It seems incredible today, but those were not uncommon prices for C1 Corvettes back then. It was under-priced because of a hurt engine, but I paid $500 for my 57 Corvette in 1971. I drove it home with a burnt piston, rebuilt the 283 and drove it for 11 years. For the first six years, it was my only car. I wish that I still had it.
Chevy 2 -4's.... In the late 60's I worked in a speed shop, and people wanted to trade them in for a Holley carb and alum manifold. You could buy a 245 or 270 hp 2-4 bbl carb and manifold sets ups for $50 to $125 depending on how complete (I used one on my 56 Nomad for the street.....pictured in my avatar) The same was true for the factory FI units,....pretty easy to find for about a $100+ and if in decent condition and if they had the tach drive distributor. ....had three at one time. They weren't in big demand....not many knew how to work on them....and everyone wanted one of the new Holley 4 bbls. Traded my 56 Nomad for my first 60 Vette. 283 4 bbl, 3 speed Convertable, no hdt. .... in about 1970. The Nomad was a in better shape than the 60 Vette...all the Vette needed was a complete tune up...the guy thought it was about to die. Later had s 63 roadster ($1,500) in about 1972, and then a 68 coupe in the mid 1970-'s. Still like the 58-62s about the best.
Sorry, I've never been real big on pictures. I do have a picture of the '57 when it was running AHRA Stock Sports Car class in 1966 and it is attached as a thumbnail. I have no pictures of Corvettes #1, 3, and 4. #1 was a 245 HP, maroon '58 w/manual, #3 was a 245 HP white '58 w/Powerglide, #4 was a 230 HP, white '61 w/Powerglide. #2 was, of course, the 245 HP, black '57 w/4-speed. #5 was a 250 HP, maroon '63 w/Powerglide that I bought in 1978 as a fun car. A thumbnail of it is attached. It had a very low serial number but I sold it in 1982 before the C2 cars became a really hot item. c
Baby boomers r getting nostalgic and parts r getting scarce. Having a chevy dealership since 1957 that did some high performance work, we ended up a room full of like new old chevy parts. Built a new building in 1978 and rather than move it all, we scrapped and sold cheap all of it. Would luv to have that room today. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In the pictures of In bomber... That's Fred Anderson in the black shirt. (In the pictures above) He drove the car most of the time at major events for the Patrick Bros. In Bomber's home track was Omaha. Anderson was the owner/driver of the "Good in Tension" turquoise colored 57 Chevy hdt. ...Omaha The white "Tension" 57 270 hp Chev 2 dr (Donnie Stephenson) ....was from Omaha too. As has been mentioned here.....Fred Anderson passed away less that a year ago as I recall.
I remember reading an interview with Platt years ago where he stated that Ford execs came to him and the Tasca people before the finals,and wanted him to sandbag the final round so the class index didn’t get lowered,because the CJs were running really well,and they were severely under rated hp-wise. I just can’t remember details of the final round,I think Al Joniec was the one who ran a 12-something,jumping on the brakes at the 1000’......Platt stayed in the interview that his car had the power to drive around any of the other factory cars with ease,which could very well have been true,as the Tasca crew did a bunch of R&D on the CJ combination before handing the whole thing over to FoMoCo. Sorry I wasn’t more help on this....I’m gonna dig through my stash of vintage mags and see what info I can come up with. Scott Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Scott, I think that you're right on the money. Here are a couple of considerations: Joniec won the Super Stock Eliminator running in SS/EA or SS/E if I recall the event correctly. Platt was apparently in C/SA and the only CJ so equipped although, honestly, I don't remember that detail. •Records (dial-ins) were the basis for dial-ins during the eliminator. Running under the record in a class final would have established a new record so the request that was made to Platt sounds probable and not unreasonable. •Hubert should have had the horsepower to easily outrun Kempton in C/SA but doing so might well have lowered the record and thus the future dial-ins in the class in addition to drawing attention to the substantially underrated CJ combination. I can't imagine Hubert agreeing to lose to anyone for any reason so his absence from the class final was probably his response to the request. I only met Hubert a couple of times and none of those times were in conjunction with the 1968 Winternationals so I can't add much more to that story. He was a very unforgettable individual. A bunch of us were hanging out at Doug Thorley's shop on Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. one evening while Hubert was getting a new set of headers welded up for his fuel-injected, FE-powered, altered wheelbase Falcon. I think that it was in '65 or early '66. He was encouraging Doug to build up a similar car in order to run in the wildly popular A/FX match races that eventually led to Funny Cars. When the headers were finished sometime after dark, Hubert fired up the Falcon and laid down a few short blasts down the less-than-roomy driveway. It was a scene that made some really lasting impressions on everyone standing around. Shortly thereafter, Doug began construction on the '65 Chevy II that eventually became "Chevy II Much." c
I’m pretty sure there was a coin toss involved,and they asked Mr Platt to “take a dive” to a slower car in the final,which totally jibes with what you’re saying. I never was lucky enough to meet him,but I hear he was definitely a larger than life character,as you say. Scott Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I met him in May of 1988 when I hooked up with with Chuck Etchells and Paul Smith at the very first Mid South Nationals in Memphis. We went out to dinner on the Friday evening and a pair of "Southern" sounding guys joined us. It turned out to be Jerome Bradford and Hubert. I got to know Hubert well enough that when we were running out of Bradford's shop in Norcross Hubert loaned me his short wide C 10 to get around in. And yes, Hubert was definitely larger than life. Roo
You need to write a book.Actually,a bunch of you guys on here need to. Don Nowell should have,too.Man I miss him. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
If you get Al Joniec's new book, he goes into a lot of detail about the 68 Winternationals and the strategy involved. Very interesting, but I don't want to spoil it for everyone by telling the story before you read the book.
