Features Vintage Stock Cars for the street...

n0t quite a stock car but i have soon 2 sprint cars that were streetable both chev v8 both slightly lengthened and automatic local guy got stoped on I29 in ND and highway patroll was not amused , it appeared as the same a world of outlaws car but quieter the big top wing looked a sight and he had his own sponsors on the wing to help pay for the car!!


seen another one in Fargo ND this summer and it was so unreal pulled away from me at a intersection and i just zoned on the look and handling when turning

 

Hard part with the tires is finding race rubber with the taller profile now. They maybe out there with the guys running vintage stock car.

When ran the '55 in high school I replaced the old Blue Streaks with a fresh set. At the time no one was making the taller profile and they just didn't fill the big cut out wells.

Street tread looks to me like "Street Rod " just my personal thing like Numbers and logos... I'm not even sure how good the choices are with them .. now they are cutting down on making a lot of the sizes in 15" ....

While on the subject ideas on how to handle the wheel wells on my '55 ... The original idea was to cover the 11+' of rubber in the rear, Grand Sport style. Having a hard time with the flares, they look a lot better with the body work done and they were done back in the day by my Dad. Just not sure if I want to keep them ....

 

Thanks to everyone contributing to this subject. I'm having a ball throwing these ideas around!

Pure Hell, that's the beauty of a '55 man, it can be anything! Since the wheelwells are already cut front and back, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to build a street modified out of it. If you're on the fence about the flares, maybe you could carefully trim them off (so you can put 'em back on later?) then lower the car quite a bit. The tires hung out there on the '55 circle track cars. You could block off the headlights and hide new ones on the radiator shroud behind the grill. It might be cool to bolt in an early style cage, strip the interior and leave the dent in the back bumper too! None of the above mods would ruin the car, as they're all reversable to stock. Not a bad idea since '55s are big bucks now. That's powerful stuff, re-building your Dad's Hot Rod.

Yeah, that tire availability deal might be tough. Does anyone have the specs on the '60s stock car tires? Knowing the side wall height, outer diameter and tread width on these original tires would be a great way to start cross referencing for a current tire. I'd love to know the measurements on the '66 NASCAR Firestones...

 

Conder, great Ideas!.. I've been kicking some of the same things back and forth.. Headlights would be way cool. Probably need to remove even more metal for well clearance. Good to hear someone is as crazy as me ...Of course I think you make me look like an amateur .. In a good way ... Ha

I'm not so worried a about value as it being fun and in the vain of what the ol' man was thinking ... Gassing it was an other option he was looking at at the time, but his racing days were coming to a close and he waned to something a bit different ...

I kick myself for dumping the Old dry set of Blue Streaks and Firestones (Stupid ) The newer set is 25" tall front and the rears are 27" ... way too short .. Cobra/ Can-Am sizing ...

I bet the originals were almost 2" taller. If I remember the width was aprox. 10" F and 11+" R on 8" and 10" rims. The tires were designed to V-out and gave them that cool look ...

That Banana Car would too damb cool on the street ....

 

I have a street driven '64 Ford Custom (Galaxie cheapie model). It has a 351 Cleveland, Tex Racing Borg Warner Super T-10 4 speed, Frankland full floating quickchange, front weight jacks, spring loaded pull bar in the rear, full cage, 15 x 10" steel rear wheels with 29 x 12 Goodyear Eagle rain tires, 15 x 8" steel front wheels with the same Eagle tires, Pro Shocks on all 4 corners, belt driven Hilborn fuel pump, tach drive Accel distributor and much much more. I'll dig up some pics.

 

hey tim,
i'll definitely get you any pics of my blue '65 Gal that your need.
give me a few days. gettin ready to leave for CHRR and wife and 2 kids, blah, blah, blah.
thanks again,
steve bava
norcal

 

This is a longtime fantasy of mine, thanks for reminding me! Hell, I'd love to have a Javelin or Torino done up right!

Something from the '60s or early '70s, when I was really watching Nascar!

 

Pure Hell, I wonder when that pic was taken?
Reminds me of when I was little, like 5 or so, we'd go to Lake Hill Speedway in Valley Park (St. Louis) and watch them run. They were just across the Meramec River from the house. Probably drove there in dad's 73 Satellite.
Nights we didn't go, we could hear them as we fell asleep. DAMN! I can still feel it.............

 

Yes, pics please.
Tell us about those tires too!

