Vincent Fiala Z11 tribute "Bad News" build.

1964SuperStocker

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I have found several of the old time drag racers that remember racing against Vincent and the Z11. One guy doesn't have much for photos of anything but his car. The other two are hunting around through their photos of the time to see if at any point Vincent's car was in the picture with them. In most cases when a photo of one car is taken you can always see some other cars in the back ground and I am hopeful someone will have at least one photo of Vincent's car going down the track. Everyone knew it was a big deal to get to line up next to a Z11 and certainly there must be lots of fans taking photos or even professional photographers taking pictures and running video at every track. While hunting around for names, contacting people and searching for clues I came across a photo Vincent had never seen inside the show room floor of the Stebor Motors dealership in Cedar Rapids Iowa. This is the car that about killed Vincent and forced him to take time away from drag racing for over a year. Its not a Z11 but the more photos I can find of anything related to Vincent the better. This is his first ride after he sold "Bad News" so this one is "Bad News II". Just after this photo the car was running down the race track and locked up the rear brakes. Vincent explained that the brake adjusters had made the rear brakes to tight and when heated up from slowing down after a run the wheels locked up and sent the car tumbling. His arm was crushed but he managed to take time away and heal. He also explained that the rear brake adjuster issue was seen by some other teams and they were instructed to modify them after that. Something else I noticed too was the Z11 had a crew of 3 and the Plymouth had a crew of 6. It is a 1964 Plymouth Savoy 426 Hemi car if I remember right. (Not a mopar guy) Probably would have been one of the first 864 Hemi cars to get totaled at the track. The second car Krockagator was drivin by Jack Briggs. These two duked it out a bunch.

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Barry Taylor

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Thats some great history Randy! Some of Dad’s friends that were chevy guys up until 60-61 jumped ship to Mopar then in late 62-63 Dad wore there ass out! He even out ran a few of the early hemi’s until the guys learned how to tune them. One of the early 64 races i went to with Dad Gene Snow was there with a new shiny red Hemi Plymouth and he was having problems getting it to run right. He didn’t run it in eliminations. Dad and Gene were very good friends because they were both in the used car business.
 

1964SuperStocker

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Thats some great history Randy! Some of Dad’s friends that were chevy guys up until 60-61 jumped ship to Mopar then in late 62-63 Dad wore there ass out! He even out ran a few of the early hemi’s until the guys learned how to tune them. One of the early 64 races i went to with Dad Gene Snow was there with a new shiny red Hemi Plymouth and he was having problems getting it to run right. He didn’t run it in eliminations. Dad and Gene were very good friends because they were both in the used car business.
It would have been such an interesting moment in time to experience. I find the vacuum created by GM pulling out of racing very interesting. Clearly the guys running at the top weren't going to walk away from racing. Having that much talent instantly need an entirely new ride to remain competitive must have been pure chaos during some of the hottest years in drag racing. Vincent mentioned putting some of his competition on the trailer in the Z11 and turning around and being Mopar buddies the next year. If Vincent wouldn't have wrecked this car and had to set out of racing to heal up for a year or so, I'm certain he would have made a larger name for himself in the drag racing world then what he was able to muster after that crash.
 

1964SuperStocker

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Tri-State dragway in Keokuk Iowa is one of the tracks Vincent was known to run at on a regular basis. They had awards for 1964 season and Jack Briggs driving Krockagator from Quincy, Ill took the "Mr. Stock Eliminator" award at the track that year. Vincent was known to race against this car often.
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1964SuperStocker

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Found another "Bad News" Chevy. This one is a 1964 two door sedan Belair like the one in my garage. Known as "Bad News Too" and being a gasser is pretty cool. Notice anything special about the front? Not sure why anyone would want to stuff a 1963 Chevy front bumper on the gasser but I'm following up on any leads I get from the number of photographers and racers I've talked with.
Anyone here know more about this car or driver Gary Oswald or Gary Brown the mechanic from Wisconsin?
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1964SuperStocker

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Odds are it’s aluminum! 64 bumpers weren’t hatd to find.
The photo I have is pretty high quality and when I zoom in it looks bent like many of the aluminum bumpers were. I've put word out to some people to hunt the car/information down. Might have a template for my 64' Belair if I do a gasser. I was thinking altered wheel base but this straight axle looks cool.
 

1964SuperStocker

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I was able to track my black and white photo above to 1968 due to the helpful back ground bill board with the "National Open Drag races being held on August 30, 31st and Sept 1st 1968. Now the real question is why in the world is some of the sponsors on the car missing in Mark's color photo? Different hood, missing tach outside. Different rear wheels, fender pins still present for the flip up hood, same engine/exhaust combo....63' Impala front bumper still there.
 

1964SuperStocker

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Just added a little color back into this picture Randy.

View attachment 103934
Dick, you did good! I have actually been playing around with them too. Not sure what your back ground is but I have been a photo editor on classic cars since 2015, I may have picked up some tricks. Your grass looks really good. Its hard to get vintage photos to react like my fancy digital photos can. I just noticed for the first time because of your photo that Vincent and the boys not only put on new shirts and jeans but that all of their pant legs are rolled up. LOL! Very good work Dick. I thank you for your time and I have already added it to the library.
 

1964SuperStocker

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When I first put my hands on a color photo of his car and was able to see the colors painted as highlights on the car I was excited that the car wasn't as plain as I thought it was in the few black and white photos I had seen before. Blue, Yellow, gray highlights around the letters and numbers really give the car some life. I went over the colors with Vincent and his wife and have notes on the guy that painted them on.
 

1964SuperStocker

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I don't care if my car is an empty shell but looks the part on the outside. My goal is to hurry up and get my car looking just like that photo and drag Vincent a couple blocks over from his house where the elementary is still standing just like that back ground. Hasn't changed since 1963. I'll be sure to get him an sTp t-shirt and make him stand next to the car with his new rolled up jeans. :D
 

Dick MacKenzie

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Dick, you did good! I have actually been playing around with them too. Not sure what your back ground is but I have been a photo editor on classic cars since 2015, I may have picked up some tricks. Your grass looks really good. Its hard to get vintage photos to react like my fancy digital photos can. I just noticed for the first time because of your photo that Vincent and the boys not only put on new shirts and jeans but that all of their pant legs are rolled up. LOL! Very good work Dick. I thank you for your time and I have already added it to the library.
Randy,
Thanks for the compliment! I actually don't have much of a background other then doing some restoration for family and friends, etc. I just enjoy doing it.

I've found that with these old photos if you adjust the red, green, blue color input levels individually to eliminate any area of the graph that shows no color input you begin to get close.

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With this picture I then went into the color curves manager and, again, adjusted the red, green, blue curves individually to add or remove color as needed. I pulled out red and added a little green and blue.

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Last the white was a little too bright so went into brightness&contrast to darken the image a little.
 
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