1960 and newer in stock?

[Paul Dilcher]

The year was 1972.

[bill dedman]

>>>>>"before that the old hydros were outlawed for P/Glides."

Just a note of clarification for anyone who was not around NHRA drag racing back then, and might not know:
Chevrolets were and always have been VERY popular in NHRA drag racing for a variety of reasons, but the early Powerglide cars struggled, The had a very tight torque converter (1,400 rpm stall?) and there were virtually NO hi-stall converters on the scene, yet. Marv Ripes at A-1 was about to change that, but it hadn't happened yet, in the middle '60s.

As I remember it, (maybe Tony Janes knows this story better than I do, since he was there), some guy who was a buddy of one of the higher-ups at NHRA tech, had a 1959 Chevy El Camino that he ran in "Stock" and, since it was licensed as a truck, this tech guy let him use a truck transmission (Chevy trucks had Olds/Pontiac-style 4-speed Hydra-Matics, back in the fifties, not Powerglides.)

Because of the torque converter stall speed "problem," the hydro was somewhat faster than the Powerglide of the day. Having seen this El Camino perform, somebody built a hydro-equipped Chevy sedan delivery (also licensed as a truck in CA at the time), and the race was on... People started to build these things with every conceivable engine combination from 1955 four barrel 265's to Fuel injected 283's. Undoubtedly, there were also some tri-carbed 348's running, as Chevy was still building sedan deliveries in 1960, I believe.

By 1970 or '71, every stock class record from E/SA down as low as they went at that time (N/SA?) was held by SOME permutation of a Chevy sedan delivery with a hydro.

Be that as it may, the emperor was naked as a jaybird; the open secret was, the Chevy factory never EVER put that transmission in a sedan delivery. I built one of the first wave of them in 1965, and when it came time for rear motor mounts, I had to fabricate them myself. The Powerglide mounts wouldn't fit the truck (hydro) bell housing, and the truck mounts wouldn't fit the automobile frame. No go!!!

By about 1972, however, the party was over, and NHRA decreed that the 4- speed Hydra-Matic was personna non grata in ANY Chevy "passenger car body" (which a sedan delivery was) in Stock Eliminator.

However, by that time, Marvin Ripes ( and some others, Paul Rossi, among them) had learned how to make a Chevy Powerglide fly, and in short order, those 2-speeds were faster than the Olds/Pontiac Hydros, anyway.

This was not one of NHRA's shining moments in history...

[Chuck Norton]

Bill,

For the record, "Rossi Transmissions" was owned by Tony Rossi, not Paul Rossi. I can hardly imagine any more dissimilar personalities than Tony Rossi and Paul Rossi. Tony's business was an adjunct to a regular transmission shop located on Holt Boulevard in Pomona. A regular contributor to this forum "Da Kahuna" was a skinny high high school kid doing R&R work there in the early 70's when I first went there with Val Hedworth.

The Hydramatic sedan deliveries were long gone before 1970. I was out of touch for about a year and a half in 1968 and 1969 due to being up to my neck in graduate school and I don't have all the timeline at my fingertips but I recall John Barkley winning the Winternationals in his PG equipped "A-1 Transmissions" '57 Chevy in 1968. I think the Hydros were gone before 1968. If I've missed that date, I'm sure that Tony Janes will recall specifically.

Highest regards,

c

[Tony Janes]

1969 was the last year for Hydro's in sedan deliveries.

[Dwight Southerland]

Same for the 4-speeds in '57 passenger cars. I was racing a '57 at the time and had to change to a 3-speed. I could buy a 2.47 gear set at Western Auto for $68! I believe Perfection American was the manufacturer. Add a Lenco slider and grind on the engagement dogs so you could power shift it, then I might get 20 runs out of it before something broke.

[Paul Dilcher]

Marv Ripes and Tony Rossi were making superb Powerglide convertors in 1970 .

[Bud Lefevre]

also wasn't the first 2 years for the new Pure Stock's not allowed to trailer there cars thru the gate ?