Hey 67 W30, I'll be glad to send you some photos of the Anderson Olds W31. My dilemma is this--I am not that good with computers to start with and I only have a laptop. I will make hard copies of the photos I have and mail them to you. I have the one that is on page 90 as it appeared in 1969, a couple showing how it was lettered in 1970 and early 1971, and several of how it looked when I found it and many of how it looks now. Please email me at dave@andersonautomotive.com. Thanks for the interest, Dave.
small world indeed Chuck...I always wondered if Ryan was related to Jerry. A friend of mine and I raced his old '65 Nova SS bracket car. He won a ton at OCIR and Irwindale with it back in the 70's, as I'm sure many of you Cali guys recall. He ran 283/220's in it on occasion, from what I remember. He used to put away alot of high $$ cars in 10.90 with this one...lol. I flew out and bought his '64 Chevelle Wagon tow car in the early '90's. Here's Jerry as I was getting ready to head back to Ohio with it...did Jerry run Jr Stock at all in the pre-72 days ???...CB
TO BOB 37 ---having a hard time reading the OLSTER-STEIN story .any chance you could rewrite it ? i would love to read it .---thanks JAKE
The Mash go-round. This is the version that wound uo in Hackettstown. For a time it sat behind Tom Drabik's (sp?) house. Tom had something to do with NED but I never knew what. Maybe someone remembers. Anyway, I'm not sure if he bought it or was just storing it. The next time it was raced it had the red panels painted over white but the stripes were still on the roof. The owners were Cliff Judd and Buddy Smith from Hackettstown. I think they raced it after the 4 speeds were outlawed and I know they wound up racing for trophies as the 3 speed didn't cut it. They sold it to either a Tony Meeker or Chuck Bednar in town and it sat in a garage for a few years. After that........ Anyone remember the Drakes Cakes 57 sedan delivery that used to sit in the Arco station on Rt. 46 (main st.) on the North side of town? Every car guy in town bugged that guy for litterally decades wanting to buy it.
Hmmm! Colesy, you're agitating some long-dormant memory cells with that statement. At the time Ron made a down payment on "the wagon" neither of us knew how rare it would turn out to be nor how dominant the combination would eventually become. He bought the car off the new-car showroom floor at Milne Brothers' Chrysler/Plymouth in Pasadena, equipped with chrome rims, Casler cheater slicks, and Horsepower Engineering fenderwell headers. Milne Brothers had a '63 S/SA car driven by Bill Hanyon that was a regular at the local tracks. They sold quite a few of the factory hot rods over the next couple of years. The deal included 4.56 gears that were installed a couple of weeks later after it had a few street miles on it. It was a low-compression (11:1) Stage I wedge with a Torqueflite and Sure-Grip posi. Years later I was told that there were three Max-Wedge wagons built but I'm sure that there are probably people following this thread who know a lot more about those details and perhaps one of them will add to my recollections. One of the other two was reportedly put in the hands of a factory team, equipped with a high-compression motor. I've heard rumors that it had an aluminum front clip but I have no documentation. I've been told that both of the others were destroyed. Eventually, other Plymouth and Dodge wagons were hand-built including the most notable one, by Tritak and Morgan in Division One. Some of them were seen with a hood scoop but our original car had a steel clip with a flat hood. After whipping up on just about everyone on the street around our part of town for a couple of weeks, Ron talked the owner of a local parts store into providing him with spark plugs and oil in exchange for lettering "Reynolds Auto Supply" down the side of it. He took it to San Gabriel Raceway and turned 13.30 just the way it was delivered, plus the gears. As I recall, the NHRA record for A/SA was about 13.50, held by a '62 or '63 Galaxie from Ed Martin Ford of Indianapolis. Subsequently, the wagon was put on the chassis dyno at Bourgoise and Wade's tune-up shop in Baldwin Park and almost immediately broke into the 12's. Dave Kempton was the tech inspector at San Gabriel and he took us under his wing as the whole project drew us into the sport at an alarming rate. The real secret to the car's success was the fact that Ron was a natural driver in a car that was naturally dominant. He won a significant number of local races in the days before the Christmas tree starting system and handicap starts. He flat-towed the car to Indy in 1963 and was runner-up in class to Bill Abrams' Pontiac