Features Corvette hot rods - picture thread

Chuck, that is an awesome picture and neat back story! If you get a chance are you able to post more pictures of the car and details? I’d have already I’ll go back and search

Scott


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Scott, I owned the car from 1964 until 1973. For a good part of that time it was a race car. I bought it from a used car lot in South Central L.A. as a 245 horsepower./3-speed with the full intention of drag racing it. Halfway through the preparation period, AHRA became the predominant sanctioning body in this area and with the limited resources available, it became a Stocker according to AHRA's unique set of rules. I built it as a 245 horse/4-speed and ran it that way until 1966. There was no money for a trailer so it was flat-towed, often to Irwindale, Fontana, and Lions during that era. It usually won class but I had neither the funds nor expertise necessary to compete successfully in eliminator racing or in the more sophisticated NHRA events. The earliest trophy is dated 1964 and it came from Fontana. Orange County International Raceway eventually emerged and Antelope Valley came on the scene a little later.

This picture shows the car as it ran in the early days under AHRA rules. Engine details, hood scoops, and suspension modifications were merely suggested guidelines in AHRA. (My brother was driving on this particular run, one of the last events that he attended before leaving for Viet Nam.)

The fun and games began to fade after he left, my wife was pregnant so the car underwent a transition from racer to fun-cruiser. The picture at OCIR was from this era, after intense racing and before painting. Here's another picture from the same time period.



By April, 1968, the paint job was finished and I was driving it on Easter Sunday.



As the 1968 school year came to a close I was given the opportunity to attend graduate school on a sabbatical leave program so the car got pushed into my mother-in-law's one-car garage in City of Commerce and we spent the next fourteen months in Missouri.

During that down-time, Car Craft magazine published the series on Junior Stock and I followed the progress avidly from afar when I probably should have been wrapping up research on the thesis for my Master's Degree. In that series of articles, the author included an analysis of the particular combinations that were successful in Junior Stock and the idea of a 245 or 250 horsepower Corvette was hatched.

In September of 1969, we returned to California and rolled the '57 out of storage.


Within a couple of months the project of reconverting the car from cruiser to Junior Stocker was underway. The process was completed by December of 1970 and the car competed in Stock Eliminator in late January, 1971.



The car was never really sorted out as a Junior Stocker although it won the I/S class trophy that year. Shortly after the 1971 Winternationals, our second daughter arrived and a few months after that, NHRA effectively wiped pre-1960 Stockers off the slate.

There was a brief and unsuccessful attempt to run the car under Super Stock rules but the 245 combination in a Corvette with stock hood clearance was at a huge disadvantage. (It took a tunnel ram to bring that combination back to life in Super Stock and it clearly did not fit.) Within another year or so, I'd switched the car back to bracket/AHRA racing and painted it solid white. No pictures of the white paint job survive. I sold the car in 1973 to beef up the bank account enough to go Stock racing in a '66 Nova. I continued racing Chevys until about six or sever years ago but never ran another Corvette at the track. (On the other hand, I think that the 1/8 mile track at Irwindale has grudge racing on Thursday nights and occasionally on Sunday afternoon. Wonder how my 2006, LS2 would stand up to that challenge?)

That's the story and I'm sticking to it!

 

Do you remember which brand of Torque Thrusts you had on the car?

 

I really enjoyed reading about the history of you and your Corvette and it’s evolution. Top notch post @Chuck Norton. Thank you and it was definitely a good looking car and it sounds like it was a strong runner too

 

There was no "brand" to the best of my recollection. I bought them from a pop-up tire/wheel store on Valley Boulevard in La Puente. I think that it's currently only an on-ramp to the 605 freeway. There wasn't a lot of sophistication in that part of town in 1967. Same guy sold me a set of used redline wide ovals and that rounded out the "look."

 

Mechanical Mistress

 

Thank you Chuck, that was a fun read and I enjoyed the picture! The pictures are always neat but I really enjoy the story behind the scenes so to speak!

Scott


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As many colors as my car has on it if it wasn’t for the wrong year I would have thought for sure this must be a picture of my car in the early days! Lol


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Grand Sport

 

Original Turbo Wheels

 

This one was posted elsewhere by Lou Cerchio

 

It’s like they were made to be hotrodded!!!


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This guy should have his ass removed....

 

Deuces I thought I had seen it all, or at least most of it but this is at the top of the list. What a waste of a good PLOW!

Pat

 

Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you should do that thing.


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I like that roadster.....

 

This is the plow vette after it was “fixed”

 

That's better....

 

I hate it but that would be the ultimate hot rod plow rig up there in AK
The ride that says "I'm an ass hole and I dont care".

 

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