History Davis ~ Ingram Jewel "T" AA / Altered ... Lotsa Pics!!!

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I've been viewing several of the old drag racing picture threads here on the HAMB ... and have been a bit surprised that no one has made mention of one of my favorite drag cars of the 60's ... the Jewel "T" campaigned by Joe Davis & Wes Ingram out of San Jose, California.

The Jewel "T" was not only one of the most beautiful race cars of the 60's ... but it was always very competitive ... in fact, it held several National records and was the 1967 NHRA Super Eliminator World Champion!

I'm kinda vague on the details ... but I do remember that my father used to travel with the Davis/Ingram team up & down the west coast ... I don't think he did much (if any) wrenchin' ... but rather acted as the "team photographer."

I've been searching through tons of his old prints & slides ... and through several boxes of negatives & color transparencies ... but (so far) have found zero pics of the Jewel "T" ... I'll keep looking ... but in the meantime, here's some pics culled from the Internet:

images from a 1967 issue of CAR CRAFT magazine


Getting the holeshot...


A Lonely Sport: Jewel "T" doing a typically spectacular
launch on a testing day ... a real shame we can't hear it!


@ Tulsa World Finals​

... and this quote from Wes Ingram's website:

Wes remembers,
I was barely 20 when I teamed up with the late Joe Davis one of the nations top 10 drivers at the time with an incredible win record. I was hell-bent on setting national records (we had at least 5) and I always built cars that would also be show stoppers. You could do that in drag racing since the cars only ran 1320 feet per race and the remainder of the time you were in the pits surrounded by race fans. It was a different world, a bit glamorous, cameras, big magazine articles and good looking women. Between races you had to learn to wrench, solve problems and get back to the starting line, sometimes with seconds to spare in spite of all the distraction in the pits. - Wes Ingram​

 

"CAR CRAFT ACTION SHOWCASE" poster:

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Bob Wagner photos:

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From the Byron's Gasser Madness! website ...

... this Bob Wenzelburger (@NHRANUT) B&W photo taken @ the Fremont Drag Strip:

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... this Monty Warner photo taken @ the 1967 Nationals in Indianapolis:

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... this Pete Gemar photo also taken @ the 1967 Nationals in Indianapolis:

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... and this Dave Edwards photo taken @ the 1969 Nationals in Indianapolis:

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love it

 

A beautiful, fast, legendary hot rod. Thanks for posting it.

 

cool stuff Hemi32. how come all your posts are made at 3:00 AM?

oh happy birthday ....

 

Ya, thats a great car. I know it's been talked about on here before. Thanks for posting all those great photos.

 

Really? ... any idea where on the HAMB it was discussed? ... I've done numerous searches and never have found anything on the car, Joe Davis, or Wes Ingram ... I even tried misspelling the keywords ... still nothing ... Any info you might have would be greatly appreciated.

... and yes, I'm still looking through my father's B&W negatives and Ektachrome transparencies for pics of the car ... still no luck

 

I'm not sure... but I recognize a couple of those pics and I'm sure I saw them here.

 

Though it might have stated already, but the car held the national record for both AA/A and BB/D in 1968! Check out the goalie style face mask. Wasnt the car later adorned with an Andy Brizio style paint job?

 

i liked the purple fiat ....didn't they have a mustang before this car...? brandon

 

beautiful!! That would be one to replicate!

 

Love to see an article on that someday in Rodders Journal.

 

Yep! ...

The Davis & Ingram '38 Fiat Topolino as featured in the June 1965 issue of HRM:

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The Joe Davis "Colt .45" Mustang in 1965:

image from the DragList.com website​

... and in 1966:

Eric Rickman (CarCraft) photo from the DragList.com website


Fresh off his NHRA Nationals victory, Gene Snow faces Joe Davis at the NHRA
World Finals at Tulsa. The Davis & Ingram "Colt .45" Mustang had been
converted from an AA/Altered to an early funny car. The "Colt .45" ran on
gas or low levels of nitro. Davis & Ingram eventually sold the Mustang to the
Oklahoma based Martin Bros., who ran the car with many updates into the early '70s. ​

 

Acording to Ron Zavarella of Connecticut: His family bought it from Davis & Ingram, and his older brother drove it. They had it for one year racing it in Ct., then went to Indy for the Nationals. The car was stolen at Indy never to be seen again.

 

Jack (@Church Key) ... thanks for the info ... that's a real bummer ... not only for the Zavarella family ... but for any hope that the car will be found and restored to it 1967-68 glory

 

Wow ... the power of the H.A.M.B. !!!

Earlier this week, I received a PM* from a couple of HAMB newbies: @JewelT and his son @Davis_Ingram_Walraven.

I quickly replied to their PMs ... encouraging both of them to share their stories, info, & photos here on the HAMB.

