Super Mustang History
My name is Bob Schramm from Ft. Myers, Florida and it has been my privilege to find and save one of drag racings “FIRST-OFF”. The FIRST all fiberglass bodied Mustang “Funny car”, the FIRST Altered wheel base Mustang and the FIRST “Worlds Fastest” Mustang. The car was truly an innovator of things to come in its short lived race history. I found the remains in a Tampa, Florida junk yard in 1985. After many years of searching for the builder and putting together documentation, I am proud to share it with all of you who remember those days and for the youth of today who never saw these unique machines of the 60’s.
Now, let’s go back to the early 60’s, when a young man named Ron Pellegrini from Cicero, Illinois was trying to make a name for himself in the drag racing world. Having driven single engine dragsters, twin engine dragsters and the famed 4 engine dragster “SHOWBOAT” of T.V.Tommy Ivo’s, he was certainly no beginner to this ever changing sport of drag racing.
Figure 1: Ron's side by side twin dragster.
Figure 2: Ivo's twin in-line dragster.
Figure 3: Tommy's SHOWBOAT w/Ron.
Figure 1: Hawkinson T-Bolt with Ron behind the wheel
Figure 2: Quarter Horse (steel body - glass front end)
Figure 3: Quarter Horse and motor compartment with 427 ci T-Bolt motor
Late in 1964, with the season winding down for the winter, Ron took his Quarter Horse to the Ford proving grounds in hopes of convincing Ford to let him build 100 units much the same as Dearborn Steel & Tubing did for the Thunderbolts. This would put the new little Mustang in the A/FX class and be competitive with the Chrysler "HEMI" powered A/FX cars.
Ron awaited Fords’ decision thru the winter months and being not only a race car driver, but a seasoned promoter, he started setting up his field of events and bookings for the new 1965 season. When the decision came down from Ford in late April 1965 that they declined to participate in this new concept, Ron was caught between a rock and a hard spot. Determined not to give up and abort his commitments, he decided to tackle the problem on his own with his new concept car. To speed the project along, he created a fiberglass company called Fiberglass Ltd. and his first project out hte door was a 1965 Mustang coupe body.
To fast track the chassis part, Ron bought from the DAK team (Dennison, Arlasky & Knox ) their old A/FR roadster chassis with a running Chrysler 392 c.i. blown & injected “Hemi” motor. Now the problem was to set the new 106” wheel based fiberglass body onto a 97” wheel based chassis. This was accomplished by severing 16” out of the center (doors & roof) of the body in order to fit it over the new frame work. Next the wheel wells had to be aligned with the existing wheels on the rolling chassis. To do this, they moved the rear wheel well openings forward 7” and the front wells forward 12”. This created the FIRST all fiberglass bodied, altered wheel-base Mustang. This trend was picked up the following year when the Ford backed cars built by Holman & Moody dominated the drag strips around the country with their long-nose Mustang fastbacks.
Figure 1: Blue DAK roadster that was used for chassis under the Super Mustang.
Figure 2: Body on rolling jig.
Figure 3: 12" wheel well section panel added to front fender.
Figure 4: Door section, notice cut mark where 16" section was removed.
****Comparison photo****
Stock bodied chassis with 106” wheel base vs. Ron's altered 97"wheel-based car.
Figure 1: EMT tubing under body shell for support with aluminum panels installed.
Figure 2: #1 S/FX - Supercharged Factory Experimental.
Figure 3: Complete car with tail lights removed, parachute installed, and ready to race!
Figure 4: Loading car on home built trailer.
Figure 1: (Original Photo) Maiden run at US-30 Drag Strip in May 1965 (Memorial Day)
Figure 2: (Original Photo) On the line at US-30
Figure 3: World's Fastest Mustang on a "smoken" run at US-30 Drag Strip
Figure 1: Ron vs. the Ramchargers in 1965.
Figure 2: Ron and Spectator removing nose piece.
Figure 3: Time slip from Rockford Dragway in 1965.
When the season tailed off in 1965, Ron sold the car to some fellows out of Chicago, Ill. The history of the car was lost from that day until early 1972 when it showed up in a Tampa, Florida junk yard. Here it sat with out a motor on its original trailer until 1987. I spotted the shell in 1985, minus the engine and offered to purchase it at that time, but was informed that it was not for sale. Many times after that, I made the offer to buy with the same answer- NOT FOR SALE. Then in March of 87, the owner of the yard called me to see if I was still interested in buying the old Mustang “Funny” car. I borrowed a trailer and went off to Tampa to pick up what I thought was going to be the car I had seen 2 years prior. But, much to my surprise, what I saw was a broken, disintegrated fiberglass shell, a frame rusted in half, the Olds rear end with the Hilibrands and slicks were gone and the American 12 spoke front spindle mags with tires were also gone. This was so disappointing, that I walked away and went home. A week went by and I couldn’t get that type of body style out of my mind. All of the Ford backed Holman & Moody bodies were fastbacks & this was a Coupe, and all fiberglass to boot! I felt this had to be something special or else someone had done one fine job of building a replica Mustang body.
So, with my good friend and fellow Mustang enthusiast Dave Beyer, I went back to Tampa and dragged the car and trailer out of the weeds and loaded it onto my trailer for the long haul back to Ft. Myers. I can still remember that we used almost a whole roll of duct tape and rope just to keep the body from blowing off the trailer on the way back to Ft. Myers via the Interstate Highway.
****As first seen in 1985****
Photo from May 1987 issue of Muscle Car Review Magazine taken approx. 2 weeks before I purchased the car. (notice that all the wheels & tires were on the car at that time)
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Figure 1: (Photo March 1987) Body shell and tube frame on original trailer that Ron built.
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Figure 2: Notice cut line on roof where 16" was removed.
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Figure 3: Push bar and parachute bag - tail lights removed for air exhaust.
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Figure 1: Notice 12" patch panel behind the front wheel well opening.
Figure 2: Original chassis and body support tubing.
Figure 3: Rear body support tubing.