Even though I do not know for a fact if I had to guess I would say Rexrode's 53 and Collins 54 Vettes are one and the same. The tires, wheels and grill are just too similar to be happenstance. No matter what a cool car. The tall tires sure look great and bring back memories. You certainly do not see many early drag Corvettes and I'm afraid that Baron's tag line may have a certain measure of truth (and makes me laugh at the same time); "the resto weenies have got to most of them and made them all look like each other, like the book told them to."
Jimdillon: your candy apple car is a beauty. The Rats Nest was updated a few times ,their were at least two other versions of it thru the years.
Bowie I figured as much thanks for the compliment and thanks JP as well. I almost bought a similar car in rough shape about 10 years ago but was about a day late (no title and the owner did not even know if it was a 53 or 54-was going to street rod it). It had a straight axle with a great stance but the body was roughed up pretty bad and virtually had no parts to go with it (reason for the discount price I suppose). Guy wanted around $5500. Kind of wonder what happened to it. I have not seen it as a racecar so maybe they stripped the axle out of it and turned it back into a 6 cylinder with an auto and pretend it is all numbers matching (although the cost of doing that may be so cost prohibitive that who knows it may resurface again as a carcass).-Jim
25 years ago I bought a very early 55 that one of my customers had started to restore. It was a matching numbers car, motor and trans had been rebuilt, the body completely stripped (and in pretty good shape) and my plan was to turn it into a Hot Rod Corvette. But being one of only 700 cars , and being as complete as it was, I sold it within months of buying it. After much thought, I decided this car was worth saving/leaving stock. ( plus my 32 5W coupe was about 1/2 finished and I needed the money more than another car....).
Baron I agree many cars should be left stock, including many of the classics-not just Corvettes. I also don't go along with the latest trend of resto modding the Vettes with new chassis and all of the LS engines (even though all of that makes for a better ride and performance). Look on ebay and the like and you see an occasional complete chassis for sale-some were restored not long ago. Here you had a car with some heritage as maybe just an old sports car and voila it is now being made into a "new" car with possibly only the body that resembles the sports car it was. Whatever floats your boat I guess. The stuff I have had drag racing history (except for my black 62, that I know of or don't know of) and I believe that history or at least the feel and/or appearance of the drag car no matter should be preserved. I have seen on the Corvette forum guys say their car was an old drag car like it was some worthless garbage and so they had to hurry and make it numbers matching. If they had done a little digging who knows they have have unearthed a pretty cool car that would also have good value. The Corvette guys as a whole preserve the heritage of the road race cars but not so much with the drag cars. Truth be told I believe Corvette had a more successful history in drag racing then on the road courses but it may not be so easy to convince most of the road course guys. There are maybe 2 or 3 guys on the Corvette forums that seem interested in early drag Vettes but many interested in so much of the mundane minutia that makes up the numbers matching crowd. That's their focus and in the end no harm no foul. But it is refreshing to see that some guys on this forum "get it".
jimdillon I just looked at your profile page and it said you have 3 Vettes. I have probably seen them on here before but would you care to post pics of them on this thread? I would appreciate it.
FOUND THIS PIC ONLINE A MINUTE AGO. IT MAY ALREADY BE ON HERE. HERE IS A LINK TO WHERE I FOUND IT. http://twolaneblacktop.yuku.com/topic/361/Ya-Aint-Spose-To-Do-THAT-To-A-Vette#.VPNMYk85Dcs
Jim. Your 100% right. The Corvette drag cars get no recognition, yet it would seem to me, many more of them were raced on drag strips opposed to road courses . Ninety percent of the Corvette owners I know never had a car on a road coarse. A small number have run some local gymkhanas back in the day. But many had taken their Corvette to the drags, if for nothing else, to see how fast it would go. Here are a few more pics of Corvettes a friend of mine took out at Indy in 1966.
Baron, That white vette is very cool never seen that one before, would be a cool find. it has probally been restored and marked all original. jp
You could be correct. Here is all I found on the car. " Strickler returned to racing Chevrolets in 1966 and successfully matched-raced “The Old Reliable V” which was an extended-wheel-based Corvette Funny Car powered by a Jenkins Competition-built fuel-injected 427-cubic-inch Chevrolet engine." http://www.empaonline.org/Dave Strickler bio.html
Enloe, I try not post too much because people will think I am a gold chainer or something similar but if you only knew how little I paid for any of my cars you would be amazed. I do all of my own work except for stitching of the seats. Here is my black car it has a 327/365 hp. I bought the engine new back in the late 70s from GM. It is my driving car and I have owned it so long it is like a part of me. It was a mess when I bought it and a few years ago took first in class at Autorama but it is a driver for sure.
