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History Tow Cars

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by spiritof67, Sep 8, 2021.

  1. spiritof67
    Joined: Jun 29, 2012
    Posts: 66

    spiritof67
    Member

    There was a legend that in '66 when Mercury had their funny car team on the road they equipped Dyno Don and Fast Eddie with custom Mercury station wagons with non-standard options like bucket front seats, etc. Any truth to this? And were there other "factory" tow cars out there as well?
     
  2. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,757

    Deuces

    Could be possible.... If it is true, I wonder where these wagons are today..????.. Got pictures??o_O:)
     
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  3. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,942

    squirrel
    Member

    I suppose they had to put a stop to this!

    don.jpg
     
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  4. 6sally6
    Joined: Feb 16, 2014
    Posts: 2,459

    6sally6
    Member

    ........................:p:p:p:p:p...............
    The sexy Mercury "mounting' that Shivel-lay from the back!!!! That way he don't hafta look at her ugly face!!
    Cool picture!!
    6sally6
     

  5. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,757

    Deuces

    Oh, man... That ain't nice!. :rolleyes:
     
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  6. oldiron 440
    Joined: Dec 12, 2018
    Posts: 3,301

    oldiron 440
    Member

    What kind of wheels are on the front of the Cromit?
     
  7. Back then you didn't always have to have a factory race team sponsorship to get a one-off. I had the factory (factories) build me some pretty radical cars in the 60s and 70s. In 1970, my brother-in-law took the options list and ordered a Chevy, 454cid, 4-speed. bucket seat, Kingswood station wagon....... red with the 'woodie' trim. It had the SuperSport badging but I'm told there weren't supposed to be any....... so I'm not sure if he slapped 'em on there himself.
    Also in the 70s, I "optioned" a top-of-the-line Chevy Nova (I think it was called a 'Concourse"?) with all the good bits. I wanted an American "Mercedi-aguar" with bucket seats, 4-doors, 4-speed, 350cid, 4-barrel, dual pipes, and the rest of the mechanical upgrade items. The dealer sales manager insisted on a big deposit because of the 'freak' I ordered. But 5 weeks later, when it showed up, more than one dude tried to buy it out from under me. One of my best friends was my salesman so that wasn't likely to happen. Nowadays everybody sells super 4-doors, but back then it was unheard of.
    I'm sure that in the 60s you could "have it your way" even easier than the 2 examples I've given.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2021
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  8. finn
    Joined: Jan 25, 2006
    Posts: 1,280

    finn
    Member

    Both of your examples were regular production options, listed in the sales literature. May not have been commonly ordered, but they were available.

    Ford did offer the bucket seats in a Country Squire around 63-64. I don’t think that one made the literature, though.
     
  9. cfmvw
    Joined: Aug 24, 2015
    Posts: 977

    cfmvw
    Member

    Back then you could order just about anything with the right connections! I would like to hear about other unusual cars that were ordered. My favorite one is the 1970 Torino wagon with the 429 Cobra Jet.
     
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  10. mohr hp
    Joined: Nov 18, 2009
    Posts: 929

    mohr hp
    Member
    from Georgia

    Nothing too earth shaking, but a friend now owns a factory correct 396 Camaro that was ordered yellow with a green interior by it's first owner, a John Deere exec.
     
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  11. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,144

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    That 1966 Pontiac Ventura four door that @racer-x has been hinting at would make a pretty cool tow car, claims it is a 3×2/421/4 speed car.
     
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  12. spiritof67
    Joined: Jun 29, 2012
    Posts: 66

    spiritof67
    Member

    When I saw the two wagons, if I can recall 1966 well enough, they were both black with the fake wood trim outside. Both cars were on flat trailers. I recall trying to get over there during the SuperNationals (!) but I never did. It made a pretty outstanding impression in amongst the angle trucks, pickups and half-semis. But sorry, I didn't even own a camera back then. Dad had a Brownie, though. 620 negatives forever!
     
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  13. [​IMG]
    Dick Landy had a classy '65(?) Dodge wagon. Cragars & whitewalls somehow work. I don't think it was special ordered, though.
     
  14. [​IMG]
    1960 Parkwood wagon towing the Corvette Stingray racer. Wonder if GM worked it over for the job?
     
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  15. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,144

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

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  16. Marty Strode
    Joined: Apr 28, 2011
    Posts: 8,801

    Marty Strode
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  17. cfmvw
    Joined: Aug 24, 2015
    Posts: 977

    cfmvw
    Member

    Back in the mid 1980's some enterprising Corvette engineers hotrodded a Caprice wagon with a Corvette drivetrain to keep up with their Corvette test cars, complete with the Corvette wheels and tires.
     
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  18. 1934coupe
    Joined: Feb 22, 2007
    Posts: 5,051

    1934coupe
    Member

  19. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,293

    jnaki






    Hey D,

    Nice array of the Ivo team & crew push/tow car scene. But, you forgot the first one that was the most famous, due to the fact that no one else was doing cross country road trips for drag racing sponsorships. Sure, others towed across the country for a big Westcoast event starting in 1959, but these two guys started the whole pro touring events and attractions.

