Good morning, I am a 63 years young die hard Ford guy!! Thank you for sharing this awesome video of two awesome Fords of drag racing history!! It was sad when you mentioned Jim was gone, but the sons are carrying on his legacy!!! Be safe, GOD BLESS!!!
My dad was a Comet & Cyclone fanatic. When I was a teenager, we both had 65 Comets (still have them) my dad found out about Jim’s cars & called him up. We lived a couple towns over & Jim invited us over to his garage.if I recall, plans for heading south were in the works. Not only was Jim one of the coolest guys with fantastic stories & knowledge, he was generous with his time and he gave us 2 of the Cristmans Comet posters. I have one of them right here next to me. Thank you for this story, much of those details have faded in my aging mind.
Just came across this video and it brought tears to my eyes. Jim was my uncle. My family lived in Madison, NJ but we spent a lot of time with him and our cousins in CT. THANKS SOO much for this. It just made my day. Brought back many many memories.
LOVE the qoute on the memorial poster: "gasoline is for washing parts, alcohol is for drinking, nitrous is for dentists, NITRO is for RACING!! Godspeed Mr Barillaro, quite the Legacy you have left behind, and what a beautiful tribute your sons have made to you. Thanks for sharing HRH!
Unbelievable story!!! These cars were some of my favorites as a kid. Wide world of sports introduced this tennessee kid to the world of drag racing. Thank you so much for sharing.
My dad was a Ford man. He always said the only car he ever owned that he never drove to top endwas a 58 Fairlane with a 352 interceptor engine. He said when you got to 120 mph the front tires started to float up. I remember that car as the family car in 1959. Bright red paint, R.I.P. L.E. Hilliard 😎😘
I seen the 65 Comet on display at the Floyd Garrett muscle car museum in Sevierville Tennessee back in 2005, I was in awe of seeing this car, I had the magazine article telling of the restoration of this car. At that time he was still making exhibition runs in the 65 Comet, good seeing this car again
Jim was a nice guy. I met him in the 80s because he was building a 406 for my friend Bob Costa and we went to his house to see him. I couldn't believe all the Ford stuff he had back then in that barn in CT. I do remember he also had a T bucket that had a Boss 9 in it and then sitting behind the barn was Gas Ronda's original 63,5 lightweight Galaxie and a 69 Mustang funny car that might have been Mickey Thompsons. There was also a bunch of other cars spread around the property. Thanks for the video. brings back memories.
I got the honor to meet Jim and heat treat some timing gears for him back around 2007, he was a great guy with plenty of awesome racing stories... R.I.P. Jim
I drove and raced a 1968 Torino GT Fastback fully pro'ed from 86 to 94 and I knew of his funnycar, I had no idea he had the pair of Comets! I cannot say how happy I am for just this, and I'll be waiting to see the next videos.
Your Nichē is SOL-LID my friend. These story’s would go untold otherwise. Ty for taking ALL the time in researching and producing videos like this. This is akin to what historical Egypt shows do for my wife, WHAT YOUR STORYS DO FOR “CAMMER” Dreamer guys like Me, LIKE US…. 👍🏻
That was an amazing story thank you for sharing it and showing all the old pictures I love Everytime you post some more hotrod history again thank you so much!!!!
Concerning the Jack Chrisman Funny Car. If it's the original body, then my older brother and I made that body at B&N Fiberglass in Vandalia, Ohio. We built 10 bodies together including bodies for Nicholson, Chrisman, Schartman, Don Garlits, Roger Lindamood, Miss STP, and others. I just hated all the itching from sanding the body edges! Glad to see it all together. Ten years later, I was building Funny Car, and TF chassis under Tony Casserez. We did the Blue Max, Don Prudhome's Hot Wheels car, Gene Snow's TF chassis, and the Carrol Bros. TF car. The good old days. I would show up to work in my T-Bucket powered from a retired 426 Chrysler from an A-Fuel Altered (not de-tuned). I can't believe that it didn't kill me! Scarry car!
I'm pretty sure I met and talked to Jim at a 2006 Ford car show in Phoenix at the Cardinal Stadium. He had both of the Comets there, and I took several pictures of them; especially the '65 with it's radical engine set-back and driver compartment. There were many other heavy hitter Ford drag cars there, it was just the most amazing show I had been to.
