FACTORY Drag Racing History - Arnie Beswick's "SWISS CHEESE" Pontiac
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- Опубликовано: 2 июн 2024
- The factory nearly destroyed the frames of these SWISS CHEESE Pontiacs by drilling more than 120 giant holes to reduce weight. This modification, along with aluminum body panels, a HOT 421ci Super Duty engine, plexiglass windows and other trick components gave these 1963 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty "Swiss Cheese" cars an advantage on the drag strip, against other factory drag cars, like the Z-11 Impala, 427 Fords and Max Wedge Mopars. Drag racing history at its finest!
We're digging into the history of the 1963 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty (nickname Swiss Cheese), and specifically looking at the history of the most famous example, which was raced by Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick. We'll also show what happened to the car after Arnie Beswick moved on into the match racing and funny car world. The car has recently changed hands and is in a private collection in South Georgia, but we got a chance to see it up close and personal at the Savoy Auto Museum, during the amazing FACTORY DRAG CAR exhibit.
This car, and several others were a spectacular display of the intense fight amongst the big three American auto manufacturers during the early 1960's. Pontiac only built 14 of these VERY special Catalinas before General Motors pulled the plug on the factory racing program in January of 1963. Only a few still exist, and the Arnie Beswick car is by far the most famous and recognizable, due to its race wins and famous owner.
Thank you to Dean Fait for helping me document the history of this iconic and historic Pontiac drag car. Dean wrote an amazing book about Arnie Beswick's racing career...check it out here: www.amazon.com/Arnie-Farmer-B...
#dragracing #history #pontiac 
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The 60's and 70's drag cars were just so cool . And the artwork depicting an over exaggerated huge tires and big tall shifters Ed Roth drawings was a good time to be a kid
Loved the T-shirts. Wish we could go back. I'd have a huge warehouse of cars.
@@ricklodestein1101 you and me both
Back in 1960 I was running a 60 Pontiac in Super Stock at Cordova Dragway and Arnie was running a 60 Pontiac in Ultra stock. I bought a 3:90 gear from Arnie and on a Sunday morning at Morrison Pontiac he helped me install the gear in my Poncho and then drove to the Dragway to compete. Arnie was very helpful and one hell of a nice guy!
The first car I bought was a 63 Catalina. I loved that car!
I met Arnie at a car show. Really nice guy.
Loved this video !! As an eleven year old kid in1966, my first drag racing hero was Arnie Beswick. I loved his GTO funny cars, especially since he used Pontiac motors. Our family traveled almost all of the western U.S. over a few summers in a 1963 Pontiac Safari station wagon. Long live Poncho power !!
Clicked on this to get some history into me as a break from headlines.... Really appreciate your vehicle history documentaries, thanks
I personally knew the second owner Ray Bisek. It was the only car with a plexiglass windshield. Which was funny watching race on cool night. Didn't have to wipe dew off it. Almost bought it for $1000. His wife said "YOU'RE NOT SELLING THAT %#%KING CAR". Needless to say he sold it 2 years later. I have many more stories about the owner and the car.
That's a great story! Love the old Pontiac history.! @ 9:07 there's a shot of the car at a track, and the 62 Catalina behind it is a friend of mine in his "Suprise" maroon Pontiac. I used to go to Us131in Martin,mi. with him on weekends. I was part of his pit crew on that car, and had lots of fun doing that.! He's been gone a few years, and i don't know what happened to the car, but i hope it's in good hands like this one . His name was Steve Snyder. He also helped run our local track ,Osceola dragway.! Thanks Hot Rod Hoarder. Keep up the great history of drag racing.!
Nice video! My Dad and Arnie were good friends back in the 70s and 80s. Hanging out with my Dad at the Cordova Drag strip as a kid, I got to meet Arnie and some of the other owner/drivers back then, Like Raymond Beedle, And Doug Rose. What a wonderful time to be a kid! Thanks for the memories!
