1957 or 1958 Plymouth Stock Car pics WANTED!!!

[cooltoys1]

Im looking to do one or two of these, and i know there were some guys runnin these back then. I just cant find any pics!

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Jay

[cooltoys1]

anybody?.... Is this thing on? lol

[gerry78]

like this? http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/i...0/2060_14lo.jpg

or this? http://www.swansonmotorsports.com/sitebuil...sonRacecar9.JPG

Edited November 11, 2008 by gerry78

[Robert]

Im looking to do one or two of these, and i know there were some guys runnin these back then. I just cant find any pics!

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Jay

Jay, in 1957 NHRA founder Wally Parks and Ray Brock prepared and raced a 1957 Plymouth Savoy in NASCAR's 1957 Speedweek on Daytona, Fla.'s beach sand and at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. If you Google "Wally Parks and Ray Brock 's 1957 Plymouth Savoy coupe" images. You'll pull up a lot of pictures of this stock car.

Robert

[Harry P.]

An interesting explanation as to why no MOPAR involvement in NASCAR during 57-58, from allpar.com:

Some four years after introducing their first production V-8 engine, Chrysler engineers, headed by Bob Rodgers, put together the most powerful car in America. Built around the 331 cubic inch V-8 engine, the 1955 model Chrysler C-300 created an absolute sensation no matter where one was seen. Crowds gathered around it, while observers peppered the driver with questions. "Does it really have 300 horses?" "How does it go?" Sure mundane, but certainly important issues for the day in which a whole lot of dreams were instantly created when one of those awesome C-300 Chryslers rumbled by. Quite simply it was the most powerful car in America, and no one had any ammunition at the time to answer it back.

Utilizing the magnificent depth of the knowledge of the "Engineering Company," Chrysler didn't just create a fast car. It stopped as well as it went, and handled the high output with a superb suspension system unmatched in its class. Auto testers went just all out eloquent when given the opportunity to wring one out for themselves. Writing for Mechanix Illustrated, "Uncle" Tom MacCahill wrote effusively about the mighty new Chrysler. Considered at the time as the premier automobile tester, he wrote that the new car handled better than any car that he had ever driven, right off the show room floor. "It sticks in the corners like a hungry dog clamped on a bone," he wrote. Since the super Daytona Speedway was four years from being built, Uncle Tom had a special road that he used in rural Florida near his home. He wrote that the Chrysler was a "beautiful brute" and as "solid as Grant's Tomb and a 130 times as fast." In that year, he purchased a new C-300 for his personal car. It wouldn't be the last 300 he ever owned either.

Neither Ford nor General Motors had any thing to answer the overwhelming guns from the mighty Chrysler. It cleaned up in all major auto racing sanctioning bodies that year, particularly NASCAR and USAC. At the time, neither Ford nor Chevrolet had been very open about their activities. The C-300 had caught them totally by surprise. Along with the Virgil Exner inspired styling the 1955 model Chrysler Corporation created a huge sensation, garnering tremendous sales. When the HQ crowd saw the showroom traffic that the C-300 generated, high performance models were ordered into production for all the lines, except the Imperial and the Plymouth. The Plymouth Fury story is told elsewhere in this forum.

Rumors always were flying around in Detroit. Hey, it is the motor city. Industrial espionage did not go on to the level that it does today, however, it was certainly a big element in the rival corporation's bag of tricks. Corps of private detectives was devoted solely to the major car manufacturers. Sometimes, however, even hard liner insiders get sucker punched. Henry Ford II pulled a cute one out of his hat in 1956. He announced that he had hired former Indianapolis winner Peter DePaulo head up the Ford Motor Company Racing Division. Clearly Henry had his eyes on NASCAR. His return salvo in the war was pretty big at the time. A factory actually backing racing teams. Common practice in Europe for decades, it had never been done here in America. It made Chrysler take some notice; however, they had not gone all out like Ford to get into highly competitive racing. Not yet anyway.

