MassVette

A friend let me borrow these vintage pics of another friend's old race car, the black "California Corvette". It spent almost all of it's long life as a racer. He himself owned the car for 20 years! She was an A/MP drag racer, well- known in her time. It broke the world record in 1974, with a 9.49 e.t. It was powered by a 427 BB Chevy 'Rat' motor.
I know drag racing is looked upon with disdain in some quarters of the vintage Corvette community, but it was very exciting for us regular folk in the '60's and '70's. Back then, you could build your own car an run with the big guys. Enjoy!







[Modified by MassVette, 8:18 PM 6/21/2002]

67HEAVEN

Excellent photos. :cheers:

SuperFast80

Without hesitation I tell you I would drive that thing as it sits on the road today. Just a bitchin' ride.:cool:

7vettes

Thanks for the great pix of a great Vette. :cheers: You don't often see Indy Mags like much anymore either. The set on my '72 240Z were a bitch to balance but really set the car off.

jeff batchelor

:D :cool: :D :cool: very cool. I remember drag cars like this. Thanks!!
Jeff

Mac

Long before there was pro-street, here's a car that has it all- the stance, the power, the tires, you name it! What a beauty!!

Bluestripe67

Cool shots, looks like it really hooked up. For a moment I thought it was a friends car. He ran one just like it at Aquasco dragstrip in So. MD. He called it "Abel Mabel", was original F.I. 4-spd. Still in the family, but street driven with the orig. FI. unit.

Andy B

Great pics, thanks for taking the time to scan em and post em.

Just last weekend I was wandering around Carslisle wondering what to get dad for fathers day. On my way out I stopped in one of the buildings to use the facilities before the ride home and I noticed a guy selling copies of vintage photos and ad's. I wound up picking up a couple of cool butt pics of 65 roadsters with the front wheels hanging in the air. They look great hanging on the wall in the shop!
Andy B

richscorvettes

Great shots! While I don't remember seeing this particular car, one of my favorites was "Big John" Mancini's (I think that's the spelling) blown red 62. I believe that someone has restored the car over the past few years and it is still on the West coast. Thanks for the pictures.

Rich Lagasse

67HEAVEN

Rich,

You mean "Big John" Mazmanian's blown 283....what a ride!

http://www.nhra.com/museum/features/feature28.html

richscorvettes

Bob,

Well, you see what age does to your memory. I had his name wrong as well as the year of his car. :rolleyes: But, yes that's the one. :yesnod:

Rich

67HEAVEN

Looks like it's C1 Week on....The Corvette Forum
:D
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=327069



[Modified by 67HEAVEN, 12:59 PM 6/22/2002]

MassVette

I don't know about everyone else, but I really love seeing and reading all the real vintage 'vette stuff! This forum is great.
:yesnod: :chevy :chevy :yesnod:

Crazyhorse

LOVE that first pic ! :smash:

Also it's very cool to see the sponsor, Reids Automotive, name on there.

They rebuilt my engine in 82 and it's still going strong !
All I had to do since was replace a cracked head a few yrs back.

Subfixer

Reminds me of my old green '62 B/MP I ran in 1972. 331 c/i, 2X4, 13:1, 4spd, 4.88 rear, Best run 9.63 at National Speedway on Long Island (now a housing developement). Sorry, No pics. Car burned to the ground a few weeks after that run.
Don't EVER run without air cleaners!! The backfire through the carbs on a cold start ignited the gas after I had pumped the pedal several times. Fibreglas resins took over from there. :cry


[Modified by Subfixer, 6:39 PM 6/26/2002]

olredalert

-------Reids Automotive,Whitman Ma.Jimmy Reid and his son Jimbo.Very close friends and one hell of an engine builder.Full dyno facility etc.Built all my race engines in Red Alert and many,many great Corvette powerplants.Matter of fact I still get my work done there even though I moved to Michigan 6 years ago.
-------The 57 is one of the most memorable Corvettes to ever run at New England Dragway.Another that Jimmy had a connection to was the famous Monaco orange 69 L-88 of Clarkys(hope I have his name right).If you had ever seen either one you couldnt possibly forget them.Clarkys L-88 is still around,although in pretty mediocre condition,but Im not sure if Jimmys 57 exists or not.Ill have to ask the next time we talk.........Bill S

Subfixer

On a related note, the first time I ever ran the '62 down the track, I was using a pair of slicks off an old modified circle track racer. The car hooked so well that I did a wheel stand and cracked the rear valence. I was so surprised, I took my foot out of it and commenced to destroy the front end when I came crashing down. I was 18 at the time and not very enlightened.
My quick run was using "real" drag slicks and wheelie bars. Didn't have to hit me over the head more than once to do it right.

Tom/99

Cool pictures!

MidYearRoadster

Mike great job posting the pics. I loved that car as it toured the NHRA point circut in the early 70's. I was always a crowd pleaser. When all the big name racers were getting factory backing Les Lucier the car owner and Jim Reid the engine builder were kicking the big boys butts. As I recall this car used to pull wheelies like the ones shown here in the photos leaving the starting line in second and third gears also. The car was sold to a Gary Brown of Atlanta Georgia and Lucier purchased the Motion Performance Camaro out of Long Island NY. They broke both the Amp record and the Bmp class record before retiring from racing some years later. :flag

olredalert

MidYearRoadster,

------Thanks for the update!.............Bill S