after falling victim to the perpetual "Rocky Mountain Curse." You've probably heard of that syndrome. That's what happens to just about everyone who tows from here to Indy for the first time. If you're not ready for it, you lose two tenths when you cross the Continental Divide and it usually takes several days to figure it out. Ron went on to win the 1964 Hot Rod Magazine race held at Riverside. He set the A/SA record at the Divisional Points Meet at Ramona, California, that same year but disaster struck when the motor let go in round one of eliminations. That was the beginning of the end because neither of us had enough money to sustain real drag racing. He scrounged enough parts and cash to get the motor together in time to go back to Indy in 1964 with the car painted gold and lettered "Hi Rank Corporation." That time he won A/SA class but the handwriting was on the wall. Not long after that he sold the car to Rod Phillips, a local machine shop operator and good friend. After a year or two, Ronnie got a ride as the touring driver of the Shores and Hess "Skipper's Critter" A/GS Anglia, Rod sold the wagon, and we lost track of it for almost 45 years. It turned up as seen in the attached picture, located in the Pacific Northwest and I was able to make a positive identification of it based on pictures of some of the modifications that were still visible. It is clearly in need of an extensive restoration but the asking price is beyond the reach of a retired school teacher. Ron recognized the depth of his addiction to drag racing shortly after 1970 and relocated to an Ozark Mountain area of northern Arkansas. I visited with him occasionally over the years and had a precious chance to spend several days rehashing old times at the Winternationals three years ago, shortly before he passed away due to complications related to a brain tumor. Ron's younger brother Phil Mandella operates a premier quality chassis shop in Southern California and does work on some of the best Super Stock cars in the game today. Phil's son, Tony, is a Super Stock hired shoe who finished in the Top Ten nationally in 2008. Neither of Ron's sons has become involved with drag racing. His older son, Joseph, along with his mother, is operating the family business in Harrison, Arkansas. A younger son, Jared, is a fighter jockey in the USAF. It's a long, involved story but shorter versions simply don't catch the flavor of what a journey it was that began in the Milne Brothers showroom in 1963.
ok here is one for you olds guys. a 67 442 painted green and white named the "green hornet"? from what i heard it was a record holder then was sold off and someone put a small block chev in it. idk where it went from there but, this car had been sitting in a farm feild for probably 20 years. same guy also had a 67 coronet r/t with 361 miles on it raced in mn, but before that was raced by i think jerry? purkle before that... supposedly one of the dick landy 67's. if any one you know landy raced one hemi car and one 440 67 but both cars were originally 440 cars. this one had the vinyl top painted black and the car was painted black and still has all the writing on it but you can see paint chips with purple paint under it from purkle im not allowed to tell anyone where this car came from or where it was sold to and sadly i cant post any pictures of it or i might get into some trouble
I too greatly appreciate the "history" lessons that the valued posters on this thread enlighten us with... I believe that it is important that drag racings' history be documented for us and future generations to enjoy... It seems like every time I visit the major book stores at the mall, there's always new books on the shelves, telling the historic tales of Football, Baseball, Basketball, etc, etc,... However, the amount of books dealing with Drag Racing history are sparse at best-- Sure, I understand that the "stick 'n' ball" sports are clearly a lot more popular among mainstream America than Drag Racing is-- But gee-whiz, you'd think that there's at least enough of a demand to warrant book publishers to do more books on our sport than they currently do... I realize that I'm just "preaching to the choir" here-- And all you good folks reading this have probably expressed the same emotions regarding this issue as I am now... I just wish that folks in the book business would pay a little more attention to OUR history and make an effort to publish books that document it... Once again, I really do appreciate all the "history" that's covered in this thread (and the many, many other thought provoking threads) here at the H.A.M.B... Thanks a bunch... "The Doc" (Celebrity Drag Racing Authority & Visionary)...
