History Vintage odd ball stuff, super deep channels, weird engines, strange bodies etc...

Became a Bonneville streamliner…

 

These ALL remind me of my long lost pilelish !! Oh how I miss that ole freedom machine !!

 

Must be the Wildest Henry J ever!!

 

Details, please!

 

Hello,

One of my favorite race cars from the 1958-62 time period. When it came out, the Paul Nicolini design was pretty advanced and there were no other race cars like it. But, the problems with a new design started and until Joe Mailliard and his crew took over. It was a fancy design going as fast as possible with a ton of potential. People were puzzled by the odd ball shape and rear engine placement of the motor. plus, it was turned sideways, not facing forward like normal motors in cars.

In those very early days, a sleek aluminum skinned body with a rear mounted motor showed up at the Lion’s Dragstrip. The driver was almost non existent as he was so low in front of the motor. It was definitely one of a kind in all drag racing. Paul Nicolini designed and built the original Sidewinder dragster that surprised everyone, not just in the Long Beach hot rod/drag race circles.

It instantly made people notice and sit back for the great show on each run. We saw it in the pits, the dragstrip and in the local Drag News paper. For most people that followed the drag racing scene in So Cal, it was a new and exciting race car.

Within the year, Joe Mailliard was asked to help out in fine tuning the design and add/subtract things to make it faster and handle better. So, by the time the photos of the newly formed old Sidewinder was shown at Lion’s Dragstrip, records began to fall and the resurrected Sidewinder started to win a lot of Top Eliminator trophies, with Jack Chrisman driving.


Jnaki

My brother and I filmed a lot of Sidewinder action as it was one of the most iconic race cars in this whole time period. Watching them a week later in our living room projected on a wall size movie screen was almost as good as being there. Our teenage friends all had a doubly good time being at Lion’s Dragstrip and then being able to see the 16MM color action again, sitting in comfortable sofas and chairs.

While other racers had the “rail” frame-front engine dragsters, here was a rear engine version. Not only was it a rear engine, but the motor was turned sideways and a giant set of chains moved the gears/tires
“Chuck Jones bought the car and changed the front suspension and the way the chain drive worked. He added a double chain and made it 3 times larger than the single chain that Paul Nicolini had attempted to use.”

1959
photos: Chuck Jones collection

The following comes from Chuck Jones:
"By the way I was co- editor of Drag News at this time, Dean Brown was my co-editor. I did small editorial, all the drawings, and a fair share of the photo captions. Came up with the weekly 1320 Records list for every class in drag racing. It then became the standard for Drag Racing information.”

“We quickly had all the major drag strips calling in their weekly results to an early voice activated recorder. I had talked Chet Herbert, who was one of my early sponsors into the funding of Drag News, a couple of years earlier. It was very successful for years. His sister Doris Herbert took it over when I left drag racing."

Over the next few years, the newer version of the Sidewinder was the favorite of the both of us. We always had time to go over to the pits area of Sidewinder to see what was new and powerful. To commemorate the weekly sightings, I had to find the original sound of the Sidewinder to go along with my films. In November-December of 1959, my brother took me to Wallich’s Music City in Lakewood, CA to buy the latest drag racing sounds that was now on an LP album.

So, we listened day and night, recorded sounds to reel to reel tape and when we showed our friends the Sidewinder movies, we played the tape over and over. Sound in 1959-60 home grown version worked well. I had to play the reel to reel recorded tape along with the Sidewinder sounds. I knew the lead up sounds and timed it perfectly with the 1959 summer film I had taken. To get the recorded sound blasting in the next room stereo cabinet, while I started the 16mm color reel threaded through the big projector, then started the reel to reel tape for matching sounds.

But, in 2015 when I had the digitized version of my 16mm color movie films, I had to have the exact sound of each racer on the LP album. So, I now have most of them and you can watch the “sound” versions of various racers on the J NAKI You Tube channel.

Here is my favorite composite of what we used to see and hear every weekend at Lion’s Dragstrip. Thanks to Chuck Jones for providing the great art work on the cover of a 1959 Drag News weekly edition. (above)

"SOUND" Sidewinder Lion's Dragstrip film 1959 Spring/Summer


Actual Sound recorded at the Detroit Nationals Sept 1959

Instead of a sleek silver aluminum body, perhaps, the next version could have been painted Orange. Then given a streamlined body and added, bubble top for Bonneville and the dry lakes runs. Now, everyone could hear the Sidewinder sound and actually see it streak across the salt/dry lakes with some resemblance of a sleek design going for the 200 mph mark. YRMV

 

I would drive the "expletive" out of that thing! Just needs some finish work.

 

Too awesome. I love wacky ugly customs.

 

Minus the wheel/tire combo that is a good looking fastback thunderstang.
I had to look it up There is a little itty bitty article about it from 2019 it doesn't appear to be a real car.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/20...y-inclination-to-post-photochopped-cars-again

 

Otto Mathe's 1952 "Fetzenflieger"

 

Can't get much weirder than part of a P51 on an old Ford chassis...

 

Crank up the torsion bars on the road toad, Mopar boy!

 

I dunno, you tell me...

 

Yeah, but I still like it....

 

Put a symmetrical rear window in the cab shave the hood in the tailgate, change the rear bumper and maybe the tail lights and obviously throw some paint on it to get it into one solid color and the potential is there.

Picture it with A nice blade bumper a mid 1950s ford pickup rear window, a small tasteful tail light, fully shaved to remove the gaudiness, wide white walls and some cross bar caps, clean mirrors, bagged to get it low low low and with a V8 and dual two and a half inch exhaust with no crossover to make it kind of raspy sounding. Put a nice medium to dark blue paint on it that would accent the Chrome bits and look more eary 1950s appropriate and a nice tuck and roll type interior along with a soft tonneau cover and that thing would make a great swap meet cruiser... Not over the top just something that's clean enough that people compliment you when you go out at it but it's still beat up enough that you don't have a problem throwing an engine in the back or set of wheels or something like that.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/616669336663615/permalink/673597057637509/?mibextid=Nif5oz. At least one exists.

 

Looks like pretty standard race stuff of to me.


My model A stockcar build, 261 Chevy moved in the frame, body moved back on the chassis, note stock wheel radius.

 

Some of these examples could definitely free up a person's creative juices.

So to speak...

 

.......... and others make you wonder what weird shit some of these people were taking...............

 

Rod was called My Sin ran at Hatfield Drag Strip in Pa.

 

When 2 Allisons aren't fast enough , add 2 more !