For you guys here on the HAMB that are restoring 60's gassers, what ever the body style, what are you going to do with them when your finished ? Are you restoring the cars the way they were built originaly in the 60's or are you updating them to current NHRA specs? A friend of mine is starting to restore his 34 Ford 5 window coupe A/G car that was built in the late 60's and raced in the early 70's until there was a accident with the guard rail then the coupe was parked in the back barn for 40 years. He has recently got it out of the barn and is wanting to restore it the way it was back then but it won't be competive in A/G anymore and won't meet current NHRA specs.
I think a lot of guys are using them for a little bit of A and B ( street and strip duty.) I for one took a very early drag car that was use from 1963 - 1967 and I put it back on the street. Right now I am at a point in my life where I get more enjoyment running it on the street rather than the strip. It would be great to see some photos of your buddies car. Post some if you can. Jay
Built mine to today's safety standards and I'm pounding the crap out of it. Mine is more of a street freak with a lot of local history. If I built it the way it was back in the day it wouldn't be street legal and it likely wouldn't be terribly safe on the track or at least it would be greatly limited to the times it could run. I still respect the history and heritage and always give props to the original builder. But it's mine now and i want it's second life to be written by what it does now and not what it used to do.
This 34 Ford A/G couldn't be put back on the street, it was pretty much gutted and lightened up to be a racecar. I'll try to post some pics.
Building mine mostly for street driving. I will take it up there a few times a year to run it but probably on the no rules nights. So it won't have to meet their current rules, it just needs a seat belt and helmet to run it.
I built the Rebel Reaper to look like it came from the day with today's NHRA rules so I can run it at any track. I am currently restoring the Hart Automotive Willy's to almost the exact way it was, sans the 20 gauge exhaust tubing roll cage! If your friend wants to race it, then build it to conform to NHRA standards, if it is correct, it won't be that fast and the rules are not too intrusive to the integrity of the restoration. If he isn't going to race it, and just take it to shows etc, then it should be correctly restored.
If you build it to it's original spec it wont be able to run most NHRA events. It also wont be able to run on the street. So the only venue would be nostalgia events, or museums. I built my Austin mainly for the street, and occasional nostalgia events. I get a lot more use out of it, and fun! I've had so much fun with the Austin that I'm presently building a 2nd street/strip gasser based on a '63 Falcon sedan, with 454 Chevy and a 4 speed. It will be safe and street driven, but also make some runs down the dragstrip.
Building a '40 Ford coupe. Been building at it for about 6 years now. I have changed direction about 4 times now. Current direction is a gasser. Building it using '67 N.H.R.A. rules to make it look correct. And current rules to let me race it. If you read both rule books, they are really not too different.
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