CB -- Jerry was a dominant Jr stock racer in So Calif with all of his different combos in 65 & 66 cars and wagons. He was class record holder in various classes for years. He had a penchant for making a 220/283 car fly!! I even saw a story once where he had blown a motor at a big meet and went to a local junkyard and bought a 283 and installed his heads and intake on that old junkyard motor and still ran below the record. Aftewards he said, "That old motor was plenty loose and did rob any HP from being "too tight" LOL. Bet you CA guys like Tony, Chuck, & Gary can tell us a whole lot more about Jerry than i can. It was always fun watching Jerry and Cal Method playing "chess" with their 65&66 wagon combinations in the Div 7 points chase, as well as in the record ledger!! You other guys - come and chime in!!!
There was one other noteable Div 7 racer (from that time period) who's (somewhat unusual) name escapes me, that did very-well with 65/66 full-sized 283/220 wagons. As best I recall, the only racer that ran a (66) convertible was Lee Sherman ... in the former Kenny Koonce 'Watergate Exxon' car. The car was all wrong weight-transfer wise, but Lee made it fly!
Steve - Markyac rebodied his 66 4dr sedan with a convert body in order to stay in P/SA after they tacked another 5HP onto the 220HP motor. Got a pic of it for us Mark?? Maybe there is already one on an earlier post>>
Chucko, You need to cut it closer than that, like my -.0004 (four ten thou) in the semi's of the Speedworld open
Got a few. Funny thing is, after two National Records in P / Stock, no one ever figured out that the convertible body had a Bel Air frame under it. You can imagine where all the saved weight went to.
Like the extra 50 lbs that Tony Pizzi carried in the B/S Camaro as mentioned in the article colesy posted. Which reminds me of Indy 1969 or 70 when John Burkholder was carrying a 50# flywheel under the back seat.
Mark, I (oops!) forgot about your potent 66 ragtop. How in the world were you able to open and close the doors?
Which reminds me of Indy 1969 or 70 when John Burkholder was carrying a 50# flywheel under the back seat. Anybody know the whereabouts of John? Last I know of he was in Mission Viejo.<!-- / message -->
what about the track sprint races I heard they used to have, at either OCIR or Irwindale...where the drivers would sprint on foot down track...I heard Jerry used to win alot of those too...and he has a wooden leg !!!...hope I'm not out of line posting this...lol...CB
Jerry did not have a wooden leg he did have slight limb. Carl Swift had a wooden leg. I do not remember the sprint races. The powder puff may have been done this way a few times.
Thanks Tony...I was looking thru the back pages here and saw some black & white pics of Carl Swift's 49/50 Ford...1st time I ever went to a dragstrip was OCIR in 1967, on a family vacation my Dad took my brother and I on a Saturday nite...I recall his car vividly, it was orange and black if I recall correctly...I think it may have been an AHRA formula stocker, I was 12, just getting into it. What was cool out there was all the street cars that had sayings lettered on the bottom of the doors/fenders...like a '60 chevy with "roll me over, do it again" on the bottom of its doors...neat stuff...
here's another 283/220 car from the east coast that may have been around in the Jr Stock days. Barry Parker got it from Frank Tantillio out of CONN I believe...it had been a race car a long time when this pic was taken in '84...
Heres an interesting article from the Sept. 1963 issue of Cars Magazine. Was this one of the 3 Max Wedge wagons talked about earlier or a built car? I see its classed as a B/FXer
Ok guys i don't have fenderwell headers to test fit yet.i am doing the underdash components and was wondering this.at the chance of sounding like a blithering idiot,with the fenderwells does the heater core stay in the car or block off?(no point of reinstalling it ?) thanks!
That's a neat article. Don't think I ever saw that. I suspect that the Dodge wagon in that issue of Cars Magazine is a sister to the Plymouth that Ron Mandella bought in Pasadena. I've been told that at least one of the three cars reportedly built was a high compression version and, according to that article, the Ramchargers' version was not only high compression but also equipped with a manual transmission! I'm not enough of a Mopar expert to know if the hood scoop denoted an aluminum front clip or if it was available with a steel hood as well.
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