Before there were pro mods, before there were X275 cars, before anyone knew or cared what a 10.5 tire was there were gassers. All the stuff that you will see this weekend on our live broadcast of the 2014 Street Car Super Nationals exists because of cars like this Corvette. Drag racing’s largely linear evolution means that we can draw lines from one part of history to the next and this Corvette is a neat piece of that history. It wasn’t nearly as fast as the cars we will see this weekend but it sure was cool during its day and it stands as one of the coolest existing gassers from the era when the class officially jumped the tracks.

By the early 1970s the traditional gasser, like those run in the middle 1960s was all but dead. The new generation of gassers used modern bodies, many of which didn’t have operational doors. The cars were essentially turning into gasoline burning funny cars. The catch? Somewhere deep down in their tube chassis were stock frame rails from the mini-cars that launched the class. In the case of this Corvette, those frame rails were from an Anglia, merely there as a token to appease the rules.

Before we go rushing ahead, we should note that Steve Korney was the owner and driver of the popular and nationally known “Gold Finger” AA/GS Anglia. The Gold Finger car was one of the last cars that used an old, traditional body, and was competitive with the big boys on the national scene. Korney was the runner-up to Ohio George at Indy in 1969. That last gasping performance was it for the Anglia. Korney had his sights set on something newer and more swoopy.

In early 1970, Korney had the Anglia’s chassis modified and tin-work redone to accept the 1969 Corvette funny car body you see in these photos. The car is scary simple. Many detractors of the time called these flip-up body gassers something along the lines of “slow gasoline funny cars.” The construction of the car is actually that. It looks like an even more simplified Logghe Brothers funny car chassis. There’s lots of room to flop around in the cockpit and very little tubing around it.

As class rules called for two “seats” in the car, you’ll note that there are two sheet metal seats grafted between the two rear tires. Aside from the steering wheel, a shifter, and a few gauges, there’s nothing else in the driver’s area. We’re guessing that Korney was a tall dude because the gas pedal is in a very strange position on the far side of the transmission hump and almost into the right header bank of the engine.

Good for 8.30-8.40-second elapsed times, the Corvette was powered by a gasoline burning 392 Hemi topped with a Hilborn four port injector and Hampton blower. The rear end looked like a Dana 60 at a quick glance and the transmission we’re going to stab at being a Torqueflite.

So what’s with the Stone, Woods, & Cooke name? Promotion, and that’s about it. To our knowledge, none of the SWC guys had anything to do with this car aside from lending their name (for a nominal fee we’re guessing), and the addition of the E made it not really Doug Cook. The car went on national tour in 1971 and those radio ads sounded a hell of a lot better when the nationally renowned SWC name was blared across them.

The car is very cool and is an enigma to many drag racing fans. Savy dudes and dudettes look at it and know it’s not a “real” funny car, but they don’t immediately jump to “gasser” either. Some people guess it’s Comp Eliminator car of some sort, but many walk away thinking that it’s bad ass, but have no real idea what it is.

Now you can wow all your drag-o-phile buddies because you know the scoop on this cool ‘Vette!

Click here to see a photo tour of the Steve Korney SWC 1969 Corvette