 

Oh man!
what a swwweeeeet idea!
too bad my 68 charger is too nice to do this to it.
But that would be completely bad ass.

note to self..i cant get sidetracked with this..Ive got an A to build!

 

http://www.gogearhead.com/Pearson/Pearson.html

http://www.superbirdclub.com/racinghistory.html

http://www.genefeltonrestorations.com/examples.html

http://bringatrailer.com/2007/04/04/real-1968-holman-moody-nascar-torino-427/

http://aerowarriors.com/wcidpt.html

 

(from one of the links above)This is an ot body style, but would be a cool streetrod..
OR... back on topic... how about a 58 impala???

 

maybe my favorite stockcar of all time is the Pearson blue and gold torino.
my next project? well, actually, about 3rd or 4th in line.

i'll post more pics and info about my Gal when i get back from CHRR next week.

thanks for the interest,
sorry about the ot body styles. whatever those are.
steve

 

Car Craft did a series on this type of build awhile back, with a '67 Comet...cool stuff and a great idea. If I remember right, they did a story on a guy with a '66 Chevelle done the same way, and it was bad-ass. (mostly because it was a car that should have been raced but wasn't due to Chevrolet's racing ban.) Here's a link to part of the Comet story: http://www.carcraft.com/projectbuild/116_0710_1967_mercury_comet_stock_replica_part_3/index.html

 

COOL. I've been reading the Car Craft stuff and checked out all of Bava's links (wicked car man). I'm diggin' all of it. Those Galaxies, Torinos and big Mopars are just wooly as !@#$!!!

I gotta say, it's the full size ridge runners for me. I just keep seeing (hearing?) it over and over in my head...A locker popping, straight cut gear whining, vision blurring, raw gas smellin', deep south freak show former family truckster surrounded by cops, little old ladies and rabid environmentalists with guns drawn....

"AwRIGHT ya crazy redneck! Git yer ass out the window and lay face down on the pavement!!!"

...the doors work.

"Git on the ground NOW!"

...but officer, my other car's a Prius!

"THAT'S it. OPEN FIRE!"

 

I am working on it.

 

"A locker popping, straight cut gear whining, vision blurring, raw gas smellin', deep south freak show former family truckster surrounded by cops, little old ladies and rabid environmentalists with guns drawn...."



Now I now what to do to my Toro... I got you green right here! ha, ha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziYJVoaOeiI

You guys are building some cool stuff...

 

Here's my old dirt racer, last raced in 97. I still buy tags for it every year in case I decide to street it. 3/4 T. Chevy suspension, 454 BB, Muncie 4spd. and 2 seats. It just needs some lights and a horn to be legal. What Y'all think?

 

Man, you have GOT to put that on the street. Dig the crazy Mad Max windshield...

Okay. First off I have to say I LOVE the new green movement. I have just as many cool ideas on electric cars and gray water systems and yada yada as I do kinky hot rods. I'd commute to work in a hovercraft that runs on farts to get off of oil dependance.

However, building an uncompromising hot rod to enjoy whenever I want is a huge priority to me. A mid-sixties style AA/FD (Nitro's made from chicken S!@#) a screaming roadster or an apocolyptic stock car will feed my red blooded american adrenal gland just fine.

After all, I believe hot rodder's are gonna save the world, as well as gently school the scientists on how to make a damn car look like something other than a swollen lymph node.

p.s. I dig the Car Craft project but again, too much interior, the tires are too skinny and it sits too high. I think it looks more like an early Rally car. Of course, it actually EXISTS and all I have are ideas and opinions...so far they win!

 

when i was 18, i passed on a charger 500 'cause it didn't have the hidden headlights or rear window tunnel. that and the 440 was laying on it's side in a dirt floor barn.

i also parted out a rusty 69 torino q-code cobra. i still have the pedals, trans tunnel hump and door/vin tags from that car. 428 scj, 3.00 posi, big/in out toploader, it would have been a great start.

in 95/96 i ws working on a 65 fury hard top that was going to be a gutted nascar-style street runner. chrysler wasn't racing that year, so my version would have been what a privateteer might have run (no hemis allowed in 65). everytime i bought something for that car, i found out it wouldn't work for what i had. that dampened my chrysler enthusiasm and when my back-up wheels (15x8 t-70s) were stolen, i threw my hands up and bailed on the project. back to the general!

the 65 impala i have would make a good one too. i also have a 396 that would fill that engine compartment quite nicely. 1965 was pretty much the last gasp for the big cars...

