# I wish I still had this!



## Paul61 (Apr 30, 2006)

My last drag car:

-Top Sportsman 68 Camero (started life as a 6 cyl. 68 Firebird!)
-540 BB chev (Injected & blown on alky)
-scratch design & built round tube chassis with Strange struts - 3 years labour to build!
-fastest 12 bolt chev (3rd member) in world!!??, cause I couldn't afford a ford 9 inch @ the time, so I heavily modified the chev rear.
-weight= 2850 lbs 
-times / speed = 7.68 sec. @ 179 MPH in 1/4 mile.

View attachment 33518


Sold it in early 90's to start a business, last owner wrecked it!

Car pictured with my oldest son.................. he's bigger than me now!

Enjoy.


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## GASoline71 (May 1, 2006)

Paul61 said:


> Sold it in early 90's to start a business, last owner wrecked it!



I hear ya on that one!

1971 Chevy ElCamino SS, 460 hp small block. Ran consistent high 11's in the 1/4 mile. Great street cruiser as well. Kept the rice burner guys in check on the street. Man do i miss that car....

Nice Camaro bro.

Gary


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## Paul61 (May 1, 2006)

Thanks Gas,

I poured my heart & soul into that heap, the only thing that makes me smile is the fact that it kept me away from the old lady while I was building / racing / fixing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!hehe

The blown motor was raced by the guy I sold it to. I last used a 468 c.i. BB (.060 over 454). 

This car was a 1968 Firebird - overhead cam 6 cyl. bought by me around 1978, evolved through the years into the monster pictured. The only remaining items were the roof & rear quarter panels. It started life as a drag car with a 396 @ 3200 lbs - 11.60's @ 117MPH.


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## Bob Wright (Jun 3, 2006)

In Order: of what i had and wish i still had...Bob
1965 Plymouth Belvedre 383 4 speed
1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 427 R 8 BBL 4 speed
1969 428 Mach 1 auto
1933 Ford 3 window coupe
1966 VW w/ Ford 351 Cleveland
1955 Ford F-100 truck
1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt 427 clone, oh i still have that one   
1968 Dodge Dart GTS
1957 Ford F-100 panel truck
and probally 50 others


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## LarryTheCableGuy (Jun 3, 2006)

My dad and I had a boat with a blown 460 c.i. BB (.030 over 454) in the late 70's. Gosh that was a lot of fun!!!

.


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## lovetheoutdoors (Jun 4, 2006)

Paul61 said:


> My last drag car:
> 
> -Top Sportsman 68 Camero (started life as a 6 cyl. 68 Firebird!)
> -540 BB chev (Injected & blown on alky)
> ...




Dang paul 7.68 is moving....literally.


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## Paul61 (Jun 4, 2006)

Bob Wright said:


> In Order: of what i had and wish i still had...Bob
> 1965 Plymouth Belvedre 383 4 speed
> 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 427 R 8 BBL 4 speed
> 1969 428 Mach 1 auto
> ...



Nice iron Bob, let's see those pics!!

Curious which 427's were (are) in the T'bolt & Galaxie?

My dream project is a repli Cobra with a Boss 429 (after the kids leave the nest!!).

Had a dozen or so Fords way back, nothin vintage though, just a couple of Jeeps now.


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## Paul61 (Jun 4, 2006)

LarryTheCableGuy said:


> My dad and I had a boat with a blown 460 c.i. BB (.030 over 454) in the late 70's. Gosh that was a lot of fun!!!
> 
> .



Hey Larry,

Fun but.............deadly, huh!!

Don't short change yourself on the cubes........it was a 462 (.030 over 454)!!

