Don Ross here ,I build nostalgia dragster parts and restore or recreate old dragsters. Our old car was Called the U. S. Kids AA/FD. Actually by old AHRA rules it was an A/FD. We, Tony Fite, Skipper Harder and myself, started with a Modified roadster in 1964. Then we purchased an new Jim Davis chassis from Fred Bauyersdall. The car came to Dallas as a bare chassis on the roof of Bull Hodges 55 Chevy. We ran the car with a 331 Chrysler for a year or so then teamed up with my brother Bill Ross and Tom Helms. My family had a custom metal shop here in Dallas. My brother and I cut the front half off of the old mild steel chassis and stretched it to 165" wheel base. Then we built the new body and had it painted blue by Don Gittings at Gittings and Wells body shop. I had talked him into a free paint job. In about 1966, We decided to paint the car red, white and blue with fade out stripes. In the midst of all this my brother quit racing and we gained a new partner, Mike Leverett, He eventually went on to race with Harold Peoples as the Chaos Kids. dwrfab Don Ross
I have been saving and building parts for some time now Here are just a few. I Built the axle about 6 months ago I also have built the front radius rods. The hydraulic throttle is actually a Morse cable inside an aluminum cover that looks like a hydraulic throttle. The aluminum arm is the steering idler arm. I cut out the gas pedal today. I got the 49-54 olds third member from Kenith Reierson a year ago, I believe it was done by Jim Davis. Don Ross
I built dies for my JD4 bender so I could bend 8.5" and 9.5" radii. Then I built a new short chassis table to build back halves of dragsters on. Here is the start of the back. I first set up the rear end and line up bar with a engine block then start placing tubes on the fixture. Don Ross
I got some more done this week and am having some 1/4" plates water cut for the rear end mounts. The steering box is a modified Sunbeam which will be driving from the right hand side as our old car did. Don Ross
Outstanding Don!! That multicolor deal reminds me of Jim Dunns old car with all the colors. Lippy, Subscribed.
That was a driver thing. while we were building on the car Skipper wanted something to do . I turned him loose on the band saw and that is what he came up with. Don Ross
Did you wind up building your own dies, or did you modify an existing die? The bends look real good. Following this one!
Tim: I milled two 2.5" X3" X 36" aluminum bars to 1.5" radius. then milled the bottom to have a 1/4" tendon to fit inside the 6.5" die. Then I annealed both bars and bent them in the machine. I had to make a shorter version of the puller block and move several plate spacers plus a lot of other stuff to bend the 9.5" rad. If you have a JD4 you know what I mean about plate spacers. Don Ross
saw this the other day while picking up my hood Don louvered for me, Very cool to see this coming together. Looking good
Mike: Don't need no stinken lottery, just start building stuff and it will happen. You can build the chassis. Just don't get too anal about the small stuff. Don Ross
I've usually found if the car is straight between the motor plate and the rear axle, it don't matter whats up front. LOL. Lippy
Lippy: Yes that is sort of true. I get the rear correct then pull measurements from the ends of the rear housing flanges to the center of the torsion tube within 1/16 or less and it doesn't matter what the tubes do in between. But I don't build snakes. Thanks Don Ross
"But I don't build snakes." No sir, you don't.I've been around your work for years, and it never needs an apology.
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