1967 Big Al III

[ggzilla]

So we moved to a new place two year ago, the house was built 1967, and there was a box of old car magazines ... 

 

I love these 1960s mags because they did so many things that are now considered impossible

 

ROD & CUSTOM

m a g a z i n e

Vol. 15 No. 10 October, 1967

 

FEATURES

WHAT HATH JIM LYTLE WROUGHT? Why, Big Al III, that's what ... 27

 

 

I wonder how many Ratsuners have worked on an Allison engine? Other than @datsunaholic ...

 

 

 

Every article on this cover is fantastic, even the basics of tuning a VW, covers skills rarely taught today

[pidge]

That’s a neat find. I like looking at old car magazines myself. 

[datzenmike]

I had a subscription to Hot Rod in the '60s. 

[ggzilla]

In the 80s when I was a new mechanic, I read every 1960s Hot Rod I could find. I learned the basics of performance, such as engine swaps, making transmission adapters, head porting & polishing, advance curves, etc

Back then Hot Rod outshone Rod & Custom in my eyes, so I didn't look at this R&C magazine at first. But has some great stuff in it. I even enjoy the custom parts now, such as the article on flame painting, adding vents to fenders (by Dean Jeffries!), and especially the New! 1968 Vette Styling for older Stingrays

3 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

I had a subscription to Hot Rod in the '60s. 

[ggzilla]

Who was Jim Lytle?

 

Quote

The hot rodding scene of the 1960s was wild, but there was nothing wilder than Jim Lytle’s astounding machines, all of them powered by giant Allison aircraft engines.

 

The Allison-Powered Monsters of Jim Lytle - Mac's Motor City GarageMac's Motor City Garage

[ggzilla]

ROD & Custom October 1967 page 27. Photos by Chuck Wherry

What hath Jim Lytle wrought?

Indianapolis Turbine Car chassis-fabricator Jim Lytle
never runs out of ideas. Consider these machines
before flipping over to Big Al III.

Quad Al was Lytle's 8,000 hp, 4-wheel drive behemoth. Would you believe 96 spark plugs?

 

GM's Allison delivered 1710 horses from as many cubes, boasted a hemi head configuration.

Four valves per barrel resulted in this "tuner's nightmare" of rocker arms.

 

Jim (Allison) Lytle has a thing for aircraft engines, specifically the big, hairy V1710 Allisons
that helped give us our WWII air superiority. The 1710 figure stands for two things, displacement
(that's inches, man) and rated horsepower - and the V designates its configurations, V-type with
six slugs to a side. It's a mammoth thing, that old GM powerplant, and it rumbles under the fire of
24 plugs and as many exhaust outlets. They're used today in drag machines, those stormin' Gold
Cup class hydro-planes, and they're what power most of the Unlimited Class air racers (The P51
sort). They don't need much hopping up, for in stock form they run as near to the perfection of
their design as safety and reliability permits - but turn 'em a little faster that factory recommenda-
tions and the horses increase to some 2,000.

Anyway, this is the engine that Jim loves, and he's used them to power several noteworthy cars.
First was Big Al I, a radically chopped '34 Ford sedan and, later, a 'glass duplicate named Big Al
II that held the drag sedan record of 160-plus, in 9.31 seconds, during 1963 and '64. Later came
Quad Al - a behemoth of a four-Allison-powered drag machine that served duty as a show stopper.
Lytle, a Venice, California, custom car designer and builder, has filled in spare time between Alli-
son projects with a couple of noteworthy (and more conventional) street machines - a nifty
'32 that was chopped, channeled and Chrysler powered, and a '32 A highboy roadster that ran a
Pontiac and a full rumbleseat.

 

Following up the "Al" theme, Jim found time to whip up Alsetta - a diminutive, V1710-powered
Isetta that went to the opposite end of the size scale from Quad Al. Again, this one made the
show circuit but saw nary a drag strip.

 

Now, if all this doesn't convince the readership that Lytle is a builder of considerable merit, then

consider that it was he who fabricated much of the complex "spinal column" of the highly controver-
sial Granatelli-STP Indy turbine car!

 

With, then, an adequate background on one Jim Lytle, are you ready for Big Al III?

 

Other memorable projects were

Big Al I, a '34 sedan with Allison power

 

Isetta with Allison

 

backbone of the STP Indy car which Lytle fabricated for Granatelli

 

With these behind him, Lytle has gone another step ahead—displayed on following pages.

On your marks, get set...

you'd better sit down before you turn the page

[ggzilla]

BIG AL III

A 2,000-horse Hemi Semi

R & C

COVER CAR

 

"Gee whiz" is the usual comment on first inspection of Big AI III. Mighty Allison fits
neatly in stripped White chassis just aft of lightened cab. Rejuvenated trash hauler
features center seating, sturdy roll cage, with a hoped-for 160 mph drag speed.
Original Wheels will be run but will mount different rubber - with four slicks behind.
Lytle is a construction perfectionist, as evidenced by neat assembly of the whopping
big machine. He built it unassisted in four months, including wild paint (see cover)
and shortening of the lengthy frame rails.

 

[cover photo]