[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Not sure if I down loaded this from the Detroit Autorama and a news article on the Black Bird as a feature car at Autorama for 2002.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

I found the un-masking of the Tiger.

John "Cheater" Politzer had his work cut out for him in 1966, at Tusla and the Nationals. Taking on the Lucky ticket holders and B Stock contenders, around the country and putting on a show. Then onto running the pros and beating them. Then racing NHRA president Wally Parks and beating him all three rounds. As a finally runing everyone then getting out of the Tiger suit and racing George Hurst who was now wearing the Tiger suit and loosing to George Hurst.

[goatman65]

Wearing that suit while driving must have been a real pain. The GeeTo Tiger cars were always my favorite cars when i was a kid in the 60s.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by goatman65

Wearing that suit while driving must have been a real pain. The GeeTo Tiger cars were always my favorite cars when i was a kid in the 60s.

It was a challenge wearing the Tiger suit while racing. John had to continually move the tiger head up to see through the mouth as he race. Fortunately John was an excellent driver. He was able to listen more for lifter float to shift rather then trying to watch the tac and see down the strip as he power shifted each gear.

John and I along with our my wives went to dinner last night on a sub 30 degree windy Detroit night. Our wives are good friends. John was talking to me about detailing and polishing his '47 Chevy. He realized I was just being polite listening when he said, I'm sure you'd jump in a minute and trailer the Black Bird to the indoor track he ran out east many years ago. This got my attention. Unfortunately it is 40 years later and there is no way this was going to happen. But what fun that would have been.

John often talks about the two of us running each other in equally prepaired 4 speed cars. If only it was the '60's all over again. LOL Where is that Delorean time machine when you need it?

[SD421]

Hey Dr. Schiffer.
I was curious if Politzer has ever said whether one of 66 GTEEOH's was for some reason just a better runner than the other one? or any trivia such as one would constantly break this or that part some unknown reason?
Merry Christmas
Don

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by SD421

Hey Dr. Schiffer.
I was curious if Politzer has ever said whether one of 66 GTEEOH's was for some reason just a better runner than the other one? or any trivia such as one would constantly break this or that part some unknown reason?
Merry Christmas
Don

Don,
I've never heard if one car having more problems than the other. The one issue that did arise was with a popular Detroit DJ from WKNR that ran the Mystery Tiger and never shifted.

The DJ was Dick Purtan. Fortunately, there were only a few bent push rods. Dick remembers his wife telling him that during the race the Pontiac representative kept yelling to shift. That rep. was Jim Wangers. This story got plenty of play at the Woodward Dream Cruise. Dick now worked for the Old's radio channel WOMC that sponsor's the Cruise.

I gave one of Dick Purtan's radio side kick's, and a freind of mine, Al Muscovitz AKA "Big Al" Muskovito, some of Jim Wangers prints for radio contests, including the Geeto Tigers. I told Al the story. Al would not let up on the radio about it. Then when Jim came out with the ERTL Geeto Tiger cars I brought a few for give aways by the station again. This time I also told the producer, Bill Stedman. Between Al and Bill they made sure Dick's radio audiance heard the story about the bent push rods.

Tenney sent me a copy of a 1966 Royal Pontiac work order billed to the Geeto Tigers Inc for a rear brake line. I sent a copy of it to John Politzer. John called me back and said they never had a rear brake problem with any of the cars. He said it was when some one did not pay attention in removing the rear end that a brake line got damaged. But this never happened on the Tigers.

Sorry I can't help you with this.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

I found these resently posted photos on the Royal Pontiac Club of America site, (royalpontiac.org) of me at Milan drag. According to the date it say's this is 2005.

[Ghostgoat]

What a fantastic thread! Love reading about all the street racing I enjoy by those who did it. Got tons of magazines and enjoyed reading about the Black Bird in HPP. Also have a older magazine that I think is from the early 70's that has an article about the Silver Bullet. Dont remember which one it was in but was interesting. Thanks for all the first hand knowledge of these posts.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by Ghostgoat

What a fantastic thread! Love reading about all the street racing I enjoy by those who did it. Got tons of magazines and enjoyed reading about the Black Bird in HPP. Also have a older magazine that I think is from the early 70's that has an article about the Silver Bullet. Dont remember which one it was in but was interesting. Thanks for all the first hand knowledge of these posts.

