Help me ID this ex Fiat drag car body I found

Holy smokes, those pictures are amazing! And the BM ad is just over the top.
Ya I wish I could have that original chassis to the car where ever that Mustang is.

 

I wonder if the wheelbase changed when the Mustang body was added? Nice avitar upgrade. HEMI32 thanks for all the photo updates. Tracing a race car's history is as much fun as working it sometimes.

 

The Mustang rear wheel arches have been moved forward, so the Fiat chassis would likely have been unchanged.

 

nice job Jack! and pics of the dash and how it looks today?

 

holy cow wow!

I looked at the opening post when first asked,
hadn't been back till now

I have three or four pictures of that car on my computer,
I searched and saved every Topolino picture I could find when Fred (Racefab) and I were going to put one together

what a find, I am so jealous

I don't think this one has been posted yet

 

Holy crap what a find

 

That's the first picture just posted of the blue plexy door glass !! Thats what's still on the car and the same a1 plating stickers !! OMG!!

 

Paul, you know what year that picture is ?? The door logo, hood scoop are different then the '64 photo in the magazine.

 

that is such a bitchin car,good luck in finding the parts needed to get'er done

 

@Sparky13 -

The pic @Paul posted was taken in 1965 ... after Wes left the team and Joe campained the Topo / Colt .45 Mustang on his own (with some sponsorship from "Ansen Automotive Engineering").

NOTE: Go back and look at the pics I posted in posts #71 & #86 and you'll notice that the scoop is the same on the circa '65 version of Topo and the "Colt .45" Mustang ... i.e., Joe switched from the tall "Hilborn 4 Port Blower Injector" to the flat "Hilborn 4-Hole Hat Style Injector".

 

@roughneck424 - Yes ... different Topolino ... but same track! ... NOTE: My father shot that pic @ Fremont in March of 1964 (see my Fremont Drag Strip ... PICS from 1964!!! thread).

 

As with all race car restorations, now you have to deside what year you want to restore the car back to. Personally I'd pick the year it won most races. Was the chassis a production item or a one off home built? Bob

 

Ok and thanks for that info. When I talked to Wes and showed him the pictures I have , he didn't know why it had blue door glass . But it all adds up since Wes left the team in '65 and Joe changed it up when he was gone.
The chassis was not home built, but a custom tube chassis built by Chassis Research.

 

Very cool thread, always loved them Topo's. Being a FNG, I am truly amazed at the people and resources of the HAMB. What a great place. Good luck on that Topo, Sparky, great find!

 

And once you have enough pictures,the chassis should be easy to duplicate.

Good Luck

Rick
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WOW, great find. The Colt 45...

 

Guess Chassis Research offered an Altered chassis along with the normal rail chassis, correct?

 

Yes...Chassis Research did make an altered chassis called the R-16. From what I can see in the photos of the D&I chassis it looks more like a custom made frame.

 

wow!

 

OK ... so now I'm a bit confused ...

According to the (April '65) SPEED and CUSTOM "Chevy Fired Fiat" article, the Davis & Ingram Topolino chassis was homemade:

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... and according to the (June '65) HOT ROD Magazine "THE MOUSE THAT ROARS" article, the Davis & Ingram Topolino was originally one of Ed Weddle's Altered chassis (ala the Mondello & Matsubara Topo):

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... and now we learn that the chassis was neither home-built ... nor a Weddle design ... but rather one of Scotty Fenn's Chassis Research R-16 Altered chassis ... ???

 

Very, very cool.

What are your plans for the car? Restore it?

A separate build thread would be neat.

Keep us posted!

Sam

 

I'll double check with Wes , but he told be Chassis Research .

 

to me, this is more exciting than finding the titantic!

 

Here is a little story from Wes Ingram!! Enjoy like I did.


"April 64 Riverside Ca. We showed up with a new set of dragster style headers that Joe made and was proud of. The original headers were straight pipes with # 3 & 4 that curved forward to clear the body but all four pipes ended straight and symetrical with a bell-mouth tip. They were no more than 14 in. long. I loved them because they made the engine sound better than any engine I have ever heard at 11,000 rpm. Then Joe built the longer swooping headers, had A-1 Plating chrome plate them."

 

I got more story's to share later !

 

Ok, It's later, we want to hear more stories.

 

And more present day photos in the sunlight as you mentioned in your first post.

This is an amazing story. I showed the thread to my kids and they were blown away!

 

Haha lol. " 11,00 rpm's" Damn !
I sooooo want this car back to the way it was!! And tow it behind my '53 Chevy 210 .

 

Tomorrow I'm off work , so the body is coming out of the barn for pics!! Check back tomorrow night for pictures

 

If Wes said it was a Chassis Research frame, then it most-likely was ... This wouldn't be the first time that the magazines got the facts / details wrong!

Here's a vintage CHASSIS RESEARCH INC. decal ... which includes a drawing of the R-16 / C-16 (Roadster / Coupe) Altered chassis:

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