A few pictures of the Mooneyham Sharp Coupe... It says 1964 Signal Hill road Long Beach, California on the back of the pictures with the car on the trailer. I don't have any information on what the AMC 703 car is.
looking at the 2 trailer shots , that car was nowhere near as clean as the resto....has a more raw look but still *****in.
I was thinking the same but who knows, it could have been that clean at one time. I think even though it may have ripped with those balloon slicks out back, the pie crust slicks and dulled mags out back was the "look". I would be itching to head back to that if I owned the car.
I saw the car at the NHRA Museum....... It was bad *** but after a closer look I noticed the following differences from older pictures; front wheels were later model spindle mount Halibrands not the early ford that are in every older picture of the car, the rear wheels were 15" Halibrands not 16" americans like the older pictures, the Rear end was a Dana not an oldsmobile , it had a 392 with a crower injector not a 331 or 354 with a hilborn or enderle, the paint seemed way to bright and a darker blue, the steering gear had been changed to a sprint car type gear from the Franklin gear....... I know that they found and rebuilt the car back in the 1980's and made exhibition runs all around the country I ***ume the changes were made for safety reasons LOL, not that there is anything safe about this car. Apparently the scoop that was originally on the car is still around in California somewhere and I spoke to a Gentleman in Texas that has one of Gene's dragsters that he believes has one of the original engines and the front wheels that came off the coupe. I have spent many hours talking to Larry Faust and Gerry Steiner about the car. the pictures from signal hill road came from Gerry. Larry was a blast to talk to and had tried to remember information about the car but said "heck that was 50 years ago"......... One thing he did remember was that they ran 70 to 80% nitro and that he drove the thing in a T-shirt and Jeans.... "I do remember that" he said
Gene Mooneyham's 554 coupe absolutely surprised drag race fans with terrific speeds in 1960. It was a crowd pleaser. Coupes were not expected to go that fast. It became the first famous A Fuel Altered. The photo shows my '32 racing the Moneyham-Johnson 554 coupe at the 1955 NHRA regional at Colton. Gene had a flathead in the coupe while my coupe had a GMC engine. My win at 120 mph was the fastest A/F Coupe that year. I raced the 554 coupe several times in the next 2 years. By then we both had Chrysler engines. Then they banned fuel and I sold my car. However Gene removed the fenders and in 1959 started running very good speeds at the few strips that still allowed fuel cars to run ( these were not NHRA strips ). The car went on the become one of the most famous of the early drag race cars. After numerous fuel dragster successes Gene established his successful supercharger business. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
I watched Larry Foust take the 554 into the eights at LIONS during the summer of '63. At 8.92 and 170 mph it was the first fuel altered in the eights. Spent most of that summer watching Gene and Larry defend the Drag News Jr Eliminator #1 spot in match races all over So Cal. This car was owned by Paul Sutherland. This was the March meet, 1960.
This whole comment is chalked full of great info. It gives a glimpse of the progression of drag racing from '55-59 even with such few words. I love reading comments like this because it really informs me about the way cars should be built during that time and the possibilities of choices for me. A '32 with a GMC racing the Moonyham when it ran a flatty!!!! Cl***ic!!!!! Thanks for the pic too, click save and set to wall paper!!!!
Hey Rockerhead, I know who you are! I just noticed your post was done at 11o'something this morning. But if you look back at this, Thank you for all of the hours of study and info that you have packed into your books. You truly have helped shape a large part of my likes and dislikes. Thank you sir... Now as far as the 554 coupe goes, when it was restored in the late eighties, the level of doing this stuff was not what it is today. We just thought it was cool to see these cars out at the nostalgia digs doing they're thing. It's just been the last decade or so that things have got out of hand resto wise. The 554 stands as one of my favorite drag cars and my favorite model 40 ever. I've always dug five windows more than threes for some reason, and this is what pops into my minds eye when you say 34 five window. My other little tid bit to add to this is. My client that I am building a bantam coupe for right now has made many claims about working for and hanging out with some of the greats from the early sixties. At first I thought it was, to put it gently, "********"! Then he started telling stories about working on this car and working for Sharp. About the time I was going to call him out on this deal, we ended up at a local drag racers reunion, and in talking to several people, I'll be damned - he wasn't full of it! Including loosing his job for switching positions with the regular driver of the 554 car and making an "unsanctioned p***"! Kinda fun...
coupe 554, Welcome to the HAMB! Hard to top those photos for an entrance. I'd like to know if this 554 photo was taken before it was sold to the guys in Pennsylvania who repainted it and ran it with the 554 number? I have a photo that I'll post as soon as I find it. I've always thought it was sold as it last raced on the west coast and not as it looks in this photo.
**** photo, I need a new camera. Car ran as the K&G Speed ***ociates car out of Havertown, Pa, from the July 30, 1965 issue of Eastern Drag News
Working at Mooneyham blowers was one of the highlights of my life. I got to hear so many cool stories from Gene and Larry! Larry is a true hero of drag racing, If he wouldnt of stopped racing in the late 60's he probably would have been one of the greats up there with Prudhomme, Mcewen, etc. I still see Larry from time to time and it is always a treat! Jimmy White
From when I got the opportunity to letter it for the restoration Roy Brizio did for Brian Burnett in the 80's. I had to work from tiny little black & white magazine images or 'off color' color shots from the '60s. Ah...good times. If I recall correctly, when it showed up at Roy's shop it had lace -painted panels on it. After I took these shots I ended up lettering the 'Clay Smith Cams' text under the woodpecker. They could find the bird easy enough, but not the text. And I must have seen that thing run at Fremont & Sac every time they took it out of the trailer. 'Squirrely' would be a kind definition of how it ran. There's even some videos of it running on youtube.
Not sure when these were taken it says 1964 on the back of the photos...... If I had to guess, and its only a guess, it might be after Gene Mooneyham bought the car back the first time........... maybe the engine was in His dragster at the time of these photos....who knows........ thanks
What was the 554 car that was in Gartlits Museum about 8 or so years ago? Is there a clone or was it there for a while?
That was and is the Original car... Its home is the Garlits Museum.. They brought it out to the NHRA Museum for the 75th anniversary of the 34 ford
I just spent a good 1/2 hour watching all the videos of the 554 coupe - I for one cannot get enough of those smokin' p***es!! thanks for the pics and the links
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