Traction Bars

[SFM6S087]

Steve, as far as I know there were 2 options available on drag cars. AFX lift bars and camshaft. I don't have any evidence of this but I'm guessing when a customer purchased car he chose and Les built it to that spec. 6s018 had lift bars and cam and I have notes that purchaser (City Motors) picked it up at factory, I'm assuming that is SA not Performance Associates. 6s018 also had roll cage added and was done at Bill Stroppes shop prior to owner picking up. Not sure if Les or SA orchestrated that. I believe all the 66's got the 2 options. 011 and 021 still out there, 6s182 in landfill about 2 hours from me

Tim, THANKS for the additional info!

Steve

[SFM6S087]

   Steve ,
       I think I see where you are going. In other words were the drag units "pulled" from regular inventory or "purpose built" from "base cars"?  My "guess" as Tim alluded to is the factory bars were "there" and if the "optional''  "lift bars" as we called them back then , were added , the factory "bar only" would be removed. If left intact the two would work against eachother because of geometry differences.
   Randy

Randy, once again you're reading my mind. And I appreciate your "guess" on this. Your analysis makes perfect sense. Combining what you & Tim have contributed here, it looks like the drag cars were "pulled" from inventory, then modified for drag racing. Always subject to change if we learn something new.

Steve

[TLea]

To add to that I believe Howard has dates they were in Les's shop. If I recall correctly the 2 we have here, 5s327 and 6s018 were converted about 2 weeks apart in the fall of 65 thinking October

[Jbarela]

What was the reason for the change from strait to kinked?

[Steve McDonald Formally known as Mcdonas]

Randy,

All the carryovers I’m aware of have the 65 style axle housing.

Here’s what I have in my notes about the later cars. I’ve added *** by the 65’s to make them easier to spot.

Car   Axle Housing Style
253        66
280        66
285        66
292        66
296        65 ***
324        65 ***
359        66
402        66
407        66
454        66 (per your new info)
476        65 ***
477        65 ***
480        66 (per your new info)
488        66
520        66
524        65 ***
554        66
587        65 ***
701        66
705        66
711        66
754        66
762        66
817        66
853        66
907        66
914        66
1134      66
1761      66
2020      66
2191      66
2227      66

As always, this data may have errors. I did not keep track of the source on most of these. And even if I had, some people simply report incorrect info for a variety of reasons. So take all the above with a grain of salt.

Steve

(Modified on 1/13/21 to add cars 296, 817, 853, 1134)
(Modified on 1/14/21 to add cars 711, 2227)

Cars 1431 and 1855 had the 66 style yers

[Ducecpe]

1966-Hertz
Number 813 has over rides