Got a bit moar done. At this rate I might even finish the thread before the 2014 show
Right, enough Fords for now then. Shall we try another complete random on for size? Albeit there is some Ford DNA mixed up in there somewhere...
Yeah, bit of a surprise! I'm not sure exactly of the title, but there were all kinds of different drag series involved and this was running in one that included some serious machinery. Can't tell you a lot about it other than it seems to be a 98-ish Vantage with a ****-off blower nailed to the engine! And yes. It's quick
It certainly wasn't the only awesome machine from the proper drag championships to wow the crowds (I mean "proper" as opposed to the RWYBers and more dilettante competitors, many of whom were still perfectly capable of ten-second runs). Painted-on headlights on one-piece front ends, massive forced induction and lurid photo-friendly paintschemes were the order of the day. You've already seen, for example, the '66 Impala (still gives me a crisis every time) and decked Bel-Air, but here are a few others, such as this very understated Dart
This early Firebird shows the distinctive Pontiac split-nose grille we touched on earlier, and also the purity of design and vision needed to compete at a high level of doorslammer drag racing. All you need is a very strong tube frame, a body almost recognisable as the donor car, lots of safety gear, and some wheelie bars and a parachute. Oh, and an engine capable of rearranging time and space that won't grenade and wind up in your lap every other run. Simples, when you say it like that. Yet very hard to achieve
This is...or was... a '33 Willy's Coupe...
....and now it's something altogether different!
Not much actual car left to go round the engine
Back in the pre-war years Willys was still an independent company, and even post-war it slowly became amalgamated via various takeovers into AMC (more on them later) rather than one of the Big Three, so this is a long way away from being Mopar! Which is why we love it, of course, because we Brits always cheer for the underdog and this plucky little coupe is definitely ploughing its own furrow. And of course, because it pulls excellent wheelies. Which is always important!
Probably the second most famous vehicle from the Willys company (after a little thing known as the Jeep, of course) was made legendary largely because of its short life. A bit like James Dean and Jim Morrison, it never had the chance to get old and fat and lamentable (cf Marlon Brando). Actually, Jim Morrison did get quite chunky, but you get the idea. Anyway, the 1937 to '42 Willys-Overland didn't get its name of "Americar" until 1941, to reflect the patriotism of the time.
And then, of course, the USA finally woke up and realised everyone else was neck-deep in a world war and they were late to the party again. Willys' production capacity was given over to the incomparably effective Jeep and after the War they managed to secure the trademark producing the civilian version, thus meaning that production of the Americar never resumed. Unlike many manufacturers who were forced to return to producing outdated pre-war designs to tide over, the Willys was stillborn and seen as undesirable old stock to those desiring a modern post-war car. Its styling was very similar to the 30's Fords, and the modern buyer wanted something different. The "Go-Devil" four cylinder motor was obsolete, unreliable and hard to find parts for. But none of this bothered the hotrodders; young braves returning from combat duty and seeking a thrill to replace the adrenaline high they'd been living on for the past years. They snapped up the cheap old coupes, shoe-horned the biggest motor they could find into them, and headed for the quarter-mile dragstrip that formed in impromptu style at every intersection and set of lights. The Willys Coupe has been a dragger's weapon of choice and legend ever since. It's very hard to find one...at all... but even rarer to find one that hasn't been changed radically from stock. Many, like this one, have ended up as fibreglass-bodied lightweight missiles wheelying up the dragstrips of the world. One of my cars of the day, no question!
I didn't get to see this thing run (more's the shame) and have no idea if it was part of a series or there for demo runs, because it seemed to be a lone one-piece bodied funny car. Funny to see the old-vs-new mix of barn-door industrial engineered motor being fettled in the pits by dudes with laptops!
...and speaking of demo runs, how about this for the best seat in the house?
...nahhhh, actually it has to be this one! A three-figure sum of money gets you a mere seven seconds in this seat, but I bet you'd remember those few seconds for a long, long time!
Here's another rather marvellous eccentricity. Not every day you see a twin turbo Rolls, complete with parachute, representing on the strip!
Another of my cars of the day was at least a proper Mopar...or at least, it was when it started life. It's changed a bit since it rolled off the line
Yeah, maybe from that shot you'd have been forgiven for not being able to work out what it is. After all, not many cars have one barstool-sized turbo per cylinder bank. This next one'll give it away though
Not much left of the original Superbird now, but worth the sacrifice! This thing is awesome, but sadly defunct. At a race meet subsequent to this it had the mother of all wipe-outs, flipping and trying to clear the wall. I've no idea whether it's rebuildable or not; though I hope so, I fear not. The important thing is at least the pilot survived. A terrible shame, though, it's an incredible thing
In happier times; brutal beauty
Got stuck with a week of nights where I've had about 20 hours sleep in five days 
I don't even make sense to myself at the moment, but I'll get on it as soon as I'm half-way coherent again 
! Yeah, Falcon, I meant Falcon