Old Photo Thread
Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 12:18 pm
Thought I'd try to provoke some activity with a photo and story sharing thread related to our automotive hobby...:-)
Here are some pictures I recently scanned along with the story behind one of my early hot rod projects ('63 corvette roadster). I graduated from High school in 1973 and worked a summer construction job for a family friend on Long Island, NY. My boss was a former dirt track racer and he had been trying to talk me out of my plan to build a V8 Vega drag car. The second half of the summer we were renovating a warehouse he and some partners owned out in Patchogue, L.I.
My boss went out one day to pick up materials and spotted the car parked on the side of Sunrise Hwy not far from the construction site. It was parked right next to a race shop (Fast Freddy's Performance Cars). The owner (Fast Freddy) campaigned a dedicated track only '65 corvette 427 drag car and was selling the '63 for I think $1200.
It had a dead, non-corvette motor, T-10 trans, factory side pipes, horrid purple paint, hideous body mods and nothing worked electronically. I was 17 at the time and didn't have much money, but my boss talked the owner down to $950 cash, so I bought the car and sold my '68 327 Camaro.
I bought a professionally prepped and unassembled 350 short block with 12.5:1 CR forged pistons, steel crank, etc. Paid another guy to build me a set of hipo heads with big valves and some exhaust porting, installed an off-road Z-28 cam, Edelbrock Tarantula single plane mani, headers with straight through Thrush mufflers (ditched the side pipes), Holley 780 and put Goodyear Bluestreak slicks on deep dish steel rims in the back. The car was loud and ugly, and the motor only made serious power in a very high and very narrow rpm band, but it screamed and it was faster than any of my buddies' hot rods...:-)
Like I said, it was ugly and pretty much illegal for the street...but it was fun until the gas crunch hit...:-)
Here are some pictures I recently scanned along with the story behind one of my early hot rod projects ('63 corvette roadster). I graduated from High school in 1973 and worked a summer construction job for a family friend on Long Island, NY. My boss was a former dirt track racer and he had been trying to talk me out of my plan to build a V8 Vega drag car. The second half of the summer we were renovating a warehouse he and some partners owned out in Patchogue, L.I.
My boss went out one day to pick up materials and spotted the car parked on the side of Sunrise Hwy not far from the construction site. It was parked right next to a race shop (Fast Freddy's Performance Cars). The owner (Fast Freddy) campaigned a dedicated track only '65 corvette 427 drag car and was selling the '63 for I think $1200.
It had a dead, non-corvette motor, T-10 trans, factory side pipes, horrid purple paint, hideous body mods and nothing worked electronically. I was 17 at the time and didn't have much money, but my boss talked the owner down to $950 cash, so I bought the car and sold my '68 327 Camaro.
I bought a professionally prepped and unassembled 350 short block with 12.5:1 CR forged pistons, steel crank, etc. Paid another guy to build me a set of hipo heads with big valves and some exhaust porting, installed an off-road Z-28 cam, Edelbrock Tarantula single plane mani, headers with straight through Thrush mufflers (ditched the side pipes), Holley 780 and put Goodyear Bluestreak slicks on deep dish steel rims in the back. The car was loud and ugly, and the motor only made serious power in a very high and very narrow rpm band, but it screamed and it was faster than any of my buddies' hot rods...:-)
Like I said, it was ugly and pretty much illegal for the street...but it was fun until the gas crunch hit...:-)