londonuk68.
dino
just got this E-Mail:
This is Frank Russo’s car as it stands today in ENGLAND—(ACROSS THE POND)
I found the photo at this website a few years back . At this website—–> http://www.andyrem.com The website has some print about the car. Frank was a regular at Dover in the late 60’s and early 70’s, Rich F.
HERE”S WHAT THE SITE SAYS:
A car with a long history, we originally put this ’69 Chevelle in the Street Machines gallery. However, although photographed at the Surrey Street Rodders’ Wheels Day in 2000, it was originally built and raced in the US back in the Seventies. After being imported into the UK it was initially raced here too – we have a picture of it racing a ‘Cuda, in a 1973 Drag Racing Pictorial, so decided it really belongs here.
The name should give a clue to its powerplant, ‘rat’ being the nickname for the venerable Mk.IV Chevrolet engine: a big-block 427 being installed by it’s builder, Frank Russo. We know it was around as a street car in the Eighties, but hadn’t seen it for years. The only obvious difference between 1973 and now, is the rolling stock – we are sure it originally ran slot mags (just about everything did in the Seventies!) – although we don’t know what the current engine is. The bonnet scoop wasn’t there before and the paint appears to have been re-done, but staying pretty faithful to the original scheme. It is always good to see nice cars that have been kept ‘as they were’ – new owners often try to make a car their own by changing things, losing a lot of character in the process. The longer they remain unchanged, the more it seems they should remain that way.
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vbob
Hey
OK,this is it for tonite .
I cant keep climbin those attic stairs!!
‘V’ Bob
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dino
martin-d
Pictures I took of Russo’s rat at Santa Pod Raceway ,England UK yesterday. 17th Oct. 2009
40 years on & still pounding the strip !
Unfortunately my camera packed up after these three, so no more for the moment.
The car is all black at the moment ,but her owner Chris is looking to put her back to her original Russo’s Rat paint when time & money are available.
Chris would also be interested if anybody could provide any history & pictures of the car up to when it was sold/exported in ’73 to the UK along with Super Pumpkin .
The car was originally blue, was it ever raced like this ? raced from new ? Its not a CoPo 427 car, so when did it get a 427 ?
Thanks
Martin
martin-d
I’ve just found a picture of her , about two years ago.
fastlane
HOLY SHEEP DIP BATMAN ! SOMEONE STOLE MY RIDE 😆 OH THATS A 69 SS O.K. I WILL LET IT SLIDE . BUT I STILL HAD TO GO DOWN INTO THE GARAGE JUST NOW CHECK TO MAKE SURE ITS STILL THERE . WHEW . FASTLANE . 😀
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dino
billy-casey
dino
martin-d
martin-d
dino
chris427
Hi,
I’m Chris, i have had the Russos Rat Chevelle since 2001, i have been looking for information about this car in the States since i got it and when my friend told me that there was a piece of old video on the homepage of this website i raced to the computer and could not believe my eyes !, i have a lot of old pictures of the car here in England over the last 35+years and also when it was on the front cover of a magazine in sweden. so i will post some of these in the next few days.
Thanks
Chris
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ukdrn
Here’s the car at Santa Pod Racway UK in 1973
Picture :Dave Buckland
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dino