History Stock-S/S-F/X 1959-1966

Somewhere I have a picture, a very unclear one, and I'll try and find it to see if there was a name. I have seen some brief film footage of the car and I believe it was black with a gold roof.
Joel

 

The ex-Harold Ramsey swiss cheese car in early 1965 at Valkyria, FL. My friend Marty Little's photo. That looks like Arnie Beswick behind the wheel. This car later had the real axle moved forward. I saw the car unrestored a few years ago in NC.
Joel

 

Hammertime I used to own this car...as it is pictured it belonged to John Wolf and was driven by his son Dave...I bought it from John and campaigned it for a few years..I set the NHRA SS/CA national record in it at a Winston Points Meet at Bill Heishler's Green Valley Raceway out side of Ft. Worth, Texas. I sold it to a guy from Kentucky who sold it to a guy who lived in Illinois...not sure what happened to it after that....wish I still had it...I owned another 1965 A990 car too....it was a Coronet .... never class raced it just did some bracket racing and then sold it and have no clue where it is now days. I sure loved those old Chrysler factory race cars. The good ol days sure were fun compared to the drag racing scene now. The Hemi Challenge at the US Nationals is fun to watch...but it is a bunch of real rich guys spending a rediculous amount money to win $10,000 pize and bragging rights. I have never had more fun than heads up class racing back in the day.

 

I used to run at that track back in 64,65, & 66 and the one at Marion, Illinois, and Alton, Illinois.

 

Did the Corvette get a weight break running in A/Sp? The Hedrick Cobra had quite a record of wins I have read and wondered how competitive the Corvette was with such a large different in weight.-Jim

 

I may have posted the following pictures before but I've scanned them at a higher resolution so here goes ...
The first is the Tasca car vs Al Joniec at the mid-May '64 NHRA regional meet at Cecil County, MD. The Tasca car won S/S that day.
The second shot is the elusive "Fat Boy" car at Emglishtown, NJ in the summer of 1969. Anyone know anything about this blue and white T-Bolt?
Joel

 

Wow......the Nashville, ILL Dragway timeslips are very cool! That was a very short-lived Dragstrip in the mid-Sixties. In fact, that's where my '55 Chevy raced at the majority of the time and it was probably considered by the Braun Bros. to be their "home track". I have photos of the car when it was discovered and the dashboard had many Nashville winner plaques stuck to it. For some reason that makes no sense to me, they were all removed and have disappeared. I also have some home video from 1965 at Nashville showing a great Match Race between the Golden Commandos 1965 factory-backed Altered Wheelbase Plymouth vs. Tom Sturm's yellow '65 Chevelle "Just 4 Chevy Lovers" car. About three years ago while coming home from the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion, I stopped by the farm in Nashville where the Dragstrip is still located. Naturally, I had the '55 with me and thought it would be neat to photograph the car on the old, closed track. Unfortunately, there's not much left of the old track as one lane has been totally torn up and turned into "pea gravel". You can still see the track on the East side of Nashville on several of the satellite imaging sites.

 

Heres my favorite.I believe the only facory/dealer marauder drag car.Tom Strumn in his 63 Sachs and Sons MARAUDER.

 

Man, I'm nutz about that Red-on-red 1963 Mercury 427/425 HP that Tom Sturm raced! Check out the assigned NHRA number on the window! He really had some neat cars. Before the Mercury, he had a 1962 Bel Air Sport Coupe that he raced in C/FX that had a small block with a Corvette Rochester Fuel Injection set-up in place. Even though he was NHRA World Champion (I think) in '62, it's really hard to find a photo of the Bel Air. I wanna say that there was a photo of it posted in this very thread many, many pages ago.

 

Let's try this.

