Friday 14 February 2014

FUNNY HA-HA AND FUNNY PECULIAR, THE BIRTH OF THE FREAKSHOW FUNNY CAR . . . . DICK LANDY'S ALTERED '64 DODGE . . . . THE CAR THAT SPAWNED A NEW SPECIES OF DRAGSTER.

I'm sure that anyone like me who is spastic in love with the golden age of drag racing is aware of Dick Landy and his Mopar powered sleds and that the Dandy Man went onto become a legend in the field of performance motor construction, he even built the 426 in my mate Clifford Hoad's Coronet back in the early nineties. I went trawling for some pics of the altered Coronet he piloted in the '64 season and ended up tripping over some facts I had no idea about . . . . namely, that it was his home modified example that was not only the car that inspired the factory to build their small run of legendary altereds for the '65 season but it was the car that provided the spark that ultimately led to the term 'Funny Car'. I'd always assumed that his rig was in fact a factory built experimental supplied to Landy to campaign in the dying days of 1964 . . . . I never realised it was the swingin' Dick himself who built it in his own garage and nor did I know that someone, checking out the action and clearly inspired by the 'ridiculous' appearance of the A/FX's blurted out a phrase that stayed with the sport of drag racing to this very day. To read the entire informative article on the entire wonderful 'first funny car' saga go to http://theamazoeffect.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/drag-racing-history-dick-landys-1964.html#comment-form and check it out for yourself . . . . history rules !!!!

2 comments:

  1. Cool stuff, '64 was the year my family moved back to California...when I got to go to my first 'Autorama' at the old fairgrounds before Cal Expo...which brings me to my latest post that has a question for you...

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    1. Laz, see your latest post . . . loving your work buddy, keep em coming !!!

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