A run at the Indianapolis 500 in 1952 with a stock block 331 V-8 Hemi resulted in the rules being changed to restrict the big Chrysler. When news about the testing of the original stock block 331 got out, the sanctioning body at Indianapolis went cold with fear. In a Kurtis race chassis, exactly the same kind as the 1951 Indy 500 winner drove, the big Hemi pushed the racer to speeds easily 5 to 7 miles an hour faster than the highest lap speeds had ever been at the Indy track. The main factor being that the car had plenty of room for further development, thereby making everything else out there also rans instantly. Acting quickly, the rule makers stacked up the deck against mighty Chrysler. They cut back on the cubic inch limit in stock blocks to 272. The A311 Hemi engine V-8 was down on power and didn't qualify. A very conservative crew still ran Chrysler Corporation, so at the time; they didn't see many results for the company by going all out to race. No more attempts were made to race the Hemi at the corporate level. That would change.

However, 1955 was one of the best years for Chrysler despite themselves. The 1954 NASCAR Champion, Lee Petty, (sire of the NASCAR King Richard Petty) had kept his winning 1954 Chrysler and used it in a few 1955 races, picking up some wins. The "Forward Look" by innovative styling leader Virgil Exner led Chrysler Corporation far away from the days of dumpy looking vehicles.

The high powered 300 had made a serious impression on a man that had the time and the money to make things work. He also instituted many innovations that were unheard of then that are common practice today in NASCAR.

Back then, since the rules for NASCAR were called "strictly stock," a manufacturer that came up with something that was better and faster than the rest, just kept on winning. Karl Kiekhaefer was a hard nosed businessman. He wasn't interested in racing nor was he even a fan. However, his research had shown that wherever a NASCAR race took place there were tremendous potential for sales of outboard boat engines. As the owner of Mercury Marine Outboard Engines, he saw hard dollars in using the races as a means to advertise his outboards. The rest is history.

Between Karl's 3 team drivers, and Lee Petty, the 1955 300 notched an incredible 27 wins. 14 top 5 finishes and the NASCAR Championship to Tim Flock who took home $37,779 for his efforts.

In a harbinger of things to come, Karl Kiekhaefer left little to chance. He dug deep into his pockets. 1956 was a racing season that set chills up Big Bill France's spine when he saw the Kiekhaefer teams pull into a NASCAR event. France was not in control when it came to Kiekhaefer. In an era when some of the racers were actually driven to the track, then raced, Kiekhaefer equipped each car with a box truck full of spare parts, tires, tools, and test equipment; the truck towed the car to the races. Besides the original three drivers of 1955, Karl had hired two more drivers for 1956, fielding 5 cars. He would test the track, sample the dirt, and had a weatherman check for conditions up to 5 days before a race, just to make the right tire selection for the race. He applied military like discipline on his drivers, keeping them all in the same motel, imposing a nightly curfew and making them sleep away from their wives to avoid distractions. Truly, the man was just about 40 years ahead of his time.

Big Bill France had every car fielded by Kiekhaefer torn down, double checked, and would disqualify them for the slightest infractions. However, none were ever found. All France could do then is hope that they broke or blew up. A rare event. The cars competed like the stock champions that they were. At the end of 1956, the mighty teams had won 30 of the 50 events sponsored. At one point the 1956 300 B models won 16 races in a row. Prize money amounted to $70,000. Big money in 1956.

However, an interesting phenomenon started to occur. The Kiekhaefer teams were being booed. Beer bottles were thrown at the cars and drivers. By the middle of the season, fans started staying home in droves. Purse money went down. The fan appreciation that Karl had expected, especially in regards to selling his outboard engines, did not happen. Instead of respect and good will, he received boos along with a total lack of respect. At the end of 1956, he pulled out. Left everything and quit for good, never to return.

Rumors float around to this day, that have taken on the hard edge of truth that Big Bill France had actually not only encouraged the showing of utter disrespect, he may have been responsible for paying some few "good ol' boys" to institute the booing and beer bottle heaving shows.

That left Lee Petty as the only major Chrysler Corporation car user. He ran 1956 in a Dodge Coronet 2 door sedan, with the big D-500 option. He won two races. He finished the year in fourth place in the Grand National standings with $15,000 in winnings. When you consider that most workers were getting about 1.85 cents an hour, he didn't do too badly.

Taking heed of the lack of further development or encouragement from Chrysler Corporation, Lee Petty switched to Oldsmobile in 1957. After all, that division had come calling and even helped him obtain two 1957 models!

So, the end of the 1956 NASCAR season was the end of the mighty Chrysler Corporation mark on early racing. There would not be another notch on the tree until 1959, when the Petty team returned to Plymouth. Dodge would not see another win until they snuck one in 1960. Chrysler would not be back on the record books until 1961.