Mooneyes Dragster reference pictures

[sflam123]

Since the Mooneyes dragster was recently rereleased by Atlantis, I thought some referenced pictures from a real one at the Don Garlics Museum in Ocala Florida might be useful.  Now, I don't know if this car is the real one restored or a re-creation....I've heard both, but regardless, the pictures might prove useful to some.

[Snake45]

Very cool, thanks for posting them! Interesting that the engine's a different shade of yellow from the rest of the car. 

[sflam123]

37 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Very cool, thanks for posting them! Interesting that the engine's a different shade of yellow from the rest of the car. 

Yeah, I noticed that too.  I'm not sure if that was true of the original or not.

[CabDriver]

Great pics, thanks Stephen!  I started collecting a few myself for the same reason...

https://public.fotki.com/NewYorkSpeedShop/11-cars/reference-material/mooneyes-dragster/

I believe this car that you photographed is the 'real' one and they use the newer replica for events and whatnot - although, good spot, that engine doesn't look the right color compared to ANY of the pics I collected of the real car...guess it got switched out at some point.  I remember from when the 'new' car was unveiled reading somewhere that the easy way to spot the difference between the two is the little British emblem badge, whatever that is, attached to the front of the frame on the old car which the new one doesn't have.

Edited November 16, 2021 by CabDriver

[Snake45]

I'd pulled some pics off the George Klass site yesterday and a few of them were in color. Took a good look at them and if you're looking for it, the engine seems to be a different yellow in those, too, so it seems to be accurate. 

[CabDriver]

4 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I'd pulled some pics off the George Klass site yesterday and a few of them were in color. Took a good look at them and if you're looking for it, the engine seems to be a different yellow in those, too, so it seems to be accurate. 

Huh, interesting - I wonder if they went with a heatproof paint or something along those lines for the block then?  Would make sense I guess…

[bisc63]

Or maybe ol' school enamel discolored by heat?

On 11/16/2021 at 10:13 PM, CabDriver said:

I wonder if they went with a heatproof paint or something along those lines for the block then?  Would make sense I guess…

[sflam123]

This is just FYI...on my computer I can blow my picture up some and retain the "crispness" to read the placard associated with the Mooneyes dragster.  The placard says that the car is on loan from the Moon Equipment Company.  That would imply to me that the car is at least at some level original and not a recreation.  It would also imply that even if it is a recreation the original colors were as closely as possible retained.  So I guess what I am saying is that perhaps the car did have two different yellows used, one for the engine block and one for the rest of the car.  I can tell you that in person, the engine block color is indeed a darker shade of yellow than the rest of the car..

[RancheroSteve]

Here's an article about the building of the recreation which also includes some photos of it side by side with the original.

https://www.drivingline.com/articles/the-mooneyes-dragster-cloning-our-heros-3-of-3/

[sflam123]

10 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

Here's an article about the building of the recreation which also includes some photos of it side by side with the original.

https://www.drivingline.com/articles/the-mooneyes-dragster-cloning-our-heros-3-of-3/

Thank you for sharing and filling in some of the gaps in the story!

[iBorg]

While the article says both cars are in SoCal, I know the Mooneyes was at Garlits before the clone was built. I took pictures of it in the early 90's. Proof which one is the clone is the firewall. The original has a full firewall and the clone has edges wrapped by the body.

[CabDriver]

On 11/18/2021 at 11:48 AM, iBorg said:

While the article says both cars are in SoCal, I know the Mooneyes was at Garlits before the clone was built. I took pictures of it in the early 90's. Proof which one is the clone is the firewall. The original has a full firewall and the clone has edges wrapped by the body.

Good spot!  Harder to see from the outside, but the second car runs a 9” rear axle it looks like, compared to the QC in the original 

[Straightliner59]

On 12/5/2021 at 9:40 PM, CabDriver said:

Good spot!  Harder to see from the outside, but the second car runs a 9” rear axle it looks like, compared to the QC in the original 

I have some vintage photos that show the firewall both ways. If I remember,  I can post them after work.

[Straightliner59]

Here are some photos I've collected, over the years. Some of these are scans of photos a friend of mine took at Garlits' museum. I had asked him to get me some photos of "The Bug", when I was building that model. Since access was limited, he didn't need the whole roll of film, for that.

[alan barton]

For what it is worth, I took these photos of the original magazine article.  Phone camera is obviously struggling a bit!

Cheers

Alan

[Straightliner59]

4 hours ago, alan barton said:

For what it is worth, I took these photos of the original magazine article.  Phone camera is obviously struggling a bit!

Cheers

Alan

I have that issue, as well,  now that you've reminded me!