Features Corvette hot rods - picture thread

[QUOTE="racer-x, post: 13333412, member: 81868

Here is a picture from Street Machine Magazine of Howard’s Corvette and my Cyclone taken in Des Moines at the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals 1975. Back then his ‘vette shook up the troops, Blown & injected on the street! Note this is before he built the zommie header exhaust, it ran headers with big tubes and 4 mufflers.
(I still own the Cyclone, which is being rebuilt and will hit the streets again in 2020)
Jim

 

Thanks for filling in some of the blanks on the cars Jim. I prefer the vintage photos and keep an eye out for them but it’s getting tough to find ones that haven’t been posted here. Can you keep me in the loop on your Corvette book? I would like to get a copy when the time comes.


Thanks to everyone for making this thread such a good one.

 

Jason the book is a project and I can only devote so much time to it as I have a life and my attempt to get it right takes up a bit of time. I only wish I had a great deal of time to work on it as I enjoy research. I actually just finished a pretty rough draft of the 60s which is what my original focus was and when it is polished up a bit I may approve of it. The trouble is that I intended on a book on solid axle cars as they raced in the 60s, and touching a only a little bit on the late fifties and the 70s (not too many wins in the 50s and a pretty decent amount in the 70s for the limited number of classes, but not so much in the way of press reports in the 70s as I would like). I would love to do a real definitive work but that is not realistic with the research materials I have. I have to go back to the library and spend some time but have a bit on my plate right now. I have people tell me to buy old issues of National Dragster but that would be a pricey deal. I have bought a few issues but certainly not enough to include every old Vette.

Once I finished the rough draft of the 60s though, I started to feel guilty about the 70s and so I am scrambling to find enough material to include those solid axle diehards that continued to race solid axle cars in the 70s. When the NHRA did away with modified eliminator in 1981, many of the old solid axle cars that had been racing in the 70s were parked but a small few raced to success in the 80s. If I can include some of the greats in the 70s and maybe mention the diehards of the 80s I will be a bit more satisfied. At some point though I will have to say enough, I suppose.

I will keep plugging away at it for sure but for whatever reasons, life seems to get in the way of working long hours on it. Once I get the writing done then I will have to spend more attention on the pictures with permission in some cases, which is another major task facing me. When I think of all of the books written on the road cars and SCCA road racers etc and not even one book dedicated to the drag racers, tt helps to give me incentive to keep researching and writing. I'll get there one of these days. Thanks Jason.

 

It is interesting that drag racers found a way to race there. I have seen some people come on the HAMB to request information on high performance cars that they own now that raced there back in the 60s. I suspect that there were quite a few high performance cars that were bought there by GIs and this is where they had fun with them. I know a someone that bought a rare muscle car from the dealer when he was stationed there and he said there were several to choose from.

 

Nice!....

 

Yes, I think the edges of the cove has been 'peaked'. I think that's the term. Not digging the look, although I think it worked well when I did it to my fenders. I 'peaked' the center rib where there used to be a chrome strip and trimmed the headlight ring to fit.

 

P

please post some pics of the Comet on the 64/65 Comet thread...

 

Thank you LB. I love the Grand Sport.

Sent from my SM-N975U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Here's a couple of pictures of a friend of mines 1962 Corvette in 1975. This was the first Corvette I'd ever ridden in and drove. I kinda dug it! The 56 in the background belonged to another friend. We called it the "holstein" and it had a 331 sbc, T-10 trans, vertigate shifter, and a 4:10 posi. It'd get with it!

 

I definitely would not change a thing with the black 62!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Those 2 cars changed my life. For sure.

 

Nickey Chevrolet Purple People Eater And no it's not flopped that is how they lettered it.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

Nice launch from the blue one.

jp

 

JP The blue one is Granny Goose, I believe. The car is still around. Nice launch and nice car for sure. Always enjoyed watching Gianino. We pitted next to him at Detroit Dragway in 68 (maybe 69-memory sucks at times). I talked to him and his wife Heide and they were as nice as they could be to a young teenager they did not know from Adam.

I see this is when he had Ted Spehar's name on the rear quarter which may have been an influence to park this car shortly after this pic and jump behind a Mopar for a while.

 

Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The purple people eater used to belong to two locals, one being Chip Miller from Carlisle flea market. As I remember it was painted black and fairly rough. They autocrossed it and had fun until they realized what it was. I think the roll bar was the giveaway and they started checking serial numbers. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Corvette fanatics.

 

if this is not OK let me know and I will delete it

 

The backwards "K" is the Nickey trademark.

 

In my opinion the PPE driven by Jim Jeffords was one of the coolest early
Corvette road race cars ever.
Dave

 

Dave I agree. It would be a cool car to own and/or drive. Something about the look from every angle that is right on.

 

I was fortunate enough a few years back to work on the car getting it ready to go to Elkhart lake to be driven by Jim Jeffords (not in serious Competition)
Road testing the PPE was an absolute thrill.

 

I have never seen any Foresight Drag Mags that skinny as on the front of this. Has anyone else ever seen any or better yet someone have some in a chevy bolt pattern they might sell? I've only ever seen the deep offset like on the rear.