Seen him run at Cordova, IL several times in 90's. Nice to see one of older cars.
Thoroughly enjoyed the video. I also have a unique Pontiac Catalina, mine's a '64 though. It was purchased new and owned by Enoch Staley, one of the founding members of NASCAR and the owner of the North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway in Wilkesboro, NC. It was Enoch's personal car and was also used in some official capacity on the racetrack, likely pace car duty, etc. I picked it up earlier this year as a roller from someone who didn't know much about it. It still has the second certified speedometer under the dash and it also had a couple of 60's vintage Winston Cup race suits inside of it, as well as Enoch's old safari hat that says "Wilkesboro Speedway" on it. I also found an old pocket watch style stopwatch under the seat. The final kicker was an actual speeding ticket that was in the glove box that Enoch got in Hillsville, VA in April of 1964 on Hwy 58, going 70 in a 55 zone. I now have this car running and driving - check my channel for videos of this car.
Yes, I enjoyed it. And it also strongly reminded me of drag racing in the sixties and seventies. Maybe it is distorted by time, but in my mind it was always big-time fun.
Great job there hoarder that was a good video of a very historic car it is and it's good to hear the fine details about it thank you
All these 60's drag cars are unique and fascinating, put the right set up and a capable quick reaction skilled driver behind the wheel and you could win some money. The factory efforts were only part of the equation, the innovative teams were the other. It's about the people and machine collectively winning . Every factory effort had success and when they didn't , they made innovations by necessity and the challenges of the competition kept it moving forward just like today. Awesome story about a long gone era and a silver Pontiac.
Thank you for watching!
Its neat to look underneath because your can see the battle scars . It must be fairly original judging by the un perfect ness . Awesome video
That was a great story brother! The factory lightweight drag cars of back in the day was as COOL as it could get, Keep up the great work and thanks!
Great old drag car. Thank you for sharing!
💯👍👊
I find it interesting that those cars weren't considered structurally fit for the road, but they were structurally fit for every launch to be an all-out one. Pretty surprising that particular car managed to stay so intact through so many owners over the years.
Another awesome video. I love the history and pictures of the best days of drag racing. Look forward to seeing more!
AWESOME!!!Hands down my favorite old Pontiac
The BEST Era of cars for sure....thanks for showing and glad for the care takers of these timeless machines when the U.S. was the U.S.
Truly enjoyed your presentation of this article. You have a very unique style. You seen very interested and appreciative will a humble demeanor. I did see this car run in person at the US Nationals in Indy. I am from Indiana. Went to the Nationals for years in the 60's and 70's. Even went there on our Honeymoon. Beswick is a Midwest Legend and a Super Nice man. Thxs. for the You Tube Article.
Thank you for the kind words!
I’ve drifted away from the internet… clicked on RUclips and this video was the first thing I saw. Now I’m watching it instead of going to work. Dec 6th 2023 6:48 AM. 😂
Nice! Good to hear from you!
Very Cool!... I Love Pontiacs and Racing History. Thanks for Sharing
Thank you for watching!
I remember watching that car race the Ramchargers Dodge on the 1987 Musclecar Nationals VHS video. It was fun to watch it launch and dry hop. Great video!
Very cool and interesting history! It's really too bad that more films of those races dont exist. I LOVE the pictures, but to see them actually racing would be a real treat! Ive seen a few but not very many. Most were probably filmed in Super 8 or 16mm and weren't transferred im assuming. Thanks for sharing!! 😎
Sadly the ones I’ve seen all had no sound. Or every pass was dubbed over with a cheese looped engine sound track.
I enjoyed this video a lot. Thank You.
Sweet... Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you for watching!
As an older man. It’s hard to convince die hard 409 fans that the 62-64, 421 Pontiacs were as fast at the strip!
Then there were the 413 Torque flight MoPars that dominated the automatic classes. The Fords and GMs lost to them on a regular basis.
