HISTORIC Chevelle FUNNY CAR Found and RESTORED!

The Tiger II 1965 Chevelle is one of the pioneers of the Funny Car days and Dave Giles found and restored this iconic altered wheelbase drag car. Everyone's definition of early funny cars is different, but during 1965 there was a combination of altered wheelbase cars, supercharged nitro-burning cars and injected gas cars touring the country. Eventually, these types of cars merged into what we now know as funny car, but back then it was the Wild West and everyone was trying new ideas. The idea for this crazy Chevelle was to move the axles around, set the engine back and try to get every ounce of weight over the rear tires for optimal traction.
This car went through dozens of stages in its life span, and eventually received the very first T-Bar center steer funny car chassis. The car then was sold to JC Sizemore in Alabama, where it ran as a companion to his famous '55 Chevy named Golden Rod. Later it was sold to Jerry Rhodes, who ran it as Funny Money. From there, the car went missing, and Dave found it in backwoods Alabama. Follow along to get the whole story on this car, including lots of great photos from its heyday. Dave Giles restored this car to perfection!
#hotrodhoarder #dragracing #chevelle

[@jasonjohnson6344]

There’s a bunch more to the story here. Dave is married to my niece and hauled this WIP/carcass all the way to Washington state to begin a new job with Boeing, that’s where he began the restoration. It was bodyworked and painted there and partially reassembled. I only got to spend one day with him on the project after it was painted. Definitely a piece of history. He left stuff just as it was. Didn’t change anything unless it really had to be. They built em a bit rougher than today’s standards but Dave resisted changing any original fab. If a person looks this thing over with today’s level of expectations for fab n fit quality…you’d be raising your eyebrows plenty, but in the era it was built…stick welding was it. None of the cool tools used commonly today were even invented yet. I can’t wait to hear it run and make a pass. He’s got a LOT to be proud of here. All the documentation he’s got makes it even sweeter. An historic piece without a doubt.

[@davegiles4208]

Thanks Unc!! I'm glad you got to help on it.

[@jasonjohnson6344]

@@davegiles4208 It made my year. Cool truck in the background too. 🤭

[@davegiles4208]

@@jasonjohnson6344 Forever grateful to you, cant wait to start driving it some!

[@jasonjohnson6344]

@@davegiles4208 😘

[@roberthill2219]

@@davegiles4208 When you get it up and ready, we would LOVE to have you at Music City Raceway aka Union Hill( Continuously operating since 1959!! Come on down! Or up! LOL!)... we might even have a awb nitro injected Hemi Dodge lined up for you to play with... I've been on Ric's back about doing something like this since I started working for him!!! The car looks incredible and I can't wait to see it in action!

[@horacecrowe3520]

great story and history and a beautiful car

[@tomlimbeck9934]

Great presentation of this car. What a beautiful car. Thanks.

[@angelsone-five7912]

Nice bit of history, back from the dead.

[@bicylindrico]

Love those 'bass boat flakes!' Great story and excellent commentary.

[@davegiles4208]

Jesse Welch in Wenatchee WA who owns Trickpaint & Customs did the beautiful paint and hand lettering on this hot rod. LOTS of thought went in to making this thing dead on. Randy Bradford of the Bradfords fuel altered built the nitro 427 in this. Thanks to all for the kind comments. This has been an amazing journey. Thanks Tommy, great video!!

[@maxelsman6062]

thank you so much for this. i saw the tiger II several times in Tulsa in an early configuration. It looked like a gasser on steroids and I was in love. at least with the small block it would do wheelies only with a trunkload of cement. still thrilling to my teenage eyes. I remember the slogan painted on the lip of the trunk lid: 'we'll run what you brung. we brung this.' a great piece of drag racing history and a well told tale.

[@davegiles4208]

Wow thanks for that story! I knew something was on the trunk lid but didnt know what!

[@fastlx3901]

Man it doesn't get any better than this!!!! Is there anything better than 60s drag cars??? These old cars have some great stories behind them... great video!

[@Duececoupe]

"It's not gonna be a short video"....Hot Rod Hoarder, my dear friend....WHO on their right mind, wants a short video on this channel!? 😳😲🤨🤔 The longer, the better.... I hope that all is well with you and yours....🤜🏻🤛🏻🍻

[@williamhouk6880]

Thank You! 😊 Great video and walk back memory lane.

