Best Tow Car
 

1960 Chrysler 300F
2-Door Hardtop
413/375HP dual-quad
495 ft/lbs. torque
3.31 axle ratio
Weight #4270 lbs.
"Get Out Of The Way"
PC

Re: Best Tow Car
 

70 El-Camino with an LS-6, auto, and A-C." get the F out of the way"...Luke SS 311

Re: Best Tow Car
 

When I first started racing I used a 1968 Plymouth Fury 4-door 318, auto with 3.23 gears ... never had a problem ..

Re: Best Tow Car
 

I prefer 1962 300 H.... It featured a Aluminum 727 TorqueFlite much better than the cast iron older transmission used thru 1961. After that I
used 1968 to 1970 Chrysler Town and Country Wagons with 440 Engines 480 Torque @3200 as I remember.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

My coffin nose 1975 Matador S/W.Flat towed my original 1973 gremlin for 6 years.
360/727 with highway gears.Not a rocket but it got me there,mostly to NY National and Westhampton and occasionally Island and the Grove.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

GTX John.
Yes the 62' had the Aluminum-case 727 Torque-Flite, but
the 60' 300F had the dual Long-ram intake.
When cruising at 65 mph, it made an unbelievable sono-ramic sound.
No swaying, even around sharp corners.
Car was built like a Sherman-Tank.
Gas milage like one too!! 7 MPG
pc

Re: Best Tow Car
 

1978 c 10 pickup with the ball on the bumper / tow tabs on the car / lakewood towbar and freewheeling hubs. Race car transport at its best !!

Re: Best Tow Car
 

'74 Plymouth Satelite Sebring Wagon w/440 . ....Used to tow the hills to Numidia like the trailer was'nt there.@6mpg......Used to eat trailer brakes tho, brakes on the wagon were small!.....If we're talking trucks, my 78 Suburban with the 10k# towing package, that truck went 120k with me ,and another 100k with a stock car buddy who bought it from me!........ Tom

Re: Best Tow Car
 

1970 mark 3, tow with it for 5 years
did even know i had a trailer with a 3900# car on it

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Vic,
Nice Tow car.
What color was it. Thats the 'Key'
But did it have swivel seats like the 60' Chrysler 300F.

I know somebody is going to post that they had a Cadillac Hearse, or
possibly a Cadillac Limousine (white w/white vinyl top). Could pick those monsters up cheap, and they made a great unbreakable 'Tow Car'.
pc

Re: Best Tow Car
 

1966 Plymouth Belvedere wagon 426 Hemi, auto, 410s

Re: Best Tow Car
 

we got around with this one year flat towing and 2 years with the trailer shown-had a complete 70 W-30 drivetrain including the olds 12 bolt 3.91 posi. Hauled well, was underbraked for sure, but we drove slow and careful

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...t/97100004.jpg

Re: Best Tow Car
 

I flat towed the 69 Vette stocker using a cutom made tow bar welded up (heavy mother) by Dick Estiveze so it would fit under the shark type nose and still be the correct height and length to be level with a hitch on my 66 Pontiac Grand Prix. Gas milage was about 10 MPG.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

stage1scott,
The Vista Cruiser was a pretty popular station wagon 'Tow Car'.
Possibly the 'Best Looking Station Wagon'
Especially the 69' with the dual-action tail-gate.
Watch your fingers on closure of the door:eek:
pc

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Back in the early 70's when I started to run the 67 Nova(start of my racing career) at Dover Drag Strip in Wingdale, NY I used my 1969 Chevy COPO Chevelle. It had a 427/435 with 4 speed on the floor. It look like an SS but was not. It towed the Nova like it was not there.

Bob Lasko
SS/CS

Re: Best Tow Car
 

In 1988, I towed a 1986 Grand National to Bowling Green to the GS Nationals from Southern California with my Buick GS 350.... 4,450 miles roundtrip.
We stopped 15 times for gas on the way to BG.....LOL

The only problem I had was a bad Stinger ignition box. Luckily I was carrying a spare, and we were back on the road in 15 minutes.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

In the late 70's, flat towed my 68 Mustang with tow hubs (remember those?) behind a 67 Country Squire 9 pass wagon, woodgrain and of course a roof rack. Raced both cars every weekend at Englishtown and the Patch (Island Dragway). Looped the whole thing on the 80 halfway to Island from North Jersey when I lost a rear tire on the wagon, about
s h i t my pants!! State Trooper ran a traffic block for me while I got it all turned around and off at the next exit..............................Those were the days!!!

