same top- was silver and I put some lace paint and some white on it to help match to the car- the seat bottoms weren't in it yet- car will be at cincy show jan-10-11-12 in survivors alley with a bunch of other old stuff (lots of vettes)
As a follow up to my earlier post here is a so-so pic of the 62 Winternats with the Grassman, Osterman, Nicholson, Wade 61 Fuel Injected Corvette now owned by Bert Brown. Although not a Gasser it did carry the colors pretty well for Corvette drag racing. I believe the car ran in B/Sp and Bert's avatar is the B/Sp trophy at the 62 Winternationals. The pic below is the trophy cars running off in Street Eliminator with the Nicholson/Wade prepped 283 taking on the 421 of Hayden Proffitt in heads up competition, with the 61 Vette taking the win. The eventual winner of Street Eliminator was Wade in another Corvette but I am not sure which Corvette. I believe Bert pointed out to me the other Vette pictured above was not driven by Wade but was just a promotional photo. Maybe Bert can chime in. -Jim
The Corvette that won Street Eliminator was owned by Mike Lenke and driven by Earl Wade. It was a black car with a fuel injected 360 hp 327. Earl told me that he had to tear the engine down and deck the block in order to get it dialed in. He didn't have to do that with the 283s. Lenke's car ran 12.20s that weekend, which was pretty darn fast for a stock car in those days. I have never seen a good picture of Lenke's car, nor have I ever been able to talk to him. Lenke and Wade ran a Z-11 Chevy in 1963, then I never saw Lenke's name again. I never asked Earl enough questions about him when I had the chance. You're right Jim, the Grassman car won B/SP, it was running 12.70s that weekend, but turned something in the 13's for the class win. :-( Just to keep this Gasser thread in place, Street Eliminator included a few Gassers, including Shimzer in C/G, Pittman & Edwards in C/GS, and Loper in B/G. Also in the mix was the Mazmanian supercharged Corvette. All were run heads up, and a STOCK Corvette won! I think that is pretty cool for Earl.
Bert, I believe you told me before that this may be Lenke's black 62 at the Winternationals. If so maybe someone has a picture of a dark 62 at Pomona at that time missing the lower trim. Long shot I suppose. I guess some of the 62 guys did were not fans of the lower trim, including Skip Hess with his 62 he called Wildabeast. Know anything about that car that I believe ran mostly in CM/SP? Different wheelwells and also Hess's car was an orange/red shade. I believe he ran a 375 inch with Hilborns-Jim Hess' Wildabeast, I believe.
One of Earl's several Corvette projects. I have a ton of 'Vette photos on the Gasser page... http://georgeklass.net/gassers.html
George you posted some great pics. They certainly bring back good memories. Thanks for the effort-Jim
Baron and Jackal that is a pretty cool 56/57 Vette. It appears it is on a dragstrip but just curious what organization allows it to run with no top and that impressive of a motor. I know I have had to pass tech with mine just to make a few passes and I am not sure that car would have had an easy time passing tech with the tech guys I had. Not knocking it, as I would like to build some of my other junk that I am sure will not pass tech, but would not mind an 1/8 mile pass sometime in the future. I kind of wonder if one could go hard through the 1/8 and then coast through the back half and claim it is a 14 second car? I know it would not be fooling the tech but just wondering if it would be possible or if any guys have done it with a wink from tech-Jim
Jim, There are a couple of outlaw tracks around here, one in washington called little river by mount saint helens http://www.riverdaleraceway.com/drag thats where they have the billet proof eruption drags, fantastic scenery around it and pretty much anything goes. The second one i think is called eagle field in california, i have never been there but maybe thats where the picture was taken and i think anything goes there http://www.eaglefielddrags.com/ jp
Early this year one i when first took my car to the track it was at woodburn dragstrip for the hot rod nationals or oldie but goodies event i forget which one exactly. I had to go through tech and i had it in the 13.0 and slower class and i think the tech guy at the track is named dale and he gave me a hard time about it and i thought he would not let me run and then all of a sudden i just got the WINK WINK like you said in you earlier post and he told me to have a good time. When i went to the goodguys show in washington at pacific raceways i went through tech pretty easy but then the car went through the traps at about 138 MPH the officals were waiting for me on the return road and i was no longer allowed to run, it was a great event though, so many old cars running and people in the stands, it reminded me of the old pictures when the stands were full and just normal looking cars were racing, i wondered what happen to that. jp
Buddy of mine was taking pictures of my balls being broken by the tech inspector at woodburn, he had a good laugh while taking them and then was stunned when i could run. The one picture is at the eruption event. jp
I have often asked what happened to all of the old Corvette gassers and I still wonder but I recently dragged home the remnants of an old 60 Vette gasser. I had seen a 1960 Corvette frame on ebay two years ago but I was ridiculously busy at the time and could not even think of chasing it. I copied the listing and put it in my auto stack of semi-useless auto papers that I rarely ever look at. A couple of months ago I thought I would go through the stack and throw out as much as possible when I ran across the listing. I contacted the owner and found he still had the frame. I accepted his asking price and took my trailer down to Alabama and dragged it back home. The owner Rickey Moore is an engineer who bought the car in 1973 from Larry Berry. Larry Berry from Huntsville, Alabama owned it for approximately 5 years and had raced the car on 1000 ft tracks with a small block in C Modified and D/G with an Olds Pontiac rear. When Rickey bought the car he converted it to a big block with a narrowed Dana with a 5:57 spool with Henry axles and ran the car in B modified and C/G. He always ran a 427 with a Doug Nash 5 speed and it now has a four link with new Detroit Locker posi unit with 35 spline Moser axles. The car last raced in 2011 and he ran 1000 ft until they switched to 1/8 mile which is what he ran most of the time. Here are a couple pictures of the frame. The wheels may not be HAMB friendly but trying to see if anyone remembers the name Larry Berry with a 1960 Vette gasser or Rickey Moore when he ran the car. Rickey says he just did not take pictures and I only have one non-HAMB friendly picture and it shows a red 60 Vette with white coves and a large scoop. A couple of years ago I bought a 1960 Vette body wondering what I would do with it and now I know although it may take me a while to get to it. Just hoping to see if it rings a bell with anyone from the northern Alabama area. Stranger things have happened.-Jim
Kind of an interesting set up. Guessing the leaf springs were not up to the task of supporting the rear of the car and added the coil-overs to help out? . I am pretty sure I am going to buy one of the new Strange Dana 60 (S60 as they call it) rear end for my 57. Less money than a 9 inch or early Olds, and certainly bullet-proof. I have run a couple of Dana 60's in the past with great results.
