Hot Rods Old drag shocks. Or period correct shocks

So maybe this is stupid. But im putting some brand new Calvert racing 90/10 front shocks on my g***er project, and was wondering what drag shocks from the 60s looked like. I did some googlin on the old Google, but couldn't really find what I was after. I figured being you can very easily see them, I wanted them to look more older ish instead of so obviously new. So what was a popular shock and what color would it have been? Maybe I could find or get a sticker made too. I don't know, just a thought. Anybody know or have a pic or 2??

 

I think just a plain tube shock or those spiral shocks were most common

 

Oh ya, those spiral shocks are killer! I wish mine were. Any idea what color they might be?

 

I’ve had vintage shocks in gold, a kinda rosy-pinkish red, blue, and black. Those are the only ones I can remember.

 

Those are perfect Mark ^

 

In my younger days, alot of guys I knew would hit the salvage yards and pull shocks off of old worn out cars. They wanted the most wore out shock they could find for the front.

No resistance with the nose raising and moving the weight rearward. Basically the front shock was just used for an extension stop....

They'd clean them up and paint them what ever color struck their fancy and install them.

Remember one guy painted his and installed some stickers on them and people thought he had bought some high end race shocks...

..

 

Of course, Mark's are cooler! Lol.
But Lakewood 90/10s were red. The name is actually stamped in the shock body.

 

I did! Spiral tubes to boot!

 

Just paint what you have bright red, white, or black and use them.

 

Ya gotta have a dream - he also wants $60 to ship them.

Drag shocks generally looked like the normal shocks that a manufacturer offered. The difference was the internal valving. They always wanted their race parts to look like the normal off the shelf product. In the 80s I was involved with a show room stock race team with Ford and other manufacturer backing. We painted the Koni's to look like the sponsor shocks and dumped Mobil 1 into regular oil bottles so people thought that is what was being poured in during pit stops.

 

Way back when… drill them to let the oil out… instant 10/10’s . They came down way to hard!

 

Those are the cat's meow! You never cease to amaze us.

 

Moriarty!!! Those are KILLER!!!! Id love to find a set like those. Maybe ill paint mine an orange too

 

I was thinking about manufactures of drag shocks and I thinking Mr gasket and Moroso were the only ones other than Lakewood that I could think of. Summit sold some a few years ago that were very similar to the original ones but I don’t see them now.

 

He found you some for a cool grand

 

WOW.

 

Darn it. The first words to come out of my mouth today is "Mark you **** !" Haha. Now I have to work on my lust issues today. Seriously Cool.

 

Hello,

Shocks were the simple installation. On our 1940 Willys Coupe with a 671 SBC motor, we just drove down the block to the local auto parts store to get a couple of Monroe tube shocks. It was the standard shock that the majority of racers purchased at the time. Some bought Gabriel or Delco, but they were all standard level tube shocks.

There was an Antique Auto Parts Store at the opposite end of our neighborhood. They sold the Houdaille lever shocks. But, no one bought those for drag racing.

No one had 90-10 shocks at the time. Those came much later in the late 60s early 70s. they go up fast, but, come down just as fast. The idea was to throw the power back to the rear wheels. But, they were harsh riding if the vehicle was a true street legal race car used during the week.

By the time the 90-10 shocks came out, the street legal cl*** had changed and the original concept of daily driven coupes/sedans were now, moving more toward full race cars disguised as normal street cars. Rarely, if any of the gas coupes/sedan cl*** cars were daily drivers.

This was a great example of a B/gas cl*** race car, fully street legal. But, it was leaning more toward full race car build mode… this was 1964, The photo was lightened to show the tubular shock.



Jnaki

Period correct for the early 60s up to late 60s was the tubular standard rebound shocks. Street legal and street safe. A simple installation and found everywhere. 90-10 shocks were late 60s and early 70s and by then, the cl*** was still called street legal, but allowed modifications to race on Saturdays. The cl***es had been modified and a lot of real street legal race cars used as daily drivers were phased out of drag racing…..YRMV

 

I just put Vintage front shocks in my Ebay search and look at them occasionally. I always see Cure-ride there.

 

Summit shoes both Compe***ion Engineering and Moroso having plain Jane 3 way adjustable tube shocks that with a little bit of paint, would look pretty much like old school shocks, with the exception of the spiral grooves.

 

The OEM spiral shocks got crazy $$$ starting in the 80's when the matching number musclecar "collectors" were trying to squeeze more $$$ out of a car to sell (flip).

 

I had a 58 or 59 Chevy PU, been so long I don’t really, just timber it has dual headlights.
Anyways, it had spiral shocks on the front. They were not a drag shock.
I just wanted to mention it so no one sees a spiral shock and thinks it’s special.

 

I'm installing some QA-1's that are hand-me-downs from my race car on my 62 Biscayne. I plan on painting them red and putting Lakewood decals on them.

 

Actually, I think that the 90/10 shocks extended or rebounded quickly but retracted or compressed more slowly.

On a hard launch a shock that both extended and retracted quickly had nearly the same effect as worn out shocks, or no shocks at all. The nose of the car coming down quickly after launching could begin to bounce. This would unload the rear tires and make the car a handful to drive straight down the track.

 

I run Lakewood 90/10 on my Henry J in their factory red color

 

^Bad Moon on the rise!

 

Love it!!!