My buddy Danimal, one of the Members at The AMC Heritage
Forum, posted a real nugget the other day. As part of the research on
one of his projects, he dug up this article on the Funny Car Jeeps from the 1966-1969 era.

Yes, I did say Funny Car, and Jeep, in the same sentence. These rides, along with Doug Nash’s Bronco Buster,

were genuine terrors on the AA/FC scene for a few years, so much so that the NHRA and AHRA
outlawed the little deathtraps before they even finalized their
newly-organized Funny Car classes in the rulebooks. That’s right, the
established powers in the drag racing world were intimidated by the
little Jeeps, and bent the ears of officials ’till they listened.

After all, it just ain’t fittin’ for one a them little flatfenders, to be a rippin’ up the whole ladder. Just taint fittin.

Danimal’s post on the Forum can be found here:

The AMC Heritage Forum > Forum > The American Motors Heritage > The AMC Racing Heritage > Jeep Funny Car “What??”

And that’s not all, when it comes to The AMC Funny Car Heritage.

There were a whole boatload of Javelin and AMX funnies, as well as a few Marlins and Rebels. Here’s a nice little article at Draglist.com, about the AMC Funny Car Battalion:

This is without even mentioning all the Ramblers, Henry J’s, Hudson Jets, and enormous quantities of Willys machines out there on the strips.

And don’t even get me started on Metropolitans…

-mike

I was just leafing through an issue of Horseless Age magazine from 1897, when I noticed things weren’t really all that different back then, from now.

For instance, don’t you really feel ripped off that the Year 2000 came and went, yet NO FLYING CARS? Well, back at the turn of the 20th Century, people were expecting the same thing… and guess what? NO FLYING CARS.

There’s some kind of lesson here, but I’m not sure what, exactly. Except the idea of “NextGen” ain’t exactly new.

Here’s the article I was reading. It’s kind of dry and technical in some parts(most parts), but it has cool pictures, and good eye candy always makes up for the rest, just ask Hollywood.

And if you know any of those hang glider guys that always claim they’re on the cutting edge, ask ‘em what these guys from the 1800’s are doing in these pictures…

-mike

The Horseless Carriage of the Next Generation