62 Chevy 409 Wagon Org. 4 spd with Tach

Back in 63 when I was a Senior in highschool my class went to Pikes Peak and for a fee the forest rangers would take you to the top in light green 409-4 speed wagons. Quite a ride as I remember.

 

In the early-to-mid 1960s Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico had 409-powered Chevy wagons used to help U2 spyplanes land. I can't think of any reason those would have mounted sirens, however, and don't know if they were dual-quad 4-speed cars.

-Dave

 

ttt----- did you guys do anything with the wagon ,got any pic's of it

 

This was also posted over on ChevyTalk.Org, and had extensive pictures of the car there. Be sure you're in the right forum. It's also difficult to do searches, at least it is for me, but you can look back through all the postings. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a hearse with a siren. Why would you need to speed to the cemetery? I'm leaning towards maybe an airport support vehicle? Lippy

 

I am trying to remember if there was a post on the hamb on this, or I read it somehwere else, about a radio station that had special wagons for field reporting. Not sure if this is in this vain or not.

 

My first car was a '62 Impala 6 pass wagon 283 4 barrel, powerglide with factory 4:11 posi. I went to a TH-350, then a 4 bolt 350 engine ... then I was the first person I knew who ran nitrous. It was a sleeper, a beater and alot of fun. I left it when I went into the Air Force in 1984 ... when I came home on leave I found it had been stolen from my grandfathers farm where it had been stored. I had always dreamed of a 409 and 4 speed for that car. I had even picked up a magnesium Mickey Thompson cross ram for it. At the time it was cheap and I sold it for what I thought was great profit. I wish I realized how rare they were and kept it, the last one I heard of for sale my buddy Chris saw at a swap meet in Texas for $3400.00 !!!

 

Have you seen this?
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/s...ost/1789704/hl/1962+409/fromsearch/1/#1789704

 

Appreciate it, the CT Forum is quite extensive and covers the wagon pretty good.

 

Mucho deleto

 

I've heard this and similar stories about El Camino's used in the same way.

We ridiculed one co-worker to no end for his stories.

I'd like to hear more about how using these vehicles to assist landing U2 spy planes was accomplished.

 

I know all about this car and it is the real deal and extremely rare. What a find!

 

There are SEVERAL videos online showing EXACTLY that you owe your co-worker an apology. El Caminos I'm not sure of but Mustangs and Camaros are shown in the videos they are used to run alongside the U-2s as they land to advise the pilots by radio how far from the ground the wingtips are. The wings droop with no lift and there are no wheels on them so it is very easy for them to strike the runway while landing an taxiing down the runway. The modified Mustangs and Camaros were the cheapest way to get a vehicle that could match the U-2s landing speed.

If I remember correctly some of them are posted on this forum. Do a search on here, youtube, and google to satisfy your curiousness.

 

Well, sorry, but the "Shell Answer Man" told us they'd use El Caminos with men in the bed to hold up the wings while U2's were landing, one under each wing. He never mentioned they were 'chase' cars. I have seen men clinging to the wing tips to balance them after landing, but never seen a video of two cars of any type racing down the landing strip trying to hold up the wings. My old boss's son refuted it, and he was in both U2 and SR71 programs. My brother-in-law (a Radar op) in the Air Force laughed too.

Among his other claims:

He converted a small block Chevy V8 engine into a two stroke engine using a 8V92 as his inspiration. The cooling system became the intake system. We asked him if he used various pressure radiator caps as a 'waste gate' of sorts.

He uses peanut butter to seal head gaskets. He never mentioned creamy or crunchy.

He was a bullshitter from way back. We all new it. It was much fun to poke fun at him.

The only true story he told was sprinkling Bon Ami into the carb throats on a running engine to seat rings. That story my uncle (a Cadillac engine builder for that GM assembly line) had told me years before.

But chase cars make sense.

Thanks for the info.

 

More U2 chase car info. Realize that it went into service in the mid 50's and continue on as TR-1A, and precedures have changed over the years.:
http://jalopnik.com/5537629/the-140+mph-chase-cars-of-the-us-air-force

Unfortunately is does not give a better list of the earlier vehicles. They were using the El Caminos when I was working on AFB's.

More El Camino info from http://www.chevelles.com/elcamino/ec_story.htm

From http://cs.finescale.com/FSMCS/forums/p/44541/468505.aspx