The misssing link - Chrysler "Kit car"

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Mopar 151w2
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The misssing link - Chrysler "Kit car"

Post by Mopar 151w2 »

After spending millions on the development of "The World's Safest and Fastest Stock Cars", Chrysler had reached an evolutionary end-point. The cars were plenty strong, and had evolved tino a reasonable state of safety - but they were very labor-intensive to build and repair, and rule changes to deal with these realities and increasing speeds did not favor the mighty Mopars. What Chrysler engineering came up with was a way to use production unit body components to make a cost-effective, "stock" car for short-track racing, and continue development of their "small-block" engine used sucessfully in Trans-Am. My point in posting these pictures here is to mark the point in time when American racing found the limits of reinforced production unit bodies. Image These pics are from Phil Lagerquist, who owns this complete, unbuilt kit. Image This was engineered in 1970 or so, and I see several good practices that are starting to be used in rally-ish cages now - like the tubular framerail welded to the full length of the rocker (supplanting "sill bars") and floor-level crossmembers - I really like the huge production torsion bar/ trans mount crossmember. For those unfamiliar, these cages are seriously unfinished, and the production floors and firewall panels shown were meant to be welded in. What was complete were all the critical suspension mounting points and basic cage, welded in a fixture for consistency.
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