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The Funniest Car.......... Bob Schramm -
Ft. Myers, Florida
In the early days of drag racing, Ron Pellegrini of Chicago, IL was driving Olds powered dragsters. He became friends with T.V. Tommy Ivo in the early 60's and drove two of Ivo's multi-engine dragsters. One was a twin Buick powered machine, which Ron later bought from Tommy, and the other was the famous 4 engine, 4 tire smoking behemoth called "Showboat". Then in 1964 he worked for Hawkinson Ford out of Oaklawn, IL and campaigned their 1964 Thunderbolt. By holding down the position of "Special Projects Manager", it put him in a very key position with the Ford Racing Program. Working with John Malik of Trend Automotive, Ron took on the challenge of stuffing the 427 big block from the T-Bolt into a 65 Mustang coupe. Thru motor set-back, a one piece front end and weight reduction, a proper displacement to weight ratio was achieved. The new Steed was called "Quarter Horse" and tripped the lights on the 1320 at 10.90 @ 130 m.p.h. The car ran under the A/FX class created by NHRA for factory experimental cars Ron took his Quarter Horse to Ford's proving grounds in hope of convincing them to let him build 100 units as the Dearborn Steel and Tubing Co. had done so they could run under the A/FX class rules as the Thunderbolts had done. While at the Ford Division, he told them that the Chrysler cars were going to be too fast for Ford's existing race program in the upcoming year. He predicted that the future lay in light weight, tube framed chassis and fiberglass bodies if they were to be competitive. The new concept of a light weight, replica race car was not an easy decision for Ford to make, so Ron waited thru the winter of '64 and into the spring of '65 for their decision. Being the business man and promoter that he was, Ron made bookings and commitments for the new "concept" car to run on Memorial Day, 1965. Then in late April of '65, Ford announced they did not want to participate in this new idea. This took Ron by surprise and left in a very bad position as he had commitments that had to be met.
Ron and new partner, Chuck Vesely, teamed up to make it happen and Ron started a fiberglass company named "Fiberglass Ltd.". They took a new 1965 Mustang coupe as a donor car and proceeded to make a fiberglass shell, including operable doors. Since it would take too long to complete a new "rolling chassis", Ron purchased the chassis of the DAK, A/FR roadster less the body, from fellow racers Lonnie Denision, Dave Arlasky and Bill Knox. Arlasky is credited for building the chassis and with it's only 97" wheelbase, compared to the 106" of the stock Mustang, major alterations were the next order of the day. The team removed 16" form the middle of the body, right thru the doors and brought the body back together. Next they moved the rear wheel wells forward by 7" and the front wheel wells forward by 12". They ha created the first "long-nose" Mustang which Holman and Moody used in their 1966 A/FX Mustang fastbacks. To keep the body work from collapsing at high-speed, they built a tubular frame work underneath the shell and connected the body with Dzus Fasteners.
In a little over three weeks, this team put together an idea and turned it into a race ready reality. Thus was born the "Super Mustang" which was known a s the" funniest car" in the class, which evolved into to the Funny Cars that we know today. The first trip out produced trap speeds over 180 mph with times in the 8.90 range. It was a real crowd pleaser from the start, with it's tire-smoking, wheel standing attitude. Ron said that it would carry the wheels all the way through the light and was a real hand-full to drive.
