FUNNY CAR MANIFESTO

(Ed. Note: Steve’s stream of consciousness log is quite informative but quite lengthy. It is an excellent planning guide that can be applied to any project, automotive or otherwise. Though not abridged or edited, some of the sections have been moved to satisfy the subjects discussed in each segment.)

INTERIOR

Richard Schroeder’s Bad Bossa Nova sets the tone. On Pg. 19 of the October 1966 issue of Drag Strip, reveals the interior of this gorgeous green ’66 Chevy II…it has a single Mopar A-990 seat with the stock aluminum mounting brackets! It’s champagne colored, signifying it came from a 1965 Mopar Hemi car – a red seat would have come from a 1964 Hemi Mopar. So in tribute, I’ll get a pair of A-100 Dodge van bucket seats and see Jim Kramer for some reproduction A-990 brackets. Hey, if an ex-Mopar Super Stock seat was good enough for Schroeder’s Nova, it’ll be right at home in this Hot Rod magazine project car. Lots of Chrysler factory drag car stuff ended up in a lot of non-Chrysler match racers.

Schroeder’s Nova also sets the tone for interior trim…there is none! His car was gutted. The dash is stock metal but nothing is left other than a bunch of crude holes. The same goes for the doors, the interior panels are gone leaving the skeletal inner door structure for all to see. The head liner is also gone. Unity is restored by a liberal application of GM spatter-coat trunk paint on virtually every interior surface. I’ll strip my Nova too but will retain the stock instrument cluster. It is compact and simple enough, plus it’ll be helpful to have a functioning fuel gauge and speedometer. Remember, this will be a street car! One must-have item that I will find is a bona-fide radio delete plate.

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ROLL CAGE

Even though I’m not too concerned about passing drag strip tech inspection, an 8-point roll bar will be installed to restore and enhance rigidity. After all, this thing will probably run into the low elevens with its anticipated 500 horsepower. Do not allow the roll bar to become too modern. Don’t get talked into a full cage or down bars that follow the A-pillar. A simple 8-point roll bar is good enough up to the 11.00 e.t. barrier, where the NHRA wants to see a full cage. A basic Simpson or Deist 5-point safety harness will be installed but it must have black webbing. There will be no electric blue, fluorescent green, bright red or neon yellow safety harnesses allowed!

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After stock frames were re-chromed, we replaced the rear side glass with plexi. Metal tabs hold these panels in a permanent raised position because the relocated rear wheel tubs prevent them from being lowered.

The wheel tubs also forced modification to the interior trim panels. A cardboard template was made first to ensure proper fit, then we sliced into the OPG reproduction panels.

Self-respecting Match Bash cars must incorporate the correct furniture. There is no place for modern racing seats or goofy bench seats. Though fiberglass bowling alley chairs do appear in vintage photos of Nova funny cars, we followed the example set by Richard Schroeder’s “Bad Bossa-Nova” and went with light weight Dodge A100 van seats. These same seats-–essentially Bostrom Trim-Line industrial items--were also used in 1964 and 1965 Mopar factory race cars and were commonly pirated by builders of non-Mopar drag machinery. The reproduction ’65 A990 Hemi Mopar seat brackets are from Kramer Automotive Specialties.

To ensure plenty of range, we used a reproduction 16-gallon gas tank. The stock fuel pickup has been upgraded to 3/8-inch. The externally mounted Paxton electric fuel pump  pushes fuel through a 3/8-inch steel line under the passenger side of the car to the fuel rails on the Hilborn injection unit. Once the injectors have been fed, another 3/8-inch steel line runs rearward under the driver side of the car back to the fuel filler neck where excess fuel dumps back into the tank. It’s low-tech but works great. We had plenty of people say that 3/8 inch diameter is too small, but pressure is spot-on and oxygen sensor studies confirm that motor never starves for fuel. We did our best to hide all the modern stuff in plain sight.