Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton - Page 2

Bobby Zlatkin · 06-25-2009, 01:44 PM

Hey Tony,

Your second picture was not of Ramon Lowe, correct?

I see that it's a four door.

Tony Janes · 06-25-2009, 02:27 PM

The 4 Dr 58 Pontiac is Jay Hamilton at Bristol 1967

bill dedman · 06-25-2009, 02:52 PM

Fred Borcherdt was an East Coast Pontiac guru during that time period, who had a '57 F.I. that he raced, I think. He later built and raced "ROCKY'S GOAT," a 1969 Ram Air IV (I believe) GTO and made the cover of Popular Hot Rodding magazine when he won Stock at Dallas (NHRA World Finals) in about 1970 or '71.... not sure of the year,
Jerry Stealy bought the car and re-named it "Nemesis" and ran it in C/SA for years..

Robert Chiesa was a West Coast '58 Pontiac racer who won a few. I think he was from the SF Bay area..

Loved that Strato-Flite dual-coupling hydro... lol!

Bill

Tony Janes · 06-25-2009, 03:40 PM

Bill you would not have loved the Jet Away or Strato-Flite if you ever drove one.

Bob Rice · 06-25-2009, 05:42 PM

A couple of pics of George Cureton's FI '58 Pontiac.

Rich Biebel · 06-25-2009, 07:40 PM

The F.I. unit I had came off a car sitting on a farm in Flemington,NJ. It was a very rare car....a '58 SuperChief. There were long wheelbase and short wheelbase '58 Pontiacs. Bonneville's and SuperChiefs were longer wheelbase and StarChiefs and Chieftains were shorter. That SuperChief had a stock CAST manifold F.I. unit...no sheet metal.....It also had the fender emblems on it and I took those also. They sat on my basement wall for 30+ years. I sold them on Ebay a couple years ago. The F.I. unit I sold many years ago thru Nat'l Dragster. I think Fred Borcherdt had a '57 Safari wagon tow car and it had a F.I. unit on it. I wanted to build one of those but could never find one. I bought an engine for my '58 that was supposed to be from Jay Hamilton or Ramon Lowe thru Craig Muller. Craig had a black '58 with a 315 hp F.I. engine and it ran very fast and won class at Indy if I recall right. He got some help from Ralph Truppi at T/K's on that car. Craig was also a bowler and did the Pro tour for a few years and was on TV a few times.....He qualified first once for the ABC saturday show. I always watched those shows as I was also an avid bowler. My '58 was my first nice car. I borrowed a 4.56 chunk from Craig and drove it to the track and even towed our racecar ( a 57 sedan delivery) to the track like that. Was a little on the noisy side!!! I had a McKeller cam for the '58 but am not sure if I had that in there then....Those were solid cams and would have made a heck of a lot of noise with that rear gear in there!!!

Joe Schweigert · 06-25-2009, 08:00 PM

Geez Keith you've been around longer than I thought

Mark Yacavone · 06-25-2009, 10:07 PM

I saw where Ramon won two classes the same day, way back when. Didn't he have a 60, and maybe a 62, also?
Where is he now?

bill dedman · 06-25-2009, 11:54 PM

Tony,

You're right; those Jetaways and Strato-Flite transmissions were not the best drag racing transmissions ever to hit the strip.

I was being sarcastic, but my humor leaves a lot to be desired...

They did have better ratios than the Dual-Range hydros (3.95; 2.55; 1.55; 1:1) instead of 3.81; 2.63; 1.45; 1;1.

The 1956 Pontiac Dual Range hydros had a 1.55 front planetay that gave ratios of 4.08: 2.63; 1.55 and 1:1.

That was a better deal than the 1.45 (regular) front planetary unit because it did two things;

1. It raised the stall speed (power flows from the crankshaft, and though the front planetary before it goes to the fluid coupling, on a hydro), so the 1.55 planetary gives the engine more "leverage" at stall, using the same fluid coupling, and

2. it closed up that awful ratio gap (2.63:1 to 1.45:1) on the two-three shift, a little. Anything in the way of help there, was welcome....

I put a '58 370 Pontiac motor and Strato-Flite into my street car, a '56 Chieftan 2-door HT.

Hated the transmission, so when it failed after a short time, I replaced it with a Dual Range hydro out of a '56 Pontiac.

What a difference... lol!

treessavoy · 06-26-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Janes

Here is one from Bristol 1967, he won the stock eliminator there.

Tony,

I tried to send the pic's of my '58 Pontiac to your address but it said it was the wrong address. Please send me a PM .

