Hot Rods 1960's Vintage Dragster Find

Talked to Ken, the other day. Ken gave me a call and said he had heard I bought the car and was looking for info it.

He said he has some pictures of the car early on. He was looking a the pics and said that It had a black drilled stright axle, black front rims, with white walls on it.

That it had a tank on the front and had a four carb Man-a-fre intake. No chrome, but the valve covers. Ken said that they went to dual quad set up for less troubles.

The car was bought by a few guys, as a use race car (Candy Apple red). That makes sence to me, the slicks are whites wall turn in wards, the fronts whites face in also.

Ken said, the the car show pics was taken in 1966. The car was bought in 1963 and painted in St. Ansgar, Iowa. The car was raced by them from '64 to '65.

This make sence to me. I think that this car has some history before the Thumper car club. It's build was before '63 and was raced sooner, does make sence, for the build shows late fiftys design, to me, with all white walls and all. Short wheel base and not a tube car?

It's been said that this car was used to promote the Thumpers car club and was not built by them. But they had help by Thumpers to rebuild it for the shows.

Ken said, He is sending us the pics, he has. I cant wait! I'll post them when they show up.

Mike

 

Just set the engine in...

 

Boy,you're really moving along on this thing. Thanks so much for continuing to post pics....it looks great. It was nice to see the photo of you & your son next to the neat truck. With all the stuff you hear on news of disfunctional families, a pic like that is a breath of fresh air.

By the way, did/does this car have a name? If not, I'll make a suggestion for a logical and appropriate name; Thumper.

When you're able to fire this thing up, I hope you'll honor us with a video clip so we can hear it roar.

God bless
Tom

 

That's our tow rig, we have an old '40-'50s trailer with a single axle, and tear drop fenders. I'm going to put ET mags on it. Than mount a board on the front of the '51 ford, for the push truck.

I also thought we'd call her (the car) "Thumper" or "Little Thumper" too.
The wheel base is only 96". This car is little! But "Thumper" is short and sweet. I like that!

We'll let everybody know when we fire it up!

Mike

 

OK, more pics, wish they came out a little more clear.
The caption in the pictures reads...
The Thumpers Car Club "B" competition coupe primarily driven by Bob "Henry" Hendrickson, 1964-66. Dressed with blower for shows, the coupe ran a 301 ci. chevy with 4 carbs on a Man-a-fre intake. Top speed 127 mph with low 10 sec. elapsed times. Cad. Lasalle tranny running 2nd & 3rd gear only, to an Olds rear end. Painted in St. Ansgar, IA. driven occasionally by Gene Waterbury. I took this picture at the Thumpers Car Show in Austin, Mn., Jun. 1966, Ken.

 

So I was able to sneak into Mike's shop and sneak a few shots.













He was working on the original wheels and tires and he set a pair of spindle mount wheels & tires up for the shots, I thought I got a side profile picture but I guess I must not have.

 

I want to see the same picture only with the dragstrip in the background!

Those pictures have a neat look, what did you do different to take them?

 

Shot using my wide angle lens with a circular polarizer, using raw, processed in Photoshop CS3, do the initial sharpening and tinting and increase saturation, play with the fill light and blacks and exposure and process the raw file, then once I got it converted to a jpg, I do another sharpen through an action I've got set up, add a vignette, for the sepia I use a black and white adjustment layer and tint it.

And I will be getting shots of it at the dragstrip, it'll be at The 5th Annual Driven Custom's Hot Rod Drags at Interstate Raceways in Sabin, MN.

 

Holy crap! I thought it would have been easier than that! They do look really neat! Maybe you should come over to my garage.

 

Or maybe you should bring your car to this and I'll take some pictures for ya:

 

too freakin cool, be sure to keep the colored plexiglass

 

That is interesting. I would want to know some info first though. It is about 7 hours to drive there. How is it for an event? Does it run smooth and does the track appreciate the racers that show up? Any pics from prior events?

 

whats the wheelbase ?

 

96"

 

Go to YouTube and type in:

Interstate Dragways or Sabin MN

there are several videos posted.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEOSQANMhAs

 

Are you sick of pics yet?...

 

If anybody wants to see the car, I'll have it in St. Paul, MN. Feb. 26th - 28th at the World of Wheels show.

Toppers car show in West Fargo, ND. Not sure of the dates yet.

 

How ??

The front is shortened and that rear axle looks about 12" forward on the axle..
A's only have a 103 " wheelbase to start with

 

I was riding in that '28, It was his first time racing, I helped him stage and run that car the first couple passes. He run a 13.02, if I remember right and high 12's after he got a few passes in.

 

It does appear longer doesn't it?

 

Ya, I knew it looked short. But, when I put a tape on it, I thought its too short, 96"! I didn't build it! But, would love to run it anyway. Mike

 

I was saying I thought shorter surprised someone got 96" out of that frame

 

OK, my bad, the frame ends just about 12 inches from the back of the axle mounts.
So tires are past both ends of frame, to get it that way.

 

Inside pics...

 

Some of the pics seem a little dark. So I did a little work on one of them.
I wish I could make it to World of Wheels to see this little buggy. But dad is 92 and, even though he's going strong, I spend my days with him.

Keep the pics coming...this is the cheapest way I know of to enjoy a build!!!

 

interesting!

 

You need a Tach that fits the styling.

 

^ what he said








T.H.

 

Ya, I didn't like the look either, but it was set up for a steering mount style tach. and was the oldest one in that style I have. I'll change it or take it out. Have an old SW one, but, mounts different and I don't want to drill or weld on this car. Thanks Mike