Re: Best Tow Car
 

we had some old school station wagons we used back in the day,here are some old school pics i scanned from negatives i found laying around the shop...

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Paul: I think the 61/62 still had the long ram on Letter Series G/H unless they were stick cars..then they had mid ram (14" runner instead 28".:o

Re: Best Tow Car
 

"65 Chevy Impala SS convertible, red,white top, glass back window, black interior, 409/340 hp, 4 speed, 3.31 gears, unbelievable torque,didn't stop, handle or pass many gas stations. Sold it in 1995.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Buddy in the early 1980's used a '69 GTX, 440-4bbl w/ auto and 3.23 rear and a/c. Pulled his '70 Gran Coupe Barracuda which had the front and rear yellow elastomeric bumpers and 7 way adjustable drivers bucket and houndstooth interior. It was an original 383 4bbl car. Definitely unique and one to keep.
The GTX was an excellent tow mobile.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Back in the early 70s I used to tow my 63 Sport Fury to NY National and Westhampton with a 64 Fury convertible with a 72 440 that I paid 20 dollars for which used about a quart of oil a week. It had a 323 rear, Road Runner exhaust manifolds, 361 2 barrel cam, I think 395 lift, stock 346 heads with a 69 mani and 383 AVS. I weighed it at Westhampton once without me and it weighed 3982. One day at National I had a leak that I couldn't fix at the track with the Sport Fury and wrote the numbers on the tow car for a fun time trial. Breaking up all the way down the track and smoking like a wood stove it ran a 14.28 at 98 MPH. In 74, I spun a bearing in the Sport Fury and Put in the original 383 shortblock from the Fury conv so I could race until I fixed the 426. It was topped with a set of 516 heads, a stock 63 Max cam, a Torker and a Holley 4779. It smoked worse than the 440 and ran 12.50s that entire summer, I was amazed.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Paul ...if memory serves correct, Truman Fields and his brother bought two new 1968 Firebirds 400 ci, and used one Firebird to tow the other via towbar to the tracks.

Otherwise, had a 1962 Chrysler New Yorker 413 ci w/ push-button auto towing my 1966 Chevelle...

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Back in the '70's I was stationed at Ft. Bragg NC and set my '68 Nova for racing, my room mate in the barracks towed me to the strip in his 1967 Hemi Charger.

We'd run both cars and he would tow me back........yes, the tow car was faster!

JimR

Re: Best Tow Car
 

almack
you was at the 1988 gs nationals???
so was I

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Were these the "Good Ole Daz" when racing was FUN and you didnt have over length stacker trailers, motor homes, and special built race cars that cost almost as much as the National Debt and payments to match !

Re: Best Tow Car
 

I was 14 at the time and two older friends flat towed a 1965 Formula S Barracuda with a 1964 slant six Valiant. The Barracuda would not track right, around corners so they put me behind the wheel of the Formula S, their instructions were to steer when needed and don't touch the brakes. So I sat in a race car for a ride to Motor City Dragway, I was in heaven.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

That was a great car for sure-My parents bought it new in 71, passed it to us in the fall of 73, we spent the winter of 73-74 giving it the W treatment and started towing with it that spring. I made some passes at national trails with it one sunday and it went low 14s as I recall, and we used it year round as a cruise night type of car. By the time I moved to the left coast in 1979 the winters salt had taken its toll,as we drove it year round, and I sold it cheap ($600.00) before I left Columbus. Wish I had it now! Here it is with its alter ego, my brothers 70 W 30 coupe in the opposite paint scheme

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...t/97100010.jpg

Re: Best Tow Car
 

My brother had a 57 chev station wagon pulling his 56 jr Stocker. He and his buddies installed a 402 from a totaled chevelle which they also liberated the turbo 400 what a great set up, took us all over from east coast to Indy many times. He had changed the gears in the rear from a 4:10 to a low 2:7something.Incredible mileage just a tad slow on leaving though.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

See,
I knew this thread would be interesting.

