"Inside the Cars of the Trans-Am" and other articles

[Jon Mello]

From the 1969 Kent 300 Trans-Am program.

[Jon Mello]

Here's a small story on Ron Grable's '67 Dodge Dart. In '67, it was not a common thing for cars to
have a full roll cage and one where the seat was connected to the cage. Ron was ahead of the curve
in that regard. He was not far enough ahead to incorporate a fuel cell, however. Ron and Bob Tullius
were the only two in the nation making a serious try with Chrysler products in '67. Chrysler pulled out
of direct corporate involvement in Trans-Am after '66 and did not return until the '70 season.


1967 Modesto Trans-Am program

[Jon Mello]

Here's a decent article on the suspension and handling of the '68 Trans-Am cars from my November '68 issue of Car Life magazine.

[Jon Mello]

Sometimes you come across pretty decent articles in unexpected places like this one from my May 1967 issue of Car Craft magazine.

[Bruce302]

That is a great article Jon, thanks. It was no doubt articles like this that fueled the interest in the series, and confirmed what everyone was thinking.
The Trans Am was the hot series.

Bruce.

[Sixteen Grand Sedan #56]

Looks like a GM Harrison oil cooler behind that Cougar grill

[Jon Mello]

From the May 1968 issue of Sports Car Graphic.

[Jon Mello]

From the April 1968 issue of "Sports Car", the national publication of the SCCA.

[Jon Mello]

From the Spring 1969 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine.

[Jon Mello]

From the November 1969 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine.

[Jon Mello]

[Swede70]

Fearing these scans will be too small, nevertheless I have something to share...

An obscure model car publication, this being Model Car Science.  Issues to consider are the July 1970 and December 1971 copies.  The July 1970 issue has a fine '69 Penske Donohue Camaro sans accessory decal markings and sporting period telemetry gear on the front hub - rather racy this.  The July 1970 slot car build up is a bore, with no further period photos afforded.  The December 1971 issue has quite a bit more, with some unseen photography from the initial race of the '70 season at Laguna Seca.  

Check out the Chapparal Camaro front and rear lips in place before they were instructed upon technical inspection to remove the nonhomologated, albeit stock spoilers.  In particular, I don't think this front spoiler was ever seen again, being replaced at some point with the heralded 'unbreakable Lexan' spoiler of much broader section to see the season out.  The small rear spoiler was seen briefly at Dallas before the rain out, while I have a photograph which shows the #1 Camaro at speed presumably at a test wearing the same.  No stripes on the rear spoiler, whereas cutouts for pins and refueling gear is noticed.  

Very sorry I'm slow to understand why all this is so terribly small of scale and difficult to read, for I am not sure precisely what to do to improve matters.  Anyhow, rather fun to examine in total.  Thanks...

Mike K.









...left corner is actually a '70 1/2 Titus Firebird interior photo.



M.K.

[Jon Mello]

Thanks for posting those, Mike. Some very good stuff there and these modeling magazines give us a new place to look for photos and information. I had never seen the small spoilers on the Jim Hall Camaros previously. Nice to see something new and different.

[Jon Mello]

From the May 9, 1970 issue of Competition Press & Autoweek, courtesy of Craig Wheeldon.

[Jon Mello]

Also from the May 9, 1970 issue of CP&A.








Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

From my copy of the 1968 St Jovite program.

[Jon Mello]

From my copy of the 1970 Laguna Seca Trans-Am program.

[Jon Mello]

"How to Cheat in the Trans-Am".  A neat and informative article courtesy of our own Swede70. Thanks, Mike!

[Jon Mello]

Another great article providing insight into the Trans-Am series, courtesy of our friend Swede70. Thanks again, Mike!

[Jon Mello]

Many thanks to Mike K. (Swede70) for sharing this look at the AMC racing effort with us.

[klvn8r]

I was gonna send this one in too!!!  Thanks for beating me to the punch! 

klvn8r

[Jon Mello]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda, Craig.   


Here's an article from Road and Track courtesy of Robert Byng. It discusses some of the tech inspection happenings from the start of the 1970 T/A season.

[Jon Mello]

Courtesy of Mike K. (Swede70). Thanks again, Mike!

[Jon Mello]

CARS magazine article on the '69 Javelin racing team courtesy of Craig Wheeldon. Thank you, Craig!