I'm glad you have enjoyed the thread. Let me repost the orginal articles on a few of the Detroit are 10 second cars of the early 1970's There are several more that suprisingly did not make it into print.

I'll re post in thumb nails the few early articles on these cars.

We will begin with the January 1971 Car Craft magazine article "Motown Show Down". Jimmy Addison ran an 11.89 @ 121 MPH thru the mufflers. Un plugged and ran 11.34 @ 127 MPH.

The thru the muffler time is the most important when you run on the street. That is how 99% of the cars ran on the streets of Detroit. In an artcile in Car and Driver bt Brock Yates in Sept 1975 Joe Riggerillo explained how we weeded out "Pure" race cars. All guys had to run through the mufflers and be able to drive several miles without fouling plugs or over heating.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

The next Detroit street car to make it into the Magazines was the Black Bird in a "How to" article on Popular Hot Rodding March 1971.

The has the Black bird through the mufflers at 11.68 @ 121.78. The Blackbird was always tested with mufflers on. This is the only way the guys could get an actual on the cars performance.

The last page is separate due to a five page limit.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

This engine had been freshed up several times to keep improving it. Unfortunately it throw a rod and broke the block under the ownership of Frankie Ulbrick. The engine was rebuilt by George Delorean and later equipted with nitrous on board to keep the Blackbird looking the same as before. The low hood and nitrous helped thrawt off all those guys running their tunnel Rams and prostock hoods that though a single carb car couldn't run...

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Jimmy Addison's car was now freshed up. His front bumper and hood where fixed along with some weight loss. (See last article on the Addison's car and notice the bent front bumper and 440 hood orniment in front the hood. His hood scoop is not as bowed upward either as in the first article.

First on page 39 you have Mike Fons', Pro Stock driver for Rod Shop, 1957 Corvette that had run a single Holley and through the mufflers 10.6 @ 125 that he originally built for A/Modified production. Mike sold it to another Modified driver Steve Mayard who you've seen in many adds with a 1957 Vette that said "Executioner" on the front.

Addison's GTX is featured right after Fon's on pages 40 - 42.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Not to be left behind you have Mike Magyari's 1969 COPO Camaro with fiberglass front end and a Tunnel Port intake.

In the a 1989 MOPAR magazine article on the Silver Bullet Jimmy Addison speaks about having lost to Mike Magyari's Camaro. Another Chevy that Addison had trouble with was Andy Mannerino's. Andy and his brother owned a high performance shop called Total Performance in Redford. they even had a dyno.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

In this article they explore the high performance parts that are out there of Pontiacs. They have two Pontiacs. They never show the cars.
The first is Milt Shornach's 1971 SS/HA that runs 11.30 @ 119MPH and weights over 3,600 lbs.

The second is discribed in the beginning is of a 1968 Firebird carrying a record of 88 wins and two losses in non-sanctioned racing.

At the end of the article it states: "...it is an all-steel body, with the back seat removed and replaced by full upholstery. It weights in around 3,200 lbs and runs 11.0's @ 127MPH when it makes a rare trip to the drag strip. And 11.0 from an easy-to-build, hydraulic lifter wedge street engine is enough to make believers out of those who thought Pontiacs were out of contention a long time ago."

Well, let me tell you I put many things back into the car like the back seat, door panels, carpet, interior, heater, radio, hood brackets, a steel hood with all of its bracing etc. I weight the car as it is at Norwalk with me in it and it weight less the 3,000 lbs.

Now do the math just comparing Milt's Firebirds performance and its "LEGAL" weight to the Blackbird. Assume all you did was remove weight from Milt's heavier Bird. Using 100lbs taken out equals a tenth of a second. Plus remember I put weight back in the car plus my weight of 190 plus. What do you get? A car that ran 10.40's or better.

Now understand the Blackbird had more horsepower too. It was not built for any legal rules. So if torn down it was not leagl for any class. No saftey devises etc.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Here is a few coments from Milt Schornack's book on the Black Bird I added.

Also when you re-read the second article, Car Craft September 1971, on the Jimmy Addison's Silver Bullet page 1 (40) They now talk about achieving 10.60's through the mufflers. The last page 3 (42) and last paragraph of the article states: "Addison will continue polishing the Bullet until his goal of 10.40's e.t.'s is realized.

