"el Pato Loco" FED build

[DuckusCrapus]

Life is full of crazy changes and such. I have always loved front engine dragsters and seems like the mid '60's had the style and flair that rolled my socks up and down. I have toyed with the idea of building a car for sometime, but figured it was a pipe dream. Enter in the crazy life changes.

I have been fascinated with a car that Tommy Ivo originally built the chassis, but for some reason the was sold and was built into the Dos Palmas Machine dragster that just was friggin' badass for it's moment. 117" wheelbase car dominated in 1964 and was one of the few cars that went over to England (with the Mooneyes and Ivo dragsters) and they introduced drag racing to the Brits. Not sure what it was about this car, but the short wheelbase and the engine pushed out a little compared to the later diggers was just the perfect look for my taste.

This is the seed that actually sprouted in my brain to grow into reality.

DC

[DuckusCrapus]

So the next step Was a kind of "fall in you lap" type of moment. I was wanting to build a car, but with all the other projects, lack of space and not wanting to spend a bunch of bucks it was just not right....or was it?

Facebook Marketplace can be a dangerous place. For some reason this thing popped up and I just had to grab it for the parts alone. I had the front wire wheels, with some Avon Speedmaster tires, aftermarket Anglia spindles, Airheart brake master cylinder with pedal assembly, throttle pedal, wood grip butterfly steering wheel, Powerglide (has unknown mods done to it) with a coupler system, Hurst brake calipers and a complete Mark Williams 9" rear end. Yowza! These are some better parts than I ever would have bought and some were nostalgic to boot!

DC

[DuckusCrapus]

Dad (Bluedot) and I got after it and stripped the car of the goodies we wanted for our build and set up the rest to resell on down the road. He grabbed the Hollywood Knights pilot helmet and goggles to fulfill the "Railjob" effect! We listed it on Marketplace and it sold in 5 mins. Guess I didn't ask enough.


DC

[DuckusCrapus]

After the parts digger left we threw most of the parts over on one side of the shop. Trying to stay around circa1964-65 with the build besides safety items but maintain the aesthetics of all the cool old stuff. Current plans are the following:

120" wheelbase
American Dragmaster wheels out back with 10.5" slick or narrower
Moon Tank
SBC on 110 gas

Engine is going to be a 327 with 12.5:1 compression, 461 casting heads (2.02's), NOS Norris mechanical camshaft, Edelbrock X-C8 cross ram with 2x Holley 450's, and a Magneto.

Plus these parts (pictured below) I have purchased or robbed off the parts digger. Signman has been a ton of help and got me some much needed pieces I was having a hard time locating, such as a P&S steering box, Axle, torsion bar and some neat-o headers. Think they are Stahl???


DC

[railjob]

Looks like it’s going to be fun

[Crab]

That's cool about the parts digger. That moved the project ahead pretty good.

CRAB

[Div1Racer]

Sooo cool. Front engine rails are the best.

[DuckusCrapus]

Thinking of changing the name of this thing. The "Demented Duck" seems to be sounding a little more of par with current situations. Think I might change it up.


DC

[33willysgasr]

Too bad I sold all of that tubing I had rounded up or you would be well on your way. Unfortunately guy that bought all of it had me cut it all in half so he could haul it in a little trailer making it useless for a dragster now...

[DuckusCrapus]

Too bad I sold all of that tubing I had rounded up or you would be well on your way. Unfortunately guy that bought all of it had me cut it all in half so he could haul it in a little trailer making it useless for a dragster now...

Yeah, I wasn't going to proceed with this project, but current life situations and making priorities totally change. I am going to do mild steel on this build. Seems like the shelf life is a little longer on it vs. moly. This is going to be a pretty short car for a dragster, but I like what I like. Ha!

DC

[DuckusCrapus]

Ordered some M&H slicks and tubes from Coker Tire for the digger. Ended up getting some 9x30-15's that should look good on the 15x8.5'" American Dragmaster wheels.

We did some quick measuring and the Mark Williams rear end we snagged out of the RED might be a little narrow for this project. It is going to be close for sure. The Hurst calipers are already going to me partially inside the body. Not that big of a deal, but I don't want to have to worry about snagging brake lines and such every time I get in and out of the car. Hope I can use this thing, but we will find out soon.

I did find out you are allowed to use wheel spacers per NHRA rules. That will assist if the side walls of the tires are too close to the body.

Sure hope to have this thing come together soon. I need this...



DC

[DuckusCrapus]

Updates:

Rear chutepack body came in. Slicks are in and mounted on my junky ass Dragmaster wheels. Rearend, Powerglide and dummy engine block are off at the CW Autofab for the start of the chassis setup on the frame jig. Got the spindles off the old axles and on the chrome one I am going to use. Bought a Magneto for the engine. Heads are done. Talked with Toot and he is going to be ready to paint the body panles and letter it in March.

No pics. I know. Lame. But I will get some up soon. Hoping things start coming to fruition soon on this car. Buying tubing next week and moving ahead.


This car might not be perfect right out of the gate, but going to try and do it as best as possible with the time and resources I have. Can't thank CW Autofab, Carter Davis Machine, Lil Toot Artworks, and my Pop for all the help. This thing is going to be fun and I am so excited to get a shot to drive and FED.


DC

[DuckusCrapus]

Here are my janky ass American Dragmasters and M&H slicks. Got some Mother's mag polish sponge I need to clean up, but I like the look. Just wish the wheels weren't so rough.

DC

[DuckusCrapus]

Here is the start! Super thankful for Oldskoolgaser "Chuck" helping me live this dream. Took some parts over to his shop and he got the rear end set up on thr Jig. Next the dummy block and powerglide were thrown up for some measurements and such. We threw the body up there just for giggles. Body will end up moving forward about 4-6" once it is notched for the calipers and rear end.

Cool thing about the body, is it was from a mold that King Chassis owned for a while. He ended up selling it to a guy that I body a body from. I asked King where it was originally from and apparently it was from Logghe Stamping. That is pretty neat! They didn't come around till 1966, but we will pretend this was a prototype for 1965. Ha!

[Wrenchbender]

Definitely gonna be kool man