 

What would roundy-round dirt tires do on the street?

 

Looks almost like the old nascar modifieds that ran on the big tracks years ago ,boy, if you already have plates that's a no brainer, plates, and dealing with the bureaucracy can be the hardest part of a project, and you're alresdy there.That's a really neat car, exactly what the doctor ordered.

 

They wouldn't wear too good due to thier soft compound. They are also not D.O.T. approved and since a roundy round car will draw some attention anyway, it's one of the first things they'll probably look at in a traffic stop. I'm not sure what would work and look best, maybe a large drag radial might look OK ? Any Ideas?

 

Back in the mid 70s I build a few dirt track cars for our local track. This would sure bring me back to the old days for sure.

Let me point out a few things about the cars that ran on our track then.

The racing tires were not much higher then what was used on the street, the difference was we ran deep dished wheels, to set them out wider. The wider stance was more stable. We lowered the car as much as possible, which wasn't much, but with the deep wheels, we had to cut the fenders to clear the tires. As I remenber, we set the car at race hight without the tires on, then stood the tire up outside the fender. Using a piece of soapstone and a 1 1/2" pipe, we would roll the pipe around the tire and mark the fenders. Then we cut the fender at the line with the tourch. Once cut, we took a pair of pliers and bent about 3/4 " of the edge at about 90 degrees to the tire surface. Should the body lean onto the tire the bent edge would not cut a tire, and you would give it additional "clearance" before next week. The dirt tires were about 10" wide and were a hard compound. Tire wear was not the biggest problem with tires, cutting the sidewalls was. I put a set on the back of a street car for a few days back then, traction on the street was real bad, the tires would loose air and they were almost impossible to balance. Besides that, they were only 2 ply tires, didn't take much to cut a sidewall on one, esspecially on the street. Too muck junk out there on the street, and that was in 1980!

Also, most of the race cars had something to resemble headlights on the "grills", be it stickers or something painted. The race cars without "headlights" just didn't look right. Round circles of a contrasting color to what the was with the car's number paintd on them was popular.

Most cars still used during that time still had many street car componets on them. Most cars at that time were still owner built, but some really fast manufactured cars were starting to turn up by the early 80s. The biggest changes were of course the roll cage and then suspension mods like adjustable spring pockets to adjust wedge and heavy duty shock brackets for the real stiff shocks. Massive front sway bars was also a standard, as were 3/4 ton truck rear axles or some other kind of floater axles. No one at out track ran GM 10 or 12 bolt rear ends because the axles would snap off at the wheel bearing.

Wished I could find a few of the pictures we took of my old race cars, they looked real good from 20 feet away.... for the first few weeks. LOL Gene

 

great info 50 dodge! thanks.

 

Cool. All this info is a big help! Again, if anyone has the specs on the mid-sixties - early '70s Firestones or Good/Years I would appreciate it. I'm not planning on running original race tires, but I do want to find a current street tire with similar measurements. Also, a tip on where to find the period, original NASCAR steel wheels would be a big help.

I get the tire shredding, headlight sticker thing. I'm not looking into running a modified style or '80s era car, so my cars tires won't be sticking out of the wheelwells and I won't be using headlight stickers.

I'm hoping to run close clearance, big tires, but kind of bulge the body out around the fender openings. I think if I smooth off the inside of the fender lip and flare it just a bit, there won't be an edge to catch the tire and slash rubber. With airbags to adjust ride height it might work. I'm looking forward to trying it.

I'm havin' a ball out in my shop this week, sketching on masking paper etc while painting some bikes. This thread is GREAT. It's causing me to seriously look at cars I never considered before.

I'm shooting for stance, fit and finish like this restored Petty car, only without the lettering, picket fence and flowers...

 

Hey Conder, here's CL link, that me be of help.....

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/pts/870139888.html

 

yeah ,it sort of looks like a 67 c,pillar
cool!.......

 

Thanks Rich. FOUR THOUSAND BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! They look like fabricated wheels. What do they mean by "double center"?

The centers look like early ford. Maybe they stacked two together for strength, then welded 'em into a rolled rim? 4k for museum piece originals, but these can be built cheap. Again, the beauty of this type of car...mostly labor.

Anybody know how Holman/Moody built these wheels?

 

Rims were re-inforced in the center so they didn't break during high G loading in turns. All makes in NASCAR used the same bolt pattern.