@@arkhsm when I was in high school, I had a catalog from a company called Ozports that restored Australian Falcons and sold them in the u.s. I wanted one so bad.
@@johnmartinii77 That would have made for one RARE piece of kit for sure. I've had a '67, 'two '71's, '87 '89 '95 and have just purchased my '01 just recently. It runs one of the last 302W's ever sold by Ford in the world, hand built by one man on a special niche line. Factory fitted roller rockers, bigger 70mm throttle body, headers, bigger valves in GT40P heads, port matching, head shaved... all by FORD...295hp !!
I enjoy all of your episodes because it’s part of my history, all of these things bring back a lot of GREAT MEMORIES of a time of high school and being a teenager. Thank you sir!!!!
Love the Comets & the history behind this family.! I still have the original article about Jack Crisman & the GT-1 funny cars. I think it was Car Craft magazine. Thanks for all the research you do to make this one of my favourite channels !
Good day my friend. What can i say. Your stories and the way you handle all you say are top notch top quality Brother. I've been tuning in your channel and just wonderfully done. Thank you May one day I shake your hand brother. Take care 👍
Incredible video ... having met the brothers I can tell you they are really great guys . Thanks for showing the shop and relaying the rich history of this legendary family to those of us who aren't able to see it in person .
OMG...once again you have done an incredible job, at documenting motorsports history. Jim was no doubt 100% Italian. And it shows in how passionate he was towards all that he loved. God Bless you for sharing this with all of us. JT Florida Dragstrip Riot LLC
Thank you for sharing this wonderful video of this Ford drag racer ! He was definitely a passionate Ford fanatic who helped make the world of drag racing so interesting!
Great Story! Great pictures of CT Dragway in it's heyday! CT dragway was the first drag strip I ever went to, first place I drag raced at, and I raced at the last official held there. Miss that place!
Right on, my first time at a dragstrip was there in 1970, I was 10 years old. I ran my Sportster there in '82 and never looked back, racing up and down the East Coast for the next 20 years or so. 👍🇱🇷
I remember hanging out at Jim's Speed Emporium on the Chamberlain Hwy back in th day. We were a bunch of gearheads from New Britain learning, wrenching and swapping racing stories at the shop. Every weekend we would head out to Colchester CT to CT Dragway to run what we brung. Those burnouts 🔥🔥 up and down the Chamberlain were good fun and practice, outrunning the Meriden PD over the Berlin town line. 😀
If there was ever a car with styling better than a Comet Caliente I don't know what it is. My brother had one and later sold it.....I should have bought it.....darn, darn, darn... I'd give a lot to find one today that I could restore.
Great video I'm a hard core FORD man sorry your dad as a legend has passed on to the legends of drag yards bless his soul it's a great loss of immaculate knowledge . Thanks for the video .
Great video, excellent camera work and narration,very well done. I am friends with Mr. Barillaro's sons and had the good fortune to meet and talk with him several times. I also get to visit their shop often and see this amazing place up close.
I know John Healey's sons. We went to school together in East Providence, Rhode Island, a couple miles away from Tasca Ford. John was quite the mechanic. He travelled the circuit, tuning the Tasca Ford Pro Stock Mustang with Bill Lawton at the wheel. I was just a kid. Bob Tasca was a brilliant mind. Never thought I'd be talking about it on RU-vid, 55 years later.
back in the 70's in owasso, okla. lived a racing legend in tulsa and beyond was a man named jack tanner. man he knew how to make cars move. he helped many a young dreamer build his car. he had in his garage (bot shop) garage a car built by Ford that was never titled. on fenderwell and firewall was metal I'd tag that said what car was and that it was not built to drive on street and was not issued a title. the car was a white Ford galaxie thunderbolt (I cant remember the year it was, I think it was a 1963, it had a 427 aluminium engine. I was pretty young and tho I was already a car fanatic, I wished I would have paid more attention to everything he told me and my best friend johnny hale (he had a 67 GT fastback 390/4spd) his dad butch got a 70 mach 1 named Tulsa Time. I moved to Florida but kept track of Hale racìng in collinsville, okla. they built some very fast fords. I figured jack tanner name would pop up here, because if his Ford thunderbolt. thanks for the memories
