Hello all, and in particular the older guys. I am looking to build a period correct Nostalgia Funny Car. 68 to 70 era. I am looking for info about what was available/used back then? I got involved at the track in 75 but what was around at that time was the narrow style cars. I am building a wide chassis car. I am guessing Summers Brothers axles, Hurst Airheart brakes, Fairbanks or B&M transmission, M&H slicks and front tires and such. What about coilover shocks? Were 8-71 Blowers used back then or strictly 6-71's? Any info and/or period correct pictures will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time, Paul

The above websites are good & I'd suggest you contact Don Garlit's Drag Racing Museum in Ocala, Fla. along with NHRA's museum. It sounds like you want to build a Logghe Chassis'd car which was a bit wider, used Koni shocks, ladder bars (24-32in length), perhaps a "twin port" Hilborn injection set-up, perhaps a Torqueflite trans (though they were disappearing about that time), single plug Hemi heads , though there were a few other brand F/Cs, a relatively small injector pump. *-71s were used back then so that's not a problem.
There's still alot of the old guys around to get tech advice from & nostalgia F/C has its own rules to give you a hand with it. You could always build a BB/FC, which was an injected car (simpler & less money) to learn the ins-&-outs of these things.

When it comes to nostalgia drag cars, especially fuel cars, there are differences between period-correct and what's currently legal...so a lot depends on what you want to do with it. You can be period-correct if the car is only for display & some exhibition use, typically 1/8-mile squirts at most.

I see you are in Mass. I would google Bruce Larson, he is up in that neck of the woods and can answer many of your questions.

This will get your juices going.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc6w1fJXAow

Here is the car he is building right now. (picture lifted from dragracingonline.com) More info there.

Hi Paul,
Have have an all period correct 1971 aa/fc I am restoring that I got from the original owner/driver. Everything on it is as last raced except the body and the headers. The headers are original cragar zoomies and the body made from a body that was originally on my car.

I have been doing tons of research over the years. Look at my web site in my signature and my email is there if you need any addition help. I can answer most if not all of your questions. My email would be a better way to contact me as I don't come here much any more. Only 6-71 blowers were used back then. Some cars has suspensions and others did not. A lot of cars were also injected. Mine started out injected and then they went blown later on.
Rick

I found this original body not 10 miles from the house--it went to Norway

Thanks for the info guys. I picked up the chassis today. A 68/69 era Don Hardy wide chassis. It's a start. Now I can start gathering all the parts. Still undecided about power plant. Leaning towards an early hemi. Looking for a body too.
Paul

Hey Paul,

What are your objectives with the car, exhibition passes, competing in the N/FC groups, just making hits for fun, etc. I suspect with that old of a chassis, you're doing it more for the love of doing it, which is the way the movement started out, unfortunately its turned into a lot more than that (read: $$$$$ and more $$$$)anda 6.00 car is almost not competitive anymore. There are some groups that have come up with some general guidelines to keep the cars and costs in check (Great Lakes Funny Cars comes to mind) and put on some decent match race shows. The Funny Car Reunion at Englishtown would be a good place to go, usually in July each year, to get to know some of the folks that are still doing it for the love of it.
As far as power plant, keep in mind what parts are still somewhat available that would have been run back in the late 60's. You also need to determine what your chassis may have originally been built for. Say you decided on a late Hemi, you need to check and see if the uprights and diagonal on the left side were designed to clear the late model oil pump, and if you want to try to run an onboard starter. Little things like that are not insurmountable but can be a pain in the tail. Early model Hemi has "way cool" all over it but seems like the F/C guys gravitated to the late model more and there were suprisingly a lot of big-block Chebbies in the early F/C's. As far as bodies, there are several good builders making really decent and much lighter replica's that have been pulled off of molds of earlier bodies. There is a button on the Classic Funny Car site of body builders, most all usually between $2800-3500, which considering the work involved is not unreasonable.

Hi Ronny, thanks for the info. My goal is to build something period correct for shows and cacklefest with maybe the occasional burnout at Nostalgia meets. The chassis would not be legal for any kind of racing and trying to update it would ruin it. The motor plate that is in the car now is for a chevy but I prefer mopar. The body style will depend on what's available. I would however try to match the engine to the make of body. That seems to be what people did back then till the Hemi was overpowering everything else then they all made the switch. Right now I am concentrating on gathering up all the needed parts since I feel that may/will be the most time consuming and expensive part of this project. I have attached a picture of my starting point. As bare bones as it gets. Thanks again for all of the help and info. Paul

A lot of the old bodies are being done again, once again, go to www.classicfunnycarboard.com to get the list of body builders. For Mopars, you can get '70 Challenger, '70 Cuda, '70 Duster, and the '77 Arrow. Wheelbases between 118" - 125" are available.

Yep, here's the list posted over there
http://classicfunnycarboard.com/CFB/inde...p;topic=13807.0

My personal is that the 71-up Plymouth B body was the ultimate FC body. It just looked like it 'fit' better than all the others, and I'm an E body lover!
http://www.competitionplus.com/featured-stories/1317-merchant-of-70s-flopper-memories

However, your chassis predates them a bit. You will probably be better off running an earlier body. Best of luck on this!

Hey Larry,

I was just browsing through Rosetty's site last night and what should I see but a pic with half of you and all of Itty Bitty, thumbs and all. You guys were a long way from St. Louis.....

http://www.nitrocoder.com/Databases/FunnyFarm/DB/bodies/images/Chall3.JPG

RodstRace, I agree, think Coyotedale's Satellite turned out truly Bad-A, not sure he is still at it though, he built several but I think the economy got him, or at least slowed him down.

Paul,
Your chassis may be too early, but seems like since its a Don Hardy, that there ought to be a Sema or SFI builders tag/ID plate welded on the chassis somewhere. If there is, would be fairly easy getting some history info from some of the old-timers on the Classic Funny Car Board. If you havn't yet joined that board, it would be worth it, just so you could post the pic on there, guarantee, a bunch of them would go nuts scrambling to find info on it.

Hey Guys, been to all the sites listed over the past few weeks. Waiting on replies from some. One thing I have heard is that the newer bodies do not fit the wide chassis. Or at least very well. The subject about a chassis number came up and according to Don Hardy he started stamping his chassis' sometime very late sixties and beyond. The stamping was put into the front crossmember and so far after sanding, no luck. The way these cars changed hands back then leaves many possible connections and if you had one of these chassis' built back then it was probably 'Someone' but who knows now. I will get a measurement from the front axle centerline back to where the rear axle should be. That should give me a ballpark on what wheelbase it was set up for. Would it be changeble by moving the axle back? The latest body I would be interested in mounting is a 70 Challenger or Cuda. 68 Dart would be ideal since I have two of them now but I have only seen a few of them with that body on them. Thanks again for all the help and advise. Paul

One of the issues with a wide chassis is header fit. Tom Sneden is having that issue right now. The headers are not zoomies, but custom under the chassis headers. Dave Reitz can tell you more about that (I sent you his email address). Jon

Ronnie, those pictures were taken at Jacobsmeyers house when Itty Bitty and I put the body on the chassis with the chassis populated for the first time.

As for the newer bodies fitting the wide style chassis, you just have to ask if it's a standard width body or one of the pinched in ones. Without the trees and tin work, I would think any body should fit unless your front and rear tack is super wide.

Merry Christmas all!,

Does anybody know if the early funny cars used a 9" ford rear end in pre-70s funny cars? I have seen a few photo's with a 9" but I am not sure if they were/are originals or updates done after the years. Thanks again for all the info, Paul