bodywork, when does an HA/GR become. . .

. . . a modified?

see, i was thinking about using a few ford T pieces i have on my rail build, such as:

1. narrowed turtle deck hanging out off the back
2. larsen and cummins '64 A/Modified inspired nose
3. simple bellypan
4. Cowl/firewall blended into an engine cover. . . etc

not really a modified, but shit the more i thought about the shiny painted sheet tin, the more it looked like an A/Mod in my head


so tell me, am i on a wrong tangent here with regards to the sheetmetal? will bodywork like this retract from the original "spirit of the bug" inspiration?

thanks, mostly im thinkin aloud here, but i dont want to spend all my time dreaming up ways to dress the car out, and not enough on the actual mechanicals.

T

 

Why not,alot of cars back in the day had full streamline bodies of all types.
But! beware of weight. Could be very costly in terms of tenths.

 

a modified'ish looking rail wouldnt be too far from the truth.
i believe its in the latest TRJ about 2 fellows who built dragster chassis and drag raced at the earliest NHRA meets and a good portion talks about the term Dragsters being coined from the early rail jobs..
it went on to say that quite a few of the rails and cars were stripped down lakes cars ... which could be anything from a lakester, bellytank, or modified.

 

yea, i read that article as well... its what got me to thinking "where is that imaginary line"

so it kinda boils down to "speed vs. form"

well, there are a hundred other ways to go faster than the HAMB gas rail... so, i think form it is



thanks guys

 

chrisman's 25

look in the inspirational photos post... thanks to rand man



(you'll have a cousin for sure....wink wink)

 

I'm thinking...build it the way you want. I started out with a shortie body...bought and mounted a fiberglass Bantam roadster body that goes on in minutes and now I want to build a full "modifed" style body using this antique sprint car nose that is at least 40 years old.

I don't think that there is a question that more is less when it comes to "on-track" performance...but at some point it might be cool to slap a body on it and take it to a show and be different. Just my thoughts...........

 

I have had these thoughts as well. A bug type car is pretty cool and looks ok, but the recent posts of full body cars looks pretty good as well.
I think our car will start out pretty light on sheet metal and as time goes on become a more bodied ( is that a word ?) car.
Kinda allows changes as we go i guess.

 

there is a LOT of food fer thought here with asthetics vs performance... and i gotta be honest i'm still torn.

on one hand, i want to be as competitive as i can with this, lets face it... SOMEONE needs to keep 3WLarrys ego in check

on the other, and realistic side, i'm a team of one, with little time and even less of a budget for more than maybe 6 weekends of racin this car per year, including the HAMB Drags...i really ain't in it fer the win factor no how. mama fiddy wont let me have a place for a trophy, an she SURE as hell ain't gonna let me play with the trophy GIRLS

with all that in mind, i think it'd be a BLAST as well as a cool challenge to build a period perfect early dragster AND build it to the HA/GR and current safety rules.


one last thought... Art Chrismans car was never far from my thoughts when building the car in my head... no BS, he's one of my heroes, right up there in the top three with my dad.

 

I love the full bodied cars, just the other night I was out in the shop taking masking tape to the Ram Rods car to see what the lines looked like for more body.So it's not out of the picture for us. But, remember Chrismans car along with most of the others you see in those old pics were running on about 70% or more nitro. They probably were not concerned as much about weight.

 

This sidewinder deal that I am building for my son, I think, has got to have the front 2/3'rds covered with skin to look right. I know I can craft a body out of aircraft foam and then glass it...but that is really 60's technology.

I think I would rather hammer something out of aluminum and rivits...."aircraft style." That would be more fitting for the 50's...and weight should not really be much of a factor. I am thinking that it will be about 1/2 the 30 lbs of the Bantam body.

 

A dragstrip rail based on a circle track modified, may be the most true to form. Actual drag strips were few and far between. Dirt circles were all over. Your average guy was using used parts. An old modified would be a great starting point for this new kind of racing.