Our pal Tommy Lee Byrd keeps on topping himself. Not only does this guy find the coolest and most interesting deals on all kinds of interesting parts but he is also history obsessed like we are and manages to get the stories behind the stories on the things that he finds. This dragster chassis may be his most impressive work yet.
You are looking at a race car built in the 1950s in California and raced literally all over the place by a Japanese guy named Tets Ishimaru. It competed extensively in California, was run at the NHRA Nationals in the late 1950s has had everything from Chevy inline six to supercharged Lincoln engines in it, and had been covered and profiled in magazines to boot.
The neatest part of the story isn’t the everlasting glory that the car achieved with big race wins, because that’s not what happened. The best part of the story is Tommy’s dogged determination to get to the bottom of who built it, when, why, and who competed in the car. Using a keen eye, the Petersen archives, and hot rodding connections he started with a rusty hunk of tubing and ended up with a complete history of this race car…from nothing.
Great story telling vintage photos, video, and more. This video has something for anyone who loves the history of drag racing and solving a good mystery.
Awesome Story. Thanks for sharing
Good story. We are glad it is in your hands.
The first thing I noticed was the PBY wing strut rails. They were fairly common in the 1950s,. Heres a Hot Rod cover http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/21/2017/10/highlights-november19571100.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=around%7C660:857 Scotty’s Muffler Service Ardun/T drag roadster.
Ike Iocono ran a GMC (with a 12 port head) in the 1950’s that often won Top Eliminator. Chevy 6s with 12 port heads were ran in CRA Track Roadsters.
Good to see that you are doing careful history.