Frankie Ulbrick, Jim Wanger old driver and the guy Jim sold the Black Bird to, broke a rod and the block. It was then rebuilt by George Delorean with nitrous to give the car a little more edge then the low 10's it had alread acheived.

The Black Bird continued to be raced both on the street and track for many more years under five (5) differnent owners before coming back to Jim Wangers in 1994. Then onto me in 1997.

[goatman65]

Hard to believe that at one time magazines were actually doing articles about street racing.

[Ghostgoat]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eric M. Schiffer

Jimmy Addison's car was now freshed up. His front bumper and hood where fixed along with some weight loss. (See last article on the Addison's car and notice the bent front bumper and 440 hood orniment in front the hood. His hood scoop is not as bowed upward either as in the first article.

First on page 39 you have Mike Fons', Pro Stock driver for Rod Shop, 1957 Corvette that had run a single Holley and through the mufflers 10.6 @ 125 that he originally built for A/Modified production. Mike sold it to another Modified driver Steve Mayard who you've seen in many adds with a 1957 Vette that said "Executioner" on the front.

Addison's GTX is featured right after Fon's on pages 40 - 42.

Cool. This is the magazine I have with the Silver Bullet in it. Thanks for the other articles also.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Wow Talk about editorial license! I re-read the article in the 1989 issue of MOPAR magazine

The " Infamous 150 MPH Club" ? Are you kidding? Either the High End Club or Top End Club would have been exceptible. But I don't know of any street cars in the 1950's that go 150 MPH. This is when the High End Club began....in the 1950's.

A little off topic: I also read on some ones forum, a 2008 posting, that The High End club ended several years earlier. I guess they forgot to tell us that. I showed you the pictures from last years gathering when we had Joe Riggerillo's surpise birthday on a Thrusday night at the Big Boy (which is now closed) on Telegraph Rd and Maple in Bloomfield Twp. Like in the old days. We get thrown out of one location, we just move to another. The High End Club still meets every Thursday night, but now at the Rams Horn on Orchard Lake between 13 Mile Rd and 14 Mile Rd.

Back to the article and some fuzzy facts. I showed you the picture of Mike Fons' 1957 Vette. Clearly not a 4 head light 1958. They stated the Mike's Vette was more of a race car...Gee wheren't all of these cars? I'm not sure what exactly this meant? He was too fast for them?

You'll have to read what they said about Jim Wangers. But they did not even mention the Black Bird, Firebirds, 2+2's, Monza, Hurst Olds, Chrysler 300H or the Monti Carlos. Only GTO's. Not very complimentary to say least. Mind you Jim was friends with these guys. Jim used to work for Chrysler in marketing before he went onto Pontiac.

You got to read the article closely and watch the punctuations and mis-stated facts. Now this was in 1989. This is 1989 and Jimmy Addison had stoped racing the car approx. 1974. They were not sure where the GTX was now. The author has quotes around, "A guy by the name of Mike McGauri ran a Camaro for Booth & Arons with a 460-inch big-block Chevy. He beat me, and I beat him," recall Addison. ( period end of quotation marks) That was the only car to ever beat the Bullet.

WOW!!!!!!!!!! This is where the legend of "Never been beat" must have begun. Not by what Jimmy said but what the writer edited.

As I stated in the very beginning there where many very fast cars and every one kept improving their cars or getting newer and faster ones because every one got beat at some point. EVERYONE!

Remember "A LIE WILL MAKE IT AROUND THE WORLD BEFORE THE TRUTH CAN GET ITS BOOTS ON."

Like they say.....I read it on the internet so it has to be true.

You can't get up set. It is the way life is. Don't take things too serious. Just know what you know and enjoy life.
.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by goatman65

Hard to believe that at one time magazines were actually doing articles about street racing.

I just could not resist up loading the "Famous" September 1967 Car and Driver article by Brock Yates. When Brock cruised along with John "Cheater" Politzer (Mystery Tiger) in a 1967 GTO 400 Ram Air 4 Speed Bobcat. Then meeting up with Terry "Peanuts" Kosins in his Dick Aarons prepared 1965 GTO 4 Speed car.

Last page to follow

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

The race...... Cheater vs Peanuts.