80's factory lightweights?

[marxjunk]

there has been a program in existence since the 70s...i know GM had them..they sold a car to technical schools etc and called them "bodies in white"

NO VIN just a brand new shell in primer. The company i work for gets them often in current production...especially BMWs for training processes etc..we use them to measure and do structural repairs in a training process..



I remeber somewhere seeing an article or some print on a Fox body mustang that could be bought as a "body in white" to be used as a race car..but it was not a car per-say it was a brand new shell with absolutely nothing on it..and was bolted to a crate

I saw an early 80s camaro, before the body change, as a shell..it was bought and intended to be a race car and it was never built

I know these arent exactly what you are asking about..but...could you imagine if one made it on the street..you could do anything you wanted

by the way..in modern times..the cars are owned by the factory and must be returned and or crushed when done with.

[Late BrakeU2]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: marxjunk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">there has been a program in existence since the 70s...i know GM had them..they sold a car to technical schools etc and called them &quot;bodies in white&quot;

NO VIN just a brand new shell in primer. The company i work for gets them often in current production...especially BMWs for training processes etc..we use them to measure and do structural repairs in a training process..



I remeber somewhere seeing an article or some print on a Fox body mustang that could be bought as a &quot;body in white&quot; to be used as a race car..but it was not a car per-say it was a brand new shell with absolutely nothing on it..and was bolted to a crate

I saw an early 80s camaro, before the body change, as a shell..it was bought and intended to be a race car and it was never built

I know these arent exactly what you are asking about..but...could you imagine if one made it on the street..you could do anything you wanted

by the way..in modern times..the cars are owned by the factory and must be returned and or crushed when done with. </div></div>

In Dec of 89 I purchased a one of four built 1988 Camaro IROC 1LE from Mecum racing. They were located in MI, and were at the time one of the factory supported teams competing in the IMSA Firehawk endurance series. The team manager hauled the car out west to deliver to me,as he was picking up two 89 MY Camaro 1LE 'bodies in white&quot; from the Van Nuys plant. We met there and I remember those two shells in the transporter. Won two SCCA divisional national championships in that car, they didn't handle like production versions A few years later I drove briefly for W2W racing out of LIvonia,before Pontiac pulled out of that racing. They were THE factory team in that series-the cars then were WS6 Firebird formulas, same bodies in white then too.

[70 copo]

In the mid 1980's CPC Norwood Senior Management was directly involved in taking orders and building units intended for racing. The factory guys also provided a degree of track support as well. This image shows members of the Norwood Management team with the first of the June 1986 1LE units right after an IROC-Z 1LE win. Final CPC Norwood Plant Manager Herb Stone is on the Left of the car driver holding the trophy. I will ask to see if there was any known deviation within plant as to the build of the race units.

[old5.0]

Good discussion. Again, a Mustang with these deletions does exist, but what's the consensus? Illegal, or just an extremely unusual circumvention of corporate policy?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Ed Quay was involved? His ship is like 10 min from my house!

[Kurt S]

I remember being in a local junkyard in the 90's and there was a row of Mustang shells. The Rouge plant was working on the paint process and these shells had several coats of paint on them as they kept cycling them through the paint booth. The yard said in no way were those cars leaving except to be crushed.
I heard of someone that worked at the Rouge and their Mustang was painted bright blue then again white. I heard that in certain light the blue popped through.

[old5.0]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kurt S</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I remember being in a local junkyard in the 90's and there was a row of Mustang shells. The Rouge plant was working on the paint process and these shells had several coats of paint on them as they kept cycling them through the paint booth. The yard said in no way were those cars leaving except to be crushed.
I heard of someone that worked at the Rouge and their Mustang was painted bright blue then again white. I heard that in certain light the blue popped through. </div></div>


No kidding! I knew a guy up in Omaha back then that had a body-in-white he was turning into a drag car. He mentioned that when the shell got to his shop it had a mile of paint on it.


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are a few floating around, some still running stock eliminator with 307's and doing very well. These cars were typically bill of sale only. Some were early 80s with updated front clips to look like newer body styles. One of them was for sale over a year ago turn key for around $25k... Rick and Jerry Ryan run one of them. Alan Warman had one, but he passed away a while back, and I think the car got caught in a shop fire as well. Some info on them here...

http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=38667</div></div>

Awesome! Thanks for posting. Some interesting stuff over on classracer, but now I'm hooked. I've got to find out more about these.


