I'm curious to know exactly where this car is from in southwestern Va. since this is where I live. Anybody know, exactly? Who was the driver?
It looks like my memory isn't that bad after all. I found this grainy photo of Barrie Poole and the '64 Massicotte Galaxie, that he raced in '65, and the little detail that can be seen obviously illustrates my point that the car was indeed different than I had remembered. Of course, race cars are in constant change and things like lettering / decals come and go, but, like I said, I did not remember the car as depicted after it's restoration. I first seen that car in late 65, and I know that it was changed through the years. I recall seeing very amateurish lettering on it at one point. Nothing unusual in itself, since many cars came to the track and were subsequently shoe polished for the current event as to driver, etc., I am still interested in seeing better quality pics of the car. We still need Barrie's thoughts on the car. LOL!
Troublemaker, I would like to get with you after vacation. With what I do I run into a lot of guys from around here that raced Stock/Super Stock & would love to find out the history on that car. Me, I love history & would like to find out more.
benchracer, my understanding was these unibody trucks were made in 1962,63 only,i did not think any were made in 1964. i have heard there was only 1 made with 427 and raced in fx class. truck is still alive to this day and is residing outside clayton de. and from what i hear is driven on street every now and then. jim cornelius
Please allow me to add one more Buick to this list. The 1960 Invicta convertible of Russ Matthews out of Indiana. I seem to remember that Big Daddy Russ Matthews' Invicta was NHRA G/SA national champion in 1960.
Hey automaticslim; Colesy already beat us to Russ Matthews and his G/SA Buick conv way back when...check it out.
Brannan was definitely one of the Ford drivers to be reckoned with in the early 60's . Who can forget his 63 1/2 Lightweight which held the S/S record for quite sometime. He also match raced the car and silenced the mouthy Malcolm Durham in his '63 Chevy Z-11 at Cecil County Md. My favorite car was his 427 '64 Falcon built by Ford specifically for him.
There also were a few other early Buick racers, but, Russ Matthews and Lennie Kennedy were probably two big draws in those days.
Brannan's cars were top notch. He was Ford Team Captain for a reason. I have always liked his 63 1/2 Galaxie LW the best of all of his cars. His Falcon was next, and then, the Mustangs.
http://www.jerryhammes.com/view/4 http://www.jerryhammes.com/view/4/20 Scroll down and you will find a "diary" Dick kept while racing in 1963(under Various Events). Very interesting stuff.
More early Lennnie Kennedy... 1) First pic is the 59 Buick Invicta with the 401-325 engine. Car weighed 4600 lbs. used stock 3500 (rpm) convertor, 4.44.1 gears, .030'' milled heads, and Bucron tires. This car was a consistant winner in the 59-60 period and often beat the best in California racing. Apparently, this is a very rare (colored) pic from the Reynolds Buick website. Anyone know where and at which track this would have been taken? 2) 61 Buick Invicta 401-325 with virtually the same modifications and track prep as the '59. New Caslers were now being used instead of the old Bucrons. Car was now sponsored by Reynolds Buick. This shot must have been taken at '61 NHRA Nationals at Indy. Anyone know for sure? 3) Same '61 Buick winning at '62 NHRA Nationals. Reynolds Buick now sported headers and reworked 2-spd Switch Pitch Convertor and trans. Best time recorded for this combination was 14.21 @ 97.70 mph. BTW, Lennie Kennedy also raced a 55, 56, 57, and a 64 Buick Special with the 300 CID. Anybody have pics of those cars? Please post.
No pictures were attached. Can't tell you where any of them were taken but I'll probably recognize it. Reynolds Buick is still in business, about a mile and a-half from my house. The site of Russ Davis Ford (Gas Ronda's sponsor) is also less than a mile away although that dealership went under a while back. It was across the street from the now-defunct Clippinger Chevrolet, a major parts source and supporter of high performance Chevys around the San Gabriel Valley for many years. Les Richey's Performance Associates shop was in this neighborhood. A couple of years ago, Reynolds hosted a display that featured the white Stage II Grand Sport, now restored, that Pop ran. I raced at San Gabriel, Irwindale, Fontana, Lions, and OCIR and saw his cars on a frequent basis.
Now the pictures have appeared. #1 was taken at Pomona. Not sure about #2 but it appears to be Indy. #3 is unquestionably at the U.S. Nationals.
For some reason, I had to re-post the pics, because they did not appear first time. Anyway, thanks for the info on picture location(s). I was thinking Pomona for #1, but wasn't sure. I believe #2 is also Indy, because Pop won his class in '61 and '62. Notice #2 pic taken in 1961, is lettered differently than #3, which was definitely 1962 Indy. In my opinion, the later incarnation is more professionally done. In #3 the '62 Pontiac is fairly stark looking except for that wicked ugly billboard sign hanging on the right-side front fender. Jere Stahl must have been hungry for business in his early career. Or, maybe he was just ahead of his time in advertisement. LOL!
I believe Ford built 3 of those trucks. The "Jack Whitby" truck still exists and will probably be on display this wekend at Cecil County Dragway,in Maryland. It was there last year. Bill Naudain bought it from Whitby Ford and Ford corporate was furious, as it was never to be sold. Bill still owns the truck.
I'm pretty sure the Grand Prix belonged to Ramond Lowe who was a terror in his '62 Grand Prix running either a 4 barrel 389/303 or Tri-Power 389/318 depending on which class he chose that day. Based on the competiton...looks like he made the wrong choice this day !!!
hey there jkane, jim here according to bill this is the only one built by ford. looking at the posted pictures i see two different tow ball locations, one has balls on top of bumper picture of whitby truck has balls under bumper on brackets. that is the way they are on bill"s truck. if he is at cecil this weekend i will try to ask him about truck. take care jim cornelius
Hope someone has a 1962 Indy entry list to verify that Ramon was driving the #831 Grand Prix. If that's the case, they sure drove/towed a long way for that class run-off. Would have been far easier to get that over with at Pomona!
You may be right!! In 1962, Lowe's Tri-Power 318 car would run high 13's....This winning time of 14.92 would indicate it wasn't Lowe !!!
Then Good In-Tension 57 Hardtop also has the "trailer ball" arrangement on top of the bumper. Just "another" way of hooking up the tow bar by using the trailer balls as pivot points. Butch/56sedandelivery.
I don't have an Entry List for the '62 NHRA Nationals, but, I have complete coverage in the November, 1962 issue of Hot Rod. Here's the Class Winners List and the Eliminator results. More to follow...
Here is the stocker coverage at the '62 NHRA Nationals, from the November, 1962 issue of Hot Rod. Part I See Part II on next post.
I just googled this F-100 XL and found a very informative site with lots of info including periodicals of said vehicle. Here is the link: http://f-100xl.info/
Speaking of performance and drag strip pickups, these unique trucks were first explored in racing by Ford and Chevrolet in the mid-fifties, albeit in Daytona runs on the Beach, with NASCAR sanction. Although not strickly related to junior stock, by 1963 you also had the Dodge rendition to compete with Ford; the 63 Dodge D100 Dick Boynton Dodge BFX ''Ram Truck'' pickup engineered by Ma Mopar. Pics? okay...first the two that started the ball rolling in the fifites, then the Ford's counterpart, the Dodge D100. Part I See Part II in next post.
The Jalopy Journal