I you had the muscle to shift a Chrysler 4 speed you'd beat the stick shift Fords and GMs in the stick shift classes, too.
@@daryllect6659the Chrysler shit wasn't that great....or they woulda sold better.
@@HioSSilver1999 We're not talking about how many cars were sold.
I'm talking about cars that WON, and the Fords and the Chevrolets and the Dodges and Plymouths won WAY more races than Pontiac EVER did.
@daryllect6659
You came here to troll !!! Did you watch the video or read the news clips ??? Beating Chryslers and ....
@@daryllect6659
…but the GM product spanked those chrycos pretty regularly…
They were as competitive back then as you were not observant.
Nice thing about the 421 Pontiac engine is that it didn't blow up after every race like the 409 did ... And I think it was also faster..... But to the honors go to The fabulous Ford 427.
One cool old Pontiac I like the old drag racing car you show the history on they I can't wait to see the next video
Thanks for watching Danny!
Your welcome
great Pontiac history
Thanks for watching!
Great job! You have a real passion for the hobby & it shows with each video!
Man that car is badass! Awesome video!
Apart from the horsepower, I think the full size Pontiac, Chevrolet, and Galaxie ,all were at their best aesthetically in 1963 , the Pontiac looked the most modern I think. Roger Penske circuit raced a full size Pontiac that year .
Another awesome story. Thanks for sharing it with us
Some years back I saw a Swiss cheese Pontiac at the Pontiac Museum in Pontiac Illinois. I was a young kid when they were actually running them a the drag strips. This was the only time I ever saw one. Very cool to see them in person.
In 1970 I bought a RA/IV crate engine from Seltzer Pontiac in Chicago to replace my wore out 389 in my ‘64 GTO.It didn’t go in as easy as I thought.Had to pull the cast headers off to set it on the mounts.Had to a 3” aluminum extension to the clutch fan to get back into the shroud,which meant,with a 3” setback,the drive shaft was too long.All said and done,that car killed a lot of BBC Chevelles and Novas,some owned by car club friends.Ran some Racemaster cheaters on it all the time.The first time I hit it hard,it blew the spiders out of the10 bolt.Then had to swap a 12 bolt in from a ‘65 Chevelle.Fortunately,a direct bolt in.I saw many of these cars in the day at US30 Dragstrip,and accompanied a club member to Arnie’s farm to grab a set of 421SD heads.
Now that was interesting for sure. I had some 409's back in the day. Many thanks.
In 1965 my dad bought a 1964 Pontiac Gran Prix that was a factory 421 with the T-10 trans and had four bucket seats. After eight month it was stolen in Denver and never found.
He used to race at Oswego Drag Raceway in northern Illinois. I remember seeing him many times.
I remember early '60's drag racing so well... I was only a kid but my bro's had a '49 Chev with 283 that they raced (even won a trophy at CT dragway '62). There was incredible competition amongst the 409/427 Chev, 406/427 Ford, 426 Mopar, 421 Pontiac, all with factory support. In New England Tasca Ford of Rhode Island had some incredible '63 Galaxie 427's that were almost unbeatable
Fun days - loved watching the likes of Farmer Arnie and Grumpy Jenkins.
Dean is a great guy and a friend of mine..he knows everything about Arnie
He is a wealth of knowledge!
@@HotRodHoarder he is.. I have been lucky enough to be friends with Arnie also over the past years while he was still driving
Great video I remember seeing irony the farmer besnick when I was a little kid back in the 60s a great lakes dragaway I saw him several times
One of the cars I loved was the GTO.
Thanks for the video here in Illinois cars become light weights with each passing winter road salt eats away at them
I saw Beshwick run against Dyno Don Nicholseons 409 Chevy back in 1962-63 in Manville NJ Airport drag strip. Both cars ran in the 13's and the crowd went wild. I am 80 now and my 2021 302 Mustang GT auto ran 13.3 at Rockingham dragway the first and last time on the track. No replacement for displacement is a thing of the past.
