - picture thread

Some more .
Got to go...just heard "Riders Up"

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Interesting that the above article says that the Matney Brothers car was a highly modified Vette. Anyone have better pictures where this could be verified or an article on the car that would verify it??

 

Hope you guys don't mind a little Corvette humor on a Sunday morning.

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Jim I found this picture of the car and it just says it's a 427 Chevy powered A/Modified Sports entry.
And won its class in the 67 NHRA World Finals.
It's in the thread on Jalopy Journal under History, Drag cars in motion, and its a post by Loudbang post #52952?
Terry

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Terry I have a number of pictures of the car but none seem to confirm it has any real Corvette DNA. If the front suspension was the clumsy Corvette cradle then it may be so claimed. I would be very surprised if it was a highly modified Vette since most of the early AM/SP had the option of going with a light chassis and a number of them chose Devin type bodies with a light chassis. Possible I suppose and in a way I would hope I am wrong as it would be a strange combo to me with the heavier Vette underpinnings.

 

Here is a picture from the Sports Car thread with what I believe is the class run offs at the U.S. Nats in 67 between two AM/SP front runners. Kanners in the Midwest car won and went on to win Street Eliminator (with Neil Ellis driving possibly in that final). If you look in the Larry Davis Gasser Wars book you will see the Midwest car is referred to as a 57 Vette. I have seen the reference elsewhere and we have discussed the car on this forum. I even asked Ron Reader who sponsored the car why it was referred to as a 57 Vette without any definitive answer. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes not. I do not believe either of these cars have any real Corvette DNA. As funny as that is Ron Reader told me they pulled the 427 out of the 57 Vette they were running at the event (the black Widwest car) and put it in this car and maybe that caused the confusion. Wish I could find out more on the Matney car. I actually may have something in my files and have not found it yet. Will keep looking myself.

 

Jim,
I think the Midwest car in the above photo is a one off that was actually built by one of the Logghe bros as a senior project for college. There is a 'barn find' type thread on here about it.

As far as the other car is concerned; The rear quarter looks like it could be Vette. The nose reminds me of something that was available as an aftermarket piece, but not in it's entirety. The pic you posted seems to have a light weight front suspension compared to the Corvette stuff.

 

Bruce I agree with what you say but it was difficult for Vettes to be competitive in AM/SP based on the class requirements and weight breaks etc. They were much more competitive in BM/SP on down when they had that many classes. If I was to take a way back machine and wanted to run AM/SP, I would more than likely build a lightweight chassis and put a lightweight fiberglass body and make it advantageous within the weight breaks. There were some BM/SP Corvettes that went with supercharging that moved them up a class into AM/SP and then maybe they could be competitive-soemwhat. Sam Parriott was so competitive in AM/SP for a reason.

 

Jim,

I'm no authority on those cars. Just looking at the pics to see if they could have been Corvettes. Did the M/SP cars have to have the original suspension for the body type?

Just in case you want more info on the Midwest car,
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-would-you-pay-for-these-halibrand-wheels.998406/

Not sure if it was ever decided that this was actually the Logghe car, but I believe that that's what the evidence points to.

 

No they did not. Actually M/SP and Altereds had the same rules and when M/SP ended around 67 the cars morphed into Gas class which was wrong because M/SP had a 25% engine setback and Gas had 10% the where finally put in Altered.

Pat

 

Bruce, I have gone back and forth on the Midwest car and recently spoke to Ron Reader again without a definitive answer on the car. In my research, I have stumbled on a very similar looking car that was built by Logghe some years prior so I am starting to sway towards it being a Logghe. I try not to throw all my eggs in one basket so I have not come to a complete conclusion but pretty close.

Without getting too long winded, the first use of the sports classes really only had modified sports (they called it sports but allowed any modification to the engine for one thing) and it evolved to having true sports, which was really the stock class for Corvettes. Modified sports was pretty much a wild west show in a sense. In the late 50s the class was determined by cubic centimeters so you saw the bigger Lincoln and Caddie engines in somewhat lighter configurations. In 1960, then there was a both a modified sports class with reference to size of engine by cubic centimeter and the new sports class which was shipping weight per advertised horsepower-so pretty much a stock type class. In 61, Modified sports changed to weight per cubic inch. The frames could be stock, altered or tubular. They had a choice as to their suspensions as well.So the optimum car starting in let's say 61, when the class made a little more sense, would dictate the least amount of weight with the largest engine displacement within the class rules. The lightweight Devins, or similar bodies with a engineered lightweight chassis that allowed weight displacement where you wanted it (possibly in the rear of car to aid in traction for instance) gave the homemade AM/SP specials a leg up IMO.

Not many Vettes won early on in AM/SP or AAM/SP; some yes possibly in local runoffs but not many The Placke Chevy 62 Vette pictured above was a cool car that I wished did better but even supercharged he did not win any big meets that I am aware of-I still am a real fan of the car as he had the gumption to give the big boys a run for their money in a sense.

 

Pat as a follow up the guys that had 25% setback were placed in altered I believe after the 67 season. The guys that chose to run 10% were allowed in gas. As you know yourself, 67 was somewhat of a pivotal year in that guys building cars knew with the Goodyear Blue Streaks and the M & H newer compounds that they did not need the weight distribution as they thought they did early on. The front suspensions came down and 10% setbacks became the exception and not the rule.

I have told before that I watched guys with 25% setbacks and never saw a good run with a Corvette with that much setback. Once again there probably were some good runs but 25% created a different animal. In my recent conversation with Ron Reader I asked him why their 62 Vette never stuck around and he told me it had 25% setback and liked to turn left on the big end pretty much on its own. I still would like to find the car in an old barn for sure. Here is the 62 I speak of.

 

In the earlier picture of the car that I posted you can see the car has a straight, dropped, axle with parallel springs in the front.

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Terry I agree it appears to be a straight axle. If it had the stock cradle then maybe I may believe it may be a modified Vette frame/chassis but the whole chassis design is not very good to begin with. Anyone that wanted to win I assume would go another direction IMO.

 

Found this in a January 1968 Super Stock & Drag Illustrated magazine. Still no mention of it being a Corvette.

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Anyone going big block?

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From the days when it was ok to cut them up .

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Open air.

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Pic from set of upcoming movie FORD V. FERRARI set for release November 15. Willow Springs I think.

https://jalopnik.com/ford-v-ferrari-showcasing-the-1966-battle-at-le-mans-1834592478

 

Inside the service department of "Corvette Mike", Burr Ridge, Il.

 

Note the snow tires, something you might have seen in days gone by but not for many years now.

 

Imagine seeing snow tires on the front of someone's Honda

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I haven't seen snow tires on a 'vette in four decades. Ah, the days when these were
still daily drivers.

 

Launch.

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