Must be how Mike Wazowski felt...

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps9vup114d.jpg

What are the odds?

So cool Helmut, hope the stories start flowing in!!

Ryan

not sure about the date and the track was CT dragway.

Maybe this guy has an emblem for your Chevelle.

http://cranstononline.com/stories/em...ndustry,106670

What a great story. Congrats to those involved!

Perfect....."Norwood Motors, the dealer identified with the village rather than the municipality."

Contact him Helmut, you never know?

Dan

The Norwood emblem in the photo thats says Norwood RI is pre 1965 the correct one for a 1969 car would say Norwood motors Warwick RI. Before 1965 Norwood was a part of Warwick until the Norwood name was dropped by the town.

I saw this emblem on a survivor 1967 Camaro... notice it has the Chevrolet Bowtie.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...psl7kpusld.jpg

I got this similar emblem (taken off a guy's 1969 Malibu in the Rhode Island area) several years ago. The emblem is a little crusty, and won't quite clean up enough to put it back on my Chevelle.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...pshungdl7f.jpg

Thanks, I was talking about this photo which I think is New England Dragway based on the railing in this photo as compared to other photos from that track. I did an extensive search yesterday on this track and could find no other shots with the Chevelle in them. I also tried CT today with similar luck.

I sure appreciate everyone's efforts in trying to string this story together... you're good friends!

The official production date of the car was May 20, 1969 and it would have been delivered to Norwood around the end of May, 1969. Norwood had the car for most of the month of June, 1969.

Howard, the original owner, signed the original title on June 27, 1969 (and the commissioner of Motor Vehicles certified the title on July 10, 1969). That's 13 days later... would that have been the days when Mel Perry prepped the car for Howard?

Howard told me the other day that he raced the car at Connecticut Dragway until he traded it in to Scuncio. There's a date stamp of Jul 31 1971 on the top corner of the title... which I'm thinking may be the trade-in date? I'd sure like to find out what happened to the car after Scuncio got it.

In my conversations with previous owners going back to approximately 1982, one owner in particular remembered the car being raced in its early years at New England Dragway.

Oh yeah, for what its worth... I raced the Chevelle at Music City Raceway in Nashville, TN during Chevellabration back in 2006!

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...psvn7uepsj.jpg

"The emblem is a little crusty, and won't quite clean up enough to put it back on my Chevelle."

I respectfully disagree. I'd put that emblem on just like it is.

Well, now that you mention it... it would add some nice patina which the car doesn't already have. Thanks for the nudge. I'm going to have a thorough look for any sign of the original emblem holes.

I just realized that there's something special about the numbers on the Rhode Island plate that I put on the Chevelle a few years ago.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps3enqzrbj.jpg

I know of a guy in RI that can reproduce that emblem if you want I'll message you his contact info.

Today I spoke with Dave Kenahan, he was the Service Manager at Norwood Motors back in the day. Unfortunately he doesn’t remember my L89 Chevelle at eighty years of age, but we had a few laughs. I spoke with him about five years ago and he still remembers me. He sure helped me fill in a few holes on who did what at the dealership. As he put it, they worked on a LOT of cars… many late nights from 5-1am working on the funnycars and other race cars. He recalls Mel Perry building race cars for customers, and they seemed to do a lot of that work in the late hours. Dave has been trying to locate Mel Perry for the past three years, with no luck so far.

Dave wishes he still had all the records of the cars they sold and/or worked on (so do I), but apparently when Tom Ricci took over Norwood in 1991, he got rid of all the historic records and paperwork.

Fantastic leg work Helmut.....that picture is marvelous :D

Dan

That would be great. Thanks!

They called Tom Ricci the dream dealer mostly because he could be found sleeping at his desk. Norwood had a ton of paperwork up stairs above the parts room all of it and a huge framed ariel photo from the 70's went into a dumpster. When I worked there my bay was the old engine swap bay it had a big I beam in the celling with a chain fall on it, I wish I took some photos of the place before they tore it down.

Who knew at the time that you were a part of history in-the-making? Looking back, a lot of people are saying shoulda coulda woulda... thanks for sharing the mental images.