[Jon Mello]

Another 1969 CARS article on the Javelin team, courtesy of Craig Wheeldon.

[klvn8r]

You gotta admit, its pretty funny seeing so much info on the TA Javelin.....on a CAMARO website!!!!  :^)

klvn8r

[Jon Mello]

Most of the material in this thread is to give an understanding of "the big picture" of the Trans-Am series at that time.
I think it helps to see and have an understanding of what the other guys were doing. That's why I have been including it.



Another Trans-Am article from Mike K. (Swede70). Thanks, Mike!

[klvn8r]

This is a GREAT page on Trans Am stuff.....I feel lucky to stilll be alive and not flamed to death over my AMC rants.  I appreciate all of the attention to this.  The Trans Am series was a great series for all of the manufacturers, and I love seeing it all viewed here, and not some of the old "legends" being reported as fact.

klvn8r

[Jon Mello]

Nice article and some extra bits from "The Complete Chevrolet Book", a Petersen Publishing
magazine that came out in 1970. These pages come courtesy of Mike K (Swede70). Thanks, Mike!

[Jon Mello]

From the 1969 Riverside Trans-Am program.


Bob Sanders Collection, courtesy of Robert Lodewyk

[crazyamc]

YEAH!!  Somebody else has the Car Life "Wagging the Dog" story!   Could someone PLEASE post the left-out pages of the article ?  I have not been able to find my copy for over a year now!       There is excellent race-to-race info that I need for an upcoming interview this month.   Thanks,   Ken

[Jon Mello]

I added those in for you, Ken. Sorry about the initial screw-up.

From the 1969 Riverside Trans-Am program.


Bob Sanders Collection, courtesy of Robert Lodewyk

[Jon Mello]

A May 1967 article on "Baby Grands". Grand Nationals were of course the top echelon Nascar cars and the term Baby Grands
was in essence referring to Trans-Am style sedans as a smaller version of those.

[Jon Mello]

An article on the Dan Gurney 'Cudas, courtesy of Robert Byng. Thank you, Robert!

[Jon Mello]

A little insight into some of the Javelin race cars being campaigned in 1969 . This info comes
the May 1969 issue of Hot Rod magazine, courtesy of Robert Byng. There is confirmation that
the two different Javelins Bob Tullius drove in '69 were built by two different entities. The few
paragraphs below are taken from coverage of the Citrus 250, a Nascar GT race at Daytona 2-69.




The "other" Javelin Tullius raced in '69, built by Ronnie Kaplan's shop.

Ron Lathrop photo

[klvn8r]

I'm 99% certain that the 33 car above is Revson's #3 car from the 1968 season.  Ted Roberts was in Follmer's #4 car from 68 (Roberts was #55).

klvn8r

[Jon Mello]

Good information on the Javs. Thanks for sharing.

Motor Trend's "1968 World Automotive Yearbook" with a nice article on the '67 Trans-Am cars, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

Behind the wheel of a Trans-Am Barracuda. Many thanks to Mike K (Swede70) for sharing this with us.

[OG69Z]

Thanks Jon and Swede70 for a great story to start the day! I think we can all relate to a ride along experience!
Bob

[Jon Mello]

Glad you enjoyed that, Bob. Here's another one for our reading enjoyment, courtesy of Craig Wheeldon. (May '69 Speed Age magazine)

[klvn8r]

I wish y'all would stop exposing all of the AMC 'secrets'!!!   :^)

[Jon Mello]

You AMC boys got a lot of press back in the day.   

[Jon Mello]

September '71 article, courtesy of Craig Wheeldon.

[Jon Mello]

Some good insight into Ronnie Kaplan, courtesy of Craig Wheeldon.

[Jon Mello]

Sports Car Graphic article courtesy of Craig Wheeldon.

[klvn8r]

I'm starting to think that this should be titled  "The T/A Camaro/Javelin Forum".  :^)   
I've noticed that this late 1970 article/photo has NO torque arm/shock in the car, but the "restoration" of it has one now, mounted up on the driveshaft tunnel.  Thoughts??

klvn8r

[Jon Mello]

No idea on the torque arm/shock. Maybe they tried it earlier in the season and it did not work as planned or was nixed by the SCCA.

