Anyone have photos/info of Kenny Fredrick's 23 T Bucket named "Iced T" This was a famous New England T-bucket from the late sixties and seventies.
The Iced T was featured in Hot Rod in the sixties. It was powered with a Latham blown small block chevy.
I bought my son a Tom Daniel "Showrod Racing" set with the Iced T in it, it's like a big Hotwheels set with track and jumps, the car's pretty detailed though.
The car is(or was)actually a 26-27.A short history of it: It was originally started by a guy(I forget his name)from Lynnfield Massachusetts and had an early Oldsmobile engine,trans,and rear end.Ken bought it less engine and trans and it was pretty rough.He swapped his Model A roadster(race car)to Floyd Masters for the blown 339 c.i.engine that was in Floyd's 58 Corvette. The headers(Hedmans with home made collectors) were in the Corvette but hit the frame rails on the T so rather than build new ones Ken inverted them and swapped them side to side.They looked weird but worked. One of the problems with the Latham blower was it's appetite for drive belts.At $40 a pop they were an expensive item in 1960.The cause was that in order to precisely align the blower,you had to loosen the hold down bolts and move either the back or the front of the case sideways to get the belt to track properly;otherwise it would rub against the front or rear flange of the pulley and destroy the belt.Ken devised a way to make almost micrometer adjustments by making and attaching small aluminum blocks next to each corner of the blower housing and running a set screw through the blocks up against the case.Worked like a charm.I believe he presented the idea to Norm Latham but I don't know whether it was ever incorporated into the kits. The car originally had a dropped I beam but Ken got a chromed 37 tube axle for it.I needed a front axle for a car I was building and swapped him the axle assembly for the striping I did on the car. The wheels were 1931 Buick Marquette and were 6x14 with the Ford bolt circle.The stock centers were chrome plated from the factory.The story goes that General Tire was promoting 14 inch wheels but they never really became popular until the late 50's. Hot Rod Magazine sent Jack Eaton(brother of Ed Eaton;founder of the Long Island Hot Rod Association)up to shoot the pictures in the summer of 1961.We spent all night at Ken's uncle's gas station getting it ready.Ken decided he wanted some striping on the underside so we set the car up on the contact lift,put a reclining beach chair under it,and lowered the lift until I could comfortably reach the underside.My first time doing overhead painting.The car was photographed at the then new Saugus High School.It appeared in the November 1963 issue.At that time there was about a 2 year lead time on features.It was the first car I striped to appear in a major magazine. The car was a definite screamer and we spent many a night racing on the Lynn Marsh Road.I don't recall him ever losing.When I think back on those times,I shudder remembering running 130-plus mph on bias ply tires with no roll bar or evan a top!Went fast enough one night to have the wind push both windshield sections straight back! Ken and I still talk frequently and at 70 he hasn't changed much.He is still a total gearhead.The last T he had sported an all aluminum 572 inch Merlin BB that dyno'ed at 925hp and that didn't include the 200hp NOS!His latest car is an Outlaw 38 with a highly modified LS7.He still builds his own cars. Here is the HRM article along with a couple of more recent pics.
I sold Ken the chrome tube axle. It came from the 1320 Engineering B dragster. I bought it for a project that I never built.
Good call Hoop!I had forgotten where Ken had picked it up but now that you mention it I remember it was from a race car. I don't know if you remember Ken's tow car for his Model A(B/R)but it was a 1940 Ford sedan delivery that he bought in 1957 for $900.It had been stored since 1943 and had only 3,000 miles on it.I think his dad put a Cadillac engine in it to use as a tow vehicle.His dad had a fondness for Cadillac powered Studebakers.I don't know who was the bigger gearhead;Ken or his father.He sold it to Carl Carpenter down at Fibreglass Engineering in Cochituate and got a couple of glass T bodies and some cash.That was the one Carl painted orange and put in a blown Olds motor.I remember seeing it at a car show once.Liked it better stock.
Hi Ray, Thanks for the great info, Chuck Vranas is doing a book on the most famous T's of all time. He is not familiar with the Iced T so I thought he should have as much info as I could find. Do you contact info for Kenny. Please email to oneoff21@metrocast.net Will you be at Detroit in March? will be displaying a in progress alloy car at the show... SLP
Probably not the same car, but this one was at Detroit last year. Wonder where the inspiration for this one came from?
Hello Steve: Didn't realize who was asking about the car.Welcome to the board!Haven't talked with you in awhile.Do you ever see Dick Metz anymore?If so tell him I said hello. I'll send you Ken's contact info;he'd love to hear from you. I wasn't planning to attend the Autorama in Detroit this year but will try and get down at least one day to say hello. Rya
Not from anything shown here. It was Dan Woods and Ed Newton's creativity that spawned this one.......EXPERTLY re-created by Dave Shuten.
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