Pictured below is Johnny Beauchamps's #73 1960 Chevrolet. It looks from the seemingly hand lettered name over the driver's door that someone else might have driven it before this photo. Not sure what track but think NASCAR.
60 chev30 by
Nathan Pitts, on Flickr
Been thinking about the body style on these 59 and 60 chevys. The Biscayne 2 dr post body was lighter and cheaper to buy. The 2 dr hardtop, "Sport Coupe" as Chevrolet called it had a roof that was 2 inches lower and shorter on the rear. Pretty sure car #73" pictured is an Impala 2 dr "sport coupe". I have seen quite a few Chevy race cars of this era pictured and there is a pretty good mix of 2 dr post and 2 dr hardtop. For 1959 and 1960 The "sport coupe" roof was lower and shorter than the Biscayne sedans. On Nascar tracks by this time I think speeds were up in the 140 to 150 mph range and the "sport coupe" would definitely be faster and get more fuel mileage both major advantages on the long tracks.
So I found some pics, just to satisfy myself of the difference and sized them to be as close as I could and at roughly the same angle so I could see the difference myself.
Biscayne 2 dr post sedan.
60chev20 by
Nathan Pitts, on Flickr
Impala 2 dr hardtop "sport coupe".
60chev10 by
Nathan Pitts, on Flickr
The difference is pretty obvious. Another give away is that for 1959 and 1960 they used a longer trunk lid to go with the shorter roof and that does not fit any other 59 or 60 Chevy. This same roof was used on some Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, and Pontiacs. The basic body shell is the same for all those makes. Looking at pictures of NASCAR races in 1959 and 1960 one can see that the top teams were running those "sport coupe" bodies. You can almost imagine the difference in airflow at high speed in those cars.
It has got "320" HP painted on the hood. According to my research that would indicate a 348 motor with 11.25:1 compression with solid lifters and high lift camshaft. 4 spd trannies were a factory option behind those 348's, the racers loved that I am sure. Wonder how good those "W" motors were on the roundy round tracks? Don't hear much about them.
Has anybody made a 1/24-1/25 scale model of the 1960 Chevy 2 dr hard top?
MB