Can we please stop hotlinking pics?

Anyone speak Italian?

tuna55 said:

Name it without looking it up

 

Bob Glidden wrecked his Thunderbird in '84-ish and didn't want anyone to see the intake manifold.

914Driver said:

Anyone speak Italian?

 

I don't, but Google Translate can do a fair hack job on it.

Having received confidential information that in all probability Saturday 13 corr. we will have the kind visit of S.A.R. the Duke of Spoleto, president of the R.A.C.I., we would like to ask you to be in Modena in the morning to present you to the Prince Augustus.

Accept the most cordial greetings

The delagated councilor

The Jack Chrisman FunnyWinder, later John Force's Nightstalker Ford Mustang. Possibly the only sidewinder Funny Car built. Also an oddity for using a Ford 427 SOHC in 1971, after they had become nearly completely irrelevant. Chrisman barely ever drove it, as it suffered from the same handling woes as all sidewinders. It was sold to a young John Force and was pretty much a catastrophe every run. It marks John Force's entry into the Funny Car world though.

In reply to NickD :

E.J. Potter, The Michigan Madman.

Sneaky Pete Robinson testing out his "Vacuum Cleaner" on a front engine dragster. The duct took air from ground level skirting and sucked it up into the blower, the idea being that the engine would create downforce without the drag of a wing. A single half-pass revealed that the engine ingested a lot of pebbles and rubber and dirt, and he junked the idea.

In reply to NickD :

A vacuum cleaner type of design picked up debris. Who could have seen that coming?

This un's got a purdy truck.

slowbird said:

9000 ways to make your fillings switch teeth. That is a city truck at best. OTR it will beat the crap out of the driver.

More S10 love

NickD said:

So can someone tell me what's going on here?  Transverse Chubby V8 to a reduction gear via a belt drive to the rear wheels I think, but why is the drive on this one outside the wheels,. rather than between as on the pics at the top of page 4230?

Semi related at best

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

NickD said:

So can someone tell me what's going on here?  Transverse Chubby V8 to a reduction gear via a belt drive to the rear wheels I think, but why is the drive on this one outside the wheels,. rather than between as on the pics at the top of page 4230?

Semi related at best

 

Rather than direct drive with a clutch, like most Sidewinders, this has a 4-speed cast-iron Hydramatic automatic. The back half was sliced off and had a sprocket with a chain drive welded on. The hope was that the torque converter would soften the impact at launch and prevent the snapped axles/broken chains/whipsaw terror rides of most sidewinders. Since the transmission added length, you couldn't make it drive off the axle center, because you would have to have the engine hanging way off the one side. So they drove it off the outer end of the axle. No other photos are known to exist, so presumably it wasn't any better than any other sidewinders.

There was also this freak.The nitro small block Chevy spun a direct-drive setup incorporating a driveshaft geared off of a V-drive into the odd side-slung quickchange, in an obvious attempt to experiment with gear ratios. Transferring torque from the quickchange to the right side slick must have created some twist, creating potential spooky runs. I like the single outboard disc brake on the opposite side, which appears to be the only way to slow this abomination.

Appleseed said:

In reply to NickD :

E.J. Potter, The Michigan Madman.

That he lived to die of old age was a miracle. That dude had guts. I remember reading where the drive chain he used was spec'd for 24hp implement use, and he had it behind an injected alky small block. Claims he never broke one either.