Images from the Moebius booth at NNL Motor City, including the two new Novas...

[Darin Bastedo]

Give me break here! We show future project mock ups and there are critiques?

As I tried to explain in the other thread, Mock ups are product development tools - we have already sent several lists of corrections to be made based on our reviews of the mock-ups to the factories. 3D files that will actually be used to make tooling have been revised based on those comments. the mock-ups on the table yesterday ARE NOT FINAL items. the items we showed yesterday are NOT test shots! Test shots are produced from tooling that exists at this date there is NO tooling started for any of those items yet.

There are NO release dates. I would not expect release dates for any of those Items for several months! We don't even know which kit will be produced first.

There will be NO six cylinder engine for the Chevy II kits .just the small block.

If that 65 "gasser" were a street legal "gasser" style vehicle it would have WINDSHIELD WIPERS! When the "gasser" kit actually exists - the wipers will be separate parts! if they offend you, you'll be able to leave them on the parts tree!

It might be good to wait for us to actually have something beyond 3D files and mock-ups before you start passing judgement on the shape of the drip rails!

I'm glad that some of you have wish lists and suggestions for our next project, at this date I'd just like to get these finished before I start something else.

 

 

My only gripe is i want these now!...lol. Seriously though as much as I want you to make these as accurate as possible, I appreciate any new plastic you give me to glue. Even if the kit came out horrible, I could turn it into a radical custom, and that would be ok too. But I've been pretty happy with everything you guys have done so far, so I'll assume you guys will do ok again. Sure a Big block would be cool in the Nova, but hey I've got plenty of those I can drop in. My only request, since you are doing a small block, is a while back Revell tooled up a really nice set of BB Chevy Moroso valve covers. I don't even know if they are period for that car, but a set of SB chevy moroso valve covers would sell a few more of these kits to me.other than that carry on. keep up the good work.

 

[GaryR]

You young people!
WRONG! The first one piece glass funny cars were the Comets. Few others were "floppers" until 67.

The yers 65 -66 were full of FUNNY CARS, 65 Dodges, Plymouths, Mustangs, 'Vette's, you name it ....and CHEVY 2's!

I KNOW I WAS AROUND THEN! LOL!

They were funny cars, or match race stockers. The 66 Merc's were NOT the first funny cars by a long shot!

Here's some examples! I could post 75 more! THIS is when funny cars began, and the WERE called funny cars as early as 1964.

Maybe some other OLD people can confirm! 

Edited November 14, 2017 by GaryR

[Mike Chernecki]

As an owner of a couple real Novas from '62 to '72, so far the shape of mockups already look 100 times better than anything released previously. I am sure they will be outstanding when finished. 

BTW, Dale Armstrong ran a '62 Nova Funny Car, "The Canuck".

[iBorg]

Gary is right. The name funny cars were applied to A F/Xers that had their wheelbase moved enough to be called funny due to their appearance. Most drag racing historians agree the first flip top funnies were the Mercury Comets of Nicholoson and Chrisman. I think there was a third, maybe Eddie Schartman.  These were either '66 or '67. All of the cars he has posted were considered funny cars. 

[GaryR]

I wasn't criticizing the mock up!

Simply pointed out numerous versions could be made.

You have "pie crust" slicks on it, Neither Goodyear or M&H have made them for real racing for over fifty years!

I thought you were trying for a 60's era! By the way I never heard the term pie crusts until about 10 years ago.

I think you are using the modern term "gassers" which is totally incorrect for these cars, yet almost universally used.

So be it, whatever.

But I think several of you need to go to drag racing 101~

[Jon Cole]

Thank you Moebius for the Chevy II's! My first car was a '63 Nova, and to me, the '64 is close enough! After all these decades, I wouldn't be able to nit pic even if I wanted to.

 

[Jon Cole]

Another Q for Dave M; will the next Hudson (PLEASE!) have those awesome wire wheels & wide whites? They make all the difference! Thanks!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool looking forward to seeing these on the shelfs. Thanks Dave for giving us a peek at whats coming.

[GaryR]

Gary is right. The name funny cars were applied to A F/Xers that had their wheelbase moved enough to be called funny due to their appearance. Most drag racing historians agree the first flip top funnies were the Mercury Comets of Nicholoson and Chrisman. I think there was a third, maybe Eddie Schartman.  These were either '66 or '67. All of the cars he has posted were considered funny cars. 

The cars were Nicholson's Eliminator 1, Christman's ROADSTER GT-1 and Ed Schartman's and Kenz & Leslie.

All were Logghe chassis cars.

[Snake45]

I Like the Chevy 2, surprised they would do one!

It will hopefully, be the first really accurate one.I would rather see it as an early funny car though instead of this "gasser" thing.People today don't know what a gasser is.

 

Then just move the wheels forward, the way the did on the real ones, and you're pretty much there. 

BTW, I vividly recall a blown, straight-axled bright orange first-gen Chevy II in one of the east coast rags in the late '60s or very early '70s. It wasn't a drag gasser, it was a "street freak," and it looked very much like the prototype "gasser" model shown above. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Snake45

[GaryR]

Yes Snake, pretty close.BUT look at the pics, many cars didn't even have an AWB.

For a heads up of how these cars were constructed, here's a cut away of the Alan Green car.

AND a gratuitous shot of a FUNNY CAR!

 

 

[Snake45]

Yes Snake, pretty close.BUT look at the pics, many cars didn't even have an AWB.

For a heads up of how these cars were constructed, here's a cut away of the Alan Green car.

AND a gratuitous shot of a FUNNY CAR!