Bob Lasko,
Don't know if you remember at Dover. But the Storm King guys had
a 70' Superbird that they used for a 'Tow Car'

Also, John Macey of 'Lead Zeppelin II" fame, towed his 66' Belvedere II
Hemi Station Wagon SS/FA in 1973, with another Belvedere II Hemi Station Wagon. That had to be a 'first'.
pc

Re: Best Tow Car
 

I had a 63 Catalina 2 door HT with an automatic trans and the 421 engine I bought used from my neighbor I too used tow bars and freewheeling hubs then went "big time and bought a open flat bed trailer and another used 68 Bel Air wagon with a 427 engine---that car would pass everything but a gas station-----then I bought a Chevy 1 ton crew cab with a 28 foot Oleynik box on the back---I think I must have thought I was a PRO with that set up.That truck is still around a Corvette road racer runs those Vintage races still has it---Comp387

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Free-Wheeling Hubs....
Me, I got to crawl under my fathers Cuda, and un-bolt the driveshaft,
laying down on a gravel-based driveway (large native stone).
Then had to stick a dummy-yoke into the tail of the 4-speed transmission, with large rubber-bands to keep the yoke in-place.
Also, put on worn GoodYear slicks for the tow.
My favorite mission, writing on the back window with white shoe polish
'Car in Tow'.
Anytime I saw a guy with a Bock Dragstar Trailer, I was in awe.
1971 price, $1595.
Just where did they come up with that kind of money???
pc

Re: Best Tow Car
 

I FINANCED my trailer thought my wife was gonna divorce me cuz the payments were $29 per month paid for with my part time job $2.95 per hour in 1969 working at a Walgreens stocking shelves at nite after my regular job----I musta been nuts- I KNOW I AM NUTS! --my wife and kids all tell me I may grow older BUT I'll never grow up---Comp 387

Re: Best Tow Car
 

FED,
My father was from the old 'Italian School'.
Wouldn't finance anything.
Of course, 2 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day.
$29/month for finance payments on the trailer.
That just about covers a carton of Marlboro's today.

Our Tow Package.
Homemade tow-bar, w/2" galvanized steel pipe.
1" x 1" square steel-bar as a cross-brace.
Thing must have weighed in at 80 lbs.
pc

Re: Best Tow Car
 

almack
you was at the 1988 gs nationals???
so was I

Vic, I first met you at the 89 GS Nationals.

Flat towed to local tracks with a 69 Skylark. Power 4 wheel drums brakes. I'm smarter now.

Scaz

Re: Best Tow Car
 

I had a very good friend who had this exact truck - other than the AC. The interesting thing was that the order was originally accepted with air conditioning. After waiting months and months, the dealer finally got a letter that the Elky would have to be built without Air.

Best tow was another friend's 74 Mark IV with a 460. Weirdest was the Olenynik box truck I bought (with a 350 yet!) from the guy who had the El Camino.

Most miles towed was with a 76 GMC half ton with the world's strongest 350. I never did figure out why that truck ran so good and neither did the next two racers after me. All agreed it was something special as it would pull without breaking a sweat.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Maybe not the 'Best Tow Car', but a unique one.
1962 Ford Ranchero (little pick-up car).
Not sure of the engine, but I'm guessing a 170ci 6-banger.
And just what did it flat tow, of course a 64' Falcon M/Stocker.
Don't think that Ranchero ever got above 40 mph (going downhill)
PC

Re: Best Tow Car
 

If you had a Bock Dragstar open trailer, you were running w/ the big dogs and if somehow, you had a Chaparral trailer, well, you must have died and went to heaven...

Re: Best Tow Car
 

Back in the mid 70's I had two different buddy's with interesting tow
vehicles:

(1) 1970 Fury S/W with a added in 440-6 pak flat towing a 1966
Belveder II with a hemi/auto.

(2) 1969 Dodge Superbird with hemi/auto flat towing a 1966 Belveder II
with a hemi/auto.

It may have been the same 1966 Belveder II a few years apart, but that
was many years ago and my memory is not what it was.

It was always interesting going to Orange County raceway.

Re: Best Tow Car
 

<Anytime I saw a guy with a Bock Dragstar Trailer, I was in awe.
1971 price, $1595.
Just where did they come up with that kind of money???>

Paul,

I suppose that same question could be applied today to the toter
homes/stackers and MH/enclosed car trailers.

$150 to $300K for alot of these rigs, definetly out of my ball park.