Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

hi everybody this is my first post. the 39' willys in dinos post was driven by walt gagne of enfield ct and owned by a guy named gillis i believe from stafford ct. it had a blown and injected sbc and a clutchflite running in cc/g in 1970. i'm glad to see such interest in debs and ralph ridgeway. i have the sign from debs mass. store hanging on my garage wall and a tunnel ram top with debs cast into it. also a rigdeway ram top unmachined. i was surprised to see carl debien still in business in delray beach fl.

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Great post and thanks guys for the pictures!

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

I'll tell Carl about the sign he'll get a kick out of that, I have a base to one of the manifolds any chance of selling one of those tops. I don't remenber seeing one with Deb's on it can you post a picture of it?

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

i try to get to that picture as soon as i can dave.

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

I had one on my SS/L SS/K Camaro as well. 1976-78

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

hey dave, finally some pics for you. P1060824. P1060827. P1060823.JPG i hope these work. tom

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

sorry about that they work. have to have my daughter do it for me.

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

purchased a nos ridgerunner big block tunnel ram from a friend in ma for a friend in tempe for his bb 55 chev he raced in high school in minnesota--very cool looking piece-hope to help him wrap up this project soon---dave

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

hi everybody since i couldn't get my pictures to work on here, we posted them on my facebook page. use "carl thomas centore" in the member search to find me. hope it works for you. i'm not sure if non-members can view them, but give it a try.

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Found them in Facebook, Thanks I forgot about the Kendall sign!:)

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

are you able to show those pictures to carl? i'd like to know more about the sign. thanks

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Yes I can ask about it, anything in particular you want to know?

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

i'd like to know if its from the mass. store and was it on the outside of the building or inside? thanks

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Wake up, sleeping thread!!!

With the resurgence of nostalgia gasser racing, The tunnel ram
has become the go-to for the carb guys. The cross ram and classic
mechanical FI were the intakes of choice for gassers in 1967.

What was the earliest date for a manufacturer's tunnel ram? Ralph says his Ridgerunner SBC came out in early '68. When did Weiand,
Edelbrock, etc., come out with their offerings? Summer '68?

I was busy enjoying a faraway party in 1968, called the TET offensive and missed all the hot rod stuff that year.

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

RR and Deb's were a driving force in modified and S-SS racing in the Northeast and anywhere they traveled to race. I never met or knew them but followed closely on the west coast. RR inspired me to keep working on my own sbc/MP car as they were the benchmark for the class.
RR still has some engines on the oval at Stafford in modified's and late models so you can't stop his competition or desire to win.
DC in NC

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Ralph's first Ridgerunner was for sale in early 1968. I saw a picture of it somewhere.

Ralph told me that Vic Edelbrock was looking over his shoulder during the 1967 Nationals in September at the vette doghouse national record holder 55 chevy 302cuin small block.

Edelbrock 'Announcing a new concept in manifolding' was the big ad in the April 1968 Hot Rod Magazine, page 18. A 1-2 month delay means a Feb - Mar release for the TR1.

The July 1968 HRM had Weiand 'Presents the BREATHER' ad on page 15... the Weiand may have been available May - June 1968.

Ralph was first....

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Hello from Delray Beach FL, I know this thread has been inactive for a while but I thought I would say hi :-) I am Michael Edwards the owner of Deb's Automotive I bought the shop from Carl and Joan in December of 2014 and with that came a ton of history. Carl is still doing well he does come by the shop from time to time (I don't think he will ever retire) we have a 4 bay shop and do everything from repair to modifications, we still have the dyno that Carl made!! I will try to post some pics that he gave me some need to be restored.

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Hello, Michael!
Lots of attempts to resurrect the 1960s lately!
The problem is... it's mostly being done by $$
instead of parts searches for old stuff. Kind of
like a revolutionary war recreation using M16s...

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Yea, we still are at it our own way here :-)

Mike

Re: Deb's/Ralph Ridgeway '55 Chev C/MP car.....
 

Carl still stops by the shop.