    Road Kings? Ha! True to the club's title meanings...

    upload_2021-9-9_5-39-0.png
    "Ever since Don Prudhomme was part of Tommy Ivo’s crew and friend, My brother and I have always liked the progress of his career. It was one long, successful, competitive career. He was seen as an integral part of each of Tommy Ivo’s Buick FED race cars. He was even part of the first professional USA road tour of the major dragstrips with the Ivo Twin Buick FED."
    https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/new-prudhomme-book-excerpt.1209740/#post-13796420

    “Then, as history has told us, he and Don Prudhomme went on a cross country road trip to start the whole touring thing for the big time, big name drag racers, first from So Cal, then from all over. They were getting paid to tour and show up at various drag strips in the USA.”

    upload_2021-9-9_5-39-39.png

    Jnaki

    Here is a film that I had recorded of one of the earliest power runs at Lion's Dragstrip in the 1959-60 era. The Ivo twin sound was provided by another old 1320 hot rod/racer.
    Thanks, Lee

    upload_2021-9-9_5-40-26.png 1959 Twin with Buick push/tow car

    As a Buick fanatic from the early days, he always had a Buick tow car/push vehicle. But, for this long distance road trip across the USA, he snagged a Cadillac sponsorship. Cruising in style... 1960 awards...
    Ivo Buick push/tow car
    upload_2021-9-9_5-40-56.png 1959-60 Cadillac in the Ivo pits area.
     
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  20. spiritof67
    Joined: Jun 29, 2012
    Posts: 66

    spiritof67
    Member

    I'd like to think that a car built for and owned by Bill Mitchell himself would be a pretty special piece, especially since it was looked over by "visiting" or Vacationing" Chevy engineers where it was raced. Somebody hiding a fuelie 327 backed by a 4-speed, maybe.
     
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  21. spiritof67
    Joined: Jun 29, 2012
    Posts: 66

    spiritof67
    Member

    Saw an article once about Tasca Ford where they'd ordered a T-Bird with the Cobra Jet......
     
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  22. spiritof67
    Joined: Jun 29, 2012
    Posts: 66

    spiritof67
    Member

    Yeah, that kinda thing!
     
  23. spiritof67
    Joined: Jun 29, 2012
    Posts: 66

    spiritof67
    Member

    When my Dad bought his tricked-out 389 Tri-Power Bonneville, at the end of the options list was a box marked "Special Paint". We were told it meant you could have your car painted any GM color. For a whopping $22. He paid it and got the car painted a non-Pontiac silver....
     
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  24. stuart in mn
    Joined: Nov 22, 2007
    Posts: 2,406

    stuart in mn
    Member

    Sounds like my car...it's a tripower Bonneville, and in the color blank on the trim tag it says "special." :)
     
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  25. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I'd say that the wagon that was in the photo that Marty posted in post 16 is the car or one of that Spiritof67 asked about in post 1.
    It wasn't uncommon to special order a car in the 60's when I was in Vietnam late in 68 one of my best buds was Rick Danzi from Silver Springs Md who's dad managed an Olds Dealership in DC. His dad sent him the info and order forms from Olds to mark off the boxes for a new car for when he got back to the world. I had liked the looks of the 68 Cutlass and loved the look of the 69 and with his paperwork wrote down the list of things I wanted on the car, First go with a W31 was flat too spendy so I went with a 310 hp 350, M 21 4 speed, 3.42 Posi and an AM-FM Multiplex radio with a platinum silver and black bench color combo. Black wall tires, poverty caps and only those options. Probably the shortest option list on any 69 Cutlass that Williams and Swanson sold that year.
    When I was running it at Little River in spring of 69 = Ft Hood boy, I ran in G stock and a couple of times had to face a 62 Chevy wagon with a 409.,4 speed and quick gears in the finals and that car had a back quarter window full of national record holder stickers. I never knew if it was an assembled to run in stock class rig or factory ordered that way but he blew my doors off every time.

    Still if you knew a sales person who would work with you and you had access to the lists that the dealer ordered off you could come up with some real interesting combos as some of the others said. There were a few sleeper street racers in this area that had what you might call out of context engine drive train body combos in the 60's because someone figured out how to put together a light weight car with a big engine that didn't brag about it's self.
     
  26. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,757

    Deuces

    Now days you have to order package deals with stuff you don't want....:rolleyes::(
     
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  27. mrspeedyt
    Joined: Sep 26, 2009
    Posts: 989

    mrspeedyt
    Member

    why the heck would anybody want a bucket seat set up especially with a consul over the bench seat?

    i love the bench seat in my 41 cad and my OT 68 impala…

    (maybe i should keep my 56 pontiac project car that my dad bought in 1965.)
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2021
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  28. Hotrod1959
    Joined: Nov 3, 2007
    Posts: 806

    Hotrod1959
    Member

  29. Marty Strode
    Joined: Apr 28, 2011
    Posts: 8,801

    Marty Strode
    Member

    Kinda like TV packages today.
     
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  30. They are out there and come up every now and then......the one's that survived.
     

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