this car has been sitting in a barn like 10 or 15 miles from my house since the 70s. It has had ALOT of modifications done to it, after drinking a 12 pack with a buddy of mine trying to figure out its story this is our conclusion (maybe just a drunk one). It started its life painted green and red as a modified of some sort, and then later in its life a turtle deck was added (two differant kinds of fibergl*** and no red and green paint) and a bunch of cobbled up bracing was added. It was un-channeled at some point also. All of the original "modified" stuff is well built and stick welded, the cobbled stuff that was added later is porely done and mig welded. it has two differant transmission mounts and a bunch of other signs to indicate two motors have been in it. It was probably only built for the strip or racing in general because there isn't any signs of lights and it is only 1 seat. If anyone knows anything about the car please let me know, its kind of a jalopy, so its definatly home built. But its not every day you find an old hot rod I will have more pics later I have to go get my taxes done, and my wife on my *** about it.haha
Nice find... That's a AA truck tie rod being used as a drag link. The frame is a well reinforced 26-27 T with that girder system underneath.
Pretty cool. A real T bucket No gl***! It could go a few ways, but why does gold metal flake enter my mind? post what what you go!
I second the drag car past. The way it sits on the ch***is, the push bar on the rear. Looks like it might be a 9" ford rear also?
I really don't know what I want to do with it now, when I seen the pics originally, I was gonna build a gojob out of it, but I don't want to alter it from what it originally was. I would love to find some old pics of it. I don't thimk it ever left the Columbus area, so maybe National Trails, Dragway 42, Norwalk, Shaddybowl pictures. It has an old GM rear, Im thinking 60 olds/poniac I have a pic if someone can identify it. Cactus, if you have a 2 piece t windshield, I trade you What Era do you guys think this is????
That looks like some of the cars being built in the late 60's . Those were the cheap junk yard built drag cars . They were a blast to drive too . Well you could leave it the way it is and that would be a really nice piece of garage art to have ! All depends how much you have in it . It would be a shame to tear up history ! Still a hell of a great find ! RetroJim
That thing is KILLER...I'd build it like 60's eras budget altered. It would be nice to actually clean it up, install some engine with mechanical fuel injection and I myself would run a manual trans in it. Damn, you wanna sell it? Trade it for something? PM me!!! I'd love to build that thing!!! OK dream over.....
It's a nice find, but I'm hoping you didn't pay more than a couple hundred bucks for it. It looks very much like a 60s Altered, as previously noted re the push bar and other ch***is elements-- although the radiator is perplexing because most any alterered back then did not run one because they were typically push started, spent no time staging and were towed back to the pits. What you have to understand is that in that era a lot of guys were bucks-down and built low-budget hack jobs to go drag racing because: 1) it didn't cost more than a couple of bucks to enter, 2) depending on the strip, tech and safety were often pretty loose, and 3) as long as it was light and had an engine that ran it would move down the track nicely and, on any given Saturday night, you might have been the only guy running C/Altered, or whatever, and you could take home a trophy to put on the mantel. 4) On the other hand, if you had some engine-building skills (or if you were just lucky enough to pick up a hot stock engine, like a 409, 413 or whatever at the junkyard) you had a chance to even make it into a money-paying eliminator bracket (i.e., middle or comp.) and if the really hot guys broke or red-lighted (or 2 out of 3 false started) you might take home anywhere from $25 to $50, which was big bucks considering your investment What I'm saying is that a ton of old cars were built that really don't deserve preservation, if you can much more easily clean them up and make more useable. The ****ogies of putting lipstick on a pig or polishing a turd come to mind, unless you're able to find out the car was more significant otherwise. Can't tell you how many posts I've seen here over the last couple years looking for some exotic "provenance" that would produce the diamond in the rough. Sure, they're out there but don't be disappointed if you learn that the car you found wasn't great shakes to begin with. Chances are, if it was significant, the older HAMBers here will quickly identify it as such. What you don't want to do is sink a lot of time and money into something because it was supposedly the "Muncie Shriners clown car in 1969", and you might end up finding out that nobody cared too much then and might not care at all today. Not trying to be a buzzkill, but just hope to offer some advice to help you take what you've been lucky enough to find and have fun with it -- in your own way.
I agree with Goober - it looks like a low-buck backyard racer. Clean it up, make it safe to use in this century, put an interesting engine in it (394 Olds, 421 Poncho, 383 Mopar, Chevy 235 stovebolt or an AMC 327, perhaps?) with an auto trans, add some period induction (I like the idea of a Hillborn unit, but multiple carbs would work, too) and have fun. It's the sort of car I'd love to have in my collection, but hard to find in this part of the world.
I'm guessing 55-64 Chevrolet rear end. Only one shock on the front, and a homemade coil wrapped overload at that? They were obviously going for the fuel atlered look were'nt they? Butch/56sedandelivery.
thats a kool find. if it were me who found it, id strip it all down and make a nice hotjob out of it. drop a nailhead for sure ; ).
Thats cool, as soon as I saw it, I identified it as being an early altered cl*** drag car. i agree with most of what Goober says about it. but I would preserve it. Its a piece of history. Imagine it with some steelies and some new pie crust white wall cheaters... with a hilborne injected Olds or Caddy mill. I included some pics of some vintage Altered's including the rusty one I used to own. Might give ya some ideas. The reason they altered the wheel base was to get the weight transfer to the back wheels, with the front high, the engine set back as far as you could go, the rear axle foreward made for maximum hook up for the wrinkle free slicks they used have back in the late 50's and early 60's
Guys thanks a bunch for the info!!!! Its still gonna be a while until I get to it so I should have some time to decide what it is gonna be.
I think it was a start at building an altered in the 60s but never finished. It gives me the shivers to even look at it. I can't imagine being in that at over 100 MPH. Anyone who raced that must have balls so big he couldn't herd pigs in a ditch!.........Chester
Interesting car that has the look of the era that it was originally built in and pretty obviously was a low buck build. I think before I got too far along I'd haul the frame to the sand blasters and see if I had anything to bring back when they were done with it and then start checking to see if I wanted to proceed or change plans. If it looks usable then I'd run Mid sixties or earlier engine just like the original builder probably did. I wouldn't throw a lot of money at it but would try to have it look fairly correct for a mid sixties home built altered with a bit of clean up detailing. Pontiac or Olds would be my choice for an engine though.
The Jalopy Journal
