'67 Mustang • Chris Austin • Chesapeake, VA
This '67 has a good near-death story. Chris Austin spotted the coupe in the paper as a drag car for $8,000. The price was high, but he decided to check it out anyway. The owner wouldn't let Chris drive it though, since he was sure it "would get away from him," but he'd be happy to give Chris a ride. After the obligatory burnout, the owner laid into it and snatched Second, and that's where it got ugly. The Mustang swerved all over the road, plowing through a ditch, a culvert, and a mailbox. Chris walked away from the sale, but called the guy and struck a deal for $3,000, delivered. The damage turned out to be mostly superficial, and Chris has already finished all the repairs and added plenty of upgrades to make the coupe more capable of channeling the power to the ground.
| By The Numbers |
| Engine: |
351 Windsor, forged crank and rods, Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, COMP roller rockers, Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake, MSD ignition and distributor |
| Trans: |
Dan Williams wide-ratio Toploader with Hurst V-Gate II shifter |
| Suspension: |
Competition Engineering 90/10 shocks up front, Calvert racing split mono springs with CalTracs bars in the rear |
| Brakes: |
stock '68 Mustang discs and drums, SSBC proportioning valve, Hurst roll control |
| Rearend: |
9-inch Ford, Richmond spool with 4.56 gears and Mark Williams 31-spline axles |
| Wheels: |
15x7 and 15x8 Weld Drag Stars |
| Tires: |
205/70R15 and 255 60R15 Dunlop radials |
| Future Plans: |
A 532ci stroker is in the cards now that the chassis is sorted and ready to run in the 10s or better. A coat of factory blue paint and white C-stripe will also replace the current graphics. |
'74 Karmann Ghia • Scott Cornish • Pleasant Dale, NE
After mean Mother Nature sent a tornado and folded up Scott Cornish's '33 Nash project like a matchbox, he looked for another unique option. When a Karmann Ghia cruised by one day, he thought, "Why not a Ghia gasser?" Using what was left of the Nash chassis, Scott stretched a clapped out Ghia to fit the 100-inch wheelbase, but squeezing everything else in was the biggest hurdle. Scott also discovered it's quite difficult to build a competitive drag car that's still streetable, but eventually put together a potent package that has seen hundreds of passes regularly dipping into the 8.90s at 150 mph on the motor. Unfortunately, Scott's local dragstrip closed down a few years ago, so the fun factor of the Ghia is waning. But there is hope; a road race course has opened up less than a hundred miles away, and Scott's considering reworking the Ghia into a g-Machine.