I loved the Monzas. loved thoughs cars. Me and a friend of mine used to cruise in one back in 67'.
I think
woody was speaking of the GM front-engined Chevy Monza while you are speaking of the rear-engined Corvair Monza. I had a Monza Spyder turbocharged convertible, a '63, 145 cu. in, 150 HP through a single Carter YF downdraft carb, so > 1 HP/cubic inch. In '65 they had a new body, and continued the changes in the suspension they made in '64 to address the Ralph Nader
Unsafe At Any Speed concerns. Yenko Chevy made Corvair Yenko 'Stingers,' along with their high-performance Chevys of other body styles, which are $$$$ cars today, and are frequently-copied as 'tribute' cars. The big-block 427 Chevy was often swapped into a Camaro to make a Yenko; Baldwin 'Motion Performance,' Nickey Chevrolet, and Royal Pontiac ('Bobcat') were also doing something similar.
Woody and Kyle will probably appreciate the picture here, these cars were very-special, and if you had one of these today, I don't doubt they would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Three Ford Mavericks, made by Holman, Moody and Stroppe in No. Carolina. They were sold to selected drag racers for $1 each, and supported by the manufacturer (Ford). The hot set-up in drag racing for the Ford drivers had been the SOHC 427, or the Tasca Ford developed Cobra Jet 428. These Mavericks (no, they are not the new Ford small pick-up trucks!) were powered by the newest at the time big-block Ford the Boss 429. Three drivers of renown for them were Atlanta GA's Hubert Platt (the
Georgia Shaker), Al Joniec, and Kalamazoo's Dick Loehr who repped for the Ford Drag Team as its midwest competitor. Platt was the east coast/south competitor, and Joniec was the rep for another geographic area. These comprised the Ford Drag Team who would compete in drag racing across the country, but were also giving seminars at Ford dealerships across the country, where young guys and drag racers could receive tips on safely competing in drag-racing. The three nationally-known team members would show attendees how to race safely, and show what parts were available for modifying their cars. In an interesting development, the Ford Drag Team also put on seminars at prisons and reform schools, in an attempt to demonstrate how young guys who were incarcerated could attain jobs in the auto industry after receiving training. A southern prison sponsored a drag car built by inmates with donated parts and it was driven in competition by a former guard.
This pic shows the three Ford Drag Team members in a promotion shot at a drag strip, you can see the names of each on the doors.
Yellow: Joniec
Blue: Platt
White: Loehr
, hope u all look after yourselves in 2022.
