A Revisit with Tex Smith's XR6 - with pics

Cool box art!.... Thanks!

 

Done! Added to the photo gallery...


Another look at Tex Smith's XR6 | Mac's Motor City Garage

 

According to Tex, the GNRS trophy was so big that he ended up laying it down behind the couch in the living room!

 

I think its pretty cool that the car still exists today and its in like new condition.

Personally I never liked the car at all. To me its in its own category, not really a hot rod in my eyes. And it doesn't fit in the crazy show car theme from back in the day either.

But I do appreciate the craftsmanship and history of the car for sure.

 

Cool stuff, thanks. Yep, in the late '50s and early '60s, VW front suspension was briefly popular on gassers and modified sports cars. One memorable application was Bill Waddill's Henry J that ran at the Detroit U.S. Nationals. Someone ran a photo of the front end installation here on the HAMB but I don't remember where.

 

There was a technical failure with the original story, broken links, etc. so here's a revised and expanded version...thanks for your patience!

Hey, remember Tex Smith's Hot Rod XR6? Was a big deal in its day -- won the AMBR in 1963, was a Hot Rod cover feature, and became an AMT model kit. Employed a slant six Chrysler, wild asymmetrical styling, and other unique features. Here's a little historical feature on this one-off rod with some new photos you haven't seen before...




Tex Smith's Hot Rod XR6 | Mac's Motor City Garage.com

 

Rod & Custom May 1955 , Henning & Ritch $ 1 a Pound Roadster . A Blueprint seven years previous.

 

I know this is an old thread, but now that I see it, I have to say that, back in the day, I hated that car. As someone has already said, it is really not a "Hot Rod". If I had to categorize it, I would say "Home-built Sports Car", or "Sports Racing Special". It's way more of a sports car in the spirit of early Lotuses (Loti?) than a Hot Rod. I thought it had no place in "Hot Rod "Magazine" and was using up valuable resources that could have been used for better things.

The passage of time usually has a mellowing and calming effect, but, the great workmanship aside, I still hate this car.

 

Reminds of Roth's Mysterion and similar 'vision-ary' builds.

 

Same here.

 

Same era of asymmetrical builds, I've walked around both cars in the Petersen, Manta Ray is still breathtaking. Bob

 

I liked the XR6 until I found out it was a 6 cylinder. Should've had a V8!

 

"you could certainly take a cue from the earliest of VWs that didn't have the tall shock towers on the front beam. Thye ran a lever type shock off of the arms instead. Or, for that matter with what is being discussed now, set one up with Dragmaster style friction shocks off of the lower arms."

Same deal for just about every V-Rod built. Tom Medleys' R&C V-Rod project car & Dode Martin's V-Rod kits n plans, used the ideas & patterns off of the dragster front end parts which came from Kent Fuller, also used on his own V-Rod. The friction shocks were the torsion bar link.
Trailing link suspension, esp at the front, has some very weird handling characteristics, most of which aren't good, but do work well at low speed, & over rough terrain. Which is what they were designed for. Swapping the trailing arms to the front to lead with, wouldn't do much for the handling, either. Although better than trailing style. Lots of arc over a very short distance.
IIRC, it had an Al block, & sidedraft Webers. Ya - dbl neat!.
I always liked the XR6. Different, Hennings' earlier sketch was also neat. The back-story on the XR6 is wild as the car, esp the AMBR part... .
Marcus...

 

In the late sixties, Jim Kellison did a one off black metal flake mini T buggy. Built a custom frame and ran a Bill Thomas Corvair. Used a Renault Dalphine front end with rack and pinion steering. Marv Hall of Hallcraft, machined hubs for the Renault spindles and laced some wire wheels. Street legal wheelie machine! Probable the most dangerous car I ever owned.

 

If I am not mistaken a lot of the work done on the XR-6 was done at New England Auto Body on Hudson street in Hartford, Connecticut. New England Auto Body was owned by Frank Maratta who later owned Connecticut Drag-way. When I was a teenager, I used to hang around that body shop, and swept the place up. I thought that I was in heaven.

 

Nick, I wonder if there was a connection at that time to Malcom Barlow who built and ran Stafford Springs Raceway? He owned the XR-6 in later years and his wife considered it her favorite car. Sure miss those two, they really enjoyed the hobby, ran The Great Race several times. Bob