Jim

06-25-2009, 01:44 PM	#11
Bobby Zlatkin Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mills River, NC Posts: 417 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Hey Tony, Your second picture was not of Ramon Lowe, correct? I see that it's a four door. __________________ Bobby & Norene Zlatkin L/SA

06-25-2009, 02:27 PM	#12
Tony Janes Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Whittier, Ca Posts: 830 Likes: 94 Liked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton The 4 Dr 58 Pontiac is Jay Hamilton at Bristol 1967 __________________ Tony Janes 7941 STK, SS

06-25-2009, 02:52 PM	#13
bill dedman VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 1,739 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Fred Borcherdt was an East Coast Pontiac guru during that time period, who had a '57 F.I. that he raced, I think. He later built and raced "ROCKY'S GOAT," a 1969 Ram Air IV (I believe) GTO and made the cover of Popular Hot Rodding magazine when he won Stock at Dallas (NHRA World Finals) in about 1970 or '71.... not sure of the year, Jerry Stealy bought the car and re-named it "Nemesis" and ran it in C/SA for years.. Robert Chiesa was a West Coast '58 Pontiac racer who won a few. I think he was from the SF Bay area.. Loved that Strato-Flite dual-coupling hydro... lol! Bill __________________ Bill

06-25-2009, 03:40 PM	#14
Tony Janes Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Whittier, Ca Posts: 830 Likes: 94 Liked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Bill you would not have loved the Jet Away or Strato-Flite if you ever drove one. __________________ Tony Janes 7941 STK, SS

06-25-2009, 05:42 PM	#15
Bob Rice Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: New Bern, NC Posts: 617 Likes: 0 Liked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton A couple of pics of George Cureton's FI '58 Pontiac.

06-25-2009, 07:40 PM	#16
Rich Biebel VIP Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern New Jersey suburbs Posts: 2,314 Likes: 25 Liked 544 Times in 213 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton The F.I. unit I had came off a car sitting on a farm in Flemington,NJ. It was a very rare car....a '58 SuperChief. There were long wheelbase and short wheelbase '58 Pontiacs. Bonneville's and SuperChiefs were longer wheelbase and StarChiefs and Chieftains were shorter. That SuperChief had a stock CAST manifold F.I. unit...no sheet metal.....It also had the fender emblems on it and I took those also. They sat on my basement wall for 30+ years. I sold them on Ebay a couple years ago. The F.I. unit I sold many years ago thru Nat'l Dragster. I think Fred Borcherdt had a '57 Safari wagon tow car and it had a F.I. unit on it. I wanted to build one of those but could never find one. I bought an engine for my '58 that was supposed to be from Jay Hamilton or Ramon Lowe thru Craig Muller. Craig had a black '58 with a 315 hp F.I. engine and it ran very fast and won class at Indy if I recall right. He got some help from Ralph Truppi at T/K's on that car. Craig was also a bowler and did the Pro tour for a few years and was on TV a few times.....He qualified first once for the ABC saturday show. I always watched those shows as I was also an avid bowler. My '58 was my first nice car. I borrowed a 4.56 chunk from Craig and drove it to the track and even towed our racecar ( a 57 sedan delivery) to the track like that. Was a little on the noisy side!!! I had a McKeller cam for the '58 but am not sure if I had that in there then....Those were solid cams and would have made a heck of a lot of noise with that rear gear in there!!! __________________ Rich Biebel S/C 1479 Stock 147R Last edited by Rich Biebel; 06-25-2009 at 07:43 PM.

06-25-2009, 08:00 PM	#17
Joe Schweigert Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ontario, calif Posts: 211 Likes: 61 Liked 19 Times in 8 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Geez Keith you've been around longer than I thought __________________ Joe Schweigert 751 SS

06-25-2009, 10:07 PM	#18
Mark Yacavone Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Miles From Nowhere Posts: 7,809 Likes: 2,900 Liked 5,114 Times in 1,948 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton I saw where Ramon won two classes the same day, way back when. Didn't he have a 60, and maybe a 62, also? Where is he now? __________________ "We are lucky we don't get as much Government as we pay for." Will Rogers

06-25-2009, 11:54 PM	#19
bill dedman VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 1,739 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Tony, You're right; those Jetaways and Strato-Flite transmissions were not the best drag racing transmissions ever to hit the strip. I was being sarcastic, but my humor leaves a lot to be desired... They did have better ratios than the Dual-Range hydros (3.95; 2.55; 1.55; 1:1) instead of 3.81; 2.63; 1.45; 1;1. The 1956 Pontiac Dual Range hydros had a 1.55 front planetay that gave ratios of 4.08: 2.63; 1.55 and 1:1. That was a better deal than the 1.45 (regular) front planetary unit because it did two things; 1. It raised the stall speed (power flows from the crankshaft, and though the front planetary before it goes to the fluid coupling, on a hydro), so the 1.55 planetary gives the engine more "leverage" at stall, using the same fluid coupling, and 2. it closed up that awful ratio gap (2.63:1 to 1.45:1) on the two-three shift, a little. Anything in the way of help there, was welcome.... I put a '58 370 Pontiac motor and Strato-Flite into my street car, a '56 Chieftan 2-door HT. Hated the transmission, so when it failed after a short time, I replaced it with a Dual Range hydro out of a '56 Pontiac. What a difference... lol! __________________ Bill Last edited by bill dedman; 06-26-2009 at 12:00 AM.