Projects Replica of the Ivo's Showboat dragster

The valve covers were also recast off one of the originals. Since the motors were empty, the shrinkage that occured by recasting off and original instead of the pattern really didnt matter and by just shifting things around a little was able to make them work.

 

The cost to try and make it run would be so high that it would not be prctical (beleive me it was disscused) for a few moments of run time as the drive line wouldnt hold up to todays concrete and vht tracks, even tho one could wet the tires down, if one tire dried out it would be a disaster. One thing to reliese is that all four tires did not smoke , It was only the front two (different gear ratio) and the smoke carried back to the rears. If all four tires smoked it would be like driving on ice.But the illusion is there and thats what people remember. Ivos last trip in the car (wagonmaster) he hit a bumpn on the track and crushed a couple of vertibra that he still feels the effects of today. Let it and him rest, they both deserve it.

 

Even though it was all well before my time i've long been an Ivo fan. I just thought his cars were the coolest and I LOVE those Nailheads. The twin engine car is actually my favorite but that 4 engine monster is amazing! Some guys at work were just talking about it the other day. They couldn't believe some "kid" knew anything about it. LOL... heck, I knew more about that car and Ivo than they did. Hahaha

 

Pushing this one back to the top.

Anyone have any links to more pics of the clone? Construction photos? Google is useless for them. This is one of my all time favorite cars, i'd love to see how the replica was built!

 

I saw the replica at Ricky and Ronnies one night. The details were outstanding. I watch the Annette and Frankie movie just to see the car run.

 

I lost a lot of pic's with a major pc meltdown and the complete build is on read only cd , I will ask TV to get me a another cd so as to be able to post a few.

 

Ivo is a great guy. Made my day a few years ago when he invited me to his to his house to sign my roadsters dash while I had it apart for a rebuild. By the way the house he built on and lives in behind the house he bought in the late '40s is as beautiful as all his cars were.

 

Probably one of the toughest models to built when I was a kid!
But one of the coolest dragster ever built, and yes Tommy Ivo is a really nice guy!

 

WOW....Replicated or not.It looks to be an intense amount of work. Absolutely over the top !

 

thats it until I get ahold of Ivo

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Tommy in June at the SoCal open house. A really nice guy, down to earth and has some great war stories.

 

I remember seeing the Showboat at my very first drag race, my older brother took me to the old Ramona Drag Strip in North San Diego County (now long gone...) and there were plenty of stockers, a few altereds, and then...... I felt the ground kinda pulse and shake....here comes this THING with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR engines... and yes, he burned 'em all the way down the track...
I've never been the same since.
Mr. Ivo, with all due respect, and thanks, YOU are responsible for me becoming a gearhead hot rodder!!

Thank You.

 

Thank you so much! I was hoping you had some more pictures. Your work on the replica is outstanding. I've already learned a lot just in those you've posted. Really looking forward to seeing more!

 

dreracecar-Thanks for all of your hard work & $$ spent. Spoke to Tommy many years ago at the Oakland Roadster Show. People seem to forget that back then race cars were built, run and sold to fund the next one. As I remember the story, correct if wrong, he had sold the 4 engine rig and lost track of who owned it. He was trying to find it again. By chance while in LA he was going some place and missed his turn. Went down an alley way to get back to correct street and there sat his old car. like so many things, gotta be in the right place at the right time. a Big Thanks to Tommy Ivo for all he did for so many of us and the racing world. Yep, treats you like a long time friend.

 

Dug out some more

 

I am not even going to lie, I kind of like it more that it doesn't run. It is one of the most intricate sculptures out there. So how long did it take you to build it?

 

More pictures please........ Thanks!

 

Thats the biggest model I ever saw... I like lt....

 

I towed the original on my trailer to the Petersen for the Road Kings 50 anniversary display. As Ivo, Prudhomme and McCoury were all members.
Tom McCoury is the one who came up with the idea for the body. They were all friends but McCoury began driving when he showed up one day with a helmet and his best friend since he was 14, Prudhomme, did not.....lol
Tom is gone noe but he was one of my best friends and I miss him. The stories that Tom and Don told me about that car were many. The fun those three guys and the antics they pulled on the road and locally are legendary

 

I saw it run at Indy back in the day. Sure could "Fry"tires.
Those were the day's !!!!!! LOL

 

Here it is at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours. Some guy there tried to steal my Singlefinger jacket too, but I caught him...