 

There were few "rules" for the first-gen funny cars you (and I) love so much. No two were alike. Some were cobbled together out of basically stock stuff. Others were sitting on full-on race frames. I like the way they're doing the gasser kit. It lets us "take it from there" and build it in any number of way-cool ways. It's MUCH more versatile than the Rat Packer. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'm not really seeing the problem here.

Seems to me Moebius is offering up a "what if" or "nostalgia" gas-class car based on the stock Nova tooling, so they don't have to also tool an altered-wheelbase chassis, or an entire tube-frame like the floppers run.

This shouldn't be too hard to understand. Tooling costs money. Minimize additional tooling, throw in a straight axle conversion, and Bob's your uncle.

There are plenty of pretend gen-one-Nova "gassers" running today.

Unibody cars were in a gray area in the true gasser classes anyway, which is why the very famous Malco Gasser Mustang from 1967 was on a full frame to comply with the class rules...though the car it looks like is a unibody (and so is a Nova).

And though the term "funny car" was indeed applied to the altered-wheelbase cars, NHRA didn't have an "official" "Funny Car" winner until Shartman's in '66.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Snake45]

I think the test shots are real close to a transitional funny car. At this time frame gassers were still older bodies. Even '57 Chevys were a bit too new for what many considered gassers. In the 64-66 period funny cars were in many ways gassers with newer bodies. Of course that all changed with the flip tops that came out in '66. I have a few comments on the kit. Lose the wipers, offer a well designed injector system (please......so needed and not really available) Finally please deliver it to my mailbox by Thanksgiving.

 

See:http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/collector-cars/muscle-cars/second-chance-nova-funny-car-had-long-lasting-impact

 

 

Agree completely. I've seen a few--a VERY few--first-gen Falcons and Chevy IIs that were run as gassers back in the day, but for the most part, they made their mark in drag racing history as altered wheelbase (and altered everything-else) first-gen "funny cars." Long may they roar! 

[1972coronet]

Please correct me if I'm wrong ; weren't F/X vehicles *current* models only (e.g. , 1964 A/FX would become , say , A/MP for 1965) ?  

As much as I love the old AMT Rat Packer , these new proposals from Moeibus are leaps and bounds better then that long-in-the-tooth AMT kit !  And , a stock version in addition ? WHOA !

Thank you , Dave M. ! 

[Ace-Garageguy]

 weren't F/X vehicles *current* models only ?  

Yes.

[GaryR]

There were few "rules" for the first-gen funny cars you (and I) love so much. No two were alike. Some were cobbled together out of basically stock stuff. Others were sitting on full-on race frames. I like the way they're doing the gasser kit. It lets us "take it from there" and build it in any number of way-cool ways. It's MUCH more versatile than the Rat Packer. 

YEP No argument here!

[GaryR]

"And though the term "funny car" was indeed applied to the altered-wheelbase cars, NHRA didn't have an "official" "Funny Car" winner until Schartman's in '66."

 True, For the Nationals only. 

The NHRA HATED funny cars, didn't know what to do with them.They ran in altered ( on gas ) and C and CC'Fuel dragster class on alky or nitro. Most nitro cars always up to 68-69 ran 40-6-% ,usually low percentages. The SHOW was what was important!

IT WAS GREAT FUN AND EXCITING!

[tim boyd]

In looking at the '65 "Gasser" 3D printed display sample and the earlier CAD file Dave shared with me, it has always struck me that this kit is very much designed in the current idiom of the word "Gasser" (what you might see today at a GoodGuys event or the Meltdown Drags), rather than the historically rules-correct Gasser class racer from the 1960's.   In fact, based on my understanding of Gasser classes in the 1960's, I don't think a 1965 Chevy II could have been campaigned as a Gasser until very late in the decade, if at all.    TIM 

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

The NHRA HATED funny cars, didn't know what to do with them.They ran in altered ( on gas ) and C and CC'Fuel dragster class on alky or nitro.

Lotsa historians consider this to be the first "true" funny car...though I certainly am familiar with all the disparate threads running simultaneously in those glory days that led to the funnys...

Jack Chrisman's Sachs & Sons Comet ran B/FD in '64 with a nitro-burning supercharged engine.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

 In fact, based on my understanding of Gasser classes in the 1960's, I don't think a 1965 Chevy II could have been campaigned as a Gasser until very late in the decade, if at all.    TIM 

Yes...the unibody structure would have contravened a strict interpretation of the rules.

[GaryR]

Gasser rules were 10% engine setback, no altered wheelbase,radiators,  no gutted interiors, must sit level and STOCK automobile frame! But no necessarily the one the car came with!

At my local strip, the Parham & Doane 55 Chevy had a 40 Willys chassis, the Mongomery 67 Mustang also had a a Willys frame..YEP, level.

Look in the rulebooks.

Two more early funny car pics!

Tim is correct! BUT THANKS TO MOEBIUS FOR SOME GREAT, GREAT NEW SUBJECT MATTER KITS !!!

Edited November 14, 2017 by GaryR

[Darin Bastedo]

I don't care if you call it a "gasser' or not. I want to build it!

 

[Rob Hall]

 

 

 

 

 

I do believe that is a 4dr Chevy II w/ the back doors welded shut and the rear window missing...wow...

[GaryR]

I do believe that is a 4dr Chevy II w/ the back doors welded shut and the rear window missing...wow...

AND running NITRO in C/FUEL DRAGSTER! Out on a gas burning A/Comp Coupe in Competition E

liminator, by the way with a handicap on the tree.A myth that racing used to be all heads up! NEVER WAS!

 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by GaryR