Baron sounds good. The Dana in this car did pretty well as he had many runs on it and it was quite bulletproof. It now has Moser axles and a posi but he gave me the old Henry axles with the 5:57 spool that he ran for years and they are still in very nice shape. Rickey told me that the car hooked very well. He ran the 1/8 mile with a 427 and Doug Nash 5 speed and it consistently pulled the wheels 3 ft on launch and often did not settle down until he hit the traps. He said people would ask how he steered the car and he said he aimed it but truth be told it ran pretty straight. He told me he was pretty much the only guy running a manual trans for all the years but he told me he never considered an automatic as he was having great fun. I am not a chassis expert by any measure, but Rickey probably learned a few things over the years and is a pretty sharp engineer. Speaking of going straight, his occupation was design of missile guidance systems for the military that are still being used today. I am working on putting a little more caster to my red car as it had a real problem with not going straight. Probably finish that up tomorrow or the next day. Glad to see you are making progress with yours. Have a Happy New Year.-Jim
Hello Baron, "RED would look GOOD" ! ..... "PROMISE....I wouldn't call you Red Baron" !! ...you've corrected me in the past !!!! Good Luck & HAPPY NEW YEAR ! W/ Toni & Lucky !! Scott R.
Happy New Year everyone.This is Bob George,owner of Bob George Racing Ent. We are in the process of restoring Bill Brookman's 1962 "Wife Trouble Corvette" to it's as raced condition.We would appreciate any information and photos to make this project as accurate as possible.It is in Bill's memory and honor that we appreciate and respect his family and especially thank his son Rodney Brookman for intrusting us with this project. Thanks in advance, Bob George.
twenty years ago an 61 corvette i built didn't have a top had to fab a silly looking removable roll bar that stuck up in the air six inches above the helmet and a trans blanket to pass tech and then was only allowed to make half passes. just built a full cage and a carson top for it.
Bob, good to hear you are restoring the 62 Vette Wife Trouble. I have collected a few pics of the car off the web but the best pics I have seen are from the Bill Truby collection. We actually posted some pics of the car early in this thread. One of my favorite cars for sure. I can email some of my pics I gathered off the web if you would like but not sure any of them are the smoking gun for details. It appeared to run a 327 with 340 hp and I saw they had stack injection and I believe a tunnel ram according to one of the pics early in this thread. Always good to hear another early Vette that keeps the real heritage of these cars alive. Keep us posted on the progress. Jim
My black 62 has a 327/365hp (I bought the engine new from GM when I bought the car in 1977). The last time I really put my foot into it I blew the spider gears, so I switched to an Eaton posi but now my weak point will be the 50+year old axles. Don't want a giant killer but thought a couple passes may be fun. I talked to Moser or Strange a few years ago on making me a set of axles but can't find my notes. Do any of you have any knowledge regarding new axles?
I run strange products, axles, brakes, yokes and other items, in my last couple of builds and friends cars, really good stuff and great tech support, if you do call ask to speak to Tracie she really knows her stuff. Whats a carson top? jp
Hi Jim, I am with JP, I prefer Strange products. New axles are easy to get. They have an order form that you put in all your measurements and information. You could pull your axles and measure all dimensions. Then call it in to make sure you did not miss anything. Turn around is quick. There is no big price difference between the two companies. I tried Moser 31 spline axles on my 57 Olds posi. The axle/spider fit was really poor. After only 8 passes, the splines started to strip. After that I went to the Strange 35 spline axles and spool. Jim
Agree with Jim and JP. Strange axles are the way to go. Only bad thing about installing good axles is what becomes the next weak link ? Carrier bearing caps ?
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