This is the brown car that Norwood built, its was an L89 with chambered exhaust and Mel Perry installed an L88 short block in it. The owner of this car confirmed that Howard Neff's Chevelle received the 427 short block before he took delivery of the Chevelle.

Thanks for posting that!

As I understand it, Mel Perry was a Motion "dealer" operating out of Norwood Motors. If that was the case, then wouldn't Joel Rosen have a record of my car being converted to an L88 by one of his dealers? If so, Joel could provide a letter of authenticity... for his usual fee, of course.

Can anyone from this site advise me on how to properly approach Joel Rosen? I've seen a few websites attempt to represent themselves as official Baldwin Motion sites, but given that there's more than one, they can't all be legit.

Joel turns 77 this year.Call him on the telephone.

Good advice! How would I get his number?

I'll PM it to you.

SS427, That photo you posted of NE dragway appears to be a black 69 chevelle,possibly dusk blue. My old scuncio chevelle raced quite often at that track,too bad its just far enough forward to not make out the parchment interior.

Norwood Dealership
 

Bing maps has not updated in a few years, this is the original building before it was tore down in 2013. The left side of the building had 20 service bay's the center was parts and customer check in with a locker room with showers on the 2nd floor and a loft for the parts department the right side was the body shop at one time. The showroom and sales was in another building in front of this one.

There is an old track photog that is always posting old pics of NE Dragway. I'll try to grab his name if I think of it. If anyone would have more pics, he would. I've spent a lot of time at and on that track. You're right, the railing does look right. Here's one of my Dad racing at NED back in 68/69 or so.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5637/3...8c137d3f71.jpg

You are correct this is at New England dragway I was told its from July of 69.

David Graziano said that the 1969 Chevelle towing the funnycar was a Black L89 4 speed from the Norwood dealership.

Have you found any photos of your Scuncio Chevelle at the track? Assuming it was Dusk Blue with Parchment interior. Any idea what wheels it had on it at the time?

Scuncio car was Black w parchment interior. It would have been aluminum heads at that time

I believe now the private # I have for him is not the best way to reach him.
I suggest contacting Joel via the email or Phone # posted on his website here. http://www.motionmodels.com/

The car in the photo looks like there is a rear antenna which the Scuncio black/parchment car had/has --

I may be a little biased, but you think you can see a rear antenna in that photo?

Why would the Norwood team be promoting a Scuncio car?

I was thinking the same thing. Not sure why anyone would think a car from Scuncio would be towing a funny car from Norwood.

No way to see a rear antenna in that picture.....I agree 100%.....Norwood would use Norwood car to pull the team.

Dan

Sorry guys was commenting about potential rear antenna in the photo of the brown car -

Jeff, ask Roger to verify , but the scuncio car may have been a locate car from Norwood. It was either that or the buyer went to norwood first and they didnt have the right car so he went to scuncio. Its one of the two, I just cant remmebr although i did write it down somewhere. I was looking for the antenna myself or a white back seat

Ok, yes....I do see a rear antenna on the Burnished Brown '69 Chevelle.

Dan

According to Howard, the original owner of the subject Black Chevelle SS, this is how his Chevelle looked after Mel Perry converted the car... prior to Howard taking delivery of the car on June 27, 1969.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...pswe0ljina.png

According to Howard, Mel Perry equipped the Chevelle as follows:

- 427 short-block swapped in place of the L89 short-block, but using the factory equipped aluminum heads
- Experimental cam
- Three barrel Holley carb
- Stahl tuned headers (with factory chambered exhaust)
- Ladder bars
- Big Mickey Thompson back tires on Ansen slotted wheels
- Electronic ignition
- Hurst shifter with Linelock
- Factory gages were unchanged

According to Howard, it sat a little higher off the ground, it was all black paint (unaltered factory appearance) and retained it's original factory SS hood. Apparently Mel did not equip the car with a stinger hood like this one in the photo.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...psfcus1iwa.png

Imagine being Howard and driving that car off the lot!

That is SICK! Day Two perfection.

Aside Q: How were those 3 bbl Holley's? Motion ran those as well, right? You never hear about them nowadays.