Digging through my old Hot Rod magazines, I noticed that several of the serious Mopar full-bodied salt racers were owned, built, and driven by a man named Norm Thatcher based out of southern California. I have an article that mentions an impending trip to the '59 Bonneville race with his '58 Chrysler, but it promises to report the results in the following isue. The most in-depth article I can find is about his badass '59 Dodge with a blown, injected, and stroked 392 Hemi that he was planning to take to the '60 event. One of the coolest parts is that they mention his age - 63yrs old in 1960! I will scan the pictures tonight, you won't believe this thing... His racing exploits didn't end there. '62 Dodge And apparently he was running over 200mph in 1964 with a supercharged 426 in a then-new Plymouth. I'm hoping someone can share any pictures and information about him, he sounds like a wild guy.
Norm Thatcher was a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer in Southern California. His racing exploits were visible at Bonneville because of Hot Rod Magazine, but he did much more. One year he entered 3 cars at Bonneville, one was a blown wedge, a max wedge and something else also a '63.
I figured he would have had some "early" lakes racing experience, maybe some drag racing too. Getting a 426 Hemi in '64 would have been tough, I'm sure. So he probably has some factory racing connections through Mopar? Hoping someone here knows.
Well... I never did post those scans. Here they are. Plus an advert I found in the Feb 61 HRM. Even if I didn't get any more information, I wanted to share the pictures.
Norm and Andy Granatelli battled it out at Bonneville for supremacy in the late '50-mid '60s. Andy and his brothers built a new '62 Plymouth Fury with a twin Paxton (they owned the company) 480 ci Max Wedge, hoping to be the first in class to go 200mph. They fell short by 6 mph. I bought it in 1989 and had Randy Delisio restore it. The workmanship on that car was incredible for the times. It is in Garlits' museum now. I have often wondered if any of Thacker's Bonneville cars still exist.
Frank, that is amazing! Do you have any pictures of the Granatelli '62 either before or during your ownership? I am familiar with his twin-blown '60 Chrysler 300F and some great images and story about it were on the Hamb fairly recently. This article is in black/white, but the pictures from the Hamb were full-size and in color. http://chrysler300country.com/1960_300F_andy_granatelli.htm
I remember reading an article about Norm Thacher at Bonneville, where his car was a little short of a new record. Everyone was hovering around his car to see what new tuning he was going to put in it. Instead, He told the crew "the tune up in fine" go clean and wax every surface of the car. They got the record! I think it was around '62-3. That has stayed with me to this day. Smart man.
Norm was a legend at Bonneville..for sure. Good to see rememberances of him. please post some more pictures.
I do have many personal photos taken while I owned it and will post some when I get a friend to get them on my computer. It was also featured in several magazines around 20 years ago right after the restoration. When I bought it , it had been preserved just as raced at Bville so I had every original part including the engine with original Paxtons to use. The amazing thing is it had to be and was street legal for the class it ran at Bonneville including mufflers which of course was not required to be used in competition. I hauled it to Daytona Speedweeks in '90 or '91 and drove it from the hotel to the Museum for a gala affair. It was pretty loud with those original mufflers but the Law didn't bother me. I also showed it at Hershey later that year. I have a picture af Andy standing with it when I owned it and he was very emotional seeing it again after 30 years. It has been almost 50 years now since Andy raced it at Bonneville. It has been in Garlits' museum for over 15 years.
I jointed HAMB after seeing your info on Norm Thatcher. I teach aircraft mechanics and fly a homebuilt 1/2 scale P51 Mustang. More than once I've quoted Norm Thatcher to my younger know-it-all mechanic students. Norm was being interviewed at Bonneville at one point and the interviewer asked him if he was worried about the younger competitiors and their new ideas. He replied, "Youth and ambition are no substitute for age and experience."
I've heard numerous rumors that Thatcher's '58 Chrysler 300D still exists. Anyone know where it is and who owns it today?
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,9893.0.html Here she is in the landspeedracing classifieds.
I think the best archive of information about Norm Thatcher is in a different thread here on the Hamb! Unfortunately, many of the pictures in the thread are missing, but the info is still there. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/bonneville-record-car-need-help.606045/
Love it!...and for anyone wanting to build that killer Hemi and blower set up..D.W. has one for sale right here on the board... pretty rare.Pretty Awesome!!!! https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/weiand-8x2-blower-top-w-671-8-carbs-included.1109201/
YEP!!!!!!!! That was him.....Norm Thatcher! Boy!..........when I was a kid I usta read every word in Hot Rod about Norm Thatcher. Thanx for the find!! 6sally6
Unfortunately, the images on that thread are toast. I tried to get them to work again, but the Hamb software seems to be doing something strange with the links. I know another Thatcher car will surface... I still check VINs on similar cars on ebay every week.
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