sorry all didnt find JTS1404 JUST JTS 1494 AND know of a nother JTS 1670 that is in king man az he may build somthing around it or if ask my sale it?
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If you have been checking this post lately, you may have know by now, the original JTS block for the "Whistler" has been found.
In a discussion with John awhile back on the fate of this car, he was cautious to proceed further until he gathered up all the parts necessary.
The most important part to find would be the original engine. It would be hard to validate this car as the Whistler without it.
I'm sure many have opinion on this matter, and mine was to find a replacement block with no stamp and use it as is. One of the Studebaker vendors told John, "Its out there, you just have to find it!" Easy for Chuck Collins to say!
Well off to the Studebaker graveyard for a look! If you have, "The Sickness," as they call it, this place is nirvana. Being a Lark guy, it was for me.
I began digging about in the cars and John pointed out a few cars where parts I might be looking for were kept. I came across one car with just steering wheels in it. I could not tell what was in the trunk. It had no lock, I could reach the trip mechanism with my finger, bounced on it a few times, but I could not open it. I just walked on..
After digging for some pulleys in another car, I walked back and saw John at the car with the steering wheels, with the trunk Open! "How the heck did you open that?" I asked.. John then said, "I bounced on it!" He then pointed at an engine in the trunk and asked, "What does that say?"
While the engine did not really say "Oh C#*p!" It was truly a moment for such words.
Here is the picture of John smiling, and as Chuck said, "You just have to find it!"
IMG950126_zpsdbd96857 by s blazel, on Flickr
IMG950124_zps1aeb1a88 by s blazel, on Flickr
In closing, my dad was also a car enthusiast with well.. I'll be polite.. Many cars! A friend stopped by my dad's place and I said, "Like the Junkyard!" My friend replied, "Some see junk, I just see a lot of interesting stories!"
As for stories, I'd sure like to know the story of how that block, got into that trunk!Last edited by SScopelli; 07-27-2017, 07:26 AM.Comment
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Congrats!
Very interesting story lining up here.
Trying to keep up with it.
DrewComment
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If you've enjoyed this thread, Go to this one and vote for the Whistler..
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What Seb said.
If you stop to think about it, this thread is about 10 months old and has about 3300 reads. That means it has been read, on average, ten times per day, every day, for ten months! That would seem to well-establish the interest in The Whistler.
BP
We've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge. 
G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.Comment
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When ever I see a new post on this thread I always check it out. So yeah, this is probably my favorite find so far.Comment
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Hope to see it again doing what it is famous for, not just gathering dust in someone's collection but, out kicking some big A on the strips.Comment
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Just stumbled onto this story--what an improbable confluence of circumstances!! Great read!Comment
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By chance does that Isky cam box label say "Race' after "FULL" under the shipping tape? As in "FULL RACE."
Some folks poke fun at the "Full Race" description today, likening it to the oversize muffler tips and outrageous wings favored by young enthusiasts/posers today.
I think if Isky said it out loud in print back in 1963 it might show some legitimacy.
I think Honest Charlie and Almquist both might have used it back then. Gotta dig out my old catalogs.Comment
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I recall many cam grinders using those terms in their advertising back in the late 50s and early '60s. Most everyone wanted a hot cam for bragging rights, but only the most hard-core had any real grasp of lift and duration figures. And the 'cool' thing to state was; 'She's got three deuces and a full-race cam', Sometimes a high lift cam. Hardly any 'regular' guys gave the figures, 'least not in their normal everyday buddy car jive.
Lot of it was just so much BS. I stuck such a 'big' cam in my first 283, and it sure sounded wicked mean .... but slower than it had been dead stock.Comment
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I'd like to point out something that has fascinated me since this thread began.
This thread is not only about "The Whistler", but something more.
Sure it was exciting to see the car removed from its ominous burial in the desert, but only because it had the telltale signs of it being a real "R" car. Until it was truly out in the open, only then could one see the worn off markings and the ghost it left behind in the paint, that this was a race car as well.
But lets go back to the end of 1963, when a young man named Bob Palma, took a clipping from a race magazine and wrote to the car dealer that was sponsoring a 63 "Blown" Lark drag car. The only reason he was able to write to "Ray Tanner Motor's" (some 1700 miles away) was because he searched out back issues of Studebaker news for the dealer's address.
What the..?
In today's age, we can do a Google search and have information like that at our fingertips in milliseconds. But in 1963?
Most grownups during 1963 didn't find much interest in life past the end of Main street in their own town, let alone an 18 year old during that time.
If you're not familiar with Bob Palma's letter to Tanner Motor's and the response Bob got back from Tanner Motor's, you can read it again by clicking on the post link below. You can hit the back button when you're done..
You might also want to note, that the picture Mr. Palma clipped out of his magazine, and the gloss photo that was returned, had some interesting updates between them. The one Bob clipped out looked like a fairly new car with stock disc brake rims, and had white shoe polish writing on the doors and fenders. Also note, no mention of being called "The Whistler."Originally posted by BobPalma View Post
This picture was taken in October of 1963, by J.R. Bloom while it was racing at "Bee Line" Drag Strip in Scottsdale Arizona, and note, No name..
Note: Racing Photos Courtesy of JR Bloom. Please do not redistribute.
The Stickers with the Cross-hair on them is an Autolite sparkplugs one. The oval shaped one at the bottom of the window, second from the right is the Bee Line sticker..
Yes, Full RACE.. It was a 300 degrees duration and .505" lift. Also the end of the Cam was stamped, "Hard Face" which may have been an indication that it was welded back up to regrind at the high lift. This cam would only be suited for short high reves like a drag race, opposed to stop and go traffic.Originally posted by Dan Timberlake View Post
if you were to "Drive" this cam, it would seem like the car had no power.. That is because street driving is from 1k-3k RPM. This cam is for performance at the 4k-7K rpm range, especially at the end of the 1/4 mile where your RPMs are expected to be at max.
If you hit MAX RPMs from your engine at the end, it means you left noting behind.
3,685.. Wow.Last edited by SScopelli; 04-11-2019, 07:45 AM.Comment
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Good follow-up and analysis, Seb.
To me, the most remarkable part about life back then, and in between, is that I kept all that stuff. Usually, with other interests intervening, Studebaker going out of business, etc., people would toss material like that, what with college, moving into two different apartments after Purdue, then a mobile home for a few years before getting married, and then two homes after that!
But no, for some reason, I hauled all that material with me from place to place. Whew; 'glad I did.
(Gotta' admit, though, I never thought it would be this "valuable" to the hobby...not in monetary terms, you understand.)
BTW: I was only 17 years old when I clipped the magazine picture of "The Tempest Eater."
I was still only 17 when corresponding with Roy Mendenhall at Ray Tanner Motors in late 1963. ('Didn't turn 18 until February 11, 1964!)
More Trivia: Famous Alaskan Sarah [nee Heath] Palin was born on my 18th birthday! (Inventor Thomas Alva Edison was also born on February 11, but in 1847, long before baby-boomers Palma and Heath!) BP
We've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge.
G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.Comment
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No doubt its a factor that this discovery is currently the 'most significant' news story for last year so far, looking at the poll results to date.Originally posted by BobPalma;818867(Gotta' admit, though, I never thought it would be this "valuable" to the hobby...[I
CraigComment
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We've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge.
G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.Comment
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This has been a most interesting thread. I hope some time I can see this car in person on some future trip to Arizona.Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta BadlandsComment
Thanks.
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