 Side-by-side comparison with a Holley double-pumper illustrates the carburetion needs of a Allison aircraft engine. Photo was shot in 1986, when Jim Lytle started planning his restoration of Big Al II’s original fiberglass body for the Garlits Museum. [HotRodNostalgia.com photo by Dave Wallace] |
Along with body repair, Lytle detested doing unnecessary maintenance; thus, his selection of a 1710-cubic-inch, relatively-low-rpm powerplant that generated more power in stock form than a Top Fuel Chrysler of the era. Invented in 1929 by the Jim Allison Engineering Company (a machine shop specializing in Indy 500 engines prior to its acquisition by General Motors), the Allison was rapidly refined during World War II until it produced 2250 hp at 3200 rpm in its final, 1947 configuration. Among other exotic goodies, these V-12s boasted integral centrifugal supercharging, a bolt-on second blower, a Stromberg injector carburetor, Scintilla dual magnetoes, dry-sump oiling, stainless-steel headers, overhead camshafts, and pent-roof combustion chambers with two spark plugs and four titanium, sodium-filled valves per cