This video is 8 years old. He even says at one point "Now this was 50 years ago", 50 years ago from now was 73 and he wasn't running that thing anymore in 73, matter of fact he was actually running it when I was born and I'm turning 58 at the end of Aug so the math works out all the way around on that one. Multi engine cars went out in drag racing by the late 60's, I don't know if rule changes caused that or if the advent of nitro made multi engine cars impractical for some technical reason or whatever but by 73 no one was running multi engine cars anymore, it was a bygone era by then.
My son and I met him at a Goodguys event in Indianapolis in 1996. He couldn’t have been any nicer. The 4 engine car was there and if I remember right he said it was the last time he would run it. Very humble and gracious, just an all around great guy!
My late wife's grandmother let many of the singers, actors and hot rodders to hang out at her house in Burbank in those early years, Ricky Nelson, Ron Howard and TV Tommy Ivo were some of the ones who grandma lol let hang out. So many cool stories were told to me by Grandma and father in law. Just off the hook.🥳🥳🥳🥳💗💗💗🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Eddy Hill The Four Father built a wild twin engine dragster with four slicks. It destroyed the starting line and they sent him home.😂 All these guys are my heroes.
Wow! I'm 62 now and remember going to Lions, Ascot, OCIR, etc, growing up, I saw Tommy Ivo run many many times and always thought he was the coolest, so glad to see he's still here, love ya!
Uhhh…, no disrespect, but that’s four gallons to the mile Tommy. I remember when you did your first run in this car. I was a kid but knew enough about cars to appreciate your unusual and outstanding accomplishment. I rebuilt my first engine by myself, a Honda 50, honing it out for a ring job and hand lapping the valves with dual compounds. It was exhausting but I did it and never looked back! Thank you for being the inspiration and legend to us all!
I built the Revell model, and I think I might have beat Tommy to the idea of putting a hot rod coupe body over the cockpit. I wish I had a photo of it. My all time favorite model, and I must have built over a hundred as a kid and teenager.
I always wondered how that worked. Years ago Dad had the record Big Sounds Of The Drags. Tommy Ivo’s 4 engine dragster was on that record. So I never saw it, but I heard it.
Talked to TV T.O. many times at Bakersfield hotrod reunion..he walks around with the crowd ..good guy.. watch the movie "bikini beach" and that car does a good smokie burnout.. started by Don Rickles
wow man, that is really something. .an NoN EXPectable treat . . didn't even EXPect to ever hear Tommy, 'what to say' of him personally EXPlaining the FOUR ENGINE FOUR WHEEL DRIVE DRAGSTER!🏁🏁gFNM/FL 22.8.'23☮️
i wrote a report about Tommy Ivo when i was in 3rd grade (maybe 4th?) after reading about him in Hot Rod Magazine or something like that. in the early 70s they had (in michigan) the Ludington Reading Rooms added to the school libraries where there was no 'checking out and returning' books or magazines. they were all given literally TONS of paperback materials and they were free to read/take/use as the students wanted. i then looked for more material on him in the card catalog at the local library and found a book that i used for reference. even my teacher was amazed to hear that he ran a 4-engine dragster...
Years ago on one of my first trips to Tri cities dragway in Saginaw Michigan, i gave my cold coke to Tommy's only crew guy 😊 he asked me if I could go in the push truck and help him push the dragster back to the start line ??? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 what a blast !!!
I built a V-8 Pinto. I feel like it was a Tinkertoy compared to this one. Never got to see him run it, but I built the Revelle model! Wish I still had it.
see the chain between the motors sprocket to sprocket?? wonder why it wasn't flange to flange....timed one motor to the next by rotating it??? i dont know....but i would love to see this car............
My guess is the precision alignment required of each motors crankshaft would've been impossible in those days. Just a few thousand's difference in runout would've been catastrophic.
I remember these tire smoking beasts of the 60's. That was when they all had a different idea to get down the track first. Now if you take off the decals the cars are all the same.
