Few classes were weirder and wilder than the old NHRA Modified Sports Car ranks. The Modified Sports classes had their own rules which were similar to the gas classes and the resulting creations dreamed up by drag racers are the stuff of legend. Bob Ida’s “Hemi Healy”, Ed Sigmon’s “Snarpeezel”, and a host of others made wild tire smoking runs as brutes dressed in swoopy English sports car duds. When we first spotted the 1957 MGA and 1967 XKE Roadster of Marc and Bob English at the 2012 Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion we were magically transported back to those days…which we were never at in the first place. The fact that the story behind these two cars is as cool, or even cooler than the vehicles themselves is remarkable. It is about gearhead history, a brotherly bond, and a group of guys who love to go drag racing their own way. If you’re going to be offended by seeing a real 1967 Jag XKE roadster with a big block jammed in it or a 1957 MGA with a snotted up small block, the exit door is to the right. If you’re smiling like a dope from seeing that lead photo, step right this way. There’s lots more where that came from!
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Keith, Bob, and Marc English were gearheads from the time they could stand upright and grip tools. Their dad owned a repair shop, was a racer himself, and seems like the kind of guy we’d all want to grow up around. According to Bob, his dad’s shop was known as the place to go for engine swaps in the 1950s and 1960s. Guys putting V8s into cars that didn’t have them or swapping a different mill in place of the factory lump went to Bob’s dad’s place. Having a front row seat to all of this action would naturally lead to a couple of car crazed kids and that’s what they were. The shop was the local hot rooder’s hang out and there were kids and gearheads around at all times.
In 1967, Bob, the brothers, and a few friends bought a 1933 Chevy sedan that they were going to build into a C/Altered machine. After swapping in a small block Chevy engine, they decided to try the car out on a go kart track located on their father’s property. Having removed all the suspension and welded the axle directly to the frame, things got ugly when the throttle was mashed a couple of times. They twisted the rear end right out of the thing. After going back to the drawing board, getting help, and making a better plan, the guys ditched the 1933 Chevy body and got a Karmann Ghia body from a local Vo-Tech high school that was going to scrap it. They made the body a flip top piece and ran it that way for 4-5 years. From that starting point the guys have raced all different kinds of stuff, leading up to the two cars we’ll profile in this story.
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Ten years ago, Bob’s wife passed away and the event brought the three brothers back closer together than they had been in some years. They decided to restore the old Ghia and take it to car shows, which they did, even winning some awards. By chance, they happened to meet the guys in MANDRA (Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Drag Racing Association) and decided to haul the old Ghia to the track and run it. Well, that set the hook again and after building and racing an 8-second Fiat in addition to the Ghia, another car was put into the works. That car is 1957 MGA you see on these electronic pages. Marc is the current driver of that car. As Bob explained, Marc’s the best driver, Keith is the best engineer and fabricator, and he’s “along for the ride”. (Editor’s note: We’re calling BS on that because Bob sure came off as a sharp guy to us!)
As we like to do, we’re going to tell the rest of the story with photos and captions. These are two fantastically cool and unique race cars! Scroll down to see every inch of them!
Because Keith and Bob already had road going MGAs equippd with small block Chevy engines and five speed transmissions, there was an abundance of parts available to build a car out of. True MG fans will call BS on the claim of this being a 1957 due to the 1960 rear fenders, but who cares? Most of the body is from a '57. The brothers built all of their cars from start to finish. They built the frame, bent the tube for the roll bar, etc. This whole car was built in the span of a PA winter!
The rectangle tube frame uses virtually stock front suspension from an MGB. The MGB's had more robust suspension components and since this thing likes to wheelstand, that's a good thing. Out back is a Ford 9-inch rear with 4.11 gears in it, 30-inch tall slicks, and wheelie bars. This little car uses the hell out of those bars. Mark pulled a dry hop that yanked the nose and then the launch also carries the front end.
The engine powering this little beast is a 409ci small block Chevy with Enderle mechanical injection, an MSD Ignition, Brodix Track-1 heads, and those totally wild Schoenfield headers. Those headers are 180-degree cross over units and the brothers actually built the car around them. Intended for circle track cars, they give the engine a scream like none other.
All of that great noise is expelled through the two piped that dump behind the passenger side front tire. The small block is certainly healthy, spinning a PowerGlide trans and pushing the car to elapsed times in the 9.30s and 9.40s at more than 140mph. The wee machine weighs in at 2400lbs.
This photo is not the greatest, but it does show that there is stock MG suspension (albeit MGB) on the front of the car. We think that's neat as hell.
The front wheels are MGA competition style pieces. The competition wheels are stronger because they have more spokes, according to Bob.
