Hot Rods Hot Rod Sports Cars

I didn’t shoot any pictures but there’s stuff on YouTube from last Saturday’s RPM Nationals showing all three Baldwin Specials racing. Coolest damn thing I ever saw.

 

I have about 2 dozen Aurora Cheetah slot cars in my stash...

 

Hello,

“Sometimes, you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t…” Driving this modified sports car at the drags would have been something. Having driven in a friend’s regular, lowered Austin Healey on the streets with her as a new driver, back in the early days of college, that in itself was scary. Now, add in several hundreds more horsepower, the loudness of the build and motor would add to the feeling that the whole world has come to a close.

Our 671 292 SBC motor was as built up as a supercharged motor could be at the time, but this Austin Healy with the 327 was several years later in the scheme of things and technology had advanced. Our motor sounded healthy, strong when we fired it up in our backyard and the Lion’s Dragstrip pits. It made some great acceleration noises as it moved on down the street and the dragstrip.

Similar 671 Stromberg powered SBC motor with a new Isky-Gilmer Belt Drive.

Being in an open lightweight roadster body with such a powerfully built motor would have been almost crazy. But, luckily, all you had to do was hang on and keep it straight. The B&M trans did the shifting for the driver. Sometimes you feel like a… etc.

Jnaki

The listed class was AA/MSP The top Modified Sports Car Class…

Interesting information on Norm Cowdrey’s Austin Healy build:
Notes:
“Cowdrey’s ultra hairy lime green combo boasted a blown 327 chev, a B&M hydro stick in a 92 inch wheel base tube frame. The front fenders, hood, and doors were fiberglas. The remaining shell(such as there was) was steel.”

“By the ‘60s the big dogs were running in AA/MSp. AA for “supercharged” and MSp for “modified sports.” They were allowed a 25% engine setback and with huge drag slicks, and as if going for the unlucky number 13 wasn’t enough, Cowdrey painted it green (metallic lime to be exact) a color notoriously feared by racers for bad luck. Didn’t seem to stop Norm, though, as the car turned an 8.575 second ET with a top end of 161.87 mph at the Smokers Fuel and Gas Championships in Bakersfield in 1965, which is pretty impressive considering Don Garlits won the meet in his Double A Fuel Altered dragster at 8.10 and 205 mph.

“Superstition 13”, a ’55 100, was built on a 92-inch wheelbase with a B&M hydrostick transmission. The front fenders, hood and doors were fiberglass with the remaining shell in steel. Plugging the Bakersfield numbers into the drag racing computer show it must have been turning out about 500 horsepower.”

"This is from the mid- to late '60s, Norm had the chassis built in San Fernando by a sprint car chassis builder by the name of Rip Erickson. It was powered by a blown small-block, but I don't remember the cubes. The car was an instant NHRA record setter, and as you can see by the picture, a real crowd-pleaser."

"It was painted at a body shop in the southwest corner of Tony Nancy's complex where Tony lived and had his upholstery shop. The car was a beautiful lime green with large gold metalflake that had been shot up in the air and allowed to settle on it, then clear coated. The whole package was totally awesome.”

"Sometimes when there was no race for Norm to go to, he would unbolt the blower and put it on his Corvette – underdriven, of course -- and we'd go tooling around the Valley; no big deal today, but then -- big deal. Too much fun."


Norm Cowdrey Part 1
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/friday-art-show-8-23-19.1162159/#post-13215272
Norm Cowdrey Part Two
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/friday-art-show-8-30-19.1163011/#post-13224786

1955 Austin Healy Roadster powered by a supercharged gas 327 Chevrolet with an automatic transmission.

 

jnaki. Thanks, as usual, for the history lesson. As an aside, my first trip to Lions was Labor Day weekend 1966. By the time I got there again, was spring of 1967. I noticed several cars running Cragars and they had the Cragar stripe on the bottom area front to back.

 

Built from a 34 ford sedan
For a sports car look

 

heres some more

 

and more Bocar xp5 and Lister Corvette

 

My Dad took this pic in 1984. I was 22 and dumb as a mud fence on fire.
He suggested I go to mechanics school then racing school so I wouldn't DIE.
I bought this 72 Pantera from 7 Corners Ford in VA. Grabber green. No heat or AC no matter who worked on it.

