Hot Rods How many guys drive street brawlers?

My Vette, tunnel ram 377, 4 speed, 373 12 bolt posi

 

Lumpy's my hero.

 

I have A Street Brawler Deuce But Not of Pre 65 Area Et/speed! Or 90s !!
If you have not been around Modern S -R Brawlers
You will be surprised,
Average Brawler street drive is 6:50 & faster @ 100mph plus ( 1/8)
& mid 9s & quicker (1/4) 135 plus on tires the size of L60 & average 635 hp @ crank ,
I had a OT Gr get me "twice"
Gr 6:05 et all wheel drive drag radials
Me 6,:30 ,255 Street radials & he was playing with me,,, No crying about tires Gr was faster that day!!!

 

Sounds like a keeper in my book.

 

With the proper selection of old parts the cars can be made to go real fast. Read that over. A flat head isn't going to cut it today. Starting with a big block is a good start. Big cubes brings bigger torque. Of course weight is everything. Your street car with a ton of power will get spanked every time without some modifications to the suspension. There is no reason in today's world that a old car with old parts can't get into the nines. It's done every day. The 1967 GTX of Jimmy Addison was going in the nines in 1970. I wonder what that car could do today.

 

read this carefully, some may be a bit newer...Then rear the tire rules....Then read the records.....Can you pull the front end with stock size" street" tires?
https://www.fastdrags.com/

 

This was my stoplight killer in the 80's. L-88 427, 4-speed, 4.56's.

 

Current brawler, just can't find anyone on the street that wants to tangle. Altered wheelbase, blown 440, 4-speed, 4.10.

 

Front suspension was worn out, but, yeah, I lifted earlier than I would have when I was a kid. If I had that much power at 18, I wouldn't have made 19

 

nice, ever been to a strip with it?

 

My coupe is being built to be a thrasher.

I like design, smart fabrication, and details but at the completion of it all, I want it to handle abuse.

 

I dig your coupe.

 

Two ish year later then HAMB cut,
Taken 1968 , 1968 427 bb on street 4 lane hyw
I zoomed in , in original pic background you can see traffic passing opposite way

It all comes down to Understanding and knowing how to match parts & tuning

 

Hello,

At the time, it was fall 1960 and school had started up after a very tough summer. My brother was in the hospital intensive care and I was now the primary driver of the 58 Chevy Impala. By this time, everyone had heard of our accident at Lion’s Dragstrip and of course, I was the person the conversation usually headed. It was tiresome and constant rumbling of the same stuff.

So, my friend with the 57 Chevy Bel Air and I began to drive all over So Cal to see other places with regularity. The good old place, Bixby Knolls was still great, but we (I) needed a change of pace. Similar hangouts, but a different area(s) when we rolled up to another hot rod drive-in parking lot, it was a new experience.

We were relatively unknown and that was fine with us. Just a slow cruise to some great food and more hot rods, but in a different area of So Cal. No bravado stuff, just having a good time with cheese burgers, fries and Cherry Cokes. Plus, additional time of teenage conversations covering a myriad of topics...

The Impala motor was running at the top peak, with the modifications and now was supporting over 330 hp from the mods to the stock 280 hp. The C&O Stick Hydro just added another item to the arsenal. We did not look for other races, but if one came our way, it was pocket change.

On these different road trips, we still had the 4:56 Positraction gears, which made for some interesting high rpms on the streets. We were in no hurry to get to those different places, so the gears made us slow down and enjoy the conversations.

Jnaki

Now, when we got to the different places, we were just a couple of high school kids driving around. If someone came over, gave us the once over and started talking about late night adventures, well, we could not pass up those encounters. Confidence was a major factor and it held up on all encounters.

We knew of several places that were relatively empty in the late night hours and we always checked the long drives for security and escape routes. We weren’t brash or anything like that. We just liked good encounters to raise the blood level activity. The 348 motor was powerful enough by itself, but with the mods, it was something to reckon with when the gas pedal was pushed.

We were lucky or in the right places. We never got a ticket or got stopped for violations of any kind. When we knew there was a large gathering, not raining or misty, and it was not too far away, we put on the Bruce Slicks. Now, we were ready. The farthest North, Harvey's Broiler. The farthest South, Merle's drive in Newport Beach and then Carlsbad.


