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This varies from state to state and it has changed over time. A straight front axle would have been like this:
It is a pretty radical change and was above the legal limit for street cars, it was too young to fit other categories and wasn't going to be done to fit a grandfathered clause so it wasn't going to be able to be licensed for the road. When you do such extensive modifications it has to pass an inspection to get a title and license plates.

Just because you may see a car that looks like that doesn't mean it is legal for normal street use.

Here are the current laws regarding some of the things that IL covers. I see a lot of cars that "could" be pulled over for violations but they are on the road anyway.

http://www.liftlaws.com/illinois_lift_laws.htm

I had a brother there in IL who was working with me on this and we decided to dump it and let someone else deal with it. I had the heads off the motor and up in WI for a valve job so they got the motor minus the heads but those 392 motors were a big deal and it was likely they had no problem find new ones. If I would have had a place to stash the motor I would have kept that..... not that I would have ever had the money to do much with it but they were such cool motors.

Ed

jsburger wrote:

reible wrote:I had a 1962 Comet, well some of it was other years but the basic car was a '62. I had a lot fun with it. Change the motor, transmission from auto to stick, on the floor no less and added hood scoops and well what didn't I do with that car. I also had a '62 falcon that I was working on, straight front axl, 392 hemi out of a 57 chrysler, getting drafted did that in and by the time I got out it was illegal to modify a car like that for the street.

Ed

Interesting, I have never heard of that. I am not doubting you but please explain.

ChrisNeilan wrote:To short to be a slim jim, I have a whole set! Door trim tool, possibly for a Ford. Looks like one I used to have for my 60's - 70's vintage Fords. Just sold my 62 Falcon last year!. The top end looks like a seal puller.

So not to belabor the point what was the problem.? I have never been in a state (lots of them due to my military service) that inspected vehicles to the extent of your source. That is not to say that stuff is not on the books in lots of states. Are they laws, I am sure they are. Are they stupid, in many cases probably? Are the ever inforced? I have no idea. Does IL inspect to that level if you present something a little different?

reible wrote:This varies from state to state and it has changed over time. A straight front axle would have been like this:

ford.jpg

It is a pretty radical change and was above the legal limit for street cars, it was too young to fit other categories and wasn't going to be done to fit a grandfathered clause so it wasn't going to be able to be licensed for the road. When you do such extensive modifications it has to pass an inspection to get a title and license plates.

Just because you may see a car that looks like that doesn't mean it is legal for normal street use.

Here are the current laws regarding some of the things that IL covers. I see a lot of cars that "could" be pulled over for violations but they are on the road anyway.

http://www.liftlaws.com/illinois_lift_laws.htm

I had a brother there in IL who was working with me on this and we decided to dump it and let someone else deal with it. I had the heads off the motor and up in WI for a valve job so they got the motor minus the heads but those 392 motors were a big deal and it was likely they had no problem find new ones. If I would have had a place to stash the motor I would have kept that..... not that I would have ever had the money to do much with it but they were such cool motors.

Ed

ChrisNeilan wrote:To short to be a slim jim, I have a whole set! Door trim tool, possibly for a Ford. Looks like one I used to have for my 60's - 70's vintage Fords. Just sold my 62 Falcon last year!. The top end looks like a seal puller.

[/quote][/quote]

Ed, what was the purpose of the front straight axle? Shurly not a Low Rider!!

[quote="reible"]I had a 1962 Comet, well some of it was other years but the basic car was a '62. I had a lot fun with it. Change the motor, transmission from auto to stick, on the floor no less and added hood scoops and well what didn't I do with that car. I also had a '62 falcon that I was working on, straight front axl, 392 hemi out of a 57 chrysler, getting drafted did that in and by the time I got out it was illegal to modify a car like that for the street.