I witnessed Eddie Hill ("The Texan") go 229 MPH with his Nitro Hyro drag boat in early 80's.........talk about INSANE


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## Bob Wright (Jun 4, 2006)

I have some old pics in my attic, i will get them scanned. The 427 was a side oiler with cross bolted mains, what a ride in a two ton car. My '64 Fairlane will have a '71 429 in it, i am still waiting to order a Heidts Mustang II crossmember to build my chassis.
I just put a 4.3 Chevy V6 in a Geo Tracker last week for a customer, that thing should run good...Bob


Paul61 said:


> Nice iron Bob, let's see those pics!!
> Curious which 427's were (are) in the T'bolt & Galaxie?
> QUOTE]


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## LarryTheCableGuy (Jun 4, 2006)

Paul61 said:


> Hey Larry,
> 
> Fun but.............deadly, huh!!
> 
> ...


Yeah, it was a major blast. It did an honest 100mph - I really couldn't imagine going any faster than than on water, just didn't seem like a very good idea! I might have a picture somewhere, I'll look this afternoon.

Them boys in the blown fuel hydros...I dunno, just too many deadly variables that can change in an instant...they scare me for sure!


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## Paul61 (Jun 4, 2006)

A buddy had a 70 Cobra Torino , 429CJ with a shaker hood......he could twist the driveshaft if it got hooked up!

Never had anything hot on the road other than an 83 Mustang GT, don't think I'd still have a license if I did!

Just curious if you couldn't save some coin and fabricate an X member?

Was always a big block fan, even before the days of the strokers. Started with 396's & went direct to 454's. Never broke a drag motor, even @ 7500 RPM.
Loved the Fords but, couldn't afford to race the stuff as the parts were huge $$


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## Bob Wright (Jun 4, 2006)

Paul61 said:


> Just curious if you couldn't save some coin and fabricate an X member?
> 
> 
> Loved the Fords but, couldn't afford to race the stuff as the parts were huge $$


My 429 T Bird motor was a left over CJ, everything [engines] that was on the line when Ford quit racing in 1971 went into production family cars including CJ motors. I have 2 1971 429 T Bird engines and they are like night and day different regardless of the air cleaner info.
I was going to fab a x member up, my neighbor has a Mustang II i can copy from but for the 400 bucks they cost i can buy one that way i know its right...Bob


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## hugashe (Jun 4, 2006)

?


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## carvinmark (Jul 18, 2006)

Paul61 said:


> My last drag car:
> 
> -Top Sportsman 68 Camero (started life as a 6 cyl. 68 Firebird!)
> -540 BB chev (Injected & blown on alky)
> ...


WOW Paul,
That was a radical ride.You have been faster than me.I went thru at 154mph on a H-2 kawasaki,and I ran a 160' w.b., F.E dargster that I never git the bugs out of,best of 158 mph. Fastest my falcon went was 136.These were all 1/4 mile.
Mark


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## Paul61 (Jul 18, 2006)

Hey Mark,

You ARE crazy to do 160 + on 2 wheels!!
I saw a guy get killed @ Indy on a fuel funny bike @ over 230mph, no drag bikes for this fella.
What did your Falcon weigh (you in it)? I still have my old Moroso Power Speed Calculator if ya wanna know the approx. HP!
136 is flyin, I'll bet that old body (the car!) was shakin good , huh!!
What motor ya have in the old dragster?
Always loved those f.e. cars.................they had that "right" look to them, not like the r.e. ones now.

My buddy's Falcon did 11.20's with a 4 speed.......the 6 cyl. had 3 Webers on a home made intake. It was built spec. for NHRA Modified Class, which is now defunct. He still races with the same engine (now direct port injection) only in an altered in the 8's with a glide. Unfortunately his class was also dumped by IHRA a couple of years back, not a happy camper now!

I built this last car from scratch, only using the roof & rear quarters from my orig. car, all else was glass.
Designed the chassis & both suspensions on the drafting board (before CAD) , still have some of the old prints.
It was a Strange strut car with a 4 link & rear "wishbone" locator.
1 5/8 dia. mild steel tube rails & cage (incl. funny car cage).
I couldn't afford to buy a lot of the stuff so I built most of it incl. the headers.
It weighed 2600 lbs with the blower setup pictured.
I'll scan and post a few "build pics" for ya later.