Oh wow that was the ultimate match up back then! And yes, it's amazing what technology can do for horsepower and drivability.
That dart! I've seen it at a car show. You should hear it run!
Thanks for this story. Arnie is from my back yard area of the Quad Cities.
Seen this car run several times at Nashville Ill. drag strip, 1/8 mile. He would bring a combination of this car and either the 63 wagon or coupe, always put on a great show, and Larry Johnson ran there a few times, I think he was disabled and had driver assist mechanism in the car that allowed him to compete, those were the days!
Thank you for sharing your memories!
I worked with a fella who had one. It said "papa bear" on the side. His name was Jim Schultheis, he worked at Ford connersville plant. He passed in 2010.
Best very nice biography of Arnie thank you for cover I'd love to men around in these days and see these guys racing 😊
🤔
@@gteefxr3094 been
2:23 you see these holes being cut in body panels and frames in drift cars today, didn't realize it was something from 60s drag cars.
The mo ya know lol
Very cool
Hard to believe the factory would cut up a car just to go faster.
I met Arnie at Great Lakes Dragaway in the 80's. He had a grudge race against a young Pat Musi in his green 69 Camaro. Arnie was cool and would talk to you while working on his car, a very nice man! I tried talking to Pat and he did nothing but bitch about Arnie's car having N2O. Not a good impression on me.
Pretty cool story man! I was at Detroit Autorama in either 99 or 2000. Barry Meguiar was standing behind me and my son, he tapped me on the shoulder and shoved a microphone in my face asking about the show. 😂 Lol, I called him Vic Edelbrock and tried to shake his hand. He turned around and walked away. That is a very tall man.
Very cool!
Your work thoroughly researched. Just like The Professor of Rock. You could become The Professor of Hot Rodding
Thank you for the kind words!
Uv this stuff thank you
Let's go bud stick a motor in one of your funny cars 😎
There was a guy in my neighborhood back in the '60s in Charlotte, NC, who had a black Pontiac--either a Grand Prix or Catalina--with an all-aluminum front end. He raced it at Shuffletown drag strip from time to time, but I always had the feeling he wasn't much of a driver. I don't know if it was one of the Swiss cheese versions or not. I think it had the 421 engine.
Oh wow, the aluminum front end cars were pretty special! Wonder where it ended up?
👍🇺🇸Awesome
"Nothing is lighter than a hole." Uncle Tony
Wish I had Dad's 63 Bonneville. Similar body style, not performance, just super smooth.
Legend
Thorp's restorations in ofallon illinois restored one. He does the best restos iv'e ever seen.........
Regarding the lightened chassis - it was not a new concept back in 1963. I have a 1940 DeSoto that features lightening holes in the frame rails, the inside support structure of the deck lid and the rear crossmember of the frame.
Any info on what happened to the altered wheelbase Catalina...🤔
My favorite is his GTO tameless tiger
i personally like the Medicine Man version the best with its bare aluminum fenders and clean appearance.
Thank you. I remember meeting him and Don Nicholson. Don was an ass and Arnie talked to me for hours and.gave the shirt he was wearing because they couldn't sell any that meet.
I still have my t shirt from when I was a kid with his signature on it. He was older when I was a kid in the 90s I’m 31 now
I'm jus a little over a hour due south of Morrison, Illinois & Clinton, Iowa is due west of there on Mississippi river about 15min.
I need to know if you've heard of a 1952 Henry J drag racing car with the door numbers H/G 777 on the door😮
Hmm, I feel like I’ve seen a picture of that. H/Gas would’ve been six cylinder or maybe Flathead V8 powered.
I use to live in Cartersville met my wife there 👍
Its pronounced A'del. Cook County Ford used to run commercials in the early 2000 and it was always "A'del baby"
What about his famous "Grocery Getter"...?
Great channel just found it.
I have a car you would be interested in. Rex White’s 1959 IDLEWILD Chevrolet Biscayne.