Real knock off wheels = cool!
The look of the MG is totally cool. The tiny car with the big tires, wire front wheels, and stack injection is virtually perfect.
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Here's the second half of the pair, Bob's REAL 1967 Jaguar XKE roadster. The nose of the car is fiberglass and the trunk lid is carbon fiber but the entire tub of the car is as it was produced in Coventry, England those decades ago. Bob told us that he bought the car as a roller from a dude who had 31 XKEs in various barns and buildings!
Like with the MGA, the lines and look of the Jag hark right back to the days of NHRA Modified Sports class racing. The Minilite wheels on the front rule and the injection stacks through the long nose are great as well.
Take that Jaguar XKE restorers!
Like the MGA, the guys built the entire frame and chassis/cage under this car. It was a winter project started in the late fall and rolling out the door in the spring. Rather than the small block route, the Jag got a rat motor, displacing 489ci. With Patriot Performance cylinder heads, Enderle Injection, MSD Ignition, and other similarities, this is an expanded version of the smaller engine in the MGA. Note the set back here. The guys stuck to the old gasser rules of 10% maximum engine set back from the front axle. Bob says that the car scales out 51%/49% front and rear respectively.
The guys built their own headers for the Jag as they were slightly less intricate than those on the MGA. Talk about a straight shot!
Like on the MGA, the wheels up front are great. These happen to be knock off Minilites from England. The front suspension of the car is modified MGB stuff with coil over shocks. The MGB cross member and all is bolt in, so much of that was used under the front of this car during construction because the guys had extras laying around.
As with the other car, the Jag uses a PowerGlide and Ford 9" axle with 4.11 gears in it. The slicks are slightly taller at 31" and the weight is up a little at 2600lbs. 9.20s are where this Jag lives on the strip.
Note the classy wood steering wheel! Jag luxury, baby!
The nose of the car is fiberglass. It came from a road racer who was putting a carbon fiber nose on this car to save even more weight. That nose now goes faster than it ever did on the road racing car...by lots!
Lots of racers are left wondering what they just lost to when seeing the backsides of these cars. When's the last time YOU lined up next to a bad ass MGA or worked up XKE?!
Here's Marc in the MGA - he was the 2010 MANDRA champion. Like Bob said...he's the driver of the family!
There have certainly been some beautiful designs that originated at English car companies but it sure is hard to find one better looking than a Series 1 or 1.5 XKE. Here's Bob in his.
Huge thanks to all three of the English brothers, Marc, Bob, and Keith for allowing us to shoot their cars. As the father of two boys, we can only hope that they're as tight and hot rod obsessed as these guys when they grow up. Wait a second...these guys haven't grown up. They're having too much fun terrorizing drag strips and making sporty car guys sweat. Did we mention Bob just finished a 8.50-second Jag XK120 roadster? Maybe we shouldn't...it may get the fellows in tweed jackets angry! Hell, one guy once told them that what they are doing to English cars is like, (and we're serious that he actually said this) "Raping the Queen!"
Wow. That’s not just quite a level of “dare to be different,” but it manages to be different and make perfect sense instead of coming off as a forced commitment to difference for its own sake. The way they’ve kept so many traditional British roadster touches like the wire knock-off wheels makes them even better.
Great googly moogly.
My old man would S*&#. He’s doing a ‘correct’ MG B GT resto.
But to me, these ARE ‘correct’.
Love it! The bundle of snakes on the MG is too coool!
Love it! The bundle of snakes on the MG is too cool!
Saw them both at E-town a few years ago,very cool.
This is Hot Rod/Drag Racing/Car Eye Candy nirvana!!! These are two of thee coolest things on wheels. I love both of these cars! But Jag XKEs are still the sexiest cars on the planet, and a Drag Jag…you just can’t do any better in my book.
Those are just wicked cool. One of the well known West Coast magazine editors told me they can’t even print a picture of an “import” even with a BBC or SBC in it without getting a ration of sh&t form narrow minded buy american pin heads. This is hot rodding tradition and I’d love to see more of them.
LOVE THESE GUYS. BEEN WATCHING THEM @ E-TOWN FOR SOME TIME. HPOE TO SEE THEM 7/29
my son and i meet them while running with mandra they are a class act.the cars are really construted well it’s great torun against them
WILD!!! Thanks for the article.
….don’t know what the fuss is about; these types of cars were common in the late 60’s & early 70’s. They were really cheap then, and when the motors broke, you tossed them & put in a small block Ford or Chevy……besides a little drag-racing never hurts them
I love these cars, I have a 1964 MGB (see B.S. Garage) that I will try to make into a street version of these cars. My car goes into the chassis shop early next year for rear subframe, etc.