Ed

I took a 302 and modified it, swapped the two speed air cooled tranny for a C-4 with shift kit, 8"rear and slapped on some disc brakes. All from a Maverick donor car. Tri-y headers, flow master exhaust and a performer intake and Eldebrock 4 barrel carb. I could get rubber as it shifted to second! I also put an eight cylinder front end into it. Stripped it to bare metal and gave it an acid etch primer and repainted it.
Then I ran out of steam!

I have no idea what it is like to attempt to get a title for a modified car like what I was working on now. At the time they would required it to be inspected and if it didn't pass a test they stopped the process until you got that part taken care of and you started all over.

To give you an example of how crazy this was my brother had a 56 ford pickup truck. They passed a law that ALL trucks had to pass the commercial truck laws. This mean 6 month inspections, flare kits, labels on the doors and everything that trucks had to meet. We had did a few modifications like putting a 312 in it, high ratio rear end and body work, new paint, tires rims. It was a stoplight racer as we called them at the time, 0 to 70 mph and that was it. When the new law went into effect it took us 6 months to get everything fixed to pass inspection. New kingpins, brakes, safety kit and each time we went in they found something else and if I remember right it was about $25 per inspection. It was unreal. Of course they finally came to there senses and excluded pick-ups.

Now we still have to take our cars in every two years for pollution testing, I had to do that with my 1979 Chrysler until they decided that there were to few older cars on the road to worry about. If you fail to get the tests done you can't get plates, no insurance no plates.... I had to take our van in for testing in Dec. to get my plates in Mar. I'd hate to think of the people who don't remember to get their inspection as they have stopped sending out reminders....... for both the testing and for the new plates.

Ed

jsburger wrote:So not to belabor the point what was the problem.? I have never been in a state (lots of them due to my military service) that inspected vehicles to the extent of your source. That is not to say that stuff is not on the books in lots of states. Are they laws, I am sure they are. Are they stupid, in many cases probably? Are the ever inforced? I have no idea. Does IL inspect to that level if you present something a little different?

ERLover wrote:Ed, what was the purpose of the front straight axle? Shurly not a Low Rider!!

People do things because they can be done. Hot Rods, Customs, street racers, show cars and why, well because you can.

If you want examples google and you will see all manor of these modifications. This is one of the things that has been going on since before my time but the 60's was a wild ride.

Ed

I wish I had gotten further on my projects. I really enjoyed those experiments in automotive tuning. I got a Pontiac 389 in a convertible at about the same time (1962). No. 6 hydraulic cam and holley 851, thrush pipes and it had the sweetest sound when you floored it. Four speed automatic and even as big as it was it got rubber off "street slicks". It sounded like it was going to suck the hood in. It wasn't fast for the day but nothing sounded better.

It sounds like your machine was sweet too. Back in the day I even though about keeping that up as a hobby but it took too much time and money. Now I have my Cordoba and I haven't had time to do much to it but I keep thinking this will be the year and then it isn't. Just getting to old to be crawling around under cars and standing on my head in the engine compartment.... but those were the days.

Ed

ChrisNeilan wrote:I took a 302 and modified it, swapped the two speed air cooled tranny for a C-4 with shift kit, 8"rear and slapped on some disc brakes. All from a Maverick donor car. Tri-y headers, flow master exhaust and a performer intake and Eldebrock 4 barrel carb. I could get rubber as it shifted to second! I also put an eight cylinder front end into it. Stripped it to bare metal and gave it an acid etch primer and repainted it.
Then I ran out of steam!

ERLover wrote:Ed, what was the purpose of the front straight axle? Shurly not a Low Rider!!

Normally one would cut out the traditional A-Frame and Shock Towers, sheet metal over the opening, install a straight axle and drop in a massive big block engine otherwise too wide to fit in the engine bay.

It aided in getting better weight transfer to the rear wheels for drag races and was used even with small block engines.

Google "Gassers" in photos and you will see what I mean.

Everett

Possibly some sort of shim alignment tool? The bottom section mimics the old style upper control arm alignment shims which GM cars had...

Mike