Hey Gregory & Micheal, Do you rember a guy in the late 60's,a scroney kid in K&L's warehouse, name was gary JACK ? I think of those days often. Life was alot more innocent. Glad to see you guys still doing what you do so well. Have been wanting to just say hey to you and my old buddy Micheal for a long time. Hope all is well for you,Micheal & Jerry, Take care, Jack
Welcome oleman Jack! Shoot us an intro in the intro section. I am sure you have some stories we all would like to hear!
Greg, I really like the website. I think it will be great inspiration for my students to see what a bunch of kids can accomplish with a can do attitude.
Jack, I remember you and remember when I was a skinny kid also. Good to hear from you. Michael has been driving a truck for several years and still likes it. He and his 30 year old daughter, Betsy have a Super Comp / Top Dragster that they are sorting out, a new Spitzer car this year. I am manufacturing recumbent bicycles and wheelchairs for the seriously involved Cebral Palsy patient and other developmentally delayed. www.longbikes.com www.seatingdynamics.com I am using the PBR website as a learning experience to get a new seating dynamics website done in the next few days. Jerry unfortunately did not stick around for fun, he died in a motorcycle crash on July 15, 1983. Greg
thanks for the web site. the story of goin to the salt with a $500 roadster when you was 18 and every thing that follows inspires me
Hey Gregory, you will always be Gregory to me.I am so sorry to hear about Jerry.I have always had minds eye picture of Jerry.He is standing beside the K&L red Ranchero leaning on the door smileing and picking @ me,probably because I did something stupid.ha He was a great guy and I was blessed to have known him. Glad to see you doing the PBR site.There is alot of history to be saved.I don't have much stuff left but will see what's there.You are so correct in what you say about Roy Leslie.He was a true gentleman. Please tell Micheal hey for me.Is he back in Denver? Take care, Jack
Just found this thread, don't know how I missed it the first time around. I really like the hood/cowl treatment on the #87, is that still legal in SCTA? I never totally understood the rule on 28-29 cowls vs 30-31's in SCTA, you can unbolt the cowl on a 28-29 therefore the "firewall" is viewed differently than a 30-31. Look forward to following the restoration. Bob
I'll have to get the website updated one of these days. I just got home from Bonneville, first time I have been there since 1983. I needed a salt injection to force me to make more time to work on the car. It was nice visiting with some of the people from the "old days". I need to get my butt in gear and get the car finished for next August, something I am totally motivated to make happen now. Standing in the middle of the salt is truely magical! Also over the past couple of months I have gotten seriously involved in a slightly different approach to "Save the Salt". Stay tuned to more info on that. Greg Peek
Greg, thanks for the update! I/we are working on some Save the Satl stuff as well, we should talk. PM me your number, I will call.
roadster rules don't say anything about the firewall... only that the bodywork between the original windshield line and grille shell is "optional" which means you can run flattened out hoods and hood sides. one thing that the rules do say though (and this is going to be a sticking point with this rebuild/restoration) is that the body must be a roadster. the car as-is (being a cut down coupe body) would be illegal if contending for a record but that doesn't mean it can't be run.... it just won't be legal. if sights have been set on breaking records it'll mean having to use a real roadster body. btw i personally like the car's original configuration with the stock cowl and hood. to me the hood/cowl is what gives a 28/29 model a its character. i understand trying to cheat the wind a little with the flattened hood and hood sides but a 28/29 loses it's identity. just my $.02. nonetheless, awesome thread with great history. i love this stuff.
I am going to have to write a response to this in word and cut and paste it. I have tried to reply twice in this window only to have it blow up when I try to submit it...must have timed out. There is a lot to explain about the body work and the rules. Greg
Greg, Maybe your computer is not keeping you signed in?? Make sure you check the little box marked "Keep Me Signed In" the next time you do actually sign in. Also, your browser, whether Internet Explorer or Mozilla or?? will have an option to save your sign in credentials and should naturally ask you if you want to save your sign in/password for you at the moment you do actually (manually) sign into the forum. anywho, thanks for the history and updates... moe .
