Here's one...What cl***ifies a FED from an altered? I thinking of building a vehicle simular to the one pictured below (using same body-that I bought a while back). Was thinking about making out of a 3x2 main rails. Would this be considered a dragster, altered, or just a plain ol' car??? THanks?
A driver sits behind the rearend in FED A driver sits in front of the rearend in an Altered (same as funny car)
That is neither a Dragster nor an Altered. That is what is called a Comp Coupe. Except the body has been narrowed. Some ***ns. do not allow that. Here is a picture of a proper Comp Coupe. Flaming Frank Petregon. Father of Tony and Cruze. Current Funny car drivers. Funny cars replaced Comp Coupe in NHRA
Exactly. I have been to some tracks that let them run Fuel Coupe if they are running on Alcohol but it is not what we would normally recognize as a Fuel Coupe. Anyway extraneous information aside Rich nailed it.
It would be considered EEE-vill.... I can see the reason for the confusion. Found this on Google under front engine dragster. It's a (extreme) Comp Coupe. Found THIS under fuel altered...I dunno, anyone want to call this one? I'd say this is pretty muc the cl***ic version of a Comp Coupe
I still think it as Fedman pointed out, it depends on whether the driver sits in front of, or behind the rear axle. All the comp coupes I've seen, (including the photos posted on this thread) the driver sits behind the rear axle, ala FED. In fact, they seem to all be FEDs with a body hung over the ****pit area.
Many an FED that got outdated and uncompe***ive became comp coupes. It was a cheap way to get a ch***is and get started. Unless the seating on that Fiat is behind the axle it is an altered.
Let's get a few things correct here fellers. Altereds and roadsters were required to have no more than 25% engine set back and driver in front of the rear. Comp coupes and Modified roadsters were allowed 25% or more engine set back and the driver couold sit any damn place he wanted to...but usually behind the dif.
Yeah. Just think of competion coupe as a modified roadster with a roof. In the '50s they were really coups. Then they started becoming dragsters with Fiat bodies hung on them. The number 101 car above looks to be the Charlie Muess coup in around '61. Now the Peair Ponsetia car limited to cakel fests.
Most comp coupes/roadsters run in NE 1/2 to fill a bracket(hate that word) . Cars like Stormy Byrd's would have been cl***ed as an A/MR using the old formula.
But let's say you put a new-fangled Topolino body on it (which appears to be a modern funny car ch***is), would you cl***ify it as a modified roadster, or an altered? It looks like it would be a transformers-era altered to my eyes. I'm not questioning what you are saying was correct in that era, but with the car in question other than a p***ing nod to vintage via the body, the original photo on the this thread doesn't seem like a car that could be made to look like a vintage modified roadster or comp coupe, regardless. It seems like it would just be an altered with a coupe body on it. (which also has a history, ala Gabby Bleeker or the Juggers Little Old Lady bantam coupe team.)
Here is a current Bonneville comp coupe. It would have run in comp coupe when NHRA ran the cl***. The driver can be behind the axle, but it isn't a requirement. As I remember it had to do with engine set back, amount of chop, streamlining ahead of the firewall. Lots of things people don't do anymore except on the salt
As in the picture, it ia an altered, in Compe***ion Eliminator. Altered can have more any engine setback. Driver must be behind the engine and ahead of the rearend.
Here is a quick "paint" drawing of some of my thoughts on this drag car. The body is a Speedway Motors modifies Vicky body that measures 34" wide, 71" long and 40"high. How should the "Cage" be treated as??? Like a full bodied car (10/12 bolt cage) or like an dragster/altered with hoops around my torso and head? Engine is still up in the air but I do have my eye on a tunnel rammed Olds 455. Axle will be behind me (may be solid mounted..haven't fully commited just yet) Front axle was considering a transverse spring on a drilled I-Beam axle. Auto trans (most likely a powerglide), Ford 9" rear, thinking of a 2x3x .125 rectangular tubing frame.
With that body if it where me I'd do a funny car style cage, it's best to build it to a sfi spec like 10.3 for altereds (it will certify to run as quick as 7.50's in the 1/4, plus the tech inspectors at the track won't give you any grief about the ch***is). A solid mounted rearend will be fine on most tracks, a transverse spring, and I-beam front axle would be good.
It looks like "Charlie's Business Coupe" to me also. Pierre and Charlie were fixtures at the Nostalgia Drags at Fremont in the eightys. The rules were lax then, and you could really race a car like that. Great times for those of us that were racing back then.
altereds wheelbase is a maximum of 125 inches.Longer than that is a dragster. If you are planning to run in the 11 second area or slower,I don't think your ch***is plan will p*** tech. at any dragstrip
1) As far as nhra "replacing" comp coupes with funnys, more proof positive that nhra ****s. 2) i agree that technically on FED's the driver sits behind the axle and with altered the driver sits in front of the axle (exactly like funnycars) OR ON TOP of the axle. Yes, there have been altereds where the driver sat exactly on top on the axle (although not nessesarily on top on the pumpkin---was offset to one side?) Will provide link when i am able. But really is not a funnycar(or altered) merely a short front engined dragster with a fibergl*** body? And the seating position made so only to clear the rear window area? i'm not arguing here---just something to think about. 3) Do you have any more (much more) pictures of the car in question?; i've been actually planning to build something much like it except with a different body.
Below are a few more pics of a Speedway Motors Modified Vicky Body on a Funny Car ch***is. I got these pics from a member here on the forum (forgot name). Here is the body link from Speedway Motors http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Vicky-Modified-Body,1524.html My plans are to have the rear axle BEHIND the driver. I perfer a wheelbase of at least 125"+ but can drop a few inches if it makes being able to "run" legal. Initial plans are to use a 2x3 main lower rail, but have no problem going to tubing. The body will be hinged at the rear to allow access but also have an escape hatch in the roof. being that the body is only 34" wide...no driver offset..sitting right on the centerline of the car. Tom
If you are building it from scratch, why not back the wheelbase off to 125? Not like you are re-inventing the wheel here, just covering it in a new set of clothes...
Very true on the WB.....more or less playing with the WB more for a look that I like. I tried a few sketches with a shorter 115" WB...it just didn't "balance" out for me.
My altered has a 118" wheel base, it used to be a BB/FC (which is now TA/FC) built in the mid 1970's, then built into a bracket car in 1982 (it still has the paint job done in 1982 on it).
I would do a quick check with the tech people where you plan to run that thing. Make sure they will accept a narrowed body. I know the SCTA won't, but thqat's a different deal.
I would treat the roll bar/cage like a funny car or digger. I would not build one like you would in a gas coupe. Keep it tight and sit in it.
The Funny Factory offers a Ford 5 window fuel coupe body for a F/C style ch***is, and they also offer a Ford comp sedan for a FED ch***is for those looking for something different. http://www.nostalgiafunnycarbodies.com/
Personally, I love the original concept. Maybe even less chop ... "Tall T from hell" sort of thing...
I think this is no differant than running a roadster body on a funny car ch***is, the only diff is that it has a roof. It will still be recognized as a altered.
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