History Great piece of family history. Drag racing 1965!

This group of shots focuses on the car that my uncle, father and grandad raced at Maple Grove in 1965. It preceded this car-
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320515

The car in these pics is a Studebaker. It had a Packard engine in it. From what my dad tells me, the only reason they ever won with it was because either someone else had a breakdown, or they were the only ones running that cl*** that day. My dad bemoans the fact that it only went about 80 miles an hour. Still, it looks like they had fun!




V These two numbskulls probably did nothing but get in their dad's way but here they are holding a trophy. My dad is in the back and my uncle is holding the big prize! HAHAHAHA!!!

V Here's the mastermind behind the project. My Popop

 

Win/loose or draw they were race'n and have'n fun.
Thats what it was about back then... I was race'n in that time frame and things were SO much better then today
Pontiac Slim

 

Very cool...I also think you need to clone the coupe, you have plenty of photos and family around to get it right.

 

Too many racers these days get cought up in the speed, and making the big show, they forget about the fun a bunch of guys could have just playing with there hot rods

 

I totally agree. I wish my dad would chime in here more often and talk about all the stuff they did to build their 2 drag cars. My Popop was the quintessential do-it-yourselfer. I'm sure a lot of you guys would love to hear the stories about what these guys did to build something with nothing.

 

You can't get it more right than hearing it from the source.

 

Great pics and story, that would be a fun project to re-create

 

Here are a few more.



V This is my aunt holding the trophy!


V This is my dad and uncle several years before they built the Stude.

 

Thats great stuff! Makes me want to start scanning pictures of my dad in the years he was building the '32. Thanks for sharing.

 

Any idea where the Stude is today? I like the pic with the '54 Ford in the lead(guess why?)cool pics!

 

So, what's the story with the "tow bar"? Never seen anything like that to flat tow with; or was it only used to tow the car back down the return road? If it was for flat towing there must have been someone in the car to steer. Fill us in please. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

The shot with the white Comet is cool. The Comet is the George Weiler 427 AFX Comet. Jim Amos of Bee on Video fame used to own the restored car. It is still around. Cool shots, Thanks!!!

 

Yeah I doubt my Popop won that race! LOL!

 

Yes, there was someone in the Stude to steer. The first picture shows the Stude when it had the early Ford 3-speed stick trans. We had already ruined the low-reverse cluster, so the only gears remaining were 2nd and high. I used to give it full throttle and then yank my foot off the clutch with it in second gear. We tried that launch method before going to the drags. Left rear tire would lay about 11 inches of rubber and the right rear stripe measured about 205 feet long. The 352 inch engine had a single four barrel carb. It ran a best of 16.24 and 88 mph. We started dragging the Stude with a two barrel and automatic. Best it did in that form was 17 something and 76 mph. It weighed about 3200 lbs.

 

I believe the Corvette in the first picture was the nasty "Rapid Rabbit". Fantastic car. Fuel injected, 283 cubic inches, 315 horsepower.

In picture #8, you can see the long trail of blue tire smoke coming off the Stude's right rear tire.

 

Great pictures!!

Found a '55 Studebaker Starliner coupe (hardtop) in a junkyard this past weekend. Noticed the radiused wheelwells, then noticed the hood had a big bulge on it, someone had welded the top of a '40s era peaked hood to the stock Stude hood. Dash had a bunch of gauges, battery in the back, and a straight axle with parallel leaves up front. Cool.

Not sure what engine it used to have, but there were some really odd cuts in the crossmember. Yard owner bought it as part of a group of cars and knows NO history on the car. Anyone in the Wichita Falls area know anything about a car like that? haha

 

I enjoyed the old pics of Maple Grove. I had forgotten how it looked back then. Neat Stude too!

 

Yeah I should mention that my dad was too chicken to drive it! HAHAHAAA!!!!

 

Wow! Thanks for posting this. And special thanks to Nuke at Night for Horses Mouth commentary! This is why I hang out here...

 

Very Cool......

 

Super cool family pics, the best kind. Thanks for sharing!

 

i wish i could get mine to 88mph PERIOD. Its nice to see you sharing your family history. I am sure Dad feels good to have his kid braggin on him here.

 

This is one great story. It woudl be cool to see that Stude again as well

 

Our father had two 'Supers' that he wanted to get rid of. One was a 1955 Buick Super, the other was a 1956 Nash Amb***adore Super. The idea was to keep the engine from one of them to be used for drag racing. The 322 Buick with the Dynaflow trans could not lay rubber. The Nash had a 352 Packard engine with Ultramatic trans and it definitely could burn the tires. He sold the Buick for $96. We extracted the engine from the Nash and called the junk yard.

 

I like the old drag pics. Reminds me of the old days especially that tow bar!

 

I'd love to see the pics too, but your photobucket bandwidth has been exceeded.
Anyway to fix that??????
Thanks

 

Sorry about that. The pics are back up. I've been loading so many photos on the HAMB that I exceeded my Photobucket account limits!

 

Great pics. Thanks

 

Regarding Packard engines in C or K bodied Studes, I spent last weekend researching this, since we are considering a really stoked Packard motor for our salt car. Stude made the 56J Golden Hawk (1956 only) with a stock Packard v8. The two companies had joined at that point. I looked at three of these. The engine, which was actually a little lighter than the Stude 289 with blower used in 57' sat kind of far foreward. I noted about 4" between the back of the block and the firewall! This resulted in having to move the radiator foreward about 2", which with the Hawk hood was ok, but with a 55' or earlier hood wouldn't work with a stock radiator. The motor mounts were a mix of Stude and Packard parts. Not much room between the head and the suspension parts in front, but enough to do the job. I think the automatic they used required everything to sit so far forward to miss the existing frame parts and sheet-metal. I'd say one of those motors with a manual could go further back in the car, and make a big difference....

 

In 63 and 64 I had a shop inthe alley in Hershey ,Pa and I ran a 57 Buick at york us dragaway on saturdays.Days were spent in a bodyshop,nights at my shop.It was rough with two kids no sponser and little mone.Idrove to the strip unhooked the pipes,Pa nid not allow caps on exhaust.Lousy inspection laws.I was building a chopped channeled a coupe,Chevy 265 6 2s ,3 speed,Gosh allmost transformed myself back to those days.Liked those Ramond Lowey 53 4 5 6 7 studies though.Nice and aerodynamic,No body has ever caught up yet.What is wrong with these designers today anyway?