Al’s a real gentleman,too. He always seems to find the time to answer questions or acknowledge fans. Classy guy,for sure. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
O.k first problem. Went to get parts out of storage. Some puke stain took the primary carb of the intake. If he thought he was getting a oem 245 hp carb, he will get a surprise when he tries to look the # up, there isn't any. I think he didn't take the secondary carb because we make our own shortened diffident index bell cranks for the 2nd carb. Problem is I don't remember what the carb we use for primary was off of or what the# was. Anybody? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That may prove to be difficult to replace. The numbers were stamped on a rather flimsy metal tag that was affixed to one of the cover screws. They were prone to disintegration or were simply discarded after a few jetting sessions. I am not aware of any other WCFB applications that used that combination of throttle bores and venturi sizes. Following are NHRA specs for a 1957 245 horsepower combination. The 270 horsepower specs include a couple of other numbers but share the same bore and venturi sizes. There may be additional numbers used in subsequent years but the dimensions remained essentially consistent. For example, the 1961 spec calls for a primary venturi size of .001" smaller than the 1957 version. Front Carburetor: Number WCFB-2626S Manufacturer Carter Transmission All Type 4-bbl Primary Throttle 1.313" Secondary Throttle 1.313" Primary Venturi .938" Secondary Venturi 1.125" Rear Carburetor: Number WCFB-2627S Manufacturer Carter Transmission ALL Type 4-Bbl Primary Throttle 1.313" Secondary Throttle 1.313" Primary Venturi .938" Secondary Venturi 1.125" If memory serves, there were other engine combinations that used twin WCFB carburetors (Chrysler? Plymouth?) but NHRA no longer includes those specs in the data base. Pre-1960 combinations were re-admitted to the Stock classes fairly recently but only specific combinations have been returned to the data base. Good luck, c
According to Carter files, Carter built type WCFB carbs to be used in multiple configuration for the following companies: Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Chrysler Marine Desoto Dodge Ford (supposedly 50 sets) Mercury (see Ford above) Plymouth Pontiac (6 sets built for testing, no general production) Jon.
That's an impressive data set. Now that you've jogged my memory, I remember a kid coming into town one summer during the late '50s driving his dad's Caddy with dual carburetors. He laid waste to most of the tri-power 348 Impalas that were ruling the streets of Macon at the time. Big inches and multiple carburetors! That's the American way!!! I don't think that we could have lived at a better time in history. This is a picture of Dave Kempton's Fury that was equipped with the dual quad option. I never saw that car but the picture surfaced from somewhere a few years ago. Before he created the string of "Shaker" Mopars, he was the tech guy at San Gabriel Raceway and obviously had some success with the Fury on the track. c
It's interesting seeing the 57 Waiber Competition car. I just finishing recreating their old logo from back in the late 60's and 70's for a customer who owns a 69 Olds Cutlass that used to be run out of Waibel Competetion. I have to send the decal to Jeremy Waibel who gave me permission to recreate his fathers old decal. Jimbo
Sorry, Jimmy, I didn't mean to muddy the waters. I grew up on the family farm and graduated from high school in Macon County, Missouri. As you and I know, there are several "Macon" counties around the country although none of them rivaled Macon, Georgia for bright lights and excitement. The county seat of our version was the town of Macon, about 5000 souls then and now, located at the junction of U.S. 36 and U.S. 63 in the north/central part of the state. A week out of college, I packed up my '54 Ford Victoria and headed for Los Angeles. That was a few weeks over 57 years ago. I used to go home during the summers but with the passage of time and the natural evolution of family, I haven't been drawn back since about 2010. It was a great place and it's still packed with memories but, essentially, it hasn't been "home" for a long time. c
Fun City Hauler a regular at Westhampton and NY national. Those pictures are Westhampton. I think Gallo and Sons were in the garbage business. Pat
Yes, I miss Don too, we talked by phone often, when I first started reading his HAMB posts I thought wow how can a guy know so many people and have witnessed so much, especially after hearing many of his experiences by phone that he hadn't posted here. RIP Don.
Chuck, I too did my time in Missouri, I attended the 2nd grade in Neosho in about 1950 or so. My Dad had a job there for a few months. I was born in Texas and also lived in Carlsbad, New Mexico, Neosho Missouri, Kinta Oklahoma and Oklahoma City where I graduated from HS in 61. Got drafted in late '65 and except for basic training at Fort Polk, La I have been in Columbus, Ga or Phenix City, Al ever since, these two towns and states are separated by a river. Jimmy
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