[oldcarnut]

I have not been on in a few years, finally have some health issues under control. I am in the early planning and research stages of trying to get a 63 lemans accepted for vintage road racing. Think the Paul Goldsmith driven Ray Nichels car. Now that you have picked yourselves off the floor, I have no illusions trying to reproduce the car with the SD transaxle. My thinking and that of a few other is that the cars weak link was the transaxle so if the car would have continued racing it would have been converted to a conventional drivetrain. I have already spoken to the head of the svra and mike matune who probably knows more about pontiac roadracing history then anyone. I need to try and find any info i can on the part numbers pontiac issued for the conventional drivetrain parts. Let the discussion begin.

Off to my daughters freshman volleyball game, will check in later.

[fasteddy]

I do not know this man but his road race 63 looks up to the challenge:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...highlight=road

Tom S is a wealth of knowledge for SDs of that era.

[65nss4spdGTO]

It was my understanding the first Tempest that came from Nichels were 62's. At least one had a 4cyl and the other had a 421 SD. These cars ran at Daytona, not sure if they were road raced.

The first time my dads's 59 389ci engine was machined it was done at Nichels shop.

Calvin Hill
Hill Performance
708-250-7420

[oldcarnut]

I have read about the 62 cars. I really want to try to do a 63.

[oldcarnut]

This car.

[tom s]

That car went to MBZ I believe.No chance to make a transaxle drive train live.Tom

[oldcarnut]

I know the tansaxle was the weak link. I am going to push the fact that the majority of the sd cars had been changed over to conventional drivetrain and that is how I would want to run my car. I would want it to have the same look as the Goldsmith car but with a solid axle. There are already a few one off cars running svra. There is a holman and moody ford fairlane. I would like to find some info on pontiacs part numbers that they issued for the sd cars with regards to conventional axles.

[tom s]

The factory never had part numbers for a change over!

[oldcarnut]

With nhra didnt they issue part numbers for the parts?

[tom s]

No pontiac factory racer had part numbers form the factory.Dont always believe what you read.Think of it this way.would the factory issue a part number for a 63 car on a 57 part?Tom

[oldcarnut]

Sure they would. Did the hood scoop from a ford truck get a part #?

[oldcarnut]

There are probably assumptions and misinformation about the sd cars and thats why I started this thread. I am pretty confident i will be able to get the car approved for vintage racing. It will run against cobras, jag e-type, aston db4/5, and trans am cars.

[tom s]

The scoop did carry a part number !

[Doug]

Originally Posted by tom s

The scoop did carry a part number !

Didn't the hole in the hood carry a part number also??

[oldcarnut]

Thats my point. Is it fact or fiction? If they gave a part number to a whole in a hood or ford truck scoop anything is possible.

[tom s]

It has been told that Farmer,bless his ball busting soul.was said to have asked for the number for the hole.Im sure more in jest than fact.He did not buy virtually any over the counter mods even when presented with factual part numbers from Pontiac Engineering.Happened to me personally with a 63 tripower on a 63 326 HO Lemans at Pomona.I had all the numbers and a rating of 290 HP on Engineering paper work.He ran my young ass out of there.Tom

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by tom s

It has been told that Farmer,bless his ball busting soul.was said to have asked for the number for the hole.Im sure more in jest than fact.He did not buy virtually any over the counter mods even when presented with factual part numbers from Pontiac Engineering.Happened to me personally with a 63 tripower on a 63 326 HO Lemans at Pomona.I had all the numbers and a rating of 290 HP on Engineering paper work.He ran my young ass out of there.Tom

Tom is referring for "Farmer" Dismuke, the NHRA tech inspector. He was a tough ol' bird.

He had a ring with a small magnet on the backside. As you were going through tech he would be casually talking to you and while doing so he would lay his hand on the car, looking for fiberglass or aluminum where it wasn't supposed to be.

He kicked our '63 Catalina out of B/Stock and into B/FX at Indy because of the aluminum front end. Our protests that the car was a B/Stock record holder fell on deaf ears.

K

[Stuart]

You could try contacting Don Keefe through a PM - I know he's been looking for the FIA papers on that '63 Nichels/Goldsmith car; I don't think he's found them yet but he may have some other info. There was a discussion here a couple years ago about some 1962 Tempests that Nichels had prepared for road racing, with some photos and a little information. However, I think those cars used the factory transaxles.

I've read a little about that Holman-Moody Fairlane, my understanding is they had received FIA papers to race a couple of them in England or Europe back in the day so there was some provenance for building a few more of them today.

[real61ss]

Originally Posted by tom s

The scoop did carry a part number !

Not to disagree with you Tom but I'm not so sure about that, everyone claims they did but I've been trying for years to find the Pontiac number but to my knowledge no one has ever been able to produce anything but the Ford part number.

[tom s]

I and Keith will tell you,Farmer would NEVER have allowed it without one.I know I bought them over the counter back then when I was racing.