I remember seeing this car at the first drag race that I ever attended in the late seventies at PIR ( Portland Oregon) I was bummed that it was a rain out and it never made a run down the track.Dale pulled had the war eagle trans-am funny car there also
I thought so! 4 MPG for that thing would be FANTASTIC mileage. Lots of big block muscle cars only got 8 MPG, so half of that with 4 times as many engines just didn't compute!
I meet Tommy IVO at ZMAX Drag strip in NC Cool Guy.hey tommy if u read this it's me Torino Tom at toms torino cobra jet on u tube.good health to my Friend I'll see u in the place that's the best after this life is over and we can drag race Jesus on horse's.Hua Buddy !!
@@deathwrenchcustom No, the coupling chain between the engines, it would have to hold maybe 600-700hp from the motors out put, not the timing chain on the cam!
That's what I always heard ,just a real cool down to earth guy who lived thru the awesome early days and is here to tell us about it. Wish this was like a couple hours long ,just follow him around and let him ramble ✌️✌️
Don't think Tommy had the FIRST TWIN ENGINE dragster... I've a picture of JAZZY NELSON at Colton airport in 1953 with TWIN flatheads in tank bodied slingshot
Yes, they were Buick 401 cubic inch "nail heads". If you're not familiar the "nail head" designation came from the small size of the intake and exhaust valves which I believe were designed that way for getting as much low end torque as possible. To compensate the cam was designed with a lot of lift and duration which gave them a characteristic lumpy idle. There was a larger 425 cubic inch version that was just a slightly larger bore. They were designated by Buick as the "Wildcat 445" and the "Wildcat 465" which was their torque numbers emblazened on the air cleaners. My dad had a 1966 Wildcat with the 401. I can't recall if it was the 401 or 425 cubic inch version that was used as starter motors for the SR-71 Blackbird.
I don't understand how bolting two engines together would work. I would think that one would run at least a little differently than the other (rpm, power level), and that the differing power outputs/rpm outputs would break something. Were they really synchronized that perfectly?
Wow, in July, 2023 Tommy Ivo is now 87 years young !!!! Go Tommy !!!!!
This video is 8 years old.
He even says at one point "Now this was 50 years ago", 50 years ago from now was 73 and he wasn't running that thing anymore in 73, matter of fact he was actually running it when I was born and I'm turning 58 at the end of Aug so the math works out all the way around on that one.
Multi engine cars went out in drag racing by the late 60's, I don't know if rule changes caused that or if the advent of nitro made multi engine cars impractical for some technical reason or whatever but by 73 no one was running multi engine cars anymore, it was a bygone era by then.
My son and I met him at a Goodguys event in Indianapolis in 1996.
He couldn’t have been any nicer. The 4 engine car was there and if I remember right he said it was the last time he would run it.
Very humble and gracious, just an all around great guy!
My late wife's grandmother let many of the singers, actors and hot rodders to hang out at her house in Burbank in those early years, Ricky Nelson, Ron Howard and TV Tommy Ivo were some of the ones who grandma lol let hang out. So many cool stories were told to me by Grandma and father in law. Just off the hook.🥳🥳🥳🥳💗💗💗🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
If there's photographs to back that up, that would be gold.
Eddy Hill The Four Father built a wild twin engine dragster with four slicks. It destroyed the starting line and they sent him home.😂 All these guys are my heroes.
"forefather"
Wouldn't that be 4 gallons per mile???? Damn that car is spectacular
Yea, well at his age he's allowed to make mathematical errors.
At my age I'm allowed to make them and I was born when he was running that thing.
1/4 mile run on a drag strip
Wow! I'm 62 now and remember going to Lions, Ascot, OCIR, etc, growing up, I saw Tommy Ivo run many many times and always thought he was the coolest, so glad to see he's still here, love ya!
What fun to hear Tommy Ivo, speak about His car. I am a fan.