 

I love this car and this thread! I know it's a longshot, but I've heard that Ivo has lots of really neat stories from his touring days. Is there any way on earth that one of you guys that actually know him could coerce him into becoming a member of the HAMB and sharing his experiences? Please don't take this the wrong way, but every single year, we lose a huge part of our hot rodding history when one of the pioneers passes on and takes his knowledge and stories with him. I for one wold give anything to hear or read some of these firsthand accounts and I'm sure everyone else would as well.

 

What a tribute to a great legend of our sport, one of the nicest people in drag racing Tom spent many an hour at the NHRA Museum to personally greet visitors and answer any and all questions , he was also a pretty good "leaver" in his prime !!

 

New to the site and I am a Model Builder and have just started a scratch built 1/8 scale model of Tommy Ivo's Showboat based upon photo's that I can find.. If anyone has good reference pictures that they can share I would really appreciate them if willing to share.
The intent is to be able to completely bolt as many parts as possible together and in the pictures below I am using 00-90 bolts. I have the four resin cast Buick Nailhead engines now all bolted together as a unit and setting on a temporary rail fixture.

This shows a detail of the fuel pump below the distributor. This like many parts are mirror imaged from left bank to right bank. The distributor is turned aluminum and the cap will be painted, center aluminum and bottom black.
For now the exhaust pipes are just roughed in and are in need of mounting flanges. They are 3/16" diameter bent tubing with top flanges formed with fine copper wire soldered on the ends and then hand turned using a countersink bit.
This is a great site and glad to find it while researching the Showboat. Here is a 1911 Model T board track racer, the engine is functional by turning the hand crank and drives the rear wheels, pistons and valves work.. The rear brakes work off the handbrake. Full steering and suspension. It can be completely disassembled down to major components.


Again thanks for any help I can get with reference photos.
Ken

 

Unbelievable workmanship! The T Speedster is a work of art.
You know that GMP did a 1:18 scale die cast model of the Showboat. The details on it are outstanding. One might clear up some of your questions.

 

Dean, Thank you! Yes, I have looked at their die cast model and some details are close but when compared to real car photos not quite accurate; an example being the sides of the quick change rear end and the taper on the axles. But still a very good representation of the car. In my builds I try to be as accurate as I can on the subjects I am modelling. I also purchased the Revel kit and it just plain wrong on some details like the oil pan. It seems if something was not clear they just filled in and got creative.

 

I DO NOT KNOW, how I missed this thread from years gone by! But, I will add a few "bits" of interest, at leastwise, to me, if not to anyone else.. I was in X-Ray School in Tyler, Texas 1982-84, at Tyler Junior College, and did my "clinical" at Medical Center Hospital (what it was called at the time). Ken Hall operated Tyler's I-20 Dragway and Hallsville's, Hallsville Dragstrip at the time, and he also owned a service station in Tyler. Big news in 83 on the local radio station was that Tommy Ivo was coming to town, along with his Showboat Dragster. I could't wait!!! Well, Tommy Ivo did't show up; it was Norm Day that did, and his name was very amateurish, added to the glass trailer carrying the Showboat. So, we all got to see Norm Day, along with his two cutie squeezes, his "crew", and that raccoon pelt he wore on his bald head. He made 3 passes that night; only one was actually a full run. One run he started out in the right lane, and finished in the left (???); only got a MPH on that run. Another run was full of "car/driver/tower issues"; truth was, they did't wipe enough kerosene on the tires, so they did't spin and make enough smoke. Car got traction and bogged itself down. Only one run was a start to finish, full run, in one lane. Still had me very happy to even see the car, let alone see it making runs. The "modern" sticky, Goodyear slicks were obviously way "pumped up", and the crew was "wiping the tires to clean them". They were in fact, wiping them down with kerosene, so the slicks would just spin a LOT, make a LOT of smoke, and provide all us spectators with a "show"; it was after all, The SHOWboat. Course the track announcer was really piling it on, blow-by-blow, building the crowd up, and earning his money for the night. And, the Showboat sat in the trailer for a couple more days at Ken Hall's service station to boost business there. I got around to as many Texas drag strips as I could in the two years I was there; of the five strips I made it to, only one is still in operation, Cedar Creek Dragway in Seven Points, Tx. Green Valley, I-20, Hallsville, and Kennedale, are all gone now. I tried to make it to Yello Belly, but could't get anyone to go with me, imagine that!
I got to see the Showboat do, what it was made to do; good memory! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I now have all the pictures from the build, including the ones I lost in the computer crash, the ones Ivo took during the build and some from other people. One of these days I will get around to posting them all

 

Wow!!! That would be awesome. I have been using the ones you have posted here as reference so far. Glad to hear you made out better on the replica build that the original. I will look forward to seeing more photos. By the way I live in Morro Bay a few hours north of you.