MUSCLE BOUND
BAKERSFIELD local David Mallory was at March Meet to shake down his 1969 Camaro. This looks like a very fresh build. What’s the story behind it? Well, it’s the first time it’s been out racing in over 10 years. The car originally came from Texas and ended up with a guy in Isabella, not far from here. Apparently it has a lot of race history in Texas, and you can see the original red flake paintjob the guy never finished sanding off. It was a full project but he never finished it before he passed away and I picked it up a few years ago. I’ve been working long days every day for the last month to get it here. What state was it in when you got it? It was pretty much as you see here, but all in a million pieces. I had to put everything back together, but even though I had all
the pieces ready to go, it didn’t mean everything worked out well. It’s been hard to get it done. Just a few weeks back, I was cutting a piece of bodywork and the disc blade shattered and tore up my face [points to cheek and scar from mouth to ear]. Had it gone any further back, I might’ve been a lot worse! Maybe God doesn’t want me to run the car. What’s with the shipping invoice on the front clip?
[Laughs] Well, if I didn’t like it, it would be easy to send it back! That was one of the pieces I had to buy to get it done. The whole car is fibreglass and we put it on the scales and it weighs 2150lb – nice and light. Though I don’t think I can return the front now [points to exhaust cut-outs]. How did it run today? All right. I’m happy that it’s all together and fired up and we made a single pass in C/gas. We got knocked out because I ran an 11.13. I didn’t realise I had the linkage set up backwards and I only had quarter-throttle! I think we can definitely run in B/gas at 8.6 index, but the real aim is about 8.3s. What’s the set-up? It’s a full tube frame and ’glass body, and I built the headers and interior bits. The engine is a 496-cube Chevy, and it’s got a Powerglide two-speed. I also finished up this bike here, and that’s been a lot of fun. It’s a 1974 Rokon Trailbreaker. It’s two-wheel chain drive. They’re awesome machines – that front diff actually works to let the wheel spin at a different speed to the rear, and still have full steering. And those wheels are hollow. You can fill them both up with around four gallons of water or fuel. Or whiskey! [laughs]