Truppi Kling Chevelle

[COPO_Anders]

I bought some old magazines today. On the cover of one of them, Start & Speed no.1 1974, this 1969 Chevelle with SS/E on the windshield and SS 396 in the grille caught my attention. It has Truppi/Competition/Kling in a Bowtie on the frontfender.
The picture was taken in England at Santa Pod(in 1973 I assume)and they say the owners name is Richard Smits.
Does anyone remember this car ?

[Stitch]

That car was called Russo's Rat , a friend of mine owned it in the early 80's and it had a 327/4spd at that time . I have a couple of pictures of it somewhere , I'll try and find and post them .

There's a short snippet about it on this web page when it took the No.1 spot in Street Eliminator in August 1974.

http://www.trakbytes.co.uk/7074.htm

[mockingbird812]

Nice star spangled pants! Cool Chevelle. Gotta love the wordly wealth of info on this site. Query from Sweden - answer from the south of England. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[Stefano]

Very cool, just think the wealth of info you can get from a "Global Moderator"!

[COPO_Anders]

I found it under 1973 Ron. An SS/E car would be a 427 car, wouldn´t it ? I wonder if it was an L78 car to begin with, then upgraded to L72. Or a COPO with an SS 396 badge. Any clues ?

Ron, did it have a 327 in it when Richard Smith bought it ?
It seems like Richard was know for his spectacular burnouts !

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[Stitch]

Sorry Anders I have no idea , it was around 1980/81 when my friend owned it and he bought it as a roller and put the 327/4spd in . I'm pretty sure it was imported from the US as a race car so maybe it had been that way from new .

I'll post on the UK NSRA forum to see if anybody knows anything .

Ron

[Belair62]

[ QUOTE ]
Very cool, just think the wealth of info you can get from a "Global Moderator"!

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif

[Stitch]

Hi Anders ,

Here's another pic that somebody posted on the NSRA forum, it's running in BM there though and not SS/E . The guy with the stars and stripes suit is still the line marshal .

http://usera.imagecave.com/BRIZEY/RussosRat.jpg

poster knows the driver of the car from the 70's .

http://www.nsra.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44125

[COPO_Anders]

Hi Ron,
It says BM I (or 1)on the pic I posted to. I´m thinking that the car came to England painted that way, and with the SS/E on the windows. If so, then it would have competed with a 427 cui.engine in the USA.
And it doesn´t have an SS 396 emblem on the frontfender !

COPO or not ?

Nice pic Ron !

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
I´m thinking that the car came to England painted that way, and with the SS/E on the windows. If so, then it would have competed with a 427 cui.engine in the USA.

[/ QUOTE ]
An L89 (396/375hp aluminum head) Chevelle would have been in SS/E also...from the 1970 season and on, an L89 and L72 Chevelle would be in SS/E...in '69, they were in SS/F.

[musclecarjohn]

Cool pictures guys...! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[mockingbird812]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I´m thinking that the car came to England painted that way, and with the SS/E on the windows. If so, then it would have competed with a 427 cui.engine in the USA.

[/ QUOTE ]
An L89 (396/375hp aluminum head) Chevelle would have been in SS/E also...from the 1970 season and on, an L89 and L72 Chevelle would be in SS/E...in '69, they were in SS/F.

[/ QUOTE ]

...says the harbinger of all NHRA rule books! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[Stitch]

This was sent from somebody who knew Frank Russo to a UK guy who has a picture of the car on his website ......

"Couldn't believe it when surfing the net looking for 55 Ford stuff, I found a picture of Frank Russo's 69 Chevelle. The car was originally purchased in Danbury, Ct. and ran regularly at Dover Dragway. With its original slightly modified 396, it turned somewhere in the 12's. The car was dark blue at the time. Around 1970 or 71 Frank got serious, replaced the 396 with a 454 RAT Motor built in New Jersey, got the trick paint in Danbury, and started racing. He got to the final 16 at the Indianapolis Summernationals running consistent 11'1's in Superstock E. If memory serves me correctly, he broke after winning the hole shot which would have put him into the final 8. The driver that he broke against eventually won the class. For those of us who knew him, there was no doubt that Frank would have done the same.
As I remember, the car's paint job was faded to orange lower on the sides than today's picture illustrates and I beleive that at least for a while he ran Cragers. Finally, Frank sold the car and purchased a SOX and MARTIN Pro-stocker .I believe that the Chevelle then went to England.

Thanks for the memories"

Maybe that confirms it was originally a 396 car ? .

[COPO_Anders]

Ron, that was interesting reading!
One would have to get in touch with the guy who wrote that or with Frank Russo to verify that it was indeed a 396 car from the factory.
Rob, it couldn´t run in SS/E with a 454 could it ?
I guess they could have "deleted" the SS 396 emblems on the frontfenders when repainting it, but why ?

I found the attachment myself tonight. Seems like it is still alive !

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
Rob, it couldn´t run in SS/E with a 454 could it ?

[/ QUOTE ]
Nope...maybe M/P or Comp, but not S/S...not legally, anyway!

[ QUOTE ]
...says the harbinger of all NHRA rule books!

[/ QUOTE ]
Not true...I'm missing 1958... http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif