First off I say vintage cause what I've seen of "nostalgia" altereds they look more like a funny car with a differant body and that is not what I want. I want more like the 96in wheelbase squrrely assed altereds of the 60's I am building an altered 27T. I want to run any where so the frame is new 6 point cage. Everything else I want to keep on the "period" side of things. I have a sbc and 9in rear that will be solid mounted. I plan on buggy spring front straight axle with econoline spindles. I have a powerglide if approperate. I have pics of where I am at so far, I will post them when I get em loaded. First off in the mid sixties what transmission was favored. Stick? what kind and how many speeds. Automatic? what kind What to use for steering gear...Corvair, small GM, Crosley How much tin work was done to the cockpit... Any pics out there that show the cockpit Tires and rims... I would like to run spindle mount fronts but untill a set is found I will probably run a set of 4in Crager SS's. Out back I'm thinking torque thrusts maybe steel rims in the 10 wide range and I am not sure about slicks... what compound and side wall? Other then that I think I am pretty well set with my plans... I have the Steve Reyes book Fuel Altereds Forever and have found it to be good in some ways but leaves more questions then answers I hope I don't come off as sounding stupid... I know what I want just not how to say it.
In the mid to late sixties my last drag car had a Packard three speed using second and high only. Some other guys were using automatics. Torquflites and 4 speed Hydromatics as I remember. Other than a floor and firewall no other tin work on mine. I had 12 spokes and Torque thrusts, I guess. We just called them American mags. Didn't have a lot of choices. I don't remember if we were still running Bruces slicks or not. Don't remember any discussion of compound at Bruces. You took what you got, or at least I did.
I don't have much time right now, but I will get back to you. Here is my Fiat Altered. Built around 1962. Here is a link to my thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256196
I have a 50s and 60s Bantam Altered .Its been modified and raced up through 96 but you still can see the 50s and 60s throughout.If I can figure out how,I will PM you some pictures. Dennis
Hydro's were around from B&M, Hydro-motive in Chicago and Vitar in Long Island. I'm not sure that Marv Ripes modified Powerglide's found their way into any altered's. Most altered guys felt the Hydros were way too heavy and used some type of 3 or 4 speed. Chevy 4 speeds were pretty pricey, but Packard and Cad's were getting hard to find. With the right rear ratio, a Chevy three speed could work OK by taking off in second. Only the serious fuel atlered guys used direct drive.
i biult this out of leftover parts.... lots of fun .... runs 11.90s with a 301 ci chevy with a 3 speed stick and 4.88 9" solid mounted. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251810 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289538
Some very successful 60s altereds ran automatic transmissions (Jewel T jumps to mind; there was a thread here about it not too long ago.), but more ran two speed manuals (most were three speeds using second and high). In the lower classes, I'm sure some guys used four speeds to get the car to launch and still have a tall enough gear downtrack. The big-motored lightweight cars ran direct drive, like a dragster. Marv Ripes was one of the first to successfully use the Powerglide in stockers in the mid-60s. I'm sure they were used from time to time in altereds, but didn't become the dominant transmission choice until the 70s, if I recall correctly. Some of you might have a better memory than I.
That's a name I havent heard in a while ... "Vitar" hydro ... as good as any B&M Hydro and built by Vinnie Tarantola ... strong stuff would work today ...