Very reliable car. Bullet proof racing ZF tranny. Best shifter ever made. Heavy clutch. Very docile handling with just a little understeer.
Girlfriends hated the Simpson 4 point harnesses I put in. Go figure. Car was hot or freezing, take your pick. LOUD.
That Italian vinyl interior smelled great. I don't know why, but it did.

It belonged to a GT40 driver. It had a Holman-Moody stroker 408 Cleveland motor. 9.8:1 slugs and a Holley 750 Double pump. 400 + HP. Big ass headers. 164 mph.....and I did it like a fool one late night on VA 66 West.
My best friend Tom--on the phone in the pic---said no matter how fast I went as a racing driver I was still a sissy. He may have been right.

This car got me into rodding and modifying big time. The Zenith wire wheels leaked all the time no matter how much duct tape I put on them.
No car I have ever owned since sounded as good inside or out. You could hear the Holley secondaries hissssssssssss and growl right behind your head.
Stock Ansa mufflers.

 

I've long had a passion for road race specials, and I've always liked to give back to whatever end of the automobile culture I jump into. I restored and vintage raced three different road race specials over the coarse of 20-plus years. The first was by far the most well known. It was Ak Millers El Caballo de Hiero, of Carrera Panamericana fame. It also did some road racing in California back in 1954 and 1955. It was great fun to race, and I met so many interesting people that the racing seemed secondary. Aside from all the personalities here, one of the most interesting was in England. I had been invited to participate in the Festival of Speed, and while there I got to spend half an hour of uninterrupted time with Sir Sterling Moss. Fascinating conversation. I donated the racer to the NHRA Museum in Pomona back in 2000. The second race was by far the fastest. It was a re-bodied 100/4 Austin Healy. It had been raced, wrecked, re-bodied, and treated to a 265 Chev/4-spd back in 1958. I didn't race it much, as it was beyond my racing experience to properly run it. The last racer was by far the most fun. It was an Almquist Crosley, which had been raced in the midwest with a Crosley, a knuckle-head Harley, and a flathead V8-60. I went with the 60, just for the sound. The little bugger would run 110 mph on the first straight at Laguna Seca, on every lap. It was obnoxiously loud and would twist up to 6 grand with ease. I truly miss the vintage racing days, and now have to settle for drag racing....

 

Cabong
In one picture of the recreated Iron Horse, it looked like you had 2 400 cfm 2 barrel carbs on a two four intake, is that correct?

 

Nice catch !! Yes, it had 2 500 cfm holleys. I made adaptors to fit the Weiand intake. I had the 4 Stromberg 48's on it for a while, but one had been burnt pretty bad in Mexico, so it was running bad , and for short tracks, like Laguna seca, the Holleys worked better. Ironically, that big Olds loved every bit of that air.

 

I wanted to use a similar set up on my 331 Hemi to replace the two 600cfm Edelbrocks. Dodge used a 2/2 set up on some truck engines in the 50's. Do you have any close up pictures of your set up? how did it rev?

 

Actually it is a continuation model, owned by a friend of mine. The driver, Bob Boyce, is standing behind it (in drivers suit)

 

Haven't been here in a while. Finished off my steel hand fabbed coupe during lockdown. 7k miles on it and nothings come apart. Coffee and home depot runs. Aluminum roadster just sits waiting for sunny weather.

 

I can't help it...............nice car with great options. I have it framed on my garage wall

 

That takes "letting it all hang out" to a new level.

Pat

 

Posted this in another thread too but this is the E-type Jag I bought last year in the hopes of making it into a car again, possibly road-race looking, definitely open cockpit seeing as the roof is truly destroyed. At least it rolls and steers. Don't know if I'll ever get it finished but I know I want to try.

I love the look of the 60's open top road racers with cut down windshields and helmet fairings.

 

Thanks for the heads-up.

 

More pictures........................please

 

maybe something like this
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-road-race-cars.1064075/

 

Over the years i have built many modified cars just for fun. I decided it was time to step it up. 5 years on the roadster and 3 on the coupe. design ,mockup and panel beat. It's all done by me except the paint on the roadster. Being 6' 7" tall i needed to supersize the cars. Corvettes frames under Neath. Also my Dodge town wagon,46 dodge coe, and a peak at my 36 dodge pu i turned into a 3w coupe. A tr 250 yard art in aluminum Just sharing, Ray

 

^^^^^Very impressive @frankinplymouth!

 

Looks like the 'options' are almost loose! Lol. Whew!