History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Conder · May 20, 2011

biscaynes said: ↑

is that not an early shot of the 'folsom flash'?
great shot!
Click to expand...

The Flash is a post, not a hardtop, but that is a bad '55!

yoyodyne · May 20, 2011

Tuff Tin · May 21, 2011

Here's a video of Gassers in Motion and some others to view as well.
Mike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jJkohJaM8&feature=player_embedded

RAT "T" · May 21, 2011

COOL VIDEO TUFF TIN!

HERE'S ONE I FOUND WITH SOME NARRATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A8YfQi0u8A&feature=player_embedded

thehazguy · May 21, 2011

Detroit roadster 1959/60 timeframe

thehazguy · May 21, 2011

Detroit Dragway coupe 1959/60 timeframe

Magnus · May 22, 2011

Well said, Doug.

jw last · May 23, 2011

Wow, been lurking/posting infrequently on this outstanding board a long time, but nothing brought back the memories like this "didn't remember this car until this picture" shot. I grew up just around the corner from C&D, remember the car well (now), but never remember seeing it run. Another gas station down the street had the "Wind and Fire" Mustang II flopper, Steve Kanuikas speed shop was down the road out the other end of town, use to drive by Jungle Jims and Lew Arringtons houses on way to see grandparents, went to high school with Jungle Pam, blah, blah. Those were the daze........

stanzig44 said: ↑

Here's the car at The Geezers at the Grove last year -

Click to expand...

Brash · May 23, 2011

Interesting article I came across this morning

Bob Keith and his dragster where last seen together in Australia at the 1966 Dragfest.
23 May 2011

One of the key vehicles in the history of Australian drag racing will be on show at Willowbank Raceway's Castrol EDGE Winternationals (June 10-13).

The Australian Dragfest tour of six US drag racers some forty-five years ago is often credited with inspiring today’s Aussie drag racing scene, and after many years of effort one of those six dragsters – the front engined dragster of Bob Keith – has been recreated and will go on display for the first time at the largest drag racing event outside of the US.

The fully functioning drag racing vehicle boasts the original body as the centerpiece of the project, thanks to Keith removing the body from the chassis within months of returning to the US in 1966.

It remained in his possession until journalist and Willowbank board member Lex Swayn interviewed him in 2006 for the 40th anniversary of the Australian Dragfest tour, at which time Keith revealed he still had the original body, starting a discussion that would eventually lead to a plan to restore the dragster.

“I tried to locate the original chassis, made lots of phone calls to Texas and elsewhere, but I never found it, I guess it has ended up on a scrap heap somewhere,” said Keith.

“But with the body in exactly the same condition as when it was raced in Australia in 1966, it was a pretty good starting point to rebuild the car.’’

Originally, the plan was that the car would simply be a museum piece, with the chassis and engine constructed in Australia, and so the body was shipped to Australia in 2007 where it was put on display at Willowbank Raceway during that year’s Winternationals, while the hunt began for parts for the restoration project.

However, in 2008 Bob contacted the constructor of the original car - Kent Fuller – who offered to replicate the 1965 chassis and the opportunity to greatly enhance the car’s authenticity was too good to miss.

At that stage, the engine was still to be built in Australia, but in 2009 after Keith contacted Arnold Chaves – the builder of the car’s original big block Chv motor in1965 - the chance to have the final product even more authentic saw that part of the project also constructed in the US, with the decision soon made to make the engine fully operational, rather than a “dummied-up’’ powerplant with no internal parts.

While the chassis and engine were under construction, Keith painstakingly sourced parts - finding items that were commonly used on race cars in the mid 1960s was far from easy but thanks to e-Bay and access through the internet to a wide range of custom-made products, he was able to source all the bits, with some of his old contacts also coming to the party with parts.

“Without Bob doing the searching and finding of parts there is no way this vehicle would ever have been as truly authentic as it is,’’ said Swayn.

“His detective work was pretty impressive. I would never have been able to find the stuff he has located, and I would not have been as sure when I found something that it was the same as the original anyway.

"But once we decided to make the car as authentic as possible, then there was really no better person to locate all the bits than the man who originally owned the car.’’

After five years of hard work, the project was completed and all that remains is for the body to be fitted once the chassis arrives in Australia.

“It has been a lot of fun helping to put the Courtesy Chevrolet Special back together,’’ said Keith.

“It has fulfilled a dream and really means more to me than words can say. I want to thank Lex Swayn for making it happen.”

Swayn said he was looking forward to seeing the finished product after all of the years of hard work to bring the project together.

“It is like opening a time capsule and finding something just as it was 45 years ago, at least as far as the body goes,’’ said Swayn.

