Cars with Cragars

[NorCam]

While this car has since been restored towards being a stock Z/28, here's a look at my 69 while it was wearing a classic pair of shoes early last year. Cragar 15x8's and 15x4's of course.

[novadude]

Originally Posted by Mr. Chevy

My Chevelle

Rich

Rich... what size wheels and tires (F/R)? Looks great!

[Keith Seymore]

This car made quite an impression on me in my youth:

Denny Kloha: 67 GTO Ram Air 4 speed

[Salvatore]

Originally Posted by NorCam

That's a sweet Chevelle.

Man that really is!

[mockingbird812]

Great story - Original owners with this beautiful hi-po Poncho!!! The one photo appears to show the front tires air borne!!!!!!!!

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by mockingbird812

Great story - Original owners with this beautiful hi-po Poncho!!! The one photo appears to show the front tires air borne!!!!!!!!

There are a couple good stories associated with this one; as I mentioned, Denny was a friend of my Dad's when I was growing up.

The story I always remembered hearing was that, probably in the late 60's or early 70's, Denny twisted the driveshaft during a run and that it came right up inside the car with him. Totally mangled the floorboard from front to back.

Denny was so disgusted that he parked the car and it sat for nearly 40 years, untouched.

The version I was familiar with was that he heard a big BANG and then all he could see was "red": the driveshaft was pulverizing the carpet and filling the interior with a mist of red fibers.

As an adult I caught up with Denny and he elaborated a bit more: he said that while he was coasting he looked down and watched as the carpet was "unzipping"; a strand of carpet had wound up in the shaft and it was pulling the carpet apart row by row, back and forth. That new information and the image in my mind still cracks me up.

K

[Keith Seymore]

So - after all these years Denny decided to restore the car. He is super meticulous, as you can tell from the end result. He's also normally pretty soft spoken and reserved.

A couple years ago I was at a show and the Kryta brothers were there with their Inline Tube display. As I walked by John hollered out "hey - Keith - I met someone that says he knew your Dad".

I asked who that might be.

"Some guy, has a 67 GTO, twisted the driveshaft and now he's redoing it" John answered.

"Denny Kloha!" I said confidently.

John then starts telling me about how Denny had called and said Inline Tube gave him a wrong part. The front brake line they sent didn't match the one Denny pulled off the car.

John told Denny that they had used an original owner unrestored car to make the line from and that he was sure it was right. Denny wasn't convinced.

The argument escalated to the point where if they could punch each other out over the phone they would have. They must have agreed to disagree and left it at that.

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

A couple months later I was at the races with my friend Gary Beemer, who is also friends with Denny and his wife Pat.

Over supper that night we were sitting around telling stories, as is our custom, and Gary starts to tell me this same story.

He said he (Gary) and his wife were out to dinner with Denny and his wife when Denny started telling Gary and Carla about this phone call. Denny started getting more and more agitated, and more and more animated, to the point that Gary said other patrons were starting to look over to see what was going on. Gary finally had to get Denny settled down before he had a stroke or heart attack or something.

I thought, at the time, it was pretty funny to hear the same story from two different sources.

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

A couple months after that I was at the Sloan Summer Fair in Flint, and Denny was there with his GTO. It was probably the first time I had seen him since I was a child and certainly the first time I had seen the car since it was restored.

We had a nice visit, updating each other on how our families were doing when (as you might guess) he started to tell me this same story about his phone conversation with Inline Tube. I couldn't believe it! I let him roll a bit and then finally shared that I had heard it a couple times before.

The only thing I can figure is that maybe Denny's car, built in Pontiac, was misbuilt. It sounds like his front brake line was too long; perhaps the assembler grabbed the wrong line and rather than going back for a different one he simply free-handed some wraps to take up the additional length. I gotta go with Inline Tube on this one.

At any rate, I still think it is hilarious to have heard this same story from three different perspectives.

And Denny now has a perfectly restored '67 Ram Air car with about 10,000 original miles on it.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Denny retired after 30+ years at the V8 plant in Flint.

He is the one that likes to say: "I've built more small blocks than you have even seen!!"

(lol)

[tunes]

Here is my '69 Chevelle with those great looking Cragars.

[Mr. Chevy]

Originally Posted by novadude

Rich... what size wheels and tires (F/R)? Looks great!

15x4 Cragars up front with Firestone 6.70-15 tires.

14x7 Cragars on rear with M&H reproduction cheater slicks.

Rich