NASA 1963 Pontiac 421 Super Duty Spacecraft tow car.

TYREMAN · Post by **TYREMAN** » Sun Dec 30, 12 5:21 pm

This was interesting ina book a neighbour lent me
I had have never heard of this before in all the Muscle car books i have read.

The M2-F1 Lifting Body is seen here in a hangar with its hotrod Pontiac convertible tow vehicle at the Flight Research Center (later the Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, California. The car was a 1963 Pontiac Catalina convertible, fitted with a 421-cubic-inch tripower engine like those being run at the Daytona 500 auto race. The vehicle also had a four-speed transmission and a heavy-duty suspension and cooling system. A roll bar was also added and the passenger seat turned around so an observer could watch the M2-F1 while it was being towed. The rear seat was removed and a second, side-facing seat installed. The lifting-body team used the Pontiac for all the ground-tow flights over the next three years.

NASA bought a stock 1963 Pontiac Catalina convertible, sent it to Straub in California for a “hot rod makeover”, and brought it back to Edwards AFB where it was equipped with a tow package, high visibility yellow hood and trunk lids (more on why later), and some NASA markings. They then proceeded to tow the first lifting body (designated M2F1) down the runway behind the Catalina at a cool 110mph (!). By October 1963, a C-43 had replaced the Catalina as the tow vehicle, but the car had done its part and taken a step into the history books. With this inspiration, I undertook to build this early 60’s “muscle car” for the NASA display.

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/ ... 04152.html