Later that night, I received an e-mail from @JewelT ... confirming that he was indeed a friend & colleague of my father's ... and that he still has some of the slides my father shot of the Jewel "T" @ Orange County International Raceway.

Stay tuned ...




* {thanks @MikeRose (aka "katatonic mike") for the forward!}

 

How old am I? I remember all those cars, I am sure that I have pictures of the Colt 45 somewhere. That was the begining of funny cars. There was a lot of great racing at Fremont back then, and a lot of very talented young builders in this area. That Fiat was way cool, and still is. Altereds were huge in the later 60's and I remember seeing the Jewel T run. It was great to watch.
Thanks for the memories.
chuck

 

As I stated in my last post, Jim Walraven (@JewelT) recently contacted me.

One of the e-mail messages that I received from Jim contained several attachments ... including copies of some of the slides that my father shot at Orange County International Raceway (circa 1968):

In the Pits @ O.C.I.R. ... Note the "CUSTOMS BY Wilhelm" on the side
of the turtle-deck ... Yes, the legendary Joe Wilhelm painted the Jewel "T"!



In the Staging Lanes






Jim pushes the race-car back


At the Starting Line


The launch!


The late great Joe Davis (left) and Jim Walraven (right)


Joe & Jim discuss "racing" with O.C.R.I. staff​

 

Jim Walraven also shared some interesting "factoids" about the Jewel T:

• Joe Wilhelm charged around $900 to paint the car ... that was big dollars for the 60's!
  
  
• A-1 Plating of San Jose did all the chrome work
  
  
• Jim made the chrome firewall
  
  
• 24 volt electrical system
  
  
• 427c.i. BBC
  
  
• Vertex magneto
  
  
• Don Hampton blower
  
  
• Hilborn Injection
  
  
• Jim made silicone rubber header plugs to keep the valves warm after every run
  
  
• They welded a skid plate on the bottom of the oil pan because every time Joe would come up to the starting line, the car would flex (with the torque of the engine) ... and sometimes the oil pan would scrape the ground!
  
  
• Custom B&M transmission ... wrapped with with a blanket type scatter shield
  
  
• Olds rear end
  
  
• Simpson Drag chute
  
  
• The wheelie bars were fabricated from leaf springs and chromed
  
  
• 11" wide slicks
  
  
• Joe Davis sanded & polished the Halibrand magnesium wheels by hand

 

Here's the "JEWELT World Champions" logo:

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... and the "spec sheet":

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Jim also explained that Wes Ingram had left the team in 1967 and that:

The last race we {Joe & Jim} ran the "T" was in Portland, OR. The engine destroyed itself at the 1000' mark. We had a ballistic blanket around the torqueflite and when we tore it down, it fell out in pieces. Somehow a foreign object got into a cylinder and wasted the engine. This was shortly after we set the BB/A record in Arlington, WA. {April of 1968}

The Jewel T was sold to a family due to Joe's failing health. Trailer with Jewel T and tow car was stolen at the next Indy meet. I would have liked to have been setting on the turtledeck with a double barrel shotgun when whoever it was dropped the tailgate.​

So this Dave Edwards photo taken @ the 1969 Nationals in Indianapolis just may be the last known photograph of the Jewel "T" (before it was stolen from the Zavarella family) :

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Great stuff!! Thanks for posting.

 

Chuck ... You are old! ... I don't have any recollection of their Fiat Topo ... or the Colt .45 Mustang (I was only 4-5 years old) ... but I have vivid memories of the Fremont Drag Strip from the late 60's ... and of course, the Jewel "T"! ... Any chance you have some pics of the Jewel "T"? ... if so, please post 'em here.

 

THAT is interesting stuff... I like the old pics and the history that goes with it..
Thanks for sharing.

Rick
(1939fiat)
1966-67 BB/A

 

Here is a quick time line
1964 Fiat campaigned in BB/A, sets and lowers record, wins class at Nationals
1965 Fiat campaigned,
Wes leaves team starts to build A/Altered
Colt 45 started by Joe using same chassis As Fiat sometimes competing as both cars on a race weekend
Colt 45 wins new class at Nationals F/X
1966 Joe campaigns Colt 45 wins CC/FD at Nationals
1967 Joe and Wes join forces again and build Jewel T from Wes' A Altered
Wins almost everything. Points, Nationals, World Finals Super Eliminator
Wes retires from drag racing.
1968 Joe continues with the help of Jim Walraven until motor breaks in Portland.
Joe retires and sells Jewel T which is stolen the next year.

There is more but I will save that for later.

Alan Ingram

 

Way to work them keyboard's 32Hemi!! Lotta history you dug up on this race car.

 

Alan (@Ingram_son), Welcome to the H.A.M.B.!!! ... and thanks for posting on this thread ... I started it as a bit of a tribute to the Jewel "T" and to Joe, Jim, & your father ... I hope you will continue to share stories & pictures here on the HAMB ... and encourage your father to do the same.