Most sincere Season's Greetings to all the followers of this thread!!! Don't know how I would have gotten this far through the pandemic without a daily dose of both "NHRA Junior Stock " and "Corvette Hot Rods!" Between these two threads with their reminders of the great cars and fine people of the past sixty or seventy years, it continues to be possible keep on keeping on!!
I'm quite sure that the observant followers of this thread will instantly recognize the fact that the T&M wagon is a '63 rather than a '64. The Max Wedge option was available in both years. The one, single car that led me down the pathway into Stocker life was a factory-produced antecedent to the T&M car. The late Ron Mandella, a solid friend for over 45 years, bought a similar Belvedere wagon off the showroom floor at Milne Brothers Chrysler-Plymouth in Pasadena in March, 1963. Ron's car was a lower compression (11:1), "Stage I" Max Wedge rated at 11:1 compression, 415 horsepower that fit precisely at the most advantageous power/weight ratio (8.70 horsepower per pound) for A/SA under prevailing NHRA rules. The Tritak car with the hood scoop (and, ostensibly, an aluminum front body clip) would have been a "Stage II" with about 13:1 compression rated at 425 horsepower. I've engaged in considerable research into how many factory-assembled Max Wedge station wagons were available and I've been told that one similar car was produced and shipped for each of the Mopar distribution zones across the U.S. Anyway, that's my story until it's proven to be in error. c
Anne Toews started racing again in 2020 in a N/SA Camaro. Her and her late husband Walt along with Lou Cuviello owned LAW Automotive. I believed she worked for Car Craft Magazine in Manhattan also.
I'm not surprised. The attachment to this post shows the two cars facing off for the B/SA trophy at Pomona in 1966. Ron had sold by that point it in favor of driving Jim Shore's AA/GS Anglia. The remains of Ron's Belvedere have been located in the Pacific Northwest and were even pictured in a magazine almost twenty years ago. While those cars will not be likely to achieve the popularity of something like a Yenko Camaro or a Hemi Cuda, they were highly significant in their own right because they were among the first factory offered cars that were specially engineered to fit a specific class other than S/S or FX classes. In my opinion, it was no accident that the mathematical calculation of dividing the shipping weight by the horsepower rating to determine competition classification created a the Max Wedge station wagon that fell precisely on the "break" for A/SA in 1963. A year later, Ford homologated a limited edition, hi-riser 427 Galaxy fitted with light-weight components to fit the same class. At least one of those cars appeared at the Winternationals in 1964 with A/SA on the window but it was shuffled into B/FX following a review by NHRA Tech. Subsequently, a separate class (AA/SA) was created. remains
The racing team who bought the car from George. Ask the man who originally posted it on Facebook. He traced the Car from George to his father.
"they were highly significant in their own right because they were among the first factory offered cars that were specially engineered to fit a specific class other than S/S or FX classes. In my opinion, it was no accident that the mathematical calculation of dividing the shipping weight by the horsepower rating to determine competition classification created a the Max Wedge station wagon that fell precisely on the "break" for A/SA in 1963. A year later, Ford homologated a limited edition, hi-riser 427 Galaxy fitted with light-weight components to fit the same class. At least one of those cars appeared at the Winternationals in 1964 with A/SA on the window but it was shuffled into B/FX following a review by NHRA Tech. Subsequently, a separate class (AA/SA) was created." Just kind of an after thought years later..... I knew the tech inspector at my local drag strip. Saw him occasionally for a few years after the strip closed. One time (in the late 70's) when we were just bull S'n.. He kind of felt (and that NHRA thought) that all the one off type factory cars, (and factory sponsorship, free engines, etc ) in addition to the using any engine combo in various body style (that weren't ever actually built by the factory) were a lot of the cause why stocker classes were dismantled. He thought something else could (or should) have been done rather than trashing the stocker classes. But the powers at be...in their wisdom...axed it all.
The guy that built my MG Willie "The Welder" Feyh had a shop and everyone would come around with their 2" plumbing pipe and have him weld them on. This was 62-64, I thought it was a NYC term "dumpers" Pat
They never go out of style. I made some for my OT M car 5.0 from a set of header extensions. Took them to my favorite local welder and told him to cut some holes right here in the stock Stainless exhaust. Well crap he said, tried a torch no joy, ended up having to use a plasma cutter to make the oval holes that stainless was so hard. Made some caps out off flat stock after tracing some collector gaskets. Had him tack some bolts to the dump body so on and off was a cinch 3 nuts per side to remove the caps took about a minute per side.
From pg556: I have the big 60 wagon winning Pomona W/P=14.00 class 66-67-68 3 years in a row. 389-318-6v At 4458 lb NHRA weight, you could throw a 283 long block in the back to haul it to the swap meet and that big 60 Pontiac 389 wagon would still be lighter than a new Mach-E Mustang. Boggles the mind how heavy the new ones are.
I have down: 63 Indy winner, J/S=17.00 class 16.07 at 84.66mph The new 260/164hp Sprint came with a chrome air cleaner on top of that big 2barrel. Ok it was kind of a small 2barrel actually. I didnt have a picture of this one thanks!
I could never quite figure that combo out. Per the NHRA files, for 60 El Camino (iron glide adds 115lb per NHRA!) 3810/305hp=12.45 The 348/305hp is the top engine listed for automatics. But 3810/320=11.91, just better heads as far as I can tell but now it's right at the top of the 11.90 class But that combo isnt in the guide, at least not now. If the 348/305 was really the top engine, why not run the lighter utility sedan at 3730/305=12.23, a better combo, almost a carlength quicker. Ideas?
