[Brian Baker]

Originally Posted by GonicGM

Off the Pontiac subject for a moment but while on Challengers...
The Hills Brothers campaigned an early Challenger AA flopper circa 1971-1974, it was white and had a very unique feature I was only aware with on that car. The car ran the northeast, I believe that car was based in the northeast as well. Does Brian or anyone remember the car or the feature?

A friend of mine who is much more knowledgable sent me these pictures when I asked about the Hill Bros. He said these are the only pictures he has and if you can determine what made these cars unique from other funny cars of the day to let him know.

[GonicGM]

Originally Posted by Brian Baker

A friend of mine who is much more knowledgable sent me these pictures when I asked about the Hill Bros. He said these are the only pictures he has and if you can determine what made these cars unique from other funny cars of the day to let him know.

Brian,

The right most image of the three is at New England Dragway in Epping New Hampshire. Who knows, maybe I was there that day/night! I don't know if they had more than one white Challenger through the vintage. The unique feature of the one I remember...

Functional Headlights!

I thought that was the coolest thing, very memorable, very unique.

[Brian Baker]

It's possible the body in all 3 pics is the same body, but they are clearly on at least 2 seperate chassis'. The one on the far right appears to be like an earlier style Logghe, or Logghe type chassis, as the cage around the driver is more like what you would find in a door car, not the later wrap-around style "dragster" cages.

[Brian Baker]

Here's one that ran at E-town regularly. Sorry for the low quality of the shots as they were taken of a scrapbook that was on display at one of Bruce Larson's dragfests at his old barn in PA. I'm pretty certain that this is the body that eventually became Dave Sano's "Screamin' Insanity". He found it in a NJ junkyard.

[tom s]

Jack,there was no pic on 438?Tom

[Jack Gifford]

Hmm... it shows as post#438 here. It's by TTAJay and starts with the line "Here's Mickey Thompson working on...". The first photo in that post is the one with the mysterious heads.
(post#438 is on page 22 for me- but that probably varies with your browser, etc.)

[poison heart]

Yeah, I see it also.

[Sirrotica]

Looks like angle plug heads to me, and it's # 438 page 22 on mine too. The first time I saw Beswick run on a dragstrip I was 18 years old in 71, it was with the 71 hemi challenger in Ohio, at Thompson Dragraceway, with the Coca Cola Cavalcade of stars. After years of gleaning over magazine articles about his Pontiacs as a kid, I was none too happy to see him wheeling a mopar product. I guess he hadda make a living, and at the time Pontiac had dried up as far as parts that could be used in a funny car and still be competitive. I don't recall where he ended up that night, but I do know he didn't win the race, I still wasn't happy though.

[Brian Baker]

Jack, look how the light catches the threads inside those spark plug holes and compare it to the angle which the camera was viewing them from. It certainly gives me the impression the holes are angled, pointing the plug toward the exhaust valve.

[poison heart]

The more I look at the pic the more I think they're angled also. Look at the 3rd plug back. You can see directly down into the head. The camera is "behind" the motor. Gives the impression that it is angled back like the mopar small blocks. Also look at the 2nd plug back. You can see more threads and not directly into it like the 3rd one. It looks to be angled forward.

[Jack Gifford]

Yeah, I can agree with y'all on the angled plugs. The heads are still a complete mystery to me, though. If Tom S would ask Fritz about them, we'd probably learn something.

[Steve Barcak]

The next obvious question about these special, custom heads would be..... are they alum? Could be painted. Wouldn't that be a nice find today? though they are probably still small valve with the early, narrow spacing. hmmmm

[Brian Baker]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

The next obvious question about these special, custom heads would be..... are they alum? Could be painted. Wouldn't that be a nice find today? though they are probably still small valve with the early, narrow spacing. hmmmm

Yup...probably some variant of what became the production 421-SD head, albeit with angled plugs. Makes one wonder if the plugs were changed if there were any other chagnes done to the combustion chamber.

[GonicGM]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

The next obvious question about these special, custom heads would be..... are they alum? Could be painted. Wouldn't that be a nice find today? though they are probably still small valve with the early, narrow spacing. hmmmm

With what appears to be the typical Pontiac Rust on the exhaust ports, I strongly doubt aluminum. They appear iron.

[misterp266]

I had trouble posting pics again but here's a good link to M/T pics......sorry no pics of the "mystery heads".

http://www.thompson-motorsports.com/drag.html

[PRC]

I finally got some old photos of my car scanned onto computer. I apologize for the poor quality. I am hoping someone will recognize this '57 2 dr. wagon. It was purchased in 1979 in New Oxford, PA. I suspect it was raced in the southern Pa/northern Md area in the 70's. It ran a 389 tri-power and 4 speed. When the car was purchased the front bumper fillers (the part between the grill and bumper) were missing and it had a '56 bumper on it. I suspect the bumper and other parts and been removed for racing at one point. The front end parts had been replaced when these photos were taken around 1980. Other than that, this is how the car looked in the 70's. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[triathlonx13]

Gary Woods

[triathlonx13]

[Pontiac Slim]

This showed up at New England Dragway a few weeks ago, Pontiac powered even!
Pontiac Slim

[PRC]

I tried to attach the photos to my previous post but it didn't work so I am trying it again.