Here goes the story and reasons the body came out the way it did. You will need to go back to the website, www.peekbrothersracing.com and study the 1966 and 1967 pictures to fully understand. Go do that and pay particular attention to the headers then come back for the next episode. Greg
Now that you have looked at the photos you have a better idea of the construction. If you did not look at the '65 photo pushing away from the starting line and compared the '65 and '66 photos, go take a quick look to see just how much lower the car is from the '65 version. Going from the Model A frame in '65 to the tube frame in '66 lowered the car a bunch and compressed the components into a smaller package so the hood became a packaging problem. In '66 we had a tube frame but still had the stock cowl and hood pieces so there was limited room because of the narrow width of the stock firewall. The headers were simple, inefficient, took up little room and fit inside the stock body lines. The next year, with a desire for improved performance I built a prettynice set of tuned headers which with all of the twists and turns to get equal lenght tubes obviously took up more room outside of the frame. So now the existing hood and cowl didn't clear the headers and we wanted a rigid tonneau cover to replace the convertible top material that flapped in the breeze so there was a need for some custom bodywork. Enter Bobby Gear, local dragster body builder. Bobby did nice work and did it completely by hand, no English Wheels or Yoder hammers, just hand tools. The magnitude of the project and the available tools dictated the way some things were done. It was easier to build the hood essentially in straight peices than try to emulate the original compound curves of the stock cowl and a straight line is what was needed to clear the headers anyway. So the hood went from teh grille shell to the cowl post in straight lines, simple! The tonneau was done in pretty much the same manner except that the hole to be covered was greater in size than a 48" wide sheet of aluminum so there were pieces added to the rear to span the length beside the roll cage. This joint had a bit of a sag in it which resulted in the slight up turn toward the rear which sort of follows the body line. So there you have the stroy of the body of the little blue roadster! More on the body, roadsters and the rules later. Greg
I had a conversation the other night with the Gas / Fuel Roadster guru for SCTA to discuss the topless coupe versus roadster body. They have made changes to work form a set of dimensions rather than be hard nosed. So if it looks like a roadster and is within the dimensional rules, it is a roadster. Bottom line, we have a legal roadster! Greg
Help, Help...I need for people to put the word out and keep your eyes peeled. I need to find a new / used Hilborn port injector for a 426 hemi. We need the large bore (2 7/8") Hilborn. They have not made this casting in several years and cannot give any idea when they will have a new verison in production so they are not going to be able to help. I can get by with a casting only, does not need to be a complete injector as I can get all of the small parts new from Hilborn. I can be reached at the shop during business hours: 303-986-9300 or email: [email protected] Thanks for the help, Greg
Since it's almost August it must be time for an update. Well guess what, two minor obstacles have prevented getting the roadster done for this year, time and money! Not enough of either but there has been progress made. I have put in some work on the peekbrothersracing website and will get it finished up hopefully this month with the missing years filled in and some rebuild photos. The biggest thing so far has been getting a new modern legal cage done. This has been an absolute make or break deal for me as the new much larger cage simply cannot visually over power the car. My scaled photos of the car lead me to believe that the original height to the top of the cage was 53.5" and anything much bigger would be hideously ugly...something I could not allow. The Winters QC has a lower pinion height so that allowed me to get the seat considerably lower, then I had to get a new seat built and a new helmet to be able to measure the room requirements for a driver, then design the new cage. I am pleased to say that it looks like we will be right on the original height or real close at least. One little issue with the new cage is that it takes up a lot more room so the original tonneau is not going to work so I will be building a new one which I suspect will have a hinged hatch creating room to get in and out of the car. Once again it will be my intention to make is to that you can't tell it from the original. I have another project that is consuming time also which I must finish, a reconstruction of a 1953 Indy car...but that's another story. Anyone going to Bonneville? I will be there for a couple of days mid week. If you want to meet up send me a note or give me a call: 303-883-8972. Greg
And speaking of time and money I figured out a way to not generate revenue to go into the car. I have T Shirts being printed, 5 color front and back. I'll have some at Bonneville with me if anyone is interested. I'll be getting there Wednesday afternoon, driving a silver Sprinter van with "Longbikes" on it. Greg
I'm still alive, actually working on the car when I can squeeze out some time. We've collected lots of parts which is like pulling hens teeth. Finally got a new set of big injectors from Hilborn which took about two years. Have a Winters QC and just got floaters from Mark Williams yesterday. Had a company in California spin some aluminum rim halves for me which took a year or so, skinny 15's on the front and skinny 18's on the rear. Got some new MT 18" rear tires. The frame is on the jig now and will be coming off in a few days to get back on the ground for final engine fitting (after the heads and injectors come back next week from porting and the new bellhousing get here) to get the driveline lined up to minimize U-Joint angle. There are a lot of really neat things going on with the car, I can't wait to get it done and get it back on the Salt. I'm trying to get it done by August but not holding my breath. More later!
I love this car and those Cragars! Those are the real ones, that didn't get rusty right away, like they do now
great thread. this roadster was one of the reasons that I had to build and run a roadster at Bonneville. if you squint and look at mine you can almost see the look that I tried to copy.
The Jalopy Journal