Uhhh…, no disrespect, but that’s four gallons to the mile Tommy. I remember when you did your first run in this car. I was a kid but knew enough about cars to appreciate your unusual and outstanding accomplishment. I rebuilt my first engine by myself, a Honda 50, honing it out for a ring job and hand lapping the valves with dual compounds. It was exhausting but I did it and never looked back! Thank you for being the inspiration and legend to us all!
says they weren't so technically up on things, build an amazingly technical car from scratch.
Talked with him at the GNRS Saturday, 84 years old ,and still sharp as atack,just sayin'
@Pete Smith That's great to hear ... seems like a very nice guy.
Mickey Thompson, legend. Crazy story. RIP.
I guess it was determined that the wagon master bodywork was not worth restoring. I like this look better because it’s as it originally was.
I built the Revell model, and I think I might have beat Tommy to the idea of putting a hot rod coupe body over the cockpit. I wish I had a photo of it. My all time favorite model, and I must have built over a hundred as a kid and teenager.
I always wondered how that worked. Years ago Dad had the record Big Sounds Of The Drags. Tommy Ivo’s 4 engine dragster was on that record. So I never saw it, but I heard it.
In the late Sixties, we saw you (TV Tommy) run at Sanford, Maine. It is a GREAT memory. Thanks, Tommy!
Talked to TV T.O. many times at Bakersfield hotrod reunion..he walks around with the crowd ..good guy.. watch the movie "bikini beach" and that car does a good smokie burnout.. started by Don Rickles
wow man, that is really something. .an NoN EXPectable treat . . didn't even EXPect to ever hear Tommy, 'what to say' of him personally EXPlaining the FOUR ENGINE FOUR WHEEL DRIVE DRAGSTER!🏁🏁gFNM/FL 22.8.'23☮️
i wrote a report about Tommy Ivo when i was in 3rd grade (maybe 4th?) after reading about him in Hot Rod Magazine or something like that. in the early 70s they had (in michigan) the Ludington Reading Rooms added to the school libraries where there was no 'checking out and returning' books or magazines. they were all given literally TONS of paperback materials and they were free to read/take/use as the students wanted. i then looked for more material on him in the card catalog at the local library and found a book that i used for reference.
even my teacher was amazed to hear that he ran a 4-engine dragster...
I got to see this car make a pass at Indy in the early 80s. What an absolute thrill. I’ll never forget it. Awesome.
He built some Beautiful Cars.
Always wondered how the engines were coupled together.
4 miles to the gallon. For four engines! That doesn’t sound too bad. My Ford F250 with a 390 only got 10 miles to the gallon.😁👍
Except that 1 gallon in 1/4 mile is .25 miles/gallon. Tommy did the math backwards.
Years ago on one of my first trips to Tri cities dragway in Saginaw Michigan, i gave my cold coke to Tommy's only crew guy 😊 he asked me if I could go in the push truck and help him push the dragster back to the start line ??? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 what a blast !!!
I’d like to hear more stories from TV Tom.
Trailblazer to be sure, thanks for posting this. Cool stuff. 👍👍🏁🏁
Mickey Thompson & Tommy Ivo, nuff said.
Ain't that the truth!
amazing, never ceases to impress me
I built a V-8 Pinto. I feel like it was a Tinkertoy compared to this one. Never got to see him run it, but I built the Revelle model! Wish I still had it.
see the chain between the motors sprocket to sprocket?? wonder why it wasn't flange to flange....timed one motor to the next by rotating it??? i dont know....but i would love to see this car............
flange-to-flange would be too ridged. the chain acts as a constant velocity joint.
It's a timing chain.......
My guess is the precision alignment required of each motors crankshaft would've been impossible in those days. Just a few thousand's difference in runout would've been catastrophic.
I remember these tire smoking beasts of the 60's. That was when they all had a different idea to get down the track first. Now if you take off the decals the cars are all the same.
Saw that car run at Union Grove Wi drag strip back in the early 60's. Not as fast as most of the single engine dragsters but cool to see
Amazing car. But by the video resolution I can't see well. The engines are hock together with sprockets and a chain?
I remember seeing this car at the first drag race that I ever attended in the late seventies at PIR ( Portland Oregon) I was bummed that it was a rain out and it never made a run down the track.Dale pulled had the war eagle trans-am funny car there also
What a true legend. Go Tommy Go!
Too Cool I remember this car and Tommy from Hot Rod Magazine. Thanks for posting.
I took movie of him at Dragway 42 in Ohio in the 1960s
I love that rail
What he meant to say was 4 gallons to the mile that's a gallon per quarter mile right?
I thought so! 4 MPG for that thing would be FANTASTIC mileage. Lots of big block muscle cars only got 8 MPG, so half of that with 4 times as many engines just didn't compute!
or 1 gallon (per engine), is what he meant to say.
Top fuel dragsters today use about 15 gallons between burnout and a single 1/4 mile run.
Very nice video. Thanks for posting and have a nice day too.
Tommy you rock no kidd8ng
excellent
Amazing, doesn't give Kent Fuller even a mention !!!
Bill Noteman
He let Me "drive" it thru the pits at Green Valley 1985, not easy to steer..
That must have been at about the end of the line for Green Valley. I think it’s a housing development now.
I meet Tommy IVO at ZMAX Drag strip in NC Cool Guy.hey tommy if u read this it's me Torino Tom at toms torino cobra jet on u tube.good health to my Friend I'll see u in the place that's the best after this life is over and we can drag race Jesus on horse's.Hua Buddy !!
Just imagine what Oncle Kris could have done with that car...
I saw this car run at the Santa Maria California drag strip
It's hard to believe that coupling chain can hold that much horsepower!
That is the timing chain.
@@deathwrenchcustom No, the coupling chain between the engines, it would have to hold maybe 600-700hp from the motors out put, not the timing chain on the cam!
Way too cool!
He's charming. Awesome.
That's what I always heard ,just a real cool down to earth guy who lived thru the awesome early days and is here to tell us about it.
Wish this was like a couple hours long ,just follow him around and let him ramble ✌️✌️
Inconceivable !
Any idea when this was filmed?
Don't think Tommy had the FIRST TWIN ENGINE dragster... I've a picture of JAZZY NELSON at Colton airport in 1953 with TWIN flatheads in tank bodied slingshot
Robert Dunn
He didn’t say he had the first two-motor car. He said “The hardest thing was to go from one motor to two”. It begins at 1:00 in the video.
Weren’t those Buick nailheads powering the original car ?
Yes, they were Buick 401 cubic inch "nail heads". If you're not familiar the "nail head" designation came from the small size of the intake and exhaust valves which I believe were designed that way for getting as much low end torque as possible. To compensate the cam was designed with a lot of lift and duration which gave them a characteristic lumpy idle. There was a larger 425 cubic inch version that was just a slightly larger bore. They were designated by Buick as the "Wildcat 445" and the "Wildcat 465" which was their torque numbers emblazened on the air cleaners. My dad had a 1966 Wildcat with the 401.
I can't recall if it was the 401 or 425 cubic inch version that was used as starter motors for the SR-71 Blackbird.
So... whats the transmission setup??
I don't understand how bolting two engines together would work. I would think that one would run at least a little differently than the other (rpm, power level), and that the differing power outputs/rpm outputs would break something. Were they really synchronized that perfectly?
Easy enough to build identical engines. If they are in time and use one distributor to fire both engines, it just thinks it's a V16 .
They don't have to make identical power. The difference is just what's left after one engine has removed 100% of the load from the other engine.
wow i have so many questions...
Sorry, it gets 0.25 mpg or 4 gpm (gal per mile)
From the Ramcharges ?
Sheer genius - kids today cant figure out a hammer or screwdriver
I tried putting 12 engines on a dragster, but it was a bit unwieldy.......
winga dinga
One gallon per quarter mile run is four gallons per mile, not four miles per gallon.
When I die I want to go quietly in my sleep like my grandpa did. Not KICKING AND SCREAMING like the passengers in his car.
Whut