"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
05/02/2019 at 22:39 • Filed to: None
1
10|
"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
05/02/2019 at 22:39 • Filed to: None | 1
| 10 |
hero of mine
Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition
> Frank Grimes
05/02/2019 at 23:11 |
|
Saying he was smart is an understatement. My dad was a sportsman racer and I remember him talking about him all the time. I read his wiki and it mentions him building a pro stock engine for the Dallas race in 1985. I was at that race, it was the first event at the all concrete Texas Motorplex. A good hero to have.
WilliamsSW
> Frank Grimes
05/02/2019 at 23:39 |
|
|
Frank Grimes
> WilliamsSW
05/03/2019 at 00:44 |
|
heckin to the yes.
|
WilliamsSW
> Frank Grimes
05/03/2019 at 08:45 |
|
I first read about that car in some magazine, probably 20-25 years ago. It was my first intro into some of the wild factory drag cars the Big 3 were putting out in the early 60s.
I’m sure you know, but that’s a Z-11, with a factory 427 (in 1963!), originally prepped by Jenkins and owned by him much later.
|
Frank Grimes
> WilliamsSW
05/03/2019 at 12:24 |
|
he was once asked what his favorite car was and the Z11 was it! When everyone was drooling over chicks in bikinis and prostreet camaros with neon splash graphics in the 90's I was into super stocks and Z11 and L79 novas. The aluminum front sheetmetal on a impala was so cool and sorta sneaky sleeperish and the 409 is just a great looking and weird engine.
|
WilliamsSW
> Frank Grimes
05/03/2019 at 14:58 |
|
Except for the part about the Z-11 being his favorite car, I could have written your comment almost verbatim. Cars of the early to mid-60s have always been fascinating to me - especially some of the factory racers in that 1962-64 time frame. Chevy, Pontiac, Mopar and Ford were all doing some really wild and cool stuff back then.
I really love reading about some of the engines that really came * in between* the Chevy W motor and the classic “ Big block Chevy” - the Z-11 427 was one of those that was a hybrid of the W and the Mk IV BBC.
|
Frank Grimes
> WilliamsSW
05/03/2019 at 15:13 |
|
I am the same. I love the stock racers. I love any of the fairlanes falcons darts all of them. I love the era of 4 speeds with the white hurst shift knob the mismatched wheels whether chrome steelies mixed with torq thrust mags, Sun tachs etc. I have read some about the 427 that if i remember right came before the “big block” called the mystery motor or something. I dont know if its the same as the W motor 427 I dont know much about the W 427 but need to look into that.
my dream is to build one or a couple of these style cars and have some fun on the street and race them at the strip. The one I am currently obsessed with is building a L79 nova clone. A 350hp 327 just seems mental especially with 14" super narrow tires like they came stock.
|
WilliamsSW
> Frank Grimes
05/03/2019 at 17:14 |
|
Yeah I love the 2nd gen Novas, and an L79 Nova is the ultimate stock 2nd gen. Though throwing a Rochester FI unit on one would be fun...
I get them mixed up, but the “mystery motor” and Z-11 motors were very different (despite sharing bore and stroke with each other and NOT with the later Chevy 427!) The mystery motor was for NASCAR, and had porcupine heads that resembled big block heads. It was a step in the evolution to the production big block, but shared a lot of dimensions with the 409.
The Z-11 was more an evolution of the W motor- though with a few tweaks like heads etc. Both are unicorns.
|
Frank Grimes
> WilliamsSW
05/03/2019 at 18:26 |
|
Ah ok. This is what I thought. I kick myself for not being rich enough as a teen to buy this 67 nova that was decked out in primer and had all the proper drag race 60's parts including the holy grail mechanical fuel injection intake the proper velocity stacks sticking out of the hood and everything. It was like $3, 500 for the whole car. I bet the injection setup is worth nearly that.
|
WilliamsSW
> Frank Grimes
05/03/2019 at 19:11 |
|
I just looked on BaT, and they’ve auctioned off 3 Rochester FI units. They sold between 3600 and 6000.
Value depends on the year as well as condition, but yeah, they’re all big $$.
Too bad - that Nova sounds like a he ll of a ride!