Bet if you did some leg work you could get in touch with alot of those guys who ran the AA/FA's in the 60's. I don't know if you ever saw cars like "winged express", "pure hell" or "pure heaven" run but they are the most awsome, scariest cars you'll ever see go down the track!! Who could forget the picture of Willie Bosch going sideways & the trottle butterflies WIDE open!! Thats what was the heartbeat of drag racing.I miss those cars. I think the winged express still runs so maybe someone can hook ya up with the new owner/driver. jimV
That's accurate. The powerglide became popular in altereds and dragsters after the econo classes showed up in the early '70s. Ripes and Vitar were 2 of the early innovators in PGs. Vitar did Richie Zul's PG's for his BBC Camaro B/EA which won the championship in '75 IIRC. I rember calling Winters in '76 when I started running my dragster asking for Powerglide info and getting laughed off the phone - "A Powerglide! - haw haw haw! Put a turbo in it! " In the stick classes then it was Lencos or 4 speeds, Autos were only used in classes that were restricted to autos only - the econo altereds and econo dragsters. Earlier dragsters that used 3 speeds often using 2nd and 3rd only just used a rod from the forward shift lever on the trans side plate, ran the rod back to the driver with a T welded on the end for the driver to pull. The altereds I was around usually ran a full 4 speed with a vertical gate shifter between the driver's legs, but again, that was the '70s.
This was my stab at "professional" drag racing in the 60's A/R 2nd and high gear for the 1/4 mile, buzzed it pertty hard in second at the 1/8 mile drags in Phoenix. Olds rear and packard 3 spd 409 with a roller cam and 2 AFB's Joe Hunt Vertex mag. low 10's at 140mph in the desert in the summer!!
My Fiat runs a 301 Chevy with a 1960 3 speed hooked to a solid mount 57 Chevy rear end running Olds axles and Airheart disc brakes. The steering box is Corvair. I will post some interior pics.
We ran an A frame with a steel 27 body, front of a touring with a homemade tin bed. Couldn't afford a beefed hydro (they ran over $600 then, when $600 was real money), so we ran a Lincoln box with two speeds. Ran steel wheels on the back and spoked Americans up front....This was mid-60s.
John, you left out the most important detail of your car....what is the engine set-up. Gas and carb?, blown on Fuel?...something in between?
I guess it really depends on what class of altered you're looking for. This isn't exactly the type that you are building but it is the right time frame, early to mid-60s. It ran in several different classes finally ending up being an altered wheel base funny car. This one used a B&M 400 Chevy automatic transmission. It ran a Ford pick up truck steering gear. Once he moved up to nitro methane and alcohol for match races, he used magnesium wheels and a variety of tires. It will always be one of my favorites...
One thing that has not come up. At the begining of the sixtys Altered ment a coup or sedan. Roadsters ran in Roadster class just like Bonneville today. Fuel roadsters ran in Hot Roadster class. Like B/HR would be B/Hot (Fuel) Roadster. Only around 64 or so that Fremont lumped roadsters and coups togeather in altered. I had a coup and didn't need topless cars in my class. Wasn't to long after that that Brackets came about. And I lost interest.
A good friend of mine ran a 32 bantam with an injected 409 Isky roller etc. He ran the car through the seventies into the eightys with a clutch turbo 400. He went to a p-glide in the 80's and the car picked up e.t. but he liked the adjustability of the slider clutch better. The car ran 9.50's. He sold it around 1987 and just got it back a couple of years ago. When I get a chance I'll post some pics. It has a 96in. wheelbase and uses a corvair box for steering, goes straight down the track. The car has run some 9.30's now with a little better engine.
This brings up what is Vintage? When I built the coup pictured above nobody had ever heard of a Corvair. We sure wern't using Corvair steering. Same thing for my roadster. It's Franklin streering. Dustin (above) is talking about 20 years after I gave up on drags and decided it was salt or nothing. For me that would never be vintage. For Dustin maybe I am stone age.
There was a thread on here a while back with some more info and a few more pictures. I've also got some more old pictures here next to my computer, but my scanner isn't working. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306750 Here it is...
Inlaw yoru fiat is way cool I talked to you up at the shakedown for a while and got some up close and personal pics of it. I am right now planing on running a normaly asperated sbc. Up to this yer it has been a long time since I have even been to a track let alone go down one. Once it's up and running and I am comfortable in it I would like to go to an injected motor. I am still baffled on how to mount the floor with out going overkill on the bracing like I would on a street car. With the stick I assume right foot go pedal left foot clutch and a hand brake?.. With all you guys help I think I am getting it figured out... Thanks a bunch
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