Hot Rods The ALTERED thread

now that's my kind of T!! something anybody could build in their garage on the cheap.

 

Demon



And then

 

With those tall stacks it must be running an automatic.

 

Back in the day...

And currently in storage (and for sale)...

 

Don't keep us guessing - how much is the asking price?

 

Puff 'n Stuff LARGE size

 

something i have been thinking about for a long time. there are mags for door cars and top fuel dragster and gassers and street rods and traditional cars and rr. i have never seen a mag devoted to just altereds. if i had the know how and money i would like to start one. not just aa/fa's but any kind. i run in a class here called open wheel in the anra. it's just for altereds and front engine dragsters that go 10 second and slower. we have several hamb cars also. it is much cheaper to build an altered than a door car to go fast. the motor to put a door car in the 10's would make an altered go 9's or faster. a 350 hp motor would make a 1500 lb car go 11's or faster. i thought the idea was to go fast. i guess i just don't get it.

 

Yea I have never seen a mag like that either.

 

I think the problem is numbers.
There are just not enough of them to create a distinct magazine, or for that matter, a racing body devoted exclusively to altereds. I was in a group of nostalgia altered racers (The Gunslingers) that existed for a couple of years but there was never more than a handful of us to show up at any given track on any given race day. To the contrary where I live in the Midwest there are myriad gasser owners, Super Stock owners, etc. It is not uncommon for a couple of dozen gassers or more to show up for a vintage meet.
With numbers as small at that it would not take long for the source material for a mag to run dry.
Nowadays I run my old Logghe racer in a Nostalgia Comp class similar to yours that includes altereds and FEDs. We are allowed to dial as fast as we wish, on half second indices. But even then we usually only get eight or so race worthy cars to show.

 

Maybe a one time book about altereds?

 

That’s already been done; Steve Reyes’ F/A book is great. Lots of good pics. [ATTACH

 

I just checked Amazon. Its available - new for $190; used $40.

 

I have Reyes' book and it's pretty good, but Don Montgomery's "Wild Fuel Altereds" is better yet. It's available on Amazon, $162. https://www.amazon.com/Those-Wild-Fuel-Altereds-Montgomery/dp/B01K3KIDNC

 

i think you guys might have missed the point. in my class we started with about 7 cars and now have about 30. not all of them show up but we still have as many as the ne class'. i love fuel altereds and have all the books on them but, i am more interested in the backyard built ones like those in our class. i just wish people would realize an altered can be built cheaper. in other words, a 2x3 tube frame, like a t bucket. put a roll cage in it and a 8" or 10 bolt or anything else you can afford. i built my brother a t with a 375 hp sbf and it has a 8" and goes 11.00. he has been running it for about 8 years and has never broke anything. my own car is a 32 bantam with a flathead. i built it back in 94 and everybody rides me cause i don't do any work on it and it has never broke either. the funny thing is, i have won a lot of money and trophies. my point is if you build it others will to.

 

I totally get what you're saying. Theoretically, Drag Racing is about covering a distance from a stand still, in the least time possible. The science of it has proven time and again, light weight RULES. For a pure drag car, anything not needed to get to the other end, goes counter to a low ET. Fenders, hoods, roof, all that stuff just slows you down. The real reason guys still fool with door slammers, in my opinion, is, they grew to love Detroit iron, born out of a basic inability or unwillingness to build/fabricate a dedicated machine for the task. I'm fascinated by the Drag Week racers. They spend a quarter of a million dollars on a drag car with basically no rules, but still haul a Camaro or Mustang body around. If they took that Twin Turbo monster Rat and put together a Bantam, they'd go faster. Back to your point, if a new contender wants to get into drag racing, he's gotta look at available race series out there, and what his competitors in the field are racing. Hard to have a drag race in your low-buck, fun Altered, if nobody is in the other lane. I'd love to run something like the "Bomb Factory Digger" RPU.

 

J N Automotive

 

Believe that why bracket racing is so popular for some & hated by others. Bring out what you can afford & dial what you can run. Be consistent & cut a good light. Have fun.

 

That is a very interesting photo loudbang, one I have not seen before. What strikes me is the visionary build details this car embodies. Most notably, it is in the weeds, as opposed to the mile high stance of most altereds in the late fifties (judging by the cars in the background). Also, the axle is narrowed and slicks are tucked under the bodywork. Add in the side paneling with maybe a bellypan and the smooth wheel covers and backing plates and it looks like it could have been built a couple of decades later. I wonder how it worked with the '50s tire technology.

Olds? Caddy? Stude? powered?

 

Looks like two studs holding the valve covers on.

 

Willie

 

No Spool / posi.

I'll bet the planetary gears inside the rear end were red hot.

 

Olds. I remember the car

 

Very cool!..... ^^^^^