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">In the mid 1980's CPC Norwood Senior Management was directly involved in taking orders and building units intended for racing. The factory guys also provided a degree of track support as well. This image shows members of the Norwood Management team with the first of the June 1986 1LE units right after an IROC-Z 1LE win. Final CPC Norwood Plant Manager Herb Stone is on the Left of the car driver holding the trophy. I will ask to see if there was any known deviation within plant as to the build of the race units.</div></div>

That would be great, thanks. I'm very interested to find out the answer to that question.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I worked at a Chevy dealer as a lot attendant in 1993 while in my last year of college. Some guy traded a dark blue 5.0 LX Notch with a light blue interior on a new LT1 Z28. Car was odd in that it had no A/C, roll-up windows, cheap vinyl interior. It was an AOD car.

At the time, I had a '70 Nova with a mild 350 that ran high-14s. My Nova could easily take most stock loaded-up GTs when street racing (not that I condone that sort of thing). wink

I got to drive this stripped LX around a bit - that SOB would RUN! Felt a lot faster than my Nova. It had to be super light compared to the typical 5.0.
</div></div>

People tend to lump all 80's cars into one group, Mustangs included, and so one 5.0 Mustang is exactly the same as every other 5.0 Mustang. In fact, there's a lot of variation from year to year, and even between same-model-year cars.

Using 1987 as an example, the difference between a loaded GT with A/C, auto and 2.73's and a stripper 5-speed, 3.08 coupe is easily a full second plus and 10 mph in the quarter.

To put that into perspective, a stock EFI 5.0 with A/C and auto will put down around 185 horsepower to the wheels, which lines up well with the 225 flywheel horsepower rating, while the exact same car with the stick and minus A/C will put down around 210-215 RWHP. In fact, I've seen a few 87 sd cars put down the full 225 rating to the tires, which would rate somewhere around 260-270 flywheel horsepower. Add in the 2-300 pound weight savings, and it's easy to see why the no-option coupe feels much faster than the typical street cruiser GT: because it is! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/burnout.gif[/img]

[novadude]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: old5.0</div><div class="ubbcode-body">To put that into perspective, a stock EFI 5.0 with A/C and auto will put down around 185 horsepower to the wheels, which lines up well with the 225 flywheel horsepower rating, while the exact same car with the stick and minus A/C will put down around 210-215 RWHP. In fact, I've seen a few 87 sd cars put down the full 225 rating to the tires, which would rate somewhere around 260-270 flywheel horsepower. Add in the 2-300 pound weight savings, and it's easy to see why the no-option coupe feels much faster than the typical street cruiser GT: because it is! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/burnout.gif[/img]
</div></div>

Definitely true. Years after driving that LX, I had a loaded '95 GT w/ AODE and 3.27 gears. Basically the same engine with a different upper intake. I added a catback, h-pipe with high flow cats, custom tuning, ported lower intake, and 9.5&quot; torque converter. The best it ever ran was 14.4x @ 95 mph. A stock low option FOX LX would run faster or just as fast with no mods. Stock, my '95 was like a 15.2x @ 91 mph car.

[russgt]

My brother had an 88' LX 5.0 5speed, that was AC delete with crank up windows. It also had the optional 3.08 rear end. I still actively watch for one thats similar.

Back when we were younger and dumber, he was friends with a state trooper and wanted to find out the cars top speed. So the cop set up to gun him and after a 5 mile start to get up to speed he was clocked at 172. The motor was 30 over, had a chip but was still speed density, and had an off road H pipe. We never had that car at the track but based on my experience with our other 5 fox bodies, it probably would have run about 14 flat.

[DW31S]

There was an early 80s Olds for sale (I forget where) that was reported to be a factory built special race car that had never seen street use; I think it was on RacingJunk. When I sold new Oldsmobiles many moons ago, I &quot;dream built&quot; a lightweight Stocker using an '81 Cutlass wagon with all available factory components. Olds had a cheap version of a wagon with plain vinyl seats without a front armrest and cab-like trim. I sold a few cars without A/C, so I figured the wagon would not have air or radio. There were Cutlasses with aluminum hoods and core supports and some brackets, too. If you knew the ordering guide, there were options such as heavy duty wheels, heavy duty suspension, anti-slip, numerically higher gear ratios, and such. Aluminum intakes were on some engines and in some of the cars, depending on where it was built and how it was ordered, small block Chrevies were used. I figured the car could have been a hit in the lower NHRA stock classes.