Resurrecting an old race car - late edition
 

Other than occasionally adding a snippet or two, haven't had much time for this forum lately.

Have spent the last 3 Sundays working on my old Nova. After a couple of attempts, which included cutting everything back out and replacing the 2x3 crossmember with a new one. After 20 years, this car is setting on the ground, capable of being moved once again. At present, everything is only tack welded but this is such a relief.

Due to many different circumstances that have stalled my ability to work much on the car this fall, this is a victory. Still a monumental amount of work to be done. I'm many steps closer than when this idea was hatched.

KEEP PLUGGING AWAY you will get it. :D

Keep on keepin' on... you will keep your sanity anyways if you stay on task... even baby steps keep me going. It is when the project stops for too long that the dream gets away & then winds up in a ad for someone else to finish. Is this your old race car? Any sentemental value there? What is the car? Keep up that hard work & god bless. Rigsby

Re: Resurrecting an old race car - late edition
 

Hey Robert, Just do it, i'm almost 70 in 3 mos. Just get your ugly ass out there and keep on working on it. It will make both of us happy. If you quit or slow down only you will feel bad and unfortunately no one in the family will give a sh*t, they will say well he's tired so he'll never finish it. Trust me i've been there. I've been told i was crazy, i've been told i couldn't do it, i've been told i'm too old to race and i should just sell my sh*t and put the money in the bank. But these were statements form the people who may inherit my losses. Just do it and frig those people who say you can't don't evet give up. Crap i've got 3 progects going and may never finish any of them, but i'll never give up to the family who says i'm old and out of touch with reality and should just cash in.
I can tell you i still hold a NHRA compitation lics. and will never give it up until the day i die or NHRA takes it away from me.

So Just do it

Zip.

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go man go one step at a time!!! glad to hear from you again!

progress
 

Thanks for the encouragement. I have no intention of giving up on this thing. The old suspension was pretty beat up, it was/is, so nice to see this old war beast setting with a stance once again. Like my buddy said the other nite, "we needed a break but it probably shouldn't have been 20 years, LOL!"

Hey Zip, I have a couple of ideas that are being kicked around. Probably the dumbest, I've been offered a 1979 Firebird. May end up with the thing for little of nothing. I'm contemplating building either an NHRA/IHRA legal stocker or maybe build it as an IHRA crate motor stocker? I've already had a guy from east Texas contact me to try to sell me a motor.

The way I have it figured, most of us will never be able to retire. So, I intend to try to do the things I enjoy, as long as I can.

Hey Robert i was probably a little harsh in my previous post and that was not intended. I was only trying to make a point, because my family/kids are not behind me. They think i'm foolish and wasting my time for playing with my hobby/cars. But how soon they forget who was there to bail them out when they had money problems, and not one of them has bothered to pay me back. O'k i'm a little bitter, but that's my problem. I admit i was a little into the bottle when i made the last post, but in reality it's pretty much true.
I had an old 66 Nova and wish i had it back, but that's history, and too that i say hang in there and it will get done, i'm pulling for ya.

Forgot to add. last yr. a gen 4 corvette won at the world finals, it was a blown car and the guy said it was his last race, he had tried to win for yrs. He finally won one. On his car he had 56 stickers from the world finals that he had attended. He said he had been to every since he was 22 yrs. old. The interviewer said MY GOD that's makes you 78 yrs old, his answer was i guess so but i never count yrs.
If that's not inspiration i've never heard the word. By the way his victory and story was on the cover of National Dragster, to him i solute us old foggies who still have the heart to keep on trying. I have never won a National event and i have been to many. Maybe i have 8 yrs. to go to win one, who knows, but until they close that casket door i'll be trying, i know that's dedications, but that's just me.

Zip.

Hey Zip, no harm, no foul. I didn't take what you said in a harsh light. If you're still kickin' this at 70, I've got another 17 years to catch ya'! I don't pay much mind to what my family says. After 20 years, I have alot of catching up to do.

I haven't done a national event since I was a kid, in my 20's anyway. That's kind of why I want a stock class drag car. Maybe do a few IHRA Pro-Ams, maybe an NHRA divisional points meet. Could try my Nova in Super Street/Hot Rod 10.90, not real sure how it'll stand up in tech by todays standards. I don't consider the car unsafe but it's all homebrew.

Here is my old Nova, it was ladderbar car and it ran a best of [email protected] with 10.5/28.5 Mickies. As you can see i donot believe in adverising products that no one has paid me to do so. No stickers. This was over 20 yrs. ago.

Zip.

http://img247.imagevenue.com/loc149/..._122_149lo.jpg

Nice old Nova, Zip. Best mine did was 10.91@122mph. we ran 6.70's in the 1/8th. That was a small motor, big tire, 14 x 32 with a 'junk' converter. I do hope to improve on those numbers this time. I realistically figure, mid 10's with this car is as fast as I intend to go