 

Prior to the big '63 Merc Tom Sturm briefly ran a '63 Z-11 Chevy that went to Doc Dixon in the midwest after Sturm went with the Mercury.
Joel

 

Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot that he had the '63 Z-11 car for a very short time. I think his '63 Z-11 car was White and came out of Don Steves Chevrolet in Southern Ca. Don Steves Chevrolet also sold TWO of the even more rare '62 aluminum nose'd Impalas. Anyway back to 1963, after the mid-year 1963 GM racing ban, Tom Sturm, Butch Leal, and several others jumped ship to Ford and Chrysler before the year was even up. This put a lot of 'hardly used' '63 Z-11s's on the market for sale!

 

Do you know who ran the 2 '62 aluminum nose'd Impalas from Don Steves?

 

Some 60's clones:

 

I'm not sure who the two '62 Aluminum nosed Impala SS's went to originally. They were actually advertised for sale in the LA newpaper classifieds and being 2-of-only-20 produced. This being said, they could have been sold to anyone that had the money and not necessarily a "name" driver. I can imagine that so late in the year, these name drivers already had their '62 Chevy race cars and were looking forward to '63 Z-11's coming out soon with the improved Hi-Port (Z-11) heads and 427 cubic inches. Those aluminum '62 cars were just standard 409 engines. There was an aluminum '62 Impala that was popping up at some of the 409 Drags that used to held in Southern California in the early '80's. There's a good chance that it was one of the original Don Steves' Chevrolet-sold cars.

 

What's there to 'show' or left to rebuild? The only thing one could do is clone the car.

Pete

 

Here's one of Kenny Simpson's cars. Simpson was a strong S/S-Chevy racer from the Florida panhandle-Southern AL area.
Joel

 

Ronnie Sox told me about 25 years ago he raced an aluminum front end Impala in '62. I knew about the Bel Airs but that was the first time I had heard of a lightweight Impala. I wonder if it was one of the Don Steves cars. I bet Buddy would know.

 

Strickler had one too.

 

I don't remember ever seeing a picture of an "Old Reliable" '62 Impala. Has one been posted on the HAMB? Was it lettered?

 

These are all I have right now on Strickler. I am sure these came off the YahooSS forum but I am sorry I failed to record the photographer.









Again, I am sorry for not having the photographers name but when I first started collecting photographs I didn't think I would be posting them again. If you reconize your photos and want them removed please notify me. Thanks

 

Woops, found three more I had forgot about:

 

O.R.III was the aluminum front end '62 Impala. The car was raced at Indy '62 and possibly a few times after that then sold on the used car lot of the dealership. We believe the aluminum front end was removed from III and placed on II prior to it being sold. III has never been found but II is restored. These color shots were taken by Dave's father.

 

Boy, I seem to never quit learning. I do not remember ever seeing that O/R '62 Impala before.

 

Nicholson's '62 Impala was light yellow/cream colored. He won B/FX with it at the '62 NHRA Nationals. The car was later driven by Hubert Platt in many match races with his name on the roof as driver. Ronnie Sox drove a black one (a '62 Impala) for a fellow named Junior Clark as I recall.
Joel

 

From Indy 1962

 

Thanks for posting that picture. I have it but don't know the photographer so I didn't post it. Hubert Platt also ran a yellow '62 sedan body car out of the Nally-Nicholson shop in '62 then later drove this car. The Impale was named "The Bounty Hunter". Painted on the trunk was a list of names that they were after in match races. There is a great shot of Hubert with his door open, leaning out as they used to do, backing the car up into the tire tracks. I believe that shot was taken at Phenix City, AL in early '63. I don't have permission to post the shot unfortunately. Oh well ...
Joel

 

Wow! Now that's a rare photo of the Don Nicholson 1962 Impala FX car with the aluminum front end. I'd love to know what happened to that car! Unfortunately, it seems that these assembly-line-built '62 aluminum Impalas were treated like parts cars almost. They were released very late in the model year when most racers already had their sorted-out Bel Airs and Biscaynes. There's a good chance that they had their aluminum body pieces "harvested" and ended up as street cars with steel front ends that might possibly still exist today!

 

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