Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton

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!!!

mopar68 · 08-11-2009, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel

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.

Ha! I remember that program! I used to watch it too, Saturday afternoons, before ABC's Wide World of Sports came on.

Hmmm...now who was the top bowling champ back then? Oh yeah, Earl Anthony!

M68

Jimmy R Parker · 08-11-2009, 02:07 PM

Bill, I was also at the '57 Nationals and the John Zink Pontiacs impressed me as much as anything there. I was fourteen at the time and caught a disease that I still have today.

Jimmy

Rich Biebel · 08-11-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mopar68

Ha! I remember that program! I used to watch it too, Saturday afternoons, before ABC's Wide World of Sports came on.

Hmmm...now who was the top bowling champ back then? Oh yeah, Earl Anthony!

M68

I rarely missed a show....I watched that show every week and taped it if I wasn't home....I loved bowling and bowled 3 nights a week at one time. Averaged about 175-180 20 years ago....

Earl was "The Man" for sure but I was a big fan of Dick Weber......Shot from way outside and very little hook but really roped them in there when the presure was on.....I bowled a lot and that was my shot...outside down and in. I have 2 league champion trophy's and they sit next to my Wally's.....

rayfin · 08-11-2009, 09:45 PM

Who's mom is that in the picture?

06-25-2009, 02:52 PM	#1
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	#2
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	#3
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	#4
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.

08-11-2009, 02:07 PM	#6
Jimmy R Parker Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Columbus, Ga Posts: 32 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Bill, I was also at the '57 Nationals and the John Zink Pontiacs impressed me as much as anything there. I was fourteen at the time and caught a disease that I still have today. Jimmy

08-11-2009, 09:45 PM	#8
rayfin Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: sioux city Posts: 134 Likes: 1 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Ramon Lowe '58 Cheifton Who's mom is that in the picture?