[klvn8r]

Pretty sure it was not there in 1970....the car currently has one mounted on the interior, atop the driveshaft tunnel.

klvn8r

[cuda48]

I agree, I don't believe it was there in 1970.  In fact, I believe I read somewhere (I think it was a quote from Donohue) that the SCCA didn't want suspension links coming into the interior unless they were covered up (like Gurney's horizontal shocks). Ken Epsman's Posey Challenger has a very similar link coming through the center of the rear seat area and attaching to the rear of the roll cage that was not there in 1970 as well.

Camicia

[Jon Mello]

I'm no expert on those cars so I appreciate the input from you guys. Thanks.

[oldtransamdriver]

That is a great article in SCG - thanks to Craig and John.  I had not seen that before or at least didn't remember it.  

I used to wonder how much slower would I be if I had a chance to drive Donohue's car?  at least 3-4 seconds a lap, I'm sure.
Of more interest would have been, if he had driven my old 67 and how much faster in it would he have been?

I raced agaiinst Paul at Mid-Ohio in 71 (Chaffey College camaro).  It poured rain for the first half of the race, then dried up, and we only had the rain tires we started with and they were in shreds by the time the race was over. Paul was 17th qualifier and I was 20th(although qualifying was never a big deal for us - just get on the grid). That's the race I saw him driving the camaro down the road later with the dump cans etc sticking out of the rear window. I think he drove it out from CA and then back!

Milt could, imo, hold his own with the factory guys.

Robert Barg



 

[Jon Mello]

You're welcome, Robert. I think that is a very good and informative article for those who are into the actual driving of the cars.
No doubt that Milt was a very good driver but it is interesting to see him as part of the ARA team testing the Donohue Javelin
for this test and then ARA did not stick with Milt for the '71 season. Instead they went with Peter Revson and Tony Adamowicz.

[Jon Mello]

From the March 1971 issue of Motor Sport magazine. This is the Wiggins Teape Camaro, formerly a Penske
Camaro raced by Mark Donohue at Daytona to start the '68 Trans-Am season and raced by Sam Posey for
Penske in mid-68. It was sold to Sam after he left the Penske team but Roger bought it back from Sam to
keep in reserve as a back-up car during the '69 season. It was not used in '69 and subsequently went to
England after that. It has been brought back to the U.S. and restored as the first '68 Penske car and is
currently being raced by Don Lee in Historic Trans-Am.



Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

June '69 article from Stock Car Racing magazine, courtesy of Chad (OCTARD).

[Jon Mello]

These two tidbits from the May 2, 1970 issue of Competition Press & Autoweek are courtesy of Robert Barg.

[MO]

1. I don't think I have ever seen a dash with that many gauges in it.
2. I don't know when the tall spoiler made it to production, but my Van Nuys 10B 71 Z had the short spoiler.

[Jon Mello]

Fred, I think the Javelins only ran that double panel of gauges while they did testing and I believe they did a lot of testing throughout the entire '68 season trying to get the cars to handle and perform like they wanted them to.

As to the rear spoilers for the '70 Camaros, the large spoiler as seen in the photo about was OK'd by the SCCA just a few days after that issue of CP&A came out. They were in use on the Camaros for the second T/A race of the season which was at Lime Rock on May 9th. These were a special order spoiler (not an RPO, regular production option) and the low spoiler was a standard item on the car in '70 and '71. The large spoiler became the only one offered when the '72 model year came around. I don't know the exact tally for how many of the tall spoilers were made for the '70 model year but it wasn't a whole lot. I think the SCCA gave the GM guys a break and doubt they really delivered enough cars with the tall spoiler to satisfy the 2500 minimum by early May.

[MO]

Thanks for the info Jon. I was always under the impression that the tall spoiler was a COPO only item for 70 and became standard D80 sometime in 71.

[Jon Mello]

I'm a 1st-gen Camaro lover and my interest falls way off when it comes to the 2nd-gens. I know the tall spoiler was a COPO type of order as that's how it shows up on some of the original build sheets that have been found in those cars. Whether that tall spoiler became standard sometime in mid-71, I didn't think so, but maybe some others with knowledge of that will chime in.

[Jon Mello]

A nice article on the Pontiac Tempest that Bob Tullius drove in the '71 Trans-Am series. Thanks to Mike K (Swede70) for sharing this with us.

[Jon Mello]

Jerry Titus penned article which scratches the surface on the intricacies of suspension and handling.









Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Motorcade magazine article on engine builders Falconer & Dunn, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[MO]

Pretty amazing insight by Jerry Titus. Reminds me of a story I heard about Mario Andretti telling his pit crew a tire was - 1/4 pound low; turned out to be his handling problem, and he went on to win.

[Jon Mello]

I thought that was a pretty good article by Jerry Titus. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Here's another Motorcade article courtesy of Mike K (Swede 70) which covers the '69 Shelby Trans-Am Mustangs.

[Jon Mello]

Here's a small tidbit on Bob Tarozzi who prepared the Hurst sponsored Javelin for Bob Tullius
to drive in the Nascar GT division during the '69 season. This came out of the June 4, 1969
issue of National Speed Sport News. (Jon Mello Collection)

P.S. There's a nice article in the June 2012 issue of Mopar Action magazine which discusses
Bob T's experience with the Javelin. Thanks to Craig Wheeldon for pointing that out to me.

[Jon Mello]

Panhard rod and rear sway bar installation as shown in one of the Trans-Am Javelins. Since all the pony
cars in the Trans-Am series used a leaf spring rear suspension like this, the advice and information offered
should be of benefit to Camaro, Firebird, Mustang and Mopar owners as well. (Jon Mello Collection)









There does not appear to be a driveshaft safety loop in the Javelin.

[Jon Mello]

Car Life article looking at some of the phony-baloney that occurred during the '68 Trans-Am season
and what the plan was to address the problem for the '69 season. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Another article on the Gray Ghost Tempest, this one from the 1971 MIS Trans-Am program, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

February '69 CARS magazine article on the '68 Penske Camaro winning the Trans-Am championship, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).
The author was confused and stated the 302 "made use of a small-cube-block (presumably meaning 283) with a 327 crank assembly"
but we all know that it was in fact the inverse of that --- a 327 type (4" bore) block with a 283 style (3" stroke) crank.

[Jon Mello]

AMC Dealership magazine coverage of Trans-Am, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

Americana Vol 3 No 6, 1968







===================================================================================================


Americana Vol 5 No 2, 1969











=====================================================================================================


Americana Vol 5 No 6, 1970






======================================================================================================


Americana Vol 6 No 3, 1971

[Jon Mello]

March 1970 CARS magazine article on the Trans-Am series, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).
The "World of Whale Racing" was first referenced by Jerry Titus in an article he penned for
the April 1968 issue SCCA's "Sports Car" magazine. It can be seen in reply #7 of this thread.

[Jon Mello]

Feature article on the Shelby American team from the July '68 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

CARS magazine article on the '70 Boss 302 Trans-Am engine, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

Model Car Science magazine from December 1971, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

An article from the October '87 issue of Sport & GT Market magazine, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[oldtransamdriver]

So who has the Dale Sale car to-day?

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

Based on the serial number, it is the same car now raced by Dan Lipetz in Historic Trans-Am.

[oldtransamdriver]

That's what I thought, but what is the author of the story referring to in his last paragraph?

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

I suspect that the known history of what car Parnelli was driving as his primary car back then has evolved since that article was written back in 1987. Any Mustang guys out there that can fill us in? There are a number of us that enjoy this kind of research (i.e. what serial number of what car won what race). I am no expert on the Mustangs but do appreciate learning more about all the cars that participated in the Trans-Am series.

[1109RWHP]

This is the best place for T/A Mustang info. and your answer.http://www.ponysite.de/transam.htm

[MO]

Thanks for that link. Great info on that web site.

[Jon Mello]

MRRN magazine article on the Posey Challenger, courtesy of Mike K. (Swede70)

[Jon Mello]

Interesting profile of Sam Posey, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

More Sam Posey stuff, courtesy of Mike K. (Swede70)

[Jon Mello]

An article on the Boss 302 engine as prepared for Trans-Am racing with the two Holley Dominator carbs, courtesy of Mike K. (Swede70).
The new Hot Rod magazine (May 2013) has a nicely done 8-page article on the ill-fated Ford Tunnel Port 302 used in Trans-Am in 1968.

[Jon Mello]

From The Fabulous Mustang magazine, issue No. 1, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

More from The Fabulous Mustang magazine, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

Man, if you ever want to feel like you're in a wind tunnel, freeze your buns off and generally be a miserable spectator,
Willow Springs (Rosamond, CA) is the place for you.









____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Jon Mello]

Here are three different insightful articles on the AAR Cuda racing program, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).