The engine was basically a stock
1957 Chrysler 392 "Hemi" that they bored .030 oversize and added M/T pistons
and rods. The bottom end was supported by a Milodon girdle and Isky supplied
the .550 lift- 292 duration cam. The engine was then topped off with a GMC
6-71 blower with a Delta blower drive and a Hilborn 4-Port injector. The
power was transmitted thru an old '39 LaSalle transmission with all but high
gear removed. To provide the engagement of the power a Schieffer double-disk
clutch set up was chosen, which was backed by a '57 Olds rear, which was
narrowed to fit under the body. The most "Trick" item was the Mickey
Thompson rocker arm covers. The word "Ford" was on each one even though they
were on the Chrysler engine. Mickey Thompson had developed a "Hemi-Head"
conversion kit for the 427 Ford FE engine and utilized valve covers with the
same bolt pattern as the Chrysler. As a result the sight of these unique
covers on what many people thought was a Ford engine brought on much
speculation and discussion about this being a "Experimental" engine. With
all this wrapped up the car came in at less than 1900 lbs. with entire body
being less than The car you see today was found in a junk yard in Tampa, FL. It came to Florida in the late 60's or early 70's and remained there until 1987 when it was purchased by Bob Schramm of Ft. Myers, FL. Bob had found the car two years prior, but the owner would not sell. Then one day the owner called and ask if he was still interested in buying the car. With the thought of buying the car on their mind, Bob and close friend, Dave Beyer headed for Tampa. However, upon arrival they were disappointed to find the car was not the same as the remembered it. The front American 12 spoke wheels along with the Olds rear end, tires and motor was missing. Only the old LaSalle trans and bellhousing along with a badly rusted chassis and a broken up body was left. Bob's thanks go out to David as he was the one who urged him to buy what I thought was a lost cause but they both knew that the car was something special. All the Holman & Moody long-nose cars were fastbacks and this was a fiberglass coupe it was a unique car, so they loaded it up and brought it back to Ft. Myers.
After many years of trying to find out what he had and who had built it, Bob showed a photo of the broken shell to "Big Daddy" Don Garlits on one of his trips to the "Gatornationals" in Gainesville, FL. Don remembered the car and a few days later with the name, Ron Pellegrini and a phone number for him in California. Bob contacted Ron the next day and after a lengthy conversation it was discovered that at the time Bob had brought the car to Ft. Myers, Ron was actually living only about 1/2 mile from Bob's house but had since moved to California. Now that the mystery was solved, the old magazine articles and photos started surfacing and plans for the restoration were began.
The first problem, Bob had was the frame and structural tubing for the body supports. They were rusted beyond safety standards and had to be duplicated as original. Bob took this challenge to an old time drag racer and funny car driver, Bill Holtz of Holtz Fabrication in Ft. Myers. He and fellow worker, Everett Oliver, relished the idea of restoring this rare piece of drag racing history. The chassis was replicated using chrome-moly tubing as was the the body structural support tubing. A '57 Olds rear was located, narrowed and fitted with Mosier axles and a 3:55 gear set. A set of American 12 spokes for the front and some Halibrand's for the rear as on the original car were located and installed to complete the rolling chassis. Bill and Everett hand formed all new aluminum panels for the interior along with a few structural changes for added safety. The old in-out trans was replaced with a new 2-speed "Glide" to make it simpler to move around at shows and exhibitions. The old style push bar was retained for looks only and the exhaust was changed in favor of "weed burner" style pipes. The new 392 Hemi still runs a GMC style 6-71 blower with Hilborn injectors on top but the new set up is on alcohol instead of nitro.
The body was the next phase of the long three year project, Bob's son, Scott wanted the chore of stiffing, filling, repairing and painting the fiberglass shell, which ended up being the ONLY original piece left in the project. He spent many nights and weekends massaging the old fiberglass back in to acceptable condition. The body was so thin in places that one could almost see through it, but after a couple months hard work, he brought it back and was ready to spray. The original Wimbledon white with Guardsman blue strips was laid down then clear coated for extra protection. After the painting, came the lettering. The large "Super Mustang" and the small "funniest car" along with the sponsors lettering on the quarter panels were done in vinyl duplicating the original hand painted lettering. Now, with all the components complete, it was time for the finial assembly phase. Bob returned the body back to Holtz Fabrication where they completed the assembly of the Nostalgic long-nose "Super Mustang that you see today.
In closing, a piece of drag racing history has been reborn and will remain for all to see and enjoy because of the dedication of all the people that have been mentioned in this article. Even though Bob has owned the car for almost 19 years, he never gave up on the dream of seeing in "all it's glory" Bob wants to thank all those dedicated people who worked tirelessly on this project to make his dream a reality. His final trophy will be to see Ron Pellegrini and his "Super Mustang" reunited at some point for by all accounts, Ron built the first true "long nose" Mustang funny car.
CLICK HERE
Be sure to watch for Bob
and the "Super Mustang" at nostalgia
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