The Petaluma Pacers roadster was a major player in the NorCal drag-racing scene of the late '50s, early '60s. This simple little club car set a national B roadster record of 128 mph in 1962 and was a perennial final-round contender in its day. The little car endured the "uprades" of the gasser era when its stewardship fell to younger members of the Pacers. Most apparent mod was the raised front end, resulting in slower times but far more excitment, according to one of the old guys involved with the car. The Pacers roadster languished in a barn for several decades, often the subject of those "we gotta get that old puppy back on the track" bench-racing reveries. Last year, after Bonneville, veteran AA/FD racer Gene Gilmore had his fill of the all talk and took over, setting in motion the resurrection of the roadster. It's been a fun project to observe, most of the work conducted at Tardel's on Saturdays, from the arrival of the car at Tardel's shop to the present. The car will not be upgraded to current safety specs; the folks involved feel it's more important to restore the car as it was at is zenith and share that level of drag-racing technology. The first picture is the Pacers roadster and its core crew, kind of a PR pic for newspapers and potential sponsors. This is the roadster as it showed up at Tardel's, the chassis and body on a trailer . . . . . . and the rest in the bed of Gene's pickup. Parked in the shed, showing lots of possibilities.
Mike, You need to edit to get the pix by taking all the jibberish past the first three numbers and delete it and replace it with .jpg No: http://photo.starblvd.net/AV8FORD/6-1-2-1077646340?m=1&pg=5&ro=0&co=1&pw=*4D8A400DDCA0 Yes: http://photo.starblvd.net/AV8FORD/6-1-2.jpg Chris Nelson Kansas
Chris -- Thanks, pal! I had protocols set on my old computer but apprently they did come over in the transfer. This is the first time I've use StarPhoto on the new machine. Now I can do the rest of the pics of the work so far.
How's the progress going on this one Mike? (Have I jumped the "progress pics" gun?).....As I seem to recall seeing these pics mid-last year sometime..??? Whoops! Sorry Mike...just read your last post! D'oh!
Sorry, LB, but it's not for sale. That's Vern's old mid-engine drag roadster, flathead powered of course, and with an aluminum frame!
Here are some images of the car as of last Saturday. It's coming along nicely, being returned to its former glory.
W O W !!! How do you do the inner wheel discs? Just hack up some Moons? Also, any idea what brand and size of tire that is on the back?
Mike, do you have any pictures of the car in it's gasser trim? Sorry, but I really like the mile high stuff, especially spindly old roadsters. I think it's great that they are going to leave it as was in it's prime, instead of upgrading to the current specs....and as always, spectacular work from the Tardel shop. He really gets to work on some neat stuff. He's lucky.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!! The moment we've (me) all been waiting for! This is cool-ass news, Mike. Keep us posted as the old warrior gets it's nose on, and then lettered. The only question I have is, are thems the original headers? They look like Shoenfield Boom Tubes sold by Speedway. Sam!
I also may have an old Mallory distributor that would look correct... it's the one with the black cap that the wires go down into. Sam!
[ QUOTE ] How do you do the inner wheel discs? Just hack up some Moons? [/ QUOTE ] Don't mean to "hyjack" av8's thread, but our Bonney car (B/STR) has inner Moon disks. The disks have a hole in the center. A disk of aluminum is mounted to the spindles which is almost the same diam. as the hole in the Moon disk. The Moon disks (inner and outer) are held in place with Zuse (sp?) fasteners.
Wow that thing is coming out great! I always like to see the old drag cars restored. Had a chance to see one of Tony Nancy's cars this summer and was thoroughly impressed. Keep us posted on the progress. Justin
[ QUOTE ] W O W !!! How do you do the inner wheel discs? Just hack up some Moons? Also, any idea what brand and size of tire that is on the back? [/ QUOTE ].........Pizza trays........
There are two approaches to the inner discs. In one, it's mounted to the wheel and clearanced around the spindle backing panel. In the other, the disc is mounted to the spindle and clearanced from the rim of the rotating wheel.
When I scrolled down and saw the in progress shot.. I actualy said ooooo out loud!I'm such a goon ! That really looks GREAT
Me too! I guess we are just the "goon squad". Ohhhh I likey alot!I guess it's appropriate since we all know each other.
BTW, just couldn't let this slide by with all the potential pain it's bound to inflict, but that pristine, unrusted '29 Model A roadster body would have set you back $25-$50 in the late '50s, early '60s in SoCal/NorCal. Factor in inflation corrections and the old stuff was still dirt cheap -- super dirt cheap! The irony is that the CPI tells us that we should be paying only a couple of hundred dollars for those old bodies, with the correct adjustments allowed. Where did we go wrong, and when did this all get away from us?!
AV8;I love to hear of these resto stories.I've been involved with drag racing my whole life(40+ years)......DAM I'M FEELIN OLD!!! But it gives me the WarmFuzzies to know people still wanna hold on to the heritage!!Kudos the Reverend
. Where did we go wrong, and when did this all get away from us?! [/ QUOTE ] .......supply and demand /availability / and people who horde......but I still think it's out there
I think it's great what these guys are doing for the roadster, but I might add there's a sad part too. All that work and where couls it EVER be run? (HAMB drags excepted) It will be sadly relegated to the occasional fire up and short cruise at some hot rod reunion, never to be ran like it was intended again. Just becasue of most tracks tech rules. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not in favor of trashing safety, but what they are creating here is a museum piece, nothing more. I thinkit's great that they are restoring it. I think it sucks that it won't be allowed to be used as it was intended, that's all... r
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