Im not either but that sure looks good. Keep us updated on your progress. Its nice to see someone build their own car.
Cars just about ready to go to the painter. The FE is almost done. In the interest of 'purity', this car, even though 100% streetable and legal, will be a 'no interior' car. Just seats, door panels, and a steering column. I purchased a tub of that Lizard Skin stuff, never have used it, but have worked on cars that had it. Thought I'd give it a try on the firewall and floors. With the fenderwells on my AWB Comet, the footboards near the firewall get a bit hot, sitting in the staging lanes or occasional traffic on the way to a cruisenight. I think I can hide the Lizard Skin under the Zolatone.. Time for it to come out and see the light of day........
I live in wet 'ole Wa state and have an altered street car with no heater and a bare firewall. The dash is moved back and there is a gap at the front of the dash between it and the base of the windshield. Happy to report that there is no problem at all with fog on the windshield, heat from the bare firewall is plenty to keep it clear, even driving back home late at nite from the drags.
My senior-year high school car in project stage. 1966 picture. I killed a solid Texas car for this ... hrt
Here's some updated photos from an earlier post. This little '65 Chevy II was built by Kip Hansberry (II Funny here on the HAMB). I'm the AWB's caretaker right now. I put the Hilborn and front tank on it to round out the AWB look. She's spot on. I'm tempted to tell people it was dragged out of a barn down south where it was a match bash fighter back in '65. It's tempting, but I give Kip the praise for a fantastic build.
Losing KCIR killed us in the KC metro area and beyond. We have a couple 1/8 tracks up north a little over an hour from my house. I don't run her that often. I don't bracket race or anything, I just run it to let people see how it was in '65. This year I ran the Meltdowns, Salina Run What You Brung and the HAMB Drag Nationals. I haven't taken it to Topeka which is 90 minutes from home. Thanks for asking.
Let me give you a little inspiration...and you heard it here first. I'm trying to get the most AWB cars in modern history to the 2015 Meltdown Drags. I'm shooting for 20+ from all over North America (does that include Canada? Hope so). The show will be insane. Yes, it's a long tow but you will not forget the experience or the race. Check out all of the coverage on YouTube, the web, Facebook, etc.
The memo is forthcoming. I want to post it on the HAMB as a call out to all '64-'66 AWB cars. I have no idea as to what other venues to go to. I wrote Steve Magnante to see if he would drag the Wilshire Shaker out and to get his help. I have the blessing of the MDA. Wouldn't it freak out the masses to get over 20 AWBs there? Is it possible? I want to start early so people can make preparations, build, finish, whatever. I often wonder how many AWB cars are in the US & Canada. Is there 50? 25? 100? I have no idea. I'll be looking for new builds, historic, static displays, racers...just period correct. I don't want to get too freaky but at least the rear wheels must be moved forward and fronts can be moved or stock. I love gassers, but I'm not looking for just any straight axle car. I appreciate any input from the AWB guys on this thread. I'll be starting a new one just for the cause.
as far as imput i will give you mine. experimental stocks is what they were called until 68 when a class was made for these cars. later changed to a/fc. the awb era was mainly from 65-- through 67. i know some mopars were made in 64. that being said some of the cars won't be legal by mda rules. the vast majority of the cars at that time were 65s thats a given. there were plenty of cars that were older 64s and 63s that got the awb update. some that come to mind are the jaw hawker 63 the cyclopse 64, mavericks 64 the dutchman 64, beswicks 63 and 64 etc. some of these awb cars were built and run into the 67 season until they were no longer competitive. shirl greers tension is a great example of a out dated car running well past its prime. until the flip tops really became popular in numbers stock bodied cars were still being converted through 66 and into 67. and there were a lot. most were transition cars. steel bodies with glass tilt front ends. or glass cars with opening doors. the stickler 65 had 66 charger quarters grafted on to it. there were many combos before one piece flip tops. mr.norm ran the 65 car into 66 while the 66 charger was being completed. when completed he ran both for a while. the 66 was then run by itself through 67. that 66 car was a fiberglass body with opening doors. the body did not tilt fully only the front but the wheelbase was moved. were would a car like this fall per mda rules? how do you put rules on a type of build in a era that had little to no rules? how do you decide what gets in and what doesn't. the extremes on awb/experimentals cars is huge. you start out with 2% mopars in 64 then go to a car like the ram chargers dart or bruce larsons fiberglass 66 chevelle or garllits dart/dragster all in a three year time frame. the little red wagon was originally built for fx not a wheel stander. there was also a drag master d-100 truck that ran fx. with no alteration of the wheel base. I'm not even including the jeeps and broncos that also ran then. maybe a selection committee could make a determination on what is allowed. a axle relocation is not a guarantee on period correct. the awb/experimental era was more than just the stereotypical awb b-body mopars. i like the whole era from mild to wild and all the makes and models from that time. some out there have a distorted view of what was out there build wise at that time. this could cause hard feelings. some thing that should be avoided. i will use this as a example. don francis was going to bring his absolutely drop dead gorgeous 67 camero to the melt down this past year. he was side lined due to a medical issue and was unable to attend. the car is one of the few remaining documented transition cars that still exist. this car is recognized by nhra as the first experimental to go 200mph. i have this car on video racing at byron 4-wide in 67. how many car owners can say they were actually racing their car at byron back in the day. yet after the response about the camero that showed up this year he says he will never bring the car to the melt down. here is a perfect specimen from the era yet is not allowed to participate per the rules. this will be a hard beast to tame as the era extends past the cut off date. rules can be made but history cannot be rewritten.
Well Shit. I guess I would have to just make the call out and let the MDA decide if it gets in or not. I'll just say any AWB 1966 or earlier and see what happens. The "rules" will be posted soon on the MDA website. I hope people can figure it out from there.
yes make the call. maybe they will make exemptions for the right cars. how can a third of the era get cut off. if just one more model year is added then the whole era is represented. some of the most interesting cars came from the later part of the era. the cars were more wild and faster. blowers and nitro were becoming more common. the personalities of the drivers were getting bigger also. i think cutting it off with the transition cars would be good. no all out flip tops. too bad there has to be a cut off because i sure like the first few years of flip tops.
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