Features Corvette hot rods - picture thread

Posted by Tommyd:

 

Hi Rumblegutz, my friend bought the car from one of my older brother's friends, who bought it new, named
Bob Stirewalt. He put real Halibrands on the car and hand polished them, as that is what you had to do
back in 1961. He then stamped his last name in them to be able to identify them if stolen. Stirewalt's father
owned an ashpalt/paving company, so Bob never went to college, instead going to work for his dad right out
of high school. They did paving on a lot of highway roads out of Phoenix, so the car sat most of the time which is why he decided to sell it. I loved just going by his house and drooling over the car when he was out of town and
dreaming of someday owning one. The car was bought at Courtesy Chevrolet in Phoenix, which is still in its original
location on Camelback Rd. My brother told me that he was selling the car, so I told my buddy about it and the
deal came together. It was taken out into the desert near 7th Ave. and Bell Rd. to report the theft. At that time
that was WAY out in the boonies, with no risk of cops coming by.

A side note, Bob Stirewalt's good friend was Larry Christopherson, who ran a funny
car called the Arizona Wildcat. Bob has passed away, but Larry is doing well and still
lives in Phoenix. Bob

 

Wildebeest

 

Wildebeast!!! Fast and beautiful!

 

One of my students sent me this pic.
Grandpaw towing the race car

 

I have 2 really bad pics from a race in Sweden.I regret that I did not take more and better pics.

 

I wish I had been able to watch Wildebeast race. I believe Skip Hess had a 377 in it with a good amount of ballast and it set some records in Southern California.

65 Paccar upload a Bill's Garage entry. Looks like a 59ish with a 61 grill. Chuck may know for certain but I believe the Bill is Bill Kashishian who sponsored a few cars. I seem to have pictures of the 57 he sponsored at Pomona in 62 but not sure on this 59ish. Any thought on it Chuck?

 

El the first picture of "Buckshot" may be at Dover, the second is at Indy and the third is Island drag way.

Pat

 

Thanks, Pat

 

Mine since around 86 or so.
Had a snorkle scoop on it when I got it.
Was from Freemont CA ..
Was in car craft in 79 in primer. Had a article written byt name of owner withheld .

Wonder if anyone knew who had it before me??
Had a 427 BB ran in the 10's according to the magazine.

 

@1biggun, can you share some pictures of the magazine article? It might provide more clues to the car’s history?

 

Had to "like" this one. It's the day I bought it for $750 in 1972 and I still have it.

 

This one really works for me!

 

Wow! I remember seeing several cars running out of Bill's Garage when I would go to Lion's in 66-67. Does anybody know who Bill was/is?

 

@bschwoeble,

 

@carcruse, I would like to see some pictures of it today if it hasn’t morphed into something off topic.

 

bschwoeble, I have wondered about the Bill's Garage entries and maybe there was more than one Bill's Garage. At the 62 Winternationals Bill Kashishian sponsored a 1957 Corvette that ran in B/MSP. There were some strong running specials that had great success prior to Kashishain's 57. Due to class requirements in A/MSP and B/MSP, it made more sense to go with lightweight specials as the Corvette was a bit on the heavy side. Dick Manz had won the 61 Wnternationals with his Chevrolet powered Devin and Jerry Osborn had won with his Chev powered Healey and was hoping to win with his Chev powered Kellison. Kashishian's sponsored 57 ended up taking the class win at the 62 Winternationals in B/MSP with runs in the mid 11s at 123mph which was pretty strong stuff. He apparently was a decent patron that needs to be remembered. I have a couple of pictures of the Bill's Garage entries and am not totally sure of what or who they were. Hopefully someone on the west coast would know and would chime in.

 

In process of redoing it. Going to put my other 327 with a 671 blower in it and some I-beams in the front end.