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## carvinmark (Jul 18, 2006)

When I made that 154 pass I got into a harmonic wobble,front tire on the ground and the rear going side to side.I had to get back into it to get it under control and I used every foot of the shut down.Never went down the return road so slow in my life.That was scary!! Never rode a bike that fast,as a matter of fact,I started running the 1/8 mile just so I wouldn't kill myself on the dam thing.
The Falcon weighed 2150 with a smallblock C-6 plus me about 190(back then).I think my brother has some pics of my dragster,it was an early top fueler.I'll try to post them.You won't belive this but I ran a smallblock ford on gas with a Crower Glide and a B&J 2 speed in the dragster.


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## Paul61 (Jul 18, 2006)

*Build pics*

Here ya go.



View attachment 36259


View attachment 36260


View attachment 36261


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## carvinmark (Jul 18, 2006)

Great pics.You can fab for me anytime,those headers are a work of art-Realy!
What steering rack did you use? That Dominator makes me want to go fast.


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## carvinmark (Jul 18, 2006)

Paul,
gotta get some rest,talk to you later.
Mark


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## Paul61 (Jul 18, 2006)

carvinmark said:


> Great pics.You can fab for me anytime,those headers are a work of art-Realy!
> What steering rack did you use? That Dominator makes me want to go fast.



Thanks Mark.........tell ya what, I'll do the fab. work & you do the body!
I HATE body work.
From memory, I think it's an Pinto rack ?
That's a baby dominator (1050).
My dream was to use Crower injection...........loved the way they did their BB Chev version.........those odd length pipes stickin through the hood.......MAN!
Re. the Vega with the TH400........I raced a 400 for a few years as glides were not strong enough back in the 80's for anything over 3000 lbs.
Once we got the 400 figured out with a rev. pattern (iron) valve body and H.D.
sprag, it was bullet proof.
The converter was the same (5000 stall)......once we found a reputable source, no problems , bullet proof.
Unfortunately, we busted a few of each @ the start.


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## carvinmark (Jul 19, 2006)

Paul61 said:


> Thanks Mark.........tell ya what, I'll do the fab. work & you do the body!
> I HATE body work.
> From memory, I think it's an Pinto rack ?
> That's a baby dominator (1050).
> ...



Sorry Paul,
I don't do anymore paint work,I did it for a living for about 20 years and I'm so burned out on it.
My Vega was a street car till I sold it,then it got a BB w/glide.The guy put the front end about 4' in the air on the launch.Watching that made me wonder why I sold it.


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## Unclez (Feb 11, 2007)

Good looking car Paul! Sounds like it got on down the track pretty decent too.

I used to run some IHRA Bracket races and had a few different rides. My latest was a Chassis Engineering built car with a Hairy Glass '97 Camaro body on it. It had a fuel injected (alcohol) 509 with a powerglide and Ford 9" rear. All the local tracks around here only 1/8 mile, especially the bracket races and it would 5.20's around 135 mph with 1.14 60' times. I always wanted to put some 4.30 gears in it and run the 1/4 just to see what it would do. I had drove some very ILL handling cars before this one that you had no idea what they were gonna do when they left the line but this one was a dream to drive. Had to quit racing and sell it because my desire to go faster was far greater than my pocketbook would allow. I'll try and scan afew pics of it to post.


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## Paul61 (Feb 12, 2007)

Sounds nice Unc!
Always wanted a fuel setup, would have run a Crower unit on gas.
I enjoyed the 1/8th mile over the 1/4. 
Raced @ Lancaster Speedway in Buffalo, they had a 1/8 strip on a straight away of their 1/2 mile (?) track. 
Was there one Friday night when a mini tornado went through the place as a couple of S/G cars were running, it caught the chute of one car and spun it 360!
Look forward to your pics.

Paul


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## Unclez (Feb 15, 2007)

Sorry for the poor quality scan.


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## Paul61 (Feb 25, 2007)

Unclez said:


> Sorry for the poor quality scan.




Nice car Unc, make's me want to go racin again!


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