Back then the modified Impala was something on the streets. It sounded powerful, was very fast and with the C&O Stick Hydro, was a force to reckon with coming off of the line anywhere. But, the odd thing was we were never timed running a 13 second street car. 14 seconds before any final modifications, just felt we were going that fast for the times at Lion’s Dragstrip. But on the street? Quickness and the sight of 6 red lights says it is all over…

When I look at my wife’s station wagon, it is listed at 300 hp. The model has been timed at 13 seconds by others with the same stock make and motor across the USA dragstrips. So, there is that fact… not a monster, but a nice long distance driver for a couple of old folks happy to get where we are going.

Encounters? Nah… not at this late stage of the game… just driving a sleeper will surprise others with some laughter, as we head for the coastal beaches and warmth of the sun… YRMV

 

The story that came with my '39 was that it was an ol' "Street Brawler"... that's the term the seller used. The original builder swapped the 327 and 4-speed from a "rich kid's 'Vette in the mid to late '60s. It also had a '56 Chevy 4.11 posi in it. Early Wescott 'glass rear fenders with radiused wheel openings gave clearance for slicks and are still in place. It was supposedly a force to be reckoned with at the time. It ran at the drags and lake beds in the greater L.A. area.

 

I built my roadster with the ability to run on the street or the track and it's seen it's share of both.

 

Root,
I think we are on a similar wavelength ( and grew up around the same time though I'm a few years older). Used to "cruise the avenue" looking for fun! Ahhh....good times. I'm currently building a 55 Chevy 3600 2nd series with a 350 SBC (350 horse). It used to have a 454 twin turbo with a stout built 4l60? trans but made a trade without those. My avatar is my cruiser.

 

I haven't had a hot street car in a long time. Never had one in the HAMB era, every one was a couple of years past the cut off date or up to 10 years past it. I grew up in the 70's, so 60's cars were my thing. Got married at 19, so after that I didn't really have the money to build anything for myself for years. I did build several hot cars during that time though, but they were for my neighbor, who at the time was married to my wife's 1st cousin. He supplied the money, I supplied the know how and wrenching skills. I built him 3-4 Chevys and one Pontiac and a Ford, all were fast in the day. Only problem was he wasn't the driver he thought he was. I could kick his ass on a light at the track or the street. Before LED lights, you could just see the flicker when a light was going to change, and I took advantage of it. Never told him my secret. Almost impossible to see that with the LED lights now, they are on or off, no flicker.

 

40ford with a aluminum 427fe street car. ran a 10.2 at 128

 

Dang….that’s what I am talking about….

 

I find once you get to a certain power level it becomes sketchy stomping on a pedal from a dead stop or even a rolling start. My 57 has around 600 hp so first and second gear ( Auto) are pretty much useless and dangerous on BFG 235 70 15 street tires. Load it up on a trailer and take it to a drag strip.

 

So where the F is @Ryan with his '38 Ford?

 

He is detuning it....BOOOOOO!!!!!

 

Not a Street Brawler if you trailer ,
With practice you can learn to apply power to street asphalt & Black track tires pulling instead of going Up in Smoke!!
On one of my Brawler's
Short wheeled
427 sb
255/70/15 radials

 

Oval tracks are where the speed happens for me...still love the feeling of taking the green flag and taking off into the corner with 20 others in hopes of beating them all in the end...

Racing on the street was never on my radar...I never felt safe driving anything on the street....

my 2 cents...

 

I built the avatar aiming for the midpoint of brawler and usable. 327 with 400hp at the crank. I think Beaner is right - healthy Street motor, starting point for a racer. Pulls 13.3s on the quarter with a 3.08 rear, 7”tyres and 3800rpm converter.

Tows a box trailer (we are camping out of that trailer as I type). Kids learnt to drive in it. Does groceries on the way home from the track. Daughter Number 3 faced her first Christmas tree in it, and beat a late model Mercedes (child is now addicted).

Did my dumbass street racing when younger, need to set a better example for Number 1 Son. Almost all my racing done at the local track. Makes me giggle though pulling up to a stoplight, and the car behind moves into the other lane to overtake the “grandpa car”.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Does this look like a street brawler, or just a couple lost tourists?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^
looks like your tow rig broke and somebody's got to get to a bathroom....

 

Obviously fake. Taken on a green screen.

 

29 Ford, 425 Buick Riv eng and trans, champ Q/C rearend with black gold detroit locker
really gets with the program, ready to Brawl .