Thank you! I'd definitely like to hear more about the Biscayne. You can email me at byrdrods@yahoo.com if you'd like. Thanks!
I had a friend that had 1 and I never seen it out of the garage. I lost touch with him and later heard he had passed away. I do not know what ever happened to the car.
Oh wow, wonder where it ended up?
After watching this video, you really start to realize just how cool the 50s-70s were and how lame the 2010s-2020s are. 421 , no supercharger needed. Very cool looking car for a full size sedan. Now GM doesnt even make a sedan or a coupe like a cutlass, grand prix, monte carlo...well, except for Cadillac but they're expensive and loaded down with so many options and so much electronic crap. Hard to believe the last time you could get a mid sized 2 door car was the G body in 81-88 and put a classic V8 (OR and LS)
For sure, the '60s was a special time that will never be duplicated. The body styles, the horsepower and the back door racing parts made for a wild time.
😎❤️it
Cheers from🇨🇦
Thank you for watching!
I lived in Morrison Ill for 4 years where he was from but never met the man
❤
🏁👍🏁
Well I am now 62 but when my 67 GTO got rear ended and totaled I stoped on 22e to look at a 65 Swiss cheese Pontiac it was one of one sold in pa in 65 it was aluminum all over it had plexiglass windows it had aluminum brake drums it was for sale for 5500.00 my 67 I paid 650.00 for so you can see how much that was to me
What did this car weigh?
They were supposed to be around 3,300 pounds, but I'm not sure the exact weight on the Beswick car.
504 ph and the other one is a claone of the living hound
Alerminum
The best sort of minum.
HE Raced at U.S. 30 DRAGSTRIP,Indiana,
ILLIE-INDIANA, Indiana, MOROCCO, INDIANA, OSWEGO,Illinois, UNION GROVE, Wisconsin .
IF you get to Anyone WHEN SOME " NUT," as His Team to Race INSIDE the OLD " CHICAGO AMPHITHEATER, you would Line Up on 41st.Street side and Race Between the PILLARS OUT TO SWIFT DRIVE . TWO YEARS We Ran in the WINTER TIME
THERE and RACING ON
UNEVEN CONCRETE AND THE PILLARS AND THE CHICAGO SAID NO
MORE .. BUT WAS SCARE AS " HELL," the
PILLARS gave you WERE
GOING FASTER THAN YOU ACTUALLY DID
I GUESS YOU HAVE TO BE A LITTLE " NUTZ," to
DRAG RACE ANY WAYS!!!
Is that a Ford 9" rear?
It’s a 57-64 Pontiac/Olds rear. They were the go-to rear end back then.
Thanks!@@HotRodHoarder
❤️it🫡
You had a lot of facts to say i loveit but u left out my favorite part about loggie bro chassis in detroit my uncle worked there for probably 30 years or so until ron and gene loggie both retired and turned it over to there sons my uncle vernon westbrook retired along with them they gave him a new cadilliac and he along wih my aunt came home back to alabama loggie bro did lot of work for pont. On those cars when new they reworked the rear ends on the tempest lite drag cars by installing the catilena rear end in them they done away with the transmission drivre shart tunnel an redisigned it putten the allum t 10 trans in it they also built the chassies for the firstof te may unnie cars for people like dyno don and many maney i would love to see you and a vido about loggie brothers and how they were great pionears orf the detroit race and auto era thanks your friend joe slaton from sweet home alabama
Wouldn’t it have been easier to use a mid-size car?
The muscle car (midsized GTO) was a year away. V8's were offered in midsize cars but not with a 421, 406, 413 etc.. I believe the NHRA rules were you had to race a car that was not modified. So you weren't able to race a 421 Tempest, a 406 Fairlane etc.. That would change when Grumpy put a V8 in a Vega.
Great video. I would have loved to see those cars at the Museum. I live a little over three hours from It. Going to have to go to one day.