[@markallen1413]

Man that was fantastic, i love when you do the all out history of these iconic drag cars , really great job brother 👍👍👍👍👍✅✅✅✅✅

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

I agree Mark!

[@dowen1511]

Thank you for this video ☺👍 I remember this car back in the day . even though I was just kid .

[@jeffreybentz7097]

Excellent story, Thank You 👍👍

[@joelewing4498]

I'm 67 here in 2022, and what an absolute JOY it's been to see this old ground-pounder resurrected! I sure remember these early funny cars, as I'd buy every dragster/hot rod/car craft/drag illustrated rag that would hit the magazine stand at the old-school drug store by my house each month. I could see a drag car in those pages and spit out all pertinent information about each one....and those drivers were my heroes for sure. Those guys that drove those early rails and funny cars had to have BIG 'NADS, as they were constantly subjected to horrible engine fires that burned their faces, heads and bodies, exploding clutches and drivelines, blower explosions and equipment failures of all kinds imaginable. I promise you (the readers), the funny cars we have today have been paid for in heavy amts. of blood....as each catastrophic incident was usually studied by NHRA and AHRA officials, and improvements came slowly but steadily. I am exceedingly grateful that this old warrior was pieced back together with sweat, love and respect. I'll look forward to the day that we all hear it cackle.....or better yet.....lift the front wheels high after doing a long, smoky burnout. Thanks for this video! jbeinarizona

[@Mike62501]

I was 15 in 1965 and I loved it because I could change my direction any time. It was just great.

[@Ozark-River-Banks]

Such a great story! Remember the old altered wheel base cars of that time! A good time in drag racing history!

[@rickmillertx]

What a surprise and treat to see this video. I was 16 in 1965 and I was at the Amarillo Dragway when this car made its debut. I remember thinking at the time how different the car looked and the shock that someone took a brand new Chevelle and made it into a full race car. They ran a couple of passes but not full throttle just to check out how it handled. So cool. Thanks

[@davegiles4208]

Wow!! How very cool Rick. I think this is my favorite comment yet. If you have facebook access we have a page for it that has a bunch of photos on there. Tiger II - Blitzer AFX Chevelle is the page name.

[@jamesgrannes1782]

Dedicated for sure, bravo.

[@dtracy03ss]

Loved Watching these Cars Come Full Circle from AFX to Funny Car at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, those Days were awesome! Lived in Carson Ca.and got to grow up with these Bad Boys! Little did we know the History we were Watching !

[@luissantiago9564]

Wow! great history story about this car.

[@andytschoepe1510]

Beautiful car. Front is from a '64 Chevelle. They are nearly identical in overall size. Sometimes body parts from consecutive years got married up in those days. I once saw a '65 front on a '64. LOL!

[@agcacustoms2852]

I find that auto archeology in show cars, race cars or even movie cars is which period is most significant or which version is most true to represent the vehicle. I absolutely love the research and incredible aspects of how year to year and race to race the atmosphere changed in the drag racing scene.

[@gpr8695]

Excellent

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

I grew up at the drags when the AWB thing was happening. Gassers were still the kings when the AWB cars were sporting the A/FX designation. I stuck with the gassers and even today still race my blown gasser at 68 years old.

[@joestephan1111]

Gassers are still one of three greatest classes ever. The other, where I raced, was Modified Production. And nothing will ever top the mid-60s front- engined Top Fuel Dragsters. They didn't have "swoopy" bodywork but decent Wheelbases. The times & speeds they ran were realistic.

[@joestephan1111]

Sadly, nostalgia events today are allowing cars/parts into events that are not accurate. Good example is that sports cars including Corvettes by rules were never permitted into the class.

[@masterspin7796]

I was at the races in California...Fremont..Sacramento...Sears Point...Vacaville..Halfmoon Bay...Carlsbad...Vernalis...Redding..Bakersfield...Kingdom...Lions...Orange county...Pomona...Irwindale...and all of the Oregon/Washington tracks...Indy 3 times...and more...the mid 60's were good but 1969-70 were the best years.

