Fred Gibb 69 Camaro drag car from 1971

[JoeC]

found this page with interesting photos of Fred Gibb drag car

http://www.mlodeent.com/OLDDRAG/hayter.htm

[68TopStock]

Joe, Rob and Tom,

That is a great set of pics. That is how the #1 ZL1 looked during the 1971 season, when it won ProStock honors at the end of the season with Jim Hayter driving. Not quite as attractive as the 1969 colors. Seeing the board has now expanded, it is great to have all these dealer post areas. Maybe more pics coming soon?

[NOCOPO]

Check out those groovey white bell bottoms and orange shirts for uniforms, hey wait a second, I wore that stuff in the '70's. Brings back some great memories of New England
Dragway in NH when I was 10 !

[whitetop]

Hello 68topstock,
I may be wrong but I do not think this is the same car as the #1 car. I've seen pics of the #1 car in '72 in a magazine and it still had Cragars and clear hood scoop. Also the car in the pics has an RS grill. I thought I saw at one time both of these cars in a photograph together at he dealership.
Dave

[68TopStock]

whitetop,

I think the pic in the mag must have been an old shot. The #1 car was painted as it appears above for the '71 season with Jim Hayter's name on the quarter. There is a pic of the car in the "ShowStopper" of a summer of '71 Popular Hot Rodding issue. I don't have a copy of the pic to post, does anyone out there have one? Fred thanked PHR with a letter to the editor in the October '71 issue. This issue has the Dick Harrell story in it(he was still alive when written, but had just died when it was published, many pics).

I have a pic from Helen Gibb of the car on the Gibb transporter dated 4/71 as it appears above. The RS grill was added to reduce weight, no light buckets under the headlight doors. If you look close in the above photo, in the first post, you will see Fred standing behind the car, in a red shirt.

Also, see the above attachment of the pic from Helen's album.

[Rat_Pack]

Top Stock, I found this picture the other day of Dick Harrells 71 pro stocker. I am not sure if it is the 70 super stock car repainted or if it was the old Butch Leal "California Flash" car. Looks like the same paint scheme and hood scoop though..............RatPack..........

[Rat_Pack]

Here is a picture of Jim Hayter's 71 AHRA S/S 69 ZL-1, it is white with lt. blue panels and a darker blue pinstripe around it. I believe this is the still the #1 ZL-1 as it has all the same features of the candy apple red car in pictures above. The hood and grill are the same as the car shown at Green Valley earlier in the year. This picture was taken at the 71 AHRA Winternationals same as the picture above of DH's 71 Super Stocker in my post above.....................RatPack................. ...

[whitetop]

Rat Pack & 68 Top Stock
I'm still going to disagree with you guys that these are all the same cars. Rat pack, These cars do not have the same hood scoop. the blue & white car has a Moroso scoop (part #7907) on it while the car at Green Valley has a Anderson Industries (AI Fiberglass) hood on it. The GV car had AI's version of the Grump lump(with a bevel in front) while the blue/white car has a Moroso version. Moroso also made a more correct grump lump version like the one I sold to you #7808. Why would the blue/white car go from Cragars to American mags back to Cragars in the rear with Fenton's on the front.
68 Top stock, can you say for 100% certainity that the Porterfield car is the same as the Hayter car. I'm still 99.999% sure that I saw a old pic with the Porterfield #1 car next to the Hayter car at a pit on some drag strip in an old car mag.
Dave

[Rat_Pack]

Dave, I thought that Hayter & Wright bought the car from Fred Gibb and changed the paint scheme in the middle of the 71 season sometime in Jan./Feb 71? I do know that the #1 ZL-1 received the RS grill and the Grumpy Lump hood scoop at the beginning of the 71 season and they were still with the car when Porterfield bought it. The hood scoops are definitely different, check out the new picture.

The wheel combo changed from race to race on most Pro Stockers of that era. I have pictures of Wally Booths 71 Camaro with Cragar SST's up front with the std Cragar S/S wheels out back, but then at Bristol he ran Fenton 5 spokes on the rear instead of the Cragars. The picture of the car at GV shows either Fentons or Rocket wheels all the way around on the red car. I have two more pictures of the white & blue car with chrome Rocket wheels all the way around and with Rocket slot mags all the way around. Usually the reason for wheel changes and odd combinations had to do with weight and the track. Sometimes a rear tire/wheel combo might be better suited for one track than an other so they used whichever worked, not necessarily what matched. It was easier to have two different sizes of tires/wheels mounted up, instead of dismounting and mounting tires all day long to suit track conditions. We carried at least 4 different rear tire sizes mounted on different brands of wheels when we were racing in the 60's to mid 70's. One person that can answer the question for sure would be Bill Porterfield..................RatPack.............. ...

[68TopStock]

Rat Pack and whitetop,

The blue and white Hayter car is a different car than the red Fred Gibb/Hayter car. Jim Hayter was called by Fred in the spring of 1971 and offered a ride. He was asked which car of the two in the shop would he prefer, the '69 #1 ZL1, which was retired after the 1969 season, or the '70 1/2 car, which is now owned by Kim Howie. Jim chose the '69 car, which was then modified by Hayter in a two week thrashing period before the Palm Beach race of the 1971 season. Fred Gibb Chevrolet won the AHRA ProStock title at the end of the season, with Jim Hayter as the driver. Fred had never sold the car before Jim drove it. The car was sold, after the 1971 season, but has never been owned by Jim Hayter or Chuck Wright.

I hope this clears up the heritage of the two cars in the above pics. I know nothing about the blue and white car, or when it was raced, other than I am quite certain it is not the #1 ZL1.

[Rat_Pack]

Ken, thanks for clearing that up. From the magazine articles of the day, I could not tell when Hayter started driving for Fred Gibb. The last article I have was from August of 71 still showing the Hayter/Wright Camaro but that was from the 71 AHRA Winternationals which was before the switch to Fred Gibb. So he only drove for Gibb the last two thirds of the season in 71 and still won the AHRA title, COOL!.................RatPack..................... ....

[68 COPO II]

Just an FYI.....
Hayter moved his family to LaHarpe in March of 71. He started with Fred just prior to that date. On Oct 13, 1971 they were named AHRA world champs. I still have the original newspaper article and pictures. It is the red car with the fake RS grille and Jenkins "hump" hood.

[copo9566aa]

Another pictures of Jim Hayter(Fred Gibb) 69 Camaro
From Super Stock August 1971.
Green valley raceway in Smithfield Texas AHRA.

[copo9566aa]

Pop Rod Show Stopper
Popular Hot Rodding Aug 1971
69 Fred Gibb (Jim Hayter)Camaro color pics.

[68TopStock]

9566aa,

Thank you very much for the pic and date of the mag.

[William]

The car has been 'cloned"; saw it at SC-Joliet a few years back.

www.Butterfieldracing.com (http://www.Butterfieldracing.com)

[Mr70]

Thats it William.
I knew I saw this car somewhere before.
Super Chevy Joliet Il.
It started there in August 1998.

[68TopStock]

I have also seen this "clone", although I think Jim Hayter himself has had something to do with the car. I will check into this, as he was at one of the recent Gibb shows with this car. I really want to meet Jim, and hope he attends this years Fred Gibb Memorial Car Show.