sYc
07-12-2005, 08:54 PM
While at York, had a chance to spend time with a friend who has spent a lot of time visiting with Bill Thomas about his work with GM. Seems Bill has been "an advisor" to GM since the '50s.
As most folks know, GM got out of racing in the mid 1960s. But, a few inside GM found ways around this decree. Enter Bill Thomas. His job was to take the various hi-po parts GM had on their shelves and figure out ways to combine these parts into packages that would benefit the buying/racing public.
From time to time, Bill would visit various hi-po dealerships, and high profile racers, showing them how to best utilize the various speed parts GM had to offer. This way, it was the dealerships who were involved in racing, not GM. What better way to advertise then to have the likes of Nickey and Yenko sponsoring racecars?
Bill was sent one of the first '67 Camaros by GM, to see what it would take to replace the SB with a BB. The only major hangup was the steering box, which was soon re-engineered by GM.
Also of interest was the original paperwork I was shown of a 1967 Bill Thomas prepared Camaro, listing over two pages of parts that were changed/added. Rader wheels (5), Pirelli radial tires, and the most interesting item of all, a 467 big block engine.
And yes, this car has been found, just recently purchased from its original owner.
As most folks know, GM got out of racing in the mid 1960s. But, a few inside GM found ways around this decree. Enter Bill Thomas. His job was to take the various hi-po parts GM had on their shelves and figure out ways to combine these parts into packages that would benefit the buying/racing public.
From time to time, Bill would visit various hi-po dealerships, and high profile racers, showing them how to best utilize the various speed parts GM had to offer. This way, it was the dealerships who were involved in racing, not GM. What better way to advertise then to have the likes of Nickey and Yenko sponsoring racecars?
Bill was sent one of the first '67 Camaros by GM, to see what it would take to replace the SB with a BB. The only major hangup was the steering box, which was soon re-engineered by GM.
Also of interest was the original paperwork I was shown of a 1967 Bill Thomas prepared Camaro, listing over two pages of parts that were changed/added. Rader wheels (5), Pirelli radial tires, and the most interesting item of all, a 467 big block engine.
And yes, this car has been found, just recently purchased from its original owner.