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

In 1969 the coolest kid in my SoCal high school was my friend Larry, who had a AWB 65 GTO with a fiberglass tilt front end, straight axle, 389 set back 10% and a 4-speed. It was a mix of gasser and AFX. He paid for it by slinging popcorn at a baseball stadium. The original owner of mooneyes bought the car back in the late 70s. When mooneyes sold to the Japanese guy the car was lost forever. We know it's in a warehouse within a 5-mile radius of the mooneyes shop but there are hundreds of buildings now. We still talk about it today.

[@dannystewart1412]

Very cool car. Can't wait to see it finished.

[@mattskustomkreations]

Wow! Another excellent video. Worth every minute!

[@geneva760]

Thanks for this very interesting and well detailed video - well done. Have a safe and nice day all. CHEERS from AUSTRALIA.

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

I thought i would only last a few minutes, but you got my undivided attention through the whole thing. Excellent job on this you did cover every square inch.

[@stevehilliard1495]

Great video, I think these history videos are your strong point. I don’t know any other channel that covers the details like you. Always enjoy your work, regardless of format, give your family a hug from Missouri

[@jdfmfb03]

Hoarder VERY WELL DONE Cudo’s to the family and you for giving us the story of TIGER II Thank you 👍😀🇺🇸

[@Sleeperdude]

Love these old funny cars

[@garygarner1095]

suckers awesome checked it out at rod run

[@Airsally]

Great car story, and vid well done by everyone.

[@jonathangehman4005]

Such a great car, as a fan of all the iconic Mopar racecars of the 60s and early 70s it fantastic to see the awesome Ford and GM racers they ran all over the country with and against. Plus, as a Texan I grew up hearing about these guys, Don Hardy and the other Texas based doorslammers. Great video. Also, painted steel BB Chevy valvecovers are about the toughest looking rocker covers there ever were, and that's from a hardcore Mopar guy

[@mick_1949]

"Wow" what an absolutely beautiful piece of drag racing history. Great job of the history on this car, and an even better restoration to bring it back to life. I love it. Thanks champion 👍🇦🇺

[@Mike62501]

Dave’s my new Hero

[@davegiles4208]

Haha thanks buddy, just doing what I love to do!

[@kennykirby3598]

Great car history, happy to say I worked with moose in Dallas Texas,loved his stories of the old race days and cars he built,he loved to laugh,he built a mustang for me,may he rest in peace,miss him greatly

[@davegiles4208]

Awesome! Moose was an incredible craftsman. A&P mechanic by trade and it shows in his fab work.

[@shakeydavesr]

Love this stuff. Good job.

[@alanwood5857]

Bad Ass car...cool to see it run!

[@philhunt3908]

I hope that you can show it going down the strip again sometime I love how he has made it look like the ariginal car looks great

[@almoffat7504]

Mate awesome story awesome car can’t wait to see it finished 👍🇦🇺

[@asimplehorseman4648]

Good video. You're getting better all the time. Very interesting car. Thanks for bringing it.

[@mikeyt3940]

Absolutely fantastic. Thanks for sharing the story of this historic race car.

[@13_13k]

Thanks for the video documenting the history and restoration of this iconic hot rod. I have a soft spot for gold Chevelles. My grandmother had a '67 four door gold with gold interior that my oldest sister ended up with when she got her license in '76, my first two cars were '67 Chevelles both gold with gold interiors, the low back front bucket seats with the lockable center console glove box with 283 two barrels and slip n slide Powerglide transmissions, the first one I bought had a brown vinyl roof and the second one was a factory convertible with black top. The convertible I found for sale and it had been sitting at the top of the local Mountains Topanga Canyon in Malibu, it had no front clip no motor no trans and about a foot deep of pine needles and leaves and acorns, black widow spiders silverfish in the whole interior tub. I had buddy who owned a flatbed towtruck that barely made it up that single lane canyon road and we yanked that convertible out of this guys downhill driveway and got it back to my house and dropped it in the street in front of my parent's house, I was only 18 yrs old and my dad almost killed me cuz I paid $500.00 for what he called a piece of shit, even though he was a car guy also, he just didn't want it sitting in front of his million dollar house. So I parked my hard top in the RV/boat parking space next to the garage and cleaned out the garage and pushed the convertible into the garage and proceeded to put all the parts from the hard top into the convertible from the tar paper sound proofing under the carpet kit to the gauges the seats doorpanels, knobs, motor, trans, etc... anything that would fit was swapped. A lot of work and my dad was very surprised that I did what I did. He thought I would give up part way through the project. Gold Chevelles are awesome!

