Help me ID this ex Fiat drag car body I found

Awesome Find man! I love Fiats!

 

Bitchin!! Another killer car to add to Sonoma County!

Nice Find.....

-Robert M.

 

this comment about the topo was posted on my topo build by mistake ....i beleive


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FNG

Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4



</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid" id=td_post_7415324 class=alt1><!-- icon and title --> Re: My Project....1938 Fiat Topolino.....Lil Beast...........
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5; COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->That is ron boggs in the fiat was taken around 1968 i think the car was red when this picture was taken
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man this is one of those cool car find of a life time scores you usually only read about on the HAMB , awesome and good luck bringing this one back to life

 

Awesome find, congrats. Subscribed to keep track of your progress!

 

cant believe i missed this post, i remember seeing that pics of that car when i was a kid in my pops old magazines, great find, hope you restore it!

 

Hi Sparky,

Congrats on finding a true piece of drag racing history! I saw the Colt .45 Mustang run at US131 Dragway in Martin, Michigan in 1966. I took two 8mm movies of the car going down the track. On the first run, Joe got out of shape and crossed the centerline and had to abort the run. The second run was a full pass. That car looked like a handful to drive! The class designation written on the window was CC/FD, so he must have had some Nitro in the tank when he was there that night. Your story has inspired me to make a video about the car for my youtube channel. I hope you guys don't mind if I use some of the photos posted here to make my video. Here are a couple frames from one of my 8mm movies.

 

@Sparky13 - Here's another pic for your photo archive:

​

 

Any updates on this project ?

 

@Sparky13 -

Here's two more pics for your archive ... @partsrivet recently posted these John House images in the DRAG CARS IN MOTION........PICTURE THREAD:

The Davis & Ingram BB/Altered Topolino @ Half Moon Bay in September 1964​

 

WOW !!!!! That is amazing!! Loved that car

 

Great story; unreal that these cars turn up and once the word is out, pictures and commentary start to roll in. Mr. "Churchkey" Brady always seems to bring it to the table! Last year a guy posted on here about some dragstrip trophys he bought at an "antique"(?) store; one was from Sanford Maine and one was from Orange.Had dates and class winner designation engraved on them, and he was wondering if anyone knew who had won them.I saw the post and started poking around and decided to contact Jere Sheehan in Fla. Two days later he got back to me and told me he'd found a 1960's "Drag News" that listed class winners and which car it was.A-freakin'-mazing!! With this info., I found a PICTURE of the car in "Cool Cars, Square Roll Bars" Sherlock Holmes Hot Rodding! Thanks Jere!( and thanks to everyone who keeps a chronicle of this stuff). Congrats on your find. Mike from Mass.

 

Anything new?

 

Wow amazing what kind of history can turn up! Hope the original chassis still exists and you find it!

 

@Sparky13 -

Found yet another pic:

1964 photo by Bud Lang

Wheelstanding Fiat Altereds are cool, no matter what they are powered by! Davis & Ingram Topolino
pulls the front end at the 1st Annual Hot Rod Magazine Championship Drag Races at Riverside.

(Inset) Monogram 1/32 scale model kit "Hemi Fiat" Wild Supercharged Drag Machine from 1966.​

 

thank you for the photo's !! I love seeing new pic's pop up. Currently the car is in hibernation in the barn and is safe.

 

Ezra Boggs was a funny car racer from Oklahoma. Boggs raced funny cars from coast to coast during the years 1969 to 1985. The first funny car Ezra raced was the Colt 45 machine of the Martin Brothers. The Martin Brothers were the third owners in the line of cars bearing the Colt 45 name. The first owners were the successful Ingram and Davis team out of California who built the first Colt 45 in 1966 to race in the NHRA AA/A class. The team then raced early funny cars with the blown steel body car. Davis and Ingram sold the car to Frank Reinauer, who bought the car to match race in the Oklahoma area. Reinauer extended the front end 24 inches and replaced the small block with a 396 Chevy. The car never handed well so Reinauer had local funny car racers Gitthens and Allen build a new chassis from 2 x 4" square tubing. A new '69 Mustang body was ordered from Ron Pellegrini's Fiberglass, Ltd., shop outside Chicago. Frank drove the new car a couple of times but still did not like the feel of it. He sold the car to fellow Oklahomans Don and Jack Martin and Reinauer asked Ezra to drive the car for the new owners. Boggs drove the 480 cubic inch Chevy powered Mustang for two years with best times of 7.70 at 198 in 1970. (Photo courtesy of Ezra Boggs and www.mobydickaafc.com; info from Ezra Boggs and Draglist files)

 

@Sparky13 -

Here's a full-frame copy of the Bud Lang (circa 1964) photo:

​

 

I believe Ezra still has a shop in Norman, Ok. I assume he is still alive.

 

@Sparky13 -

Here's yet another pic culled from the Internet:

Davis & Ingram BB/A Fiat at the 1964 Winternationals (in Pomona)
image by Phil "Woody" Woodford (@portage)​

 

Great story, been watching.

 

updates?

 

Last year, I heard that @Sparky13 was looking to sell the car to someone who had the financial means and talent to properly restore the car back to its 1964-65 glory ...

... but just 4 months ago, he posted this cool vintage (1964) photo on his Instagram account ...

​

... with the caption:

 

I wish he would sell it to me...

 

Ok whats up with the fiat? Lippy

 

Wow,
Haven't been on here in ages. Glad to here the Fiat body is still around. It sat in the back of my grandparents house in Campbell, CA for years before Joe finally decided to sell it. I have access to tons of info on this car when someone is ready to build it. That car won it's class at US Nationals in '64 with that body, and again in '65 &'66 with the Colt 45 body. Both cars were campained in '65 and at least once at the same event.

 

This story has the timelines wrong.
Fiat BB/A', 64-'65,
Colt 45 BB/A,FX, CC/FD, '65-'66, Jewelt AA/A,BB/A and a few others, '67-'68

Sent from my SM-G900P using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

@Sparky13 -

Here's a color photo of the gorgeous Fiat Altered of Joe Davis and Wes Ingram at the San Jose Autorama:

image by James Handy
​

 

I was really surprised when I stumbled onto your site and this thread about the Davis and Ingram Fiat. I was only 22 when I moved to San Jose, CA and began to work for the Johnson Brothers who sponsored this car and did a lot of work for Joe Davis. I was privileged to also do some work on this car and travel on the weekends to many drag strips.
I purchased a new 64 1/2 Mustang which became the inspiration to put a Mustang body on the Fiat. I remember the day we parked my Mustang alongside the Fiat and began to ponder how we could put this body onto that frame. It was a lot of work but I am happy to say we did it. We even had to fabricate some body parts by making molds off my brand new car. The Colt 45 became one of the first "Funny Cars" because nobody knew how to classify it and simply called it a funny car. We were at the Carlsbad drag strip the day Joe drove it for the first time and I was near the end of the strip filming with a Super 8 camera when the Colt 45 crossed the finish line about a foot off the ground and popped the windshield when the parachute opened. We knew very little about aerodynamics but decided that air got under the Mustang hood and lifted the car. We lowered the front end in the pits and took another pass with more success. This was a real learning experience but a ton of fun.