Saturday, January 14, 2017

BF Goodrich was so sure the Radial T/A was the most capable tire made, they put the street tire to the test in the 1970 and 71 SCCA Trans Am races, and won while competing against stickier racing compound tires, and Larry Dent won his class at Watkins Glen in 71. They then called his car the Tirebird


Dan at Hemmings Blog did an article in 2010:
 
     I’m not sure anybody has a straight story on how many Tirebirds were built by Jerry Titus and Terry Godsall to promote and race on the new B.F.Goodrich radials in 1970. Add in the fact that Goodrich wanted Titus to build several replicas for further promotional purposes

This was the third of three cars built by TG Racing for the 1970 Trans Am season. Titus’ partner Terry Godsall secured BF Goodrich sponsorship for the team at the end of the 1970 season. The team convinced the SCCA to allow this car to run with a Chevy engine instead of the problematic Pontiac engine base on the fact that Canadian Firebirds were delivered with Chevy engines.

This car was entered in the 1971 Daytona 24 hours as a Firebird and then was converted to Camaro body work in time for Sebring.

https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2010/05/21/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1970-pontiac-firebird-tirebird/


And then I learned in Sept 2018, that they made 6 promotional cars!

a BFG contract and a magazine ad campaign. Part of the contract was for T/G Racing to build six BFG “Tire Bird” show cars, a play on the Firebird’s name. They would be purchased new from Royal Pontiac in Los Angeles and modified in the T/G shop in Tarzana, California.

With most of 1970 production finished, BFG started with 1971 models. The six Trans Ams were built to look like T/G’s Trans-Am race car, featuring the special blue and white paint scheme and “92” on the doors and hood. But they were strictly for show. Though T/G stripped the Pontiacs of their stock interiors and insulation and installed one race seat and a fire extinguisher, their “rollcages” were made from exhaust pipes. The “fuel cell” in the trunk was a mock cover.

Each promo Trans Am was equipped with an H.O. 455 big-block backed by an M21 four-speed transmission. BFG Radial T/A tires mounted on magnesium Minilite wheels were common to both the race car and the show car, as were hoodpins and rear-window bracing.

BFG distributed the six promo models to tire stores around the country to put on display and draw attention to the new Radial T/A. When the racing program ended after the 1971 season, BFG sold off the promo cars.

Tom Senter bought this particular California promo Tire Bird from BFGoodrich when he was editor of Popular Hot Rodding magazine in Los Angeles in 1972. Johnson says, “They gave him a crate that had the original interior parts. He took all the interior out—the racing stuff—and put the regular interior back in, and made a street car out of it.”

The H.O. 455, still in the engine bay, had already been burned up when somebody in the shop drove the car with no engine oil. Senter sold the H.O. 455 for $300 and used his contacts at Pontiac to try to acquire one of the new Super Duty 455s. This was late 1972, and the 455 SD was not available.

Senter contacted friends at Berger Chevrolet in Michigan to buy (for $750!) a Chevrolet LS6 454 with 11.25:1 compression. He documented the build in PHR as he transformed the car into a high-speed road racer. True to his hot rod background, Senter removed the graphics and painted the dark blue body Ferrari Fly Yellow.


Friday, January 13, 2017

The 1969 Limited Edition Mustang E, a car I've never heard of until now. Not to be confused the the "4.1 Liter Special" though they are both 1969 Mustangs with a 4.1l engine



While 1969-model-year cars were offered with a wide selection of V8s engines, ranging from 289 to 427 displacements, the Mustang E got its juice from a 4.1-liter 250 ci inline-six called the "Thriftpower"

Although it wasn’t the first six-cylinder available in the Mustang, the 250 incher was new for 1969 and came with a three-speed automatic (the C-4) equipped with a high stall torque converter and a high 2.33:1 rear axle ratio.

Output was rated at 155 hp and 240 ft lbs, identical to the standard six-cylinder, but the torque converter and revised ratio made it significantly slower.

