Wanna see Big Pink?

[customFC]

Here's an interesting FC.

Don't know much about the car, but the pic was snapped at Castlereagh Drag Strip in 1971.
Those rear wheels are HUGE!
Regards
Alex

[Hewart]

That's a beast!!!
Nice bicycle tyres on the front too...!

Cheers
Les....

[compo1]

Hi Guys,

I know this car very well, it was owned and raced by my brother Greg. Started life as an ex PMG panel van red in colour and sported a big grey motor with the usual mad cam and triple SU's. Later the car was painted sky blue and ran the same grey engine. A few engine blow ups convinced us to go the 327 chev route, the engine conversion was completed by Barry Sharp and we ran a three speed chev g'box with a standard FC rear end !!!
Good thing it was a van as we carried a spare in the back (often required). The van was the quickest street car in Sydney for a long time and eventually ended up with fibreglass fenders & hood along with some other basic tricks and a 4 speed saginaw gearbox. The car was painted pink and named after a popular album by the "Band. The car was quite successful and ran mid to low 12's which was not bad for a pretty agricultural car !! The van was sold to the guy who owned a FC wheelstander called "strip tripper" and he used it as a wheelstander for a while. The wheels were custom made by the mag wheel center and were hand pinstriped (I did that) and the comments were correct, we were one of the first to use the big / little wheel combination.  The engine was used in a new torana gasser called "Hot Rats" which was a pioneer car in the gas class and won many events (on a shoe string budget).

[RET]

Wow.  Thanks compo1 for the car's history.  If you've got any other pics of the car I'm sure we'd all love to see them.

Pictures of Strip-Tripper have been posted here before.

cheers
RET

[compo1]

Hi,

I do have some floating around somewhere, I'll try and dig them out. I failed to point out this photo is a really early one, I can see the final signwriting ( real paint not graphic tape) was not finished. I would guess this is the first meeting for the car, if you look closely there are number plates still attached. If you can get a hold of  DRAGS magazine issue # 6 there is a good photo of the van running at Castleragh, you will see the additional sign writing & effects, the mag wrongly says the car was originally owned by someone else which is incorrect execpt for the PMG and a butcher on the south coast of NSW and I know they did not have a small block in the car !!!. These cars were pretty crude when we look back but they ran hard on small budgets and were a bunch of fun. Hope this is of interest.

P.S. can you recall who owned the "strip tripper"

[customFC]

WOW x 2!
I would love to see the pics, before and after it was transformed into a cool drag machine. Not too many PMG vans out there also.
Regards
Alex

http://www.fefcholden.org.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=otherimg;action=display;num=1109850887;start=2

[2brite]

Looking at my October,1971 issue of

"The Australian Hot Rodding Review"

it states the owners of "street tripper' are

Barry Haygarth, Eric Stanford  and Nick Rose.

Cheers Nunzio

[customFC]

Just came across a couple more pics of Big Pink in action, listing the owner as Greg Slack.

Regards
Alex

[minifcvan]

MAAAAAATE i thought the rear wheels were big...... check out the front wheels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers mark


PS WHO OWNS THIS VAN NOW
??

[fccool59]

cool story compo1,
my uncle has a ex pmg van but it doesnt look like that.

Years ago a mate got his FC ute in a magazine, they got his name right but his girlfriend (now wife) had the wrong name, i wonder how that went down when the magazine came out.

[compo1]

Hi,

Great photos of the van, I would like to get hold of these as well as the "son of Big Pink" which was the Torana Gasser we built out of the van parts it was called "Hot Rats" and was one of the quickest non supercharged gassers in the 70's. I would love to get a hold of some photos of this car as well.

Once the van was retired we sold the shell to the guys who had strip tripper and I believe they turned it into a wheelstander, maybe even cut the back off and made it into a ute not sure but I know it was re used somewhere.

funny how we move on I now have a circuit racing PRB Clubman which is alomost the exact opposite to a drag car, only 125 hp but 540Kgs makes for good power to weight ratio and it goes around corners like an open wheel race car should !!!

Anyway once again thanks for the photos and great memory.

Mike:

[craiga]

This one :-)





Followed Alex's link to Visual Velocity the other day and this car was there!! Great find Alex, had a look through all the pictures, plenty of good stuff.

[compo1]

Hi,

Wow , I have not seen the rat for a long time. I recall the build very well. Not much of the van moved except for base engine and a few other odds and sods. New 9" rear end with Zoom gear sets, Muncie "rockcrusher" dog box, tricky pro stock tyres from the US, 1/2 chassis ,  fuel injection on alcohol and 331 cubes combined with lighter weight made for a mid-low 10 sec car in those days.  

[customFC]

That Torana is hot. It would be cool out on the track even today. Why not get together with your brother and recreate it for the Nostalgia Drags.
Would be a heap of fun.
If you want copies of the pics, contact the website mentioned on the pics.
Regards
Alex

[compo1]

Hi,

Good idea except I know the car has been crushed and I have a new toy to play with and that absorbs all my available funds. Plus I have found the delights of going around left and right corners and that provides enough "scare factor" for an old geezer like me  Maybe one day when I win lotto I can have the best of both worlds and re create the rat!! Glad you like the car , we certainly did !!!

Take care

Mike:

[customFC]

It would seem that Steve has closed his webpage down.
Fortunately he recently uploaded the images to facebook.
Restored for all to enjoy.
Regards
Alex

[steamman]

Your'e research is great Alex, great work, a bloke at my dads work ran a rail at calder his name was kevin mayo the rail had a fffford 332 y block in it,it was pretty quick from what i recall this was around 1968-69.
Cheers
Deano