[@magellankiller]

Isn't it odd that peoples' grandmothers had the cool cars back then? A school chums' grandma used to drive them to school in her BRAND NEW 1964 Comet-just try to find one now! An old friends' mom drove her 68' Barracuda back in the VERY early 70's everyday! Stock Tan/Gold paintjob.....

[@13_13k]

@@magellankiller --- the gold hard top Chevelle that I bought before the convertible, was owned by an old man and his wife. I worked at the local grocery store ij high school and I would see this absolutely perfect condition gold Chevelle in the parking lot while I was collecting shopping carts. So I left a note on the windshield with my phone number and said I wanted to buy it. I got a call and they lived only 3 blocks away from me. He wasn't ready to sell it yet. About a year or so later I got a call and it was his wife and they were selling the car. He had crashed into a cement pillar in a parking garage. He was okay but the drivers side front quarter panel at the very front was buckled but still drivable. So I bought it for $800.00. This was 1982. They had garaged the car its entire life. It was like new on the inside. The couple were in their 80s in age so they were old when they bought it. What a great car. I found the convertible by chance while looking through the Recycler newspaper for the replacement front quarter panel that was damaged. I wish I still had the cars I had in my teens, 20s, 30s. SS El Camino, 1966 428 Thunderbird, 78 Z28. The first car I used to get my drivers license was my mom's 66 Bonneville sation wagon that my dad had the motor rebuilt it was factory 326 small block that got bored 30 over and rv cam, hydraulic lifters and valves reworked, it was the car I drove to go surfing, to parties, to the skatepark, to take girls out and have some fun in the back with the seats lowered flat. And it ran hard and moved that big ass 9 passenger tank pretty fast. What was cool was it was just as fast empty or loaded with 8 people or whatever I put in it.

[@magellankiller]

@13_13k Very Kool! The cars you listed are some of my (and surely others!) faves. You may not be into these but I've been into VW's as far back as '65 or so when a buddy of mines dad had bought one brand spankin' new. He let us ride on the running boards as he brought it around to the back of their house. The bad thing was is that we had to pass by the front of our house when he did it and just when my mom had stepped outside to do something. The look she gave chilled me to the core! I finished the ride filled with dread as I had kinda figured that would be my last time that I'd see the light of day for quite a spell. Since then when I believed that i had grown up Running Boards were my thing and pre-'68 VW's-mainly a '63 ragtop and an originally 1500 cc'67 Karmann Ghia bored to 1776 cc/ Monza dual exhaust had been my transportation of choice(s)...... Now as I'm 66 y.o and married (no children!) practicality is the order of the day...... Have fun!

[@magellankiller]

@13_13k Very Kool! The cars you listed are some of my (and surely others!) faves. You may not be into these but I've been into VW's as far back as '65 or so when a buddy of mines dad had bought one brand spankin' new. He let us ride on the running boards as he brought it around to the back of their house. The bad thing was is that we had to pass by the front of our house when he did it and just when my mom had stepped outside to do something. The look she gave chilled me to the core! I finished the ride filled with dread as I had kinda figured that would be my last time that I'd see the light of day for quite a spell. Since then when I believed that i had grown up Running Boards were my thing and pre-'68 VW's-mainly a '63 ragtop (still original 6v) and an originally 1500 cc '67 Karmann Ghia bored to 1776 cc/ Monza dual exhaust had been my transportation of choice(s)...... Now as I'm 66 y.o and married (no children!) practicality is the order of the day...... Have fun!