“And the chassis, motor and all other components have been faithfully re-created, at least as far as is possible nearly half a century after the vehicle raced in Australia.

“What I believe makes this truly authentic is the fact that the very same craftsmen who built the chassis and engine in 1965 have again put this car together, and that makes it about as genuine as you can get in the absence of the original.

“I want people to be able to see the car because drag racing in this country really began with this type of vehicle. The reason I won’t race it is because of its tremendous historical value to the sport. If that body was destroyed in an accident that would be the end of it, because while a replacement could be made, you wouldn’t be looking at the original body like you can now.

“It might be an American car, but Bob is happy for it to come to Australia because he understands its place in the history of the sport here. Within five years of Bob and his fellow Dragfest racers putting on their show at Surfers, Sydney and Melbourne, drag racing in Australia was unrecognisable, it had grown so much.

They were the spark that ignited the passion that was already there, but didn’t really have any direction, organisation or role models. All of those things fell into place once the Aussies saw six professionally built drag race vehicles put on a show of the like that had never before been seen in this country.’’

Young drag racers in 1966 who went on to become leaders in Australian drag racing are unanimous in their belief that the Dragfest tour had a huge influence on their attitude towards the sport.

Queensland drag racing legend Jim Reed (father of current day Top Alchol racer Steve Reed) said “Most cars were hand-built in people’s backyards in the mid 1960s, but when we saw those professionally built dragsters of Bob Keith and the other Americans, and witnessed how fast they were, we just had to be a part of that.’’

Multiple Australian champion Jim Read, of Sydney, said his initial impression of the American drivers was that they and their cars were crazy, but he was soon drawn into the sport and within a few years had his own dragster.

Drag racing historian Bob Honeybrook, who has collated a DVD from film of the 1966 Dragfest, says the tour by the six Americans is generally acknowledged as the single major event that boosted the sport in Australia.

Plans are for the car to be on display at the 2011 Castrol EDGE Winternationals, as well as being paraded to the public during the late-afternoon sun breaks in the program each day.
Click to expand...

http://www.andra.com.au/component/c...show-at-the-castrol-edge-winternationals.html

"old injun" · May 23, 2011

awesome!!!!!!

"old injun" · May 23, 2011

love it!

Sideplatesix · May 24, 2011

Dragfest 1966

ecode ragtop · May 24, 2011

Where was the picture of the super stocks taken , running 4 wide ?

THE-SYNDICATE · May 24, 2011

Sideplatesix said: ↑

Dragfest 1966

Click to expand...

Right On!!!! Love it... Can't wait to see this car debut in Resto Form!

Gasser1961 · May 25, 2011

My Falcon and Gasser John's Model A (EF 2011).

35touring · May 28, 2011

3 days and had to go back 25 pages to find. Time to move up again....

Y-Blockhead · May 28, 2011

Check the front end on the white car above, VW with reversed trailing arms (or maybe the whole front end is flopped)... wonder how that handled?

Gasser Madness · May 28, 2011

35touring said: ↑

3 days and had to go back 25 pages to find. Time to move up again....
Click to expand...

Not a Cheetah. Looks like...and I could easily be wrong...an Astra.

URY914 · May 28, 2011

Gasser Madness said: ↑

Not a Cheetah. Looks like...and I could easily be wrong...an Astra.
Click to expand...

I think that is a Gillison or something like that.

Al K · May 28, 2011

URY914;I think you're referring to a Kellison. And...I'm with Gasser Madness;I think that's an Astra as well-BUT... I could be wrong. Where's the experts?!

Dennis Doubleday · May 28, 2011

According to his for sale ad in a 1-18-74 National Dragster,the car was a Kellison with a 426 Hemi and a Logghe Stage II chassis. Dennis Doubleday

skywolf · May 28, 2011

URY914 said: ↑

I think that is a Gillison or something like that.
Click to expand...

Kellison Astra.

Chuckles Garage · May 28, 2011

Finally....I have some action shots.

Royalshifter · May 28, 2011

I seen that run and it sounded like you were not in full power.

URY914 · May 28, 2011

skywolf said: ↑

Kellison Astra.
Click to expand...

I was close...

ChrisV · May 28, 2011

skywolf said: ↑

Kellison Astra.
Click to expand...

I think that this particular body is a Kellison J6 to be more precise.

fogs58 · May 28, 2011

65 Hot Rod Mag

RABs32 · May 29, 2011

Gasser1961, How's the funny car project coming along........Rich

StillOutThere · May 29, 2011

Jack Clifford's '54 Hudson Hornet coupe, national record holder in the pits at some drag strip mid 1960s.

Royalshifter · May 29, 2011

That Little Red wagon is the shits. Very cool.

History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

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