Straightliner59

Beautiful work, Tim! That mag is to die for! Is it scratchbuilt (I would assume--never seen one that looks that good)?

Geoff, this thing is looking sweet! Nice work with the trim.

Man, that is AWESOME! I'm so jealous! I've exchanged emails with Tom Jobe, but never met him. Super nice guy. Congrats, Tim!

Looks great, Brad! Nice work with the detailing.

Yep! I missed this post, before I posted my comment.

Bill, you just gave me goosebumps! It happens, whenever I see/hear a Rush song, in an unexpected place. I frequently hear news, regarding cars, that makes me think of Red Barchetta and "Motor Law". Neil Peart wrote these lyrics based on a short story from Road&Track, I believe, entitled "A Nice Sunday Drive." On a related note, one old guy is soon, or just has (over the past weekend, maybe?) attempting to set a new record with an electric dragster. The "Old Man" hisself, Don Garlits.

Awesome! I have a few Vegas, already, but, one can never have too many of them.

They used different thicknesses of gaskets under the manifold, until they found the one that worked. They were able to run such high nitro loads, partly because Tom Jobe learned a whole bunch of stuff about how nitro "burns", and they ran a very high nozzle pressure for the injectors. Compression was only about 7.5:1, which was somewhat lower than what was common. I have a folder with a air amount of stuff that Jobe posted on the old Header Flames board at Nitronic Research. Very interesting stuff!

Eight years is entirely too long to go without seeing Shane's fabulous replica! It's my favorite dragster of all time, and this is (so far) my favorite model of this car. I hope that mine will come somewhere close to looking as good as Shane's. As soon as I get my B.O.Y.D. SS/GT Firebird done, this one's next!

Love it, Mike! It just looks badass! You're welcome, RE: the cutting of sheet. I've been doing it that way for at least a decade, now, and, in most cases, it works, flawlessly.

I knew it would be helpful. Did you happen to find this part of the site?: https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html These have EVERYTHING! Glad you guys found it interesting.

What the hell? I'll jump in with this SS/GT Firebird. It's a slammer. I just need to figure out how I am going to add the garnet red paint, to what's here. I didn't plan the paint layout, very well. It's an AMT Snap Fast kit begun in January of '07. It will be good to get it in the display case!

Here you go. I was wandering around and found this, and remembered this thread:

I'm surprised Garlits didn't sell them Coca-Cola space on his dragster kit!

I'm probably way late to the dance, with this, but, here's just about everything you might want to know about GM cars: https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/index.html

Here is one I took for an article I was doing on working with sheet metal to make dragster bodies. The other is a photo of the result. Note that the motor plate is still flat, while the "falloff" is curled.

The wheels look great! I discovered that, if I keep the surface of the sheet of aluminum that I am using to make the part I'm cutting flat against the cutting surface of the scissors (I use regular old Fiskar's), that it cuts, virtually distortion-free. I'm so convinced of its effectiveness, that I bought a pair of left-handed scissors, too. I figure they're basically my shears/snips, so I might as well set myself up to be able to cut on either side of a line, without distortion.

Excellent work, Mike! Your metalworking skills are readily apparent. Beautiful...

Believe it, or not, I totally get that!

I am planning (if I decide to pursue this) to use the kit's six banger. That's all that would be legal for a '63 Chevy II. MP was a cool class! My Chevelle will be MP, so, I think I'll stick with Stock, for this one.

They won't have done you any good, then! I'm thinking you need to build them! The convertible isn't an issue, since I have the coupe.

I guess I'm glad I picked one up, when they were around, in the shops! I would probably do a seventies version of said"high school hot rod", but either way, it's a cool idea. You could probably carve up a quick buck, in balsa wood, and heat form a rear window. I think that's what I'd try.

According to the 1975 rules (for which season this car would not be legal, since, at that time it was for cars '65 and newer--I'll have to look at earlier rules.), the car must sit level at a standstill, so, yep, that is probably correct. I read it as you could raise the car, for rear tire clearance only, and it must sit level, after that.

Just...WOW! Thankfully, I have one. Out of curiosity, I looked on Ebay, and didn't even find one. That suggests some rarity. I'm with you, I never cared for that era Monte Carlo, either. I've heard the Pontiac left more than a little, to be desired. Thanks for your input, Bill, and Alan. I can fix the ride height, and the package tray shouldn't be a problem, so, I think I might go ahead with this thing.

I love the Chaparrals! Nice job!