[@13_13k]

@@magellankiller ---- I am a bug guy in my other life. Being ¼ German. My brother was into super beetles, early 70s. He had a half a dozen over the years back in the '90s. There was a time when I was in my mid - late teens when most of my friends had bugs. That's when the California bug style was in and of course being from a beach town in Los Angeles it was the trend. Pull the back seat upholster it with big speakers and a couple of pillows, build a fast motor with a stinger, or Monza, the engine lid set so it didn't close at the top, louvers, lowered, skinny Centerline racing wheels and if you were really cool you had a pre 65 with the hubs so the Centerlines had the cut-out for the hubs. About 2 blocks away from my parents house was a little industrial property and had 4 small building, one was an automotive shop for VWs called TAYCO and they had a race bug that was running 8 seconds in the ¼ mile back in the 1970s when I was just a kid, born in '65. They were around at least '75 - early '80s and they ran at the SoCal tracks and built cars or motors for people. One was the step father of my sister's friend and he had a show bug that was a Baja body painted wild airbrush rootbeer, tan, cream, total '70s crazy striping like they did, but it was a street Baja. It had big fat TA Radials in the rear and it had the mag Daisies deep dish rims in the rear and Centerline pizza cutter front runners and custom interior and the thing would pull wheelies about a foot high. It won some show trophies. So, yeah, and my dad bought an extra car to have around the house because of four kids and all only 18 months apart and someone's car always seemed to be broken for one reason or another, so he bought a VW four door (611?) With an automatic / manual shift and the early fuel injection that always leaked and caught on fire in the vans. Hahahaha I drove that around while working on my Chevelles. What a hunk of crap that car was. But my buddies and I would push the limits and drive 60 miles to go surf or skateboard some spot. Or go to some underage nightclub in Hollywood. That car dripped gasoline in my eye and I had to go to some stranger's house and knock on their door to ask if I could use their hose to wash the gasoline out of my eye and the older lady was so nice she took me in the house etc.... I was 16 yrs old. Hahahahaha

[@t.s.racing]

One of the best videos yet Tommy, thank you. Looks like he needs a set of intake manifold spacers, so it lines up with the cylinder heads. I'm pretty sure I still have a set tucked away in the shop.

[@martinharris5017]

This Chevelle is a texrbook example of an Altered Wheelbase F/X gasser. I love the look and bare=bones simplicity of the car. Nice resto job.

[@robertheadley8561]

Excellent content thank you enjoy it very much

[@BriBeast8566]

I own a 64 El Camino M20 4-speed all original except the engine is 1968 350 HP 327 (L79) we took out of my friends blue convertible corvette. I love that front end

[@dotell3359]

What a great car with all of the history. Thanks

[@hippydippy]

Wow! What an amazing story & video. Can't wait to see it finished. Thanks for sharing Brother!

[@SrvTodd]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing Tommy!

[@kevinbarrett9615]

Very cool, I’m old enough to have witnessed the birth of the funny car era . I love the velocity stacks and strait axel stuff, carry on.

[@sporty196071]

Way back around 1967 my neighbor worked at wink chevy, he built the dealership race car a gold 65 Chevelle. He brought it home on a weekend. He took all the kids for a ride. No seats in it, that was the car that made me love hot rods. A big shout out for Mr.Herb Brown, and the Sassy one!!! If the car is still around there's a dent in the back seat aluminum panel from me when he punched it on my ride

[@terrycole9427]

Great story Great job documenting everything I really enjoyed it thank you

[@jamiemelius5787]

What a great car and story. Thank you

[@MondayMorningRacer]

That's great work to bring this funny back to life. Great work on bringing the story up to date as well.

[@johndehaven8694]

Absolutely love the video. I really hope you do more like this. I just love the history of drag racing and the cars of the era

[@paytonhardin1738]

You and sleeper dude you guys have good cars and good cars story I love your black Grand national

[@michaelguinn5736]

Tommy, thank you for sharing, I grew up with this stuff......great video!!! God Bless!!!

[@jimmythrift1983]

Truly enjoyed your video ! Keep up the great work

[@Red-rl1xx]

Awesome!

[@tonyt8805]

Great job as usual Tommy Lee! 😎💪🏾😎 Can't get enough of the "long" videos. 💯💯💯 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾

[@georgepiskopos4200]

Absolutely gorgeous build … thank you so much for sharing this iconic piece of history …brilliant story as always keep up the great work you do 👍👍

[@johngatten2925]

Great job

[@tommyjefferson9525]

Man i love this story about this car i can sit and watch your stores all day love the Chanel so keep on keeping on well done no one can tell a story about this stuff better than you

[@Mike62501]

Thanks for sharing

[@JohnW1711stock]

I'm glad to see another piece of history restored. Nice work.