I WAS THINKING THAT WAS YOUR CAR BUT I WASN'T SURE. THE LINK I POSTED ABOVE HAS QUITE A FEW PICS OF THAT CAR.
I like the Mazmanian 61 a lot too and also like your car its got that vibe. I always wondered with the Mazmanian car after going to all of the trouble to build it with all of the right parts and the show and go look with the candy paintjob, why they left the rear wheel wells that way. I think that I read somewhere that they cut them at a race because the tires were rubbing but it seems like they would have added fender flakes or gone back and fixed that area with a rounded radius. I may be opening a can of worms here but I am curious and its the only thing that doesn't match the fit and finish of the car. Other than that it is perfect. I also like the Wildabeast a lot and wonder which car was painted candy Apple red first. If anyone has any more pictures of the Wildabeast I would love to see them.
Here is my 1961 chopped top car built by Larry Teter back in the late 60s with a 427/four speed, straight axle and Pontiac rear. A tube chassis car that more than likely ran probably B/A. The front fiberglass is just sitting there as it allegedly hit the wall at Gainesville back in the 70s. You have to sit in a rocker position and with the tunnel ram scoop and chopped top it has little visibility. Needs a lot of attention for sure but always looking for original stuff that fits my budget. Gathering parts and it will gets its time when I retire hopefully in a couple of years. Then here is my latest acquisition that I picked up in Alabama. A 1960 chassis that ran a 427 BBC with a Doug Nash five speed. I bought it off of Rickey Moore who redid the car in 1973 and ran in B/G and B/MP mostly on the Alabama 1000ft and 1/8 mile tracks. The car was built in the late 60s to run gas with a Pontiac rear. When Rickey bought it in 1973 he changed some things and it now has a dana 60 with a four link. I have since acquired a Booth Arons 461 iron head BBC that is like new (built in the early 70s) with only a handful of runs. Here it is in my shop last fall and I mounted the body on it somewhat as I need the space. It is a project for sure but has some history as well. My latest project is a 1958 I paid $2000 for and it is a mess although I am happy with my progress with a small budget (business right now is off so making it a budget build). Probably be a junior stocker and I am using a bunch of recycled parts from shelves and piles of old parts. Frame was a rusted throw away but have saved it and so far so good.
Jason if you look at Wildabeast and the numbers on the side windows and then look at Mazmanians 61 you will see similarities. I have some pics of Wildabeast that will require some searching and will post although want to get a bit more work done today. One of my favorite cars. Mazmanians 61 is one of my favorites as well but the wheel wells are part of its history so I guess they should stay that way, although I would have like to see them use a little more cut with the original cut.
I would love to own this car but would have to change top and windshield so I could see Either that or make a hollowed out space in the floor so my big ass could hang down
Here you go. i would like to take all the credit but i can only take the credit for paying for it. i think the chassis shop did a great job and made the pieces where the convertible latches are removable so i can open and close the lid, chromoly cage with chris alston swingouts, he farbicated a mount that slid in the rectangular hole in the rear wheel wells and welded it all up. The cage goes through the floorboards into a mounting system that attaches to the original frame, hard to describe really, looks like a birdcage underneath the car and really ties it together. It passed NHRA chassis cert, bought another seat cover and a piece of foam, cut it to fit inside the seat track and it lowered it a good 3 to inches and gave me more room. jp
To me there are very few things that look as good as the corvette valve covers. I have a weakness for them you can check out my thread and see. Here is a link. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-car-dad-and-his-family-picture-heavy.931788/
Thanks JP. That looks great. They did a nice job. Not a lot of room in these cars to fit a full cage in. You say the two bars that pass through the lid are removable ? Any chance of showing a picture of how they are attached to the main hoop ?
JP very nice. I put a three point bar in my avatar car and would not want to put a full cage in one of these cars.
Jason here are some more pics of Wildabeast. Skip Hess bought the car new in 1962 and built a 375 inch small block with Hilborn injection and ran in CM/SP. Car set several records allegedly. Not sure if it was candy, as the pics I have are not perfect. Do you have anything that points to it being candy? If you study the numbers and letters on the window it almost looks like the same letters and number style as Mazmanians 61.Wish I could find that in a barn someplace.
Enloe, I agree on the valve covers.Hopefully one day in the not so distant future we will see your Vette out and about.
The two racing pics of Wildabeast though seem to have a candy shade. I have gone back and forth but have nothing definitive. Maybe you have that would straighten it out.
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