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View Full Version : Matches and a Rocket 88... possible?


Motorhead350
09-22-2008, 06:09 PM
I took a class a few years ago and the teacher was into cars. We started talking about the 50s and he told me something I do not quite believe. Those lucky enough to get an Oldsmobile Rocket 88 in 1951 could do a mini wheelie from the factory. If you put a box of matches directly in front of the drivers side front tire and brake torqued the car and stopped it, you would have hopped over the matchbox because it wouldn't be crushed.

I could think of a few reasons why it would look that way, but could the car actually hook and do that? Again he mentioned launching it and hitting the brake before the second axel would run over the matches.

I don't believe it, do you?
TAKEDOWN
09-22-2008, 07:06 PM
Anything is possible Dom and you already know it!
DOOM
09-22-2008, 10:32 PM
I dont know dom :bs:
UncleLar
09-23-2008, 02:44 AM
I was just a little too young to try it at the time when 51 Olds cars were new.But I'd probably have tried it.To be honest though nobody in the Fifties was interested in doing wheelies.
It was possible to take a 100% stock Mustang II with the 302 and get air under one front tire,but it was still an overweight underpowered dog even though the stunt looked impressive.
Motorhead350
09-23-2008, 11:19 AM
So I'm guessing this was a lie...
Dragcity
09-23-2008, 12:24 PM
Not if the frame was a sloppy mess.... THink about it. When torqued up, the engine wants to creep upward and to the right. Enough to lift the left tire off the ground. I dunno'. It might.
UncleLar
09-23-2008, 12:42 PM
Send it in to Myth Busters,lol.
Marauderjack
09-23-2008, 02:46 PM
Not if the frame was a sloppy mess.... THink about it. When torqued up, the engine wants to creep upward and to the right. Enough to lift the left tire off the ground. I dunno'. It might.

GM motors turn the other way causing the right side to get "light"!!:cool:
Motorhead350
09-23-2008, 02:49 PM
GM motors turn the other way causing the right side to get "light"!!:cool:

Even 57 years ago hua? ;)

Anyone have a 1951 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 we can try this with?

Strictly 100% stock. :burnout:
J D
09-23-2008, 09:08 PM
Send it in to Myth Busters,lol.

DOOO ITTT! This I'd love to see!!!!! I bet they'd do it to, only I hope its not what happened to the other cars they've used. Man that Cadillac took a pounding before it went to the yard.
J D
09-23-2008, 09:10 PM
Oh and Jerry Lee Lewis for the win!!!!

anyone know where I could find a copy of that song?
Richy04
09-24-2008, 04:41 AM
There were a few cars with enough torque to get the wheels off of the ground, but you had to goose the gas to do it.. 68-69 Electra 225 and 73 Pontiac Grand Prix with the 455 HO (SJ series). Dont ask me how I know...
Joe Walsh
09-24-2008, 05:44 AM
Not if the frame was a sloppy mess.... THink about it. When torqued up, the engine wants to creep upward and to the right. Enough to lift the left tire off the ground. I dunno'. It might.

LOL....

I know that you can do this in a V8 Vega.

In fact, you can torque the Vega's frame so much that one front wheel is permanently off the ground!
Dragcity
09-24-2008, 06:10 AM
LOL....

I know that you can do this in a V8 Vega.

In fact, you can torque the Vega's frame so much that one front wheel is permanently off the ground!


Yeah, and I'd go 120 MPH in that....????
BUCKWHEAT
09-24-2008, 07:49 AM
Dom, I don't think so. As I recall, the early Olds were quick cars for the day, but they had a funny torque loading tendency. They raised the rear end under full power, not the front. No way the rear wheel came off the ground. My memory is from the Cordova, IL track in 1960.
Motorhead350
09-24-2008, 10:12 AM
Dom, I don't think so. As I recall, the early Olds were quick cars for the day, but they had a funny torque loading tendency. They raised the rear end under full power, not the front. No way the rear wheel came off the ground. My memory is from the Cordova, IL track in 1960.

It's the front wheel.