Factory Lightweights: Detroit's Drag Racing Specials of the '60s

Factory Lightweights: Detroit's Drag Racing Specials of the '60s chronicles these rare cars that still inspire admirers and imitators today. Among racers it's never been a secret that a lighter car is a faster car--particularly in drag racing. When Detroit's automakers got involved in organized drag racing, they paid heed to this principle, issuing a series of rare race-only cars that became legends in their own time. Unbound by and durability concerns, these wild cars featured lightweight additions such as fiberglass and aluminum body parts, Plexiglas windows and many more weight-saving tricks. Under their hoods were wicked, raucous engines that only felt at home on the quarter mile. Cars like the Ford Fairlane 427 Thunderbolt, Pontiac's Super Duty Catalina, Dyno Don Nicholson's Chevy II Wagon, and a whole assortment of Hemi-powered Mopars sit at the top of the heap when you're talking about the fastest American musclecars produced during the 1960s. Few of these cars we