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Treasures from the past.
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1- THE BEGINNING |
2- INCH PINCHER 1 
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3- INCH PINCHER TOO (Soon) |
4- INCH PINCHER of New York (Soon) |
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INCH PINCHER 1...
Page 1 : The Dean Lowry days...Page 2 : The Dean Lowry days...Page 3 : Drag Strip article...Page 4 : The Darrell Vittone days... Soon
This page shows the exact content of an early DRAG STRIP magazine dated 1966 and displaying some AWESOME color pictures of the early Inch Pincher. Special THANKS to Eric LUSSIER for providing the pictures! - RECORD BOASTING BEETLE... : A Drag Strip mag article from 1966... All pictures by Chester KIRK. This 100 mph-plus, record holding Volkswagen, proves to Street Eliminator competition that looks are deceiving. 
Now, is it an awesome picture? One of my all time picture of the early Inch Pincher picture... unusual angle and colors make this one a perfect capture of the little car. Note the early red BRMs... Were ended those rims... This said, I can't remember any VW Gasser sported such an amount of different rims in such a limited period of times : red BRMs, black BRMs, stock Porsche, stock VW, Rader... Competition for Street Eliminator honors against faster and more powerful machinery is old stuff for Dean LOWRY. Dean is the man responsible for the construction and campaigning of the EMPI sponsored H/Gas Volksawgen that wins the hearts of spectators and frustrates competition whenever it races.
The car's sponsor, EMPI of Riverside, California, uses the bright orange beetle to performance-test many of the products and services that it provides for the public. In addition to the valuable results gained from the testing of equipment, EMPI has also gained much favorable publicity from the car's near-perfect winning record. 
A nice 3/4 rear view. Lack of running boards is evident here. Note the single rear bar to help protect the exhaust. Dean LOWRY, research chief at EMPI, is no newcomer to drag racing. Dean became active back in 1952 when he built and piloted a DeSoto powered dragster. In 1955 his romance with four cylinder engines began and it wasn't long before Dean had himself a Porsche powered rail that he campaigned with moderate success. Next he competed a VW sedan that eventually led him to his current mount - the "inch Pincher". The sedan, which is the same car Dan GURNEY drove to win the 101-mile VW sedan race at Nassau in 1963 has just recently set another record. At Half Moon Bay Strip in California, Dean made official runs at 13.30 seconds for a new NHRA record, turning a speed of 101.80 mph. The car's best unofficial runs were timed at 103.09mph and 12.95 seconds. Other records held by the EMPI sedan include AHRA's H/Gas records of 97.71 and 13.45 seconds; the unofficial half-mile drag record for a Volkswagen at 115.53 mph, and the unofficial quarter-mile drag record for a supercharged Volkswagen at 106.88 mph. 
At time of this writting, the car also occupies first place in the nHRA Division 7 Street Eliminator points race. Basically, the 1956 VW's chassis is just as it came from Germany. Itels that ate other than stock include a late model Porsche rear end that bounces a set of 4.42 gears, Bige HD75-25 shocks up front, and Boge HD 50-50's on teh rear.
Stopping the lightweigth was left to the standard VW drum brakes on the rear, and a set of EMPI disc brakes up front. The 9.lb. EMPI wheels that were mafufactured by BRM of England replace the standard 13.1/2-lb models, and are just one of the products that are currently being tested on the "test vehicle". |
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E-mail : eldub@cal-look.com