Ford Station Wagons

[honker]

I wonder how that turned out 

looking at that photo again, could that be an early rear engined car, with the driver at the front ?

Mike

[shelbydoug]

Are you sure that it isn't a Funny car with a station wagon body?

[Side-Oilers]

I wonder how that turned out 

looking at that photo again, could that be an early rear engined car, with the driver at the front ?

Mike

That's Pomona drag strip.

But how the hell would that kind of a collision even happen?   I suspect Photoshop.

The front and underside of the wagon have no marks/dents that I can see.  The engine of the drag car isn't munched.  Nor are its suspension/tires squashed by 2500 pounds of station wagon.   (The last 1500+ pounds would ostensibly be supported by the wagon's rear wheels.)

I think someone stole a pix of the wagon on a tow truck, and melded it with the drag car photo.   

BUT:  If the wagon actually did rear-end the drag car, I'd think that the much heavier wagon would just push the drag car ahead.  Not climb on top of it, sprint car style. 

Thoughts?

[Odenvy]

On Bring A Trailer right now. Mustang pick up! What would possess someone!

[honker]

Side-Oilers, I found that photo of the '60 wagon on top of the rail-job/digger (showing my age using terms like that  on this site,

way down in the images on that page.

Mike

http://georgeklass.net/dragsters.html

[Side-Oilers]

Side-Oilers, I found that photo of the '60 wagon on top of the rail-job/digger (showing my age using terms like that  on this site,

way down in the images on that page.

Mike

http://georgeklass.net/dragsters.html

Well damn!  I stand corrected.  Crazy accident. 

Thanks, Mike, for the link. Great vintage drag pix site!
Van

[gt350hr]

   It was a "push start" situation that was common enough that NHRA banned the procedure . The push car would speed up to 60 or so and the dragster driver would pop the clutch and hit the ignition starting the engine. "IF" the procedure wasn't perfect , the dragster wouldn't fire , drag the rear tires and the push car wold jump on top of the dragster. OBVIOUSLY in a front engine car , the driver could seriously be injured despite being under a roll bar.

[557]

Ah yes,the old "hot oil" hair treatment....

[Side-Oilers]

Randy,

Yes, and thanks. I've seen photos of those old timey push-starts, back in the day.

I'd tried to imagine the push-start scenario in this photo, but the wagon doesn't have any sort of push bar, piece of wood, etc., on its front bumper.

Obviously, we can't see if the race car has a push bar at its rear.

Thus, I didn't think how/why anyone would push-start a car with rear tires that extend beyond its body...with a car with a stock bumper.


   

[69mach351w]

I knew I had a photo around here somewhere in my old boxes of tons of 35mm photos.

1977 Ford Pinto wagon 2.3L 4-speed we drove from 1985-1998. Just right for hauling around all those racecar parts back in the day

[Bill Collins]

   It was a "push start" situation that was common enough that NHRA banned the procedure . The push car would speed up to 60 or so and the dragster driver would pop the clutch and hit the ignition starting the engine. "IF" the procedure wasn't perfect , the dragster wouldn't fire , drag the rear tires and the push car wold jump on top of the dragster. OBVIOUSLY in a front engine car , the driver could seriously be injured despite being under a roll bar.

Seeing this reminded me of a long ago similar incident that I was involved in.

In 1972, I was a friend's "crew chief" on a two man race crew (him and I). He had just purchased what we then called a "rail dragster". He had been campaigning a big block Camaro in the Super Stock class with some success, to the point that he was runner up class eliminator at the 1970 US Nationals in Indianapolis, eliminated by the notable Poole/Elliott "Border Bandit" 68 CJ Mustang (The red fastback with the black/white stripes across the back).

He wanted to try running in Competition Eliminator, so the Camaro was sold in order to buy a dragster. A suitable front engine style chassis was found, and he proceeded to have an engine built. We were going to run in C/dragser class, with a Hilborn injected small block Chevy connected to a clutchflite trans.

The shop that built the engine was owned by two partners who campaigned a Hemi Powered B/dragster and they coached us on the ins and outs of running in Competition Eliminator. In a burst of youthful hubris, our first event with the car was the '72 US Nationals on Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.

We arrived and I recall being set up in the pits nearby to Gary Beck, who would eventually win Top Fuel eliminator at the event, his first major victory in a long and successful career. As mentioned, in those days these cars were not self starting. The NHRA had a roller starter installed in the hot pits. It functioned like a reverse dyno so cars could be started for tuning. But once in the lanes for qualifying or eliminations, a push vehicle was required.

Part of the coaching from our machine shop mentors involved this procedure. They welded a vertical "T" bar to the back of the dragster and I was to drive the push vehicle, a '70 Chevy Kingwood wagon. They instructed my friend, who was driving the dragster, to be sure to quickly accelerate away from the push vehicle once the race car fired.

So our first experience with this was to occur during qualifying at a National Event. Things began uneventfully enough. We stayed in alignment and the car started. But my friend neglected to pull away and after an initial shot forward, went down to a slow roll. Slow enough that I was unable to stop the 4000 pound wagon behind him.

I gave that T bar one very good whack, which propelled the dragster forward. Fortunately, that was our only contact, as he quickly accelerated after that, with no damage done other than to our egos.

So you might say we "burst" onto the scene. We didn't qualify that day, but did go on to run that car for a couple of years and although not particularly successful, we did have a lot of fun and I got a lot of experience.  And I never whacked the car again during a start.

[tesgt350]

I wonder how that turned out 

looking at that photo again, could that be an early rear engined car, with the driver at the front ?

Mike

That's Pomona drag strip.

But how the hell would that kind of a collision even happen?   I suspect Photoshop.

The front and underside of the wagon have no marks/dents that I can see.  The engine of the drag car isn't munched.  Nor are its suspension/tires squashed by 2500 pounds of station wagon.   (The last 1500+ pounds would ostensibly be supported by the wagon's rear wheels.)

I think someone stole a pix of the wagon on a tow truck, and melded it with the drag car photo.   

BUT:  If the wagon actually did rear-end the drag car, I'd think that the much heavier wagon would just push the drag car ahead.  Not climb on top of it, sprint car style. 

Thoughts?

I think the Wagon may have Backed over it.  The Driver thought it was in Drive and hit the Gas and Backed over it.  The Dragster's Frame acting like a Wedge.

[gt350hr]

  Nope , drove over the top. If it backed over the front would have been crushed for sure!

[mark p]

Merry Christmas
I rec'd a couple of gifts from my sister wrapped in this 'way cool paper 
(I'm not that good with the "cartoons"... are any of these wagons Fords?)


(If any complaints, I will try to delete)

[TOBKOB]

Yep...I see 3  '55 Fords and the nose of a 4th one...

TOB