Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland
My first class racing was done in the summer of 1968 with a '57 Chev 150 business coupe and a 283 two bbl. I raced about six times that summer at a little dragstrip south of Ft. Smith, AR. Three of those times a soldier from nearby Ft. Chaffee showed up with a maroon '67 Corvette 435hp-427 roadster with some JC Penny slicks mounted on white steel wheels stuffed into the compartment behind the seats. He would put the slicks on and run mid - low 12s all day through the side pipes. During the same period of time, a friend of mine in Little Rock had made friend with another soldier stationed at the Air Force base at Jacksonville, AR who also had a black 435hp-427 roadster and even got to drive the car a couple of times. I rode in that car twice. X-Tech, if you say only twenty were made, then I have personally been around two of the twenty! I did not know the cars were that rare.
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That's 20 1967 L88 427 / 430 HP cars. You drove the 427/435 try-power 'Vett's. Much more common.
I had a client with a '67 427/435 4-speed, 4.11 side pipe 'Vette. He had the original engine on a stand for prosperity but a 427/425 in it's place. He threw me the keys and said "drive it as hard as you want". I though that was an offer to good to be true. I gotta say, it sure ran good, but I wouldn't call it smooth or overly fast. If it was faster than my '70 'Cuda 440-6 with Shaker, 4-speed & 3.54's, it wasn't by much and I think if geared the same it would be darn close. But I guess a 'Cuda is not a 'Vette and never will be.
Back to the subject, maybe somebody needs to persue this with NHRA ONE MORE TIME!