[@DC_ABC_123]

Good story. Great storytelling. Thanks for sharing!

[@joestephan1111]

The usage of the term "funny car" was first heard at the 1961 Indy 500 when the Cooper Formula One team entered a specially modified mid-engined Grand Prix car driven by world champion Jack Brabham. It was teased by the then front-engined car racers who would say "look at the funny car". The first Drag Racing Funny Cars were all metal "door slammers" but without the radical altered wheelbase. I saw them racing as early as 1963 at Southern California strips. Altered Wheelbases were first seen on the 1965 factory Plymouth & Dodge teams which were promptly banned by sanctioning bodies. They were made to run altered classes. That era was far more interesting than today's "cookie cutter" cars.

[@dantomlinson4407]

Great story. Thanks!

[@glenbarham797]

Thank you for the video. It is easy to see you have a passion for old drag cars. Keep the videos coming.

[@timrayburn2461]

This is your best work yet.Outstanding job.I saw Doug Nash and "The Bronco Buster" at Biloxi Dragway twice in '66 / '67.Don't remember who he match raced.

[@tombrewsaugh1399]

What a beautiful job. Thanks for the story.

[@hfd83]

thanks for another great history video. can’t wait for the next one.

[@davida.p.9911]

A really cool car with an interesting history! That paint is really something! 😎 Thanks for sharing!

[@Torquemonster440]

Awesome video.. and what a GEM of a vintage drag car. Absolutely 💯% Badass. 🍻

[@ianreynolds7270]

Excellent video, really enjoyed that. Lookin forward to seeing it run… Thankyou

[@fredgullett6060]

I always loved the straight axle look.

[@donwensil5027]

Super cool!!!

[@kennycarter8179]

Excellent episode!

[@jackperry9369]

Love stuff like this when I grew up awesome stuff sir thanks 😊

[@marvinhecox8289]

Great story (history )Love the old gassers. It would Lay you back all the way down the track.

[@joshuagibson2520]

I'm a bit late, but I had to wait till I could give this video my full atention. Tommy always knocks it out of the park.

[@keepondoubletruckin8466]

thank you

[@808vws8]

Thank you for sharing the iconic history of the Hotrod. This makes me imagine one day there’s going to be a story like this about @bigchief Mr.Crow & @midweststreetcars 🤙🏽

[@donshotrodgarage1717]

Great video man👍

[@NathansMoparGarage]

Great story and an awesome race car

[@earlcousins6635]

GREAT JOB! Loved the video!

[@frankfurther3828]

Really good video, thx for all the info and great pics

[@brianalbrecht4423]

That era was truly the most inovative time in Drag racen....actualy in "all" moter sports...u have to put into perspective....they had "NONE" of the tools we have today & take away computers,cnc,lasers....u wanted something 4 your car...u made it...today it pays to b good with a computer than with hand tools...! great video....love the old gassers & A/FX cars...thanks..p.s...Hope it a 427...best motor chevy ever made...

[@davegiles4208]

Yep it’s a 427 😉

[@Cam-sm1iz]

Great Video! I learned a lot! I'm from the Panhandle and didn't even realize what was under my nose.... Two thumbs up.

[@siksixchevy1636]

Engle cams sticker front driver fender! Santa Monica California!!

[@davegiles4208]

Engle was a huge part of this car’s history!

[@Josh-hr5mc]

These are priceless videos, new sub here, I'm looking forward to binge watching the rest of your videos

[@nickstewart3725]

Am I the only one who hits the "thumbs up" button before his videos even start!...my favorite channel on KZbin hands down!

[@magellankiller]

You just KNEW that it was gonna be a goodie too didn't ya'?

[@corelsland5205]

Thank's for this cool story , love watching it . Thanks from the Nederlands 😉

[@ricksalmon4916]

Good job!

[@funhog24]

Great channel! Nobody knows the little things that make all of this so cool! Grew up watching Arnie Beswick drive into the cornfields at Union Grove, WI. Subscribed!

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

Great vid really enjoyed!! 👍🙂