Chuck are you sure about the Tritak wagon being a 426/425hp? From the NHRA file I'm seeing 3548/415=8.55 which fits the D/SA=8.50 class for 1970. That's a 3 seat wagon with scoop as shown & aluminum front. So that's what I had guessed for the car in the D/SA=8.50 class. Confounding this is that from what I've read (eg Schild, Maximum Performance), the wagons weren't built with aluminum front ends, and the aluminum front end cars were all built with 426/425 engines. But I'm not really up on these or what parts were legal when. I dont see the aluminum scoop wagon after 1970, is there a chance this was one of the many combos that got purged? Or just coincidence?
I had not heard this part of the A/SA=8.70 64 Ford Gal story before, but suspected as much per the dealer ad attached. Indeed, 3750/425=8.82, steel Galaxie, glass hood with bubble to clear the grille ram air sewer pipe tubes, and "425hp" dual quad 427, same as 1963. Ford planned it for A/S=8.70 class, good fit. Sure, same 425hp engine as 1963. Except it has new HiRiser heads, HiRiser intake, C4AE-B cam, pretty rough at 244-244-107 LSA. No doubt NHRA took a look and went "425hp, sure it is". It was effectively factored to 460-500hp for most of the decade, jacked up there with the race hemi, that other "425hp" engine. LOL. That put it up into S/S with the Race Hemi and T-bolt. "Not fair" said FoMoCo, so the AA/S=7.00 class was created instead. I think this was the start of the "Factoring" era? Somehow the equally suspicious Super Duty and Max Wedge never did get factored.
Werby, I based my original statement on my recollection of rules during the early '60s. While I can't claim devotion to the TV soap, "The Days of Our Lives," there is some truth in the statement "...like sands through the hourglass..." when it is applied to my memory. It doesn't seem likely that Max Wedge hood scoops were ever legitimate on steel front clips or 415 horsepower cars. On the basis of that, I made an assumption that T & M was running the car with a a high compression Wedge because it had a scoop but, then, who knows if the picture was coordinated with that report or if it was a file photo that was applied at another time. I think that T&M also ran the car in Super Stock at some point. I've never seen confirmation that any 425 horsepower wagons were ever produced although factory-backed teams such as Golden Commandos campaigned such a car (see picture) and they are still in the Classification Guide at this time.
Chuck, Logical assumption, the aluminum, scoop, and 425hp all going together. The T-M car ran up thru 1967 in W/P=8.70 class, steel-flat hood, 415hp (as I ASSUMED all the wagons were built). I was then surprised to see the T-M car with the scoop starting in 1969 running W/P=8.50 class Trouble is, I cant find a 425hp aluminum&scoop wagon heavy enough to FIT that class. Here’s the 63 Wagons as I have them in the current NHRA files (unless the weights changed!) ST=Steel, flat hood AL=Aluminum, scoop hood 2S=2 seat 3S=3-seat Wt/HP HP ST/AL car 7.70 (SS 67-68) or 8.00 (stock 68-up) class 8.18 425 AL Savoy2s Lowest W/P for wagon 8.20 425 AL Belv2s 8.28 425 AL Fury2s 8.35 425 AL Belv3s 8.43 425 AL Fury3s Heaviest 425-AL wagon As you can see, no 425hp AL wagon fits the W/P=8.50 class so that’s why I figured the T-M scoop wagon had to have 415hp. Or a steel front end but scoop hood which isn’t in the guide & as you said makes no sense. 8.50 (Stock 68-up) 8.53 415 AL Savoy3s Good Combo 8.55 415 AL Belv3s Good Combo (suspect T-M 1969-70) 8.63 415 AL Fury3s 8.69 415 ST Savoy2s 8.70 (Stock 63-67, SS 67-68) 8.70 415 ST Belv2s Most common combo 8.78 415 ST Fury2s 8.84 415 ST Savoy3s Probably the Belvedere 2-seat steel was the only wagon factory built? That Golden Commando car looks like an old pic, maybe even Detroit Dragway (the ditch?) I haven’t been there in 40+ years though. It’s gone now. So what class were they aiming that Golden Commando car at, if it was a 425hp or even 415hp aluminum wagon? The only classes back then were S/S, then AA/S=7.00 (the sedans fit there), or A/S=8.70 but a scoop wagon doesn’t fit there. Curious picture unless it’s circa 1968 or later. We talked about this a couple years ago too, here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/nhra-junior-stock.201085/page-516 Same Golden Commando car w scoop. Cant read the hood letters, 415 or 425 HP. Is that at Milan with all the trees? I always preferred rolling around in the Milan grass vs the sharp Detroit gravel. Again all the cars look “old” so cant tell the year of the picture for sure. I wonder, if the Mandella car came as a steel-flat-415hp, then was converted to aluminum-scoop later – maybe a change NHRA made to accept that combo? Or maybe it was legal all along, but no point doing it until 1968 because alum+scoop made the wagon too light for the W/P=8.70 class, but was a good fit to the new W/P=8.50 class of 1968-up? That might fit the story of the T-M car as well, steel-flat then converted to Alum-scoop, but same 415hp engine all along? Looks like only 12 wagons built, about as rare as the 421SD Tempest!
The 1960 Chevrolet 348/305 was and still is for automatic transmission only. The 348/320 was and still is for manual transmission only. Back in 1961 Mike Schmitt won the C/SA class at the Nationals in Indianapolis racing his 1960 El Camino. In those earlier years there were racers who raced what they drove on the street. Just because a car did not fall at the top of the class it was still possible to win with what you had. Mike was one of those who raced what he could afford.
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