Styling-wise, nothing set this car apart from the standard model except for the “Mustang E” letter on the quarter panels. Inside, it was again identical to the regular pony, but it didn’t have air conditioning

About 50 were produced. Ironically, this makes the Mustang E one of the rarest Mustangs ever built, more so since many have been converted to Mach 1 replicas.

The 1969 Mustang E is remarkable not only for its rarity, but also for the way it anticipated by more than four years the oil crisis of 1973

http://mustangattitude.com/mustang/1969specialmod.shtml
https://blog.americanmuscle.com/2016/10/06/rare-ford-mustangs-the-1969-mustang-e/

the "4.1 Liter Special" had about 150 made according to the Marti report, for the Indiana district under 6 different DSO#s.

There were coupes and fastbacks. The cars were produced in 3 different colors, Green (WT7034), Orange (WT5108) and Yellow (WT# unknown). 25 cars were produced under each DSO# with each car under each DSO# being painted the same color.

It is known that each of the 150 cars was equiped with the following: 250-1V I-6 Engine
C4 Transmission
2.79 Rear End gears
Sports Appearance Group (aka Non-functional Hood Scoop)
Dual Sports Mirrors (black on the orange cars, white on the green cars, yellow is unknown).
Tape Stripe (white-gold-white)
E78x14 white wall tires
Standard hubcaps
AM radio

Penske's Grand Sport Roadster Vette at Sebring, 1966


Only two Corvette Grand Sport Roadsters were built and Roger Penske bought both of them.

Chassis 001 was picked up from the GM factory and prepared for the 1966 Sebring 12 Hour event. Prepared by Traco and upgraded with a 427 ci "Daytona Mystery Motor" topped by a single Holley carb.

To minimize time spent in the pits an air jack/oil/water system was added to the Penske Roadster. A set of three valves on the right fender allows compressed air, oil and water to be delivered quickly and easily. If not driven carefully, the Penske Roadster could actually pick its front tires up off the ground during acceleration, so a large front spoiler was added to combat lift under acceleration and at speed.

Driven by a couple of Dicks, Guldstrand and Thompson, it made its racing debut racing against Ford GT40s, Ferraris, Chaparrals and Porsches. The competition was two years more advanced, but nothing could keep up with the Grand Sport in a straight line. A.J. Foyt, driving a GT40 Mk II at Sebring that year, was heard to say: "What's in that damn dinosaur? It went by me like I was stopped!"


https://revslib.stanford.edu/catalog/pd673sc8959
https://revslib.stanford.edu/catalog/rw011gf9567

Pat's wife used to test tires for the Arfon's family business.

A couple days ago I posted the Green Monster, and Pat commented that his wife used to work for Walt, testing tires.

Well, that blew my mind, so I had to ask about it!

In 1973 she answered a want ad in the Akron Beacon Journal ...Tire testing position...valid drivers license required.

Walt Arfons was contracted by the D.O.T to test all manners of tires for them...This contract was his bread and butter job to finance racing.

She drove on I 77, from Akron to I 70 daily to measure tread wear. Occasional (jack-rabbit starts) ie. burnouts were done too ! She had sand bags added to bring her weight up to the other test drivers. The tires wear dismounted and measured for tread wear and durability...So it was this was how the Arfons family financed some of the L.S.R. attempts!

Thanks Pat!

Before recording their debut album, the Doors provided backing music to a 1966 Ford Motor Company training film.



In the early spring of 1966, the Doors' were dropped from a preliminary Columbia Records contract with little warning – and little to show for it. Lacking representation and struggling financially, the band took an unglamorous gig at Parthenon Pictures providing incidental music for a Ford Motor Company customer service training film titled Love Thy Customer.

The Doors piled into a cramped screening room at Los Angeles' Rampart Studios, where they viewed the 25-minute clip on a small monitor. They composed a soundtrack largely on the spot, jamming live as the scenes flickered past. Fragments of what later became "I Looked at You," "Build Me a Woman," and "The Soft Parade" can be heard in the finished product. Though they played only instrumental passages, Morrison is said to have contributed percussion and additional sound effects. The day of work earned them $200.


nice vintage display