Features Ford Thunderbolts Photos Wanted

Well, duh huh... That makes perfect sense! Thanks a million for the color photo! Got any others?


Deron

 

Sounds correct. As far as I've been told, that car is the same one pictures on post #582 here...the third one down. It had been modified quite a bit over the years but restored back to the original configuration.

Btw...Kentuckian is my new hero! Thanks a million for that posting that pic of Pappy Greenfield's car!

 

Doesn't it just make you wonder how many other cool photos like this are out there in someone's photo album stuck in the top of a closet? Keep digging guys!

 

Since I've been posting here, I've seen several people say they were going to post pics they had but so far, not many did. Hopefully there are alot more pics out there that we haven't seen so let's do all we can in the New Year to keep Jody's thread on track and rolling. Thanks to Jody, the Thunderbolt owners and the fans of the cars for all of the info shared here!

 

Uh, well, I guess I fall into that catagory....

So here's my contribution. This is a really crappy scan of a Xerox copy of an original photo of John Donilson's Dixie Stripper. This and several other photos showed up at a reunion of local Alabama rabers that used to be held every year. The original photo does exist and I know who has it, but she's the widow of the guy that used to host the reunion and I don't know how to get in touch with her. One of these days I hope to get a scan of the original for my files.



Here's one of Pat Gray's Whuppett taken at the same time:



And here's a Marty Johnson photo that I scammed off of a local racing forum a while back. I'm almost positive this one was taken at Jake's Drag Strip in Moulton, AL.



If someone out there knows how to get a full size copy of the above photo (without the watermark of course) I'd pay dearly for one.


More to come,
Deron

 

Wow. I don't think I've seen either of those 2 cars "uncut" before.

 

Here's another one that unfortunately is a scan of a Xerox copy. Not sure what event this is from, but that looks like a pretty sporty trophy Pat has there.



And here's a few more....







And then these two that I'm pretty sure everyone has seen before...







Deron

 

One more Whuppett photo that I find most interesting:



I showed this picture to Pat and the first thing out of his mouth was "Wow, it must have been pretty new in that picture cause we threw that air box in the garbage not too long after I got the car". I see no roll bar in the photo, so it must have been pretty new. Note the front bumper is not the typical aluminum bumper the car has in later photos. I wonder if the fiberglass ones were still available even after DST started installing the aluminum ones.

I'd be interested to know what number the Whuppett was, when it was delivered and how many other units were available for pickup at the same time. Pat told me a cool story about when he picked up his car. Dennis, can ya help me out on this one?

OK, so that's all I have for now. Somebody elses turn for a while until I can find some more!

Deron

 

The Whuppett car is the epitome of southern drag racing to me. If I had that car (yeah I know it's long gone) it would be AWB and straight axle...not day one.

 

Killer shots, and great history. I agree, keep Jody's post alive!

 

There are a boatload of photos of Donilson's car here starting on page three:

http://matchracemadness.smugmug.com/gallery/6175657_2NP4f#389377418_6ryFz

I don't know who's album this is, but it apears that Marty Johnson was the photographer on the bulk of the Dixie Stripper car. Many of these photos were taken before the car was cut up and turned inth the Hell Fire, and on page four there's even a photo of the car taken outside Jim Skinner's body shop when they were moving the rear wheelwells forward. Cool stuff for sure! Any idea who owns that album?

Deron

 

Maybe this looks better. Could not do anything with the other photo.

 

According to info that I've gathered and got from a T-Bolt owner----Woody Anderson Ford of Huntsville, Alabama received the 25th T-Bolt on 17th of Dec, 1963, and it was an automatic.

 

Yes this is a real one. It is Brannan's car before it was restored from what I've been told. Numero Uno T-bolt built.

Here it is today now owned by Mr.Snyder.

 

This is Dick Towers' photo gallery. Mr.Towers passed away a couple of months ago. I've purchased many photos from him before he passed. I'm not sure what is going to happen now with his collection.

 

Here's the Whuppet photo down to a size you can view....

 

That is a great collection of pics, I hope they don't fade away. There are quite a few I'd like to have.

 

Tasca's '62 406 Galaxie that was raced in SS. They also ran an almost identical '62 Galaxie in AFX. This shot is from the '62 Indy Nats.

 

I met Mr.Pat Gray at the 40th. and again at the 45th. T-bolt Reunions that were held in Dearborn. I sat with him at the 40th. banquet. He is a very nice man who was very willing to talk about the past and racing the Whuppet. If I remember correctly he still lives in Hueytown Al. He said the wrath of an ex-wife caused him to lose all of his past racing memorabilia including photos of the Whuppet. I sent him a few photos of the car that I had at the time. I'm sure he would get a kick out of this thread.

 

I believe that would be considered grounds for justifiable homicide...at least in Kentucky anyway.

 

+1,000,000

 

He actually lives in Huntsville, not Hueytown which is down near Birmingham and yes, Pat's a great guy. You're also correct in the fact that his second wife tossed ALL of his photos and trophies in the fireplace one night. As he tells it, she got tired of having folks always come up and talk racing with him when they were out somewhere together. I never knew her, but according to some friends that did, she was a real handful!

Deron

 

Being that most of the photos of Donilson's car were watermarked "Marty Johnson" I would assume that Mr. Johnson still owns the originals of those. If not, I sure hope somebody is able to make sure they are preserved.

 

Is it the same car that I've seen painted black with gold wheels and lettered "Poole & Aitken"? I think owned by Brent Hajek when the photo I have was taken.....

 

Dick Tower's bought the entire photo/publishing rights collection from Marty Johnson along with many other photographers from that era. He sold them through his company "Match Race Madness". I'm under the impression that his son is going to continue on with the company but have not confirmed this yet.

 

No it's not.

 

Any ideas on this one? I thought it was the Paquet car (original small block car converted to 427 by DST) but these pics seem at the same place.

 

Heres a pic of the reverse bars on Bonners falcon.Did they work?

 

It says in the article that the archway T-BOLT is scheduled to get a blower in the future.Did that ever happen?

 

Love the looks of both these cars.Where are they racing?It looks like they backed up to a rock wall.Thats a hell of a launch from what looks like a two lane road somewhere in the mountains.Nice 2x 8 guardrail.