"Mystery" Chevelle LS-6 in NEW Muscle Car Review???

[Stefano]

You Pure Stock Drag Super Car guys are the exception which proves the rule.

What COPO Pete and a few others have been able to accomplish is truely inspiring [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Charley Lillard]

And why is he running Polyglas on a 69 ZL1 ? I have yet to find a orig. Polyglas tire on a 69 Camaro. 12's are pretty neat with exhaust manifolds but I hate to think about the time spent getting the car to the point where it does that.

[COPO PETE]

[img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] I really don't understand why people think it takes a lot of time to get a car in the 12's. Anycar that goes 108 mph is capable of 12's. My Chevelle, which still had the spiral shocks on it, original drivtrain, was in the 12's by the third time to the track. My orange Camaro was in the 12's by the second time to the track, and my white Camaro has seen nothing but 12's. Good exhaust and gearing is the ticket, but valve lash, timing and carb adjustments are very important. Driving is half the battle. I would do John Force burnouts all the way down the track if not careful. Your ass has to feel the rear tires, and learn to lift the foot ever so slightly and get back in it at the right time! When Jimmy and I were at a track once with a gentleman that was having troubles getting his ZL-1 to do the #'s, we dicked with it for 40 minutes for him..... picked up 8 mph and half a second. Not much time spent there!
Peter

I would agree....I know from personal experience that really any of the solid lifter cars are legitimate 12 sec rides off the showroom floor. The problems I think tend to be most people don't keep their cars properly tuned (let's face it a lot of these cars are rarely driven), and a lack of 1/4 mile driving skills. Also gearing and carb jetting are important as well...

[Chevy454]

Well said, Pete. Our Camaro has been flirting with 108 mph for a while now, and we just can't seem to get over the hump. A couple of high 107s at Stanton, but nothing better. Maybe the new exhaust will help. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Believe me, fellas. If I can get a car in the 12s, then anyone can do it! Our Camaro went consistent 13.20s (and I mean bracket car consistent) with the tired engine the first year at Stanton, but the mph was down at around 104. With a decent exhaust, and a clue as to what we were doing, I think 12s would have happened.

[whitetop]

Hello Greg
You will be seeing more of the "Day Two" trend in the future. The Mopar Nationals has a nostalgia class for cars with period correct speed equipment and participation has been just about doubling every year. People are tired of having their red Chevelle next to 12 identical ones at a show. I buy and sell old speed parts and the stuff from the late '60's and early '70's is being gobbled up. People restored their cars 4-8 years ago and do not want to sell them but want something new. However, they don't want to put 17" polished torq thrust on them. Day Two gives them a challenge of hunting for the old parts just like looking for an OEM date coded part. Plus it's how most of them remember how the cars ACTUALLY looked from their youth.
Dave

[SS427]

Dave,
I could not agree more. I have seen a big increase in requests to "add" on a few items to the restoration such as Cragers, headers and Sun Tachs. I think restorations have excelled over the years and have gotten to a point where one car doesn't really stand out from the rest anymore. This has given people a new opportunity to venture down another avenue such as "day 2" cars. I recently located an old drag car that was still wearing all it's original '70's racing garb from the cool can to the welded on ladder bars and axel tubes. Rather that restore the car to original, I felt this would make a great day 2 car but in it's drag clothes instead of street clothes and possibly even racing the car complete with original sponsor decals.

I too must admit that searching out these old racing parts has put a lot of the "fun" back into the project somewhat like the good ole days walking through bone yards and locating that elusive part.
Rick

I agree 100%..I think the hunting up of these older speed parts can be just as rewarding as finding a dated set of manifolds. I remember back in the late '80's talking to guys that were spending ridiculous amounts of money restoring some of the old race cars back to showroom condition, and thinking it really didn't take that much effort in some cases to open a catalog and order a complete car (especially in the case of the Camaro...). I applaud guys like Bill Porterfield that in my mind made it cool to have a rare car that wasn't showroom original. I think the "day 2" trend will grow, especially as more people realize how fun it is, and how much more the cars can be driven. I would suspect that shows will start to include the catagory as well.

[Rat_Pack]

Dave, you and I both share the same outlook on the "day two" cars. I was wondering how that was doing at the Mopar Nationals. Sounds like it was a great idea and one that our Camaro club has been kicking around for a while. We had about 5 or 6 cars show up last year that were done exactly that way and we ended up splitting the 67-9 modified class into two categories. Those cars could not compete against a "fully" modified car with aftermarket suspension, brakes, 18" billet wheels, etc. Tim Lopata showed up with a bone stock base 69 Camaro with Cragar S/S wheels and Goodyear Polyglas tires!..................RatPack.................

What does everyone else think about a Nostalgia Class?..............

[whitetop]

Rat Pack

I've talked with 4-5 guys over the last year who are building cars for the Mopar Nats Nostalgia class. Aluminum slots are in big demand, early '70's Direct Connection stuff, finned valve covers, early Edelbrock/Weiand intakes, Sun gauges etc. I plan on going there this year to check it out.
The trend within Day Two that I have been noticing lately is the use of more correct parts. In the past guys would be happy with a chrome Autogage tach on the steering column and call it the nostalgic look or non correct Lakewood bars from the Jegs/Summit catalog. Now they are looking for the early style "long tail" Lakewood bars, M/T B/B Valve covers with the 427 script etc. When people are calling they are asking for very specific parts.

For you people not sure what parts to use check out the old mags or catalogs. Here is Dave's shortlist of what NOT to
use on your Day Two mobile:
1. Fuzzy dice, Halibrand wheels, polished torq thrust, anything Moon (including decals, tachs, valve covers etc Moon was a '50's very early '60's deal and was negated to a "has been" company status by the late '60's), Chrome VDO or Autogage tach on the steering column, Sun Super Tach II, Suntune or Sun Pro gauges, dice valve stems, Clay Smith woodpecker decals, any year NHRA event repo participant decals, weenie size tires on the rear, mismatch of modern day and oldstyle parts, radial tires... espcialy when they say Toyo, Michelin etc on them, anything blue anodized, modern day Grant steering wheels that try to look like the old style Grant wheels but with the "modern touch", lowered cars...grow some balls and put the cars back up where they should be.. a little higher than stock, front and rear is even better yet (Mark Hassett's '69 Chevelle has the right stance), any chrome dress-up item from the latest GM performance parts catalog -especially if it has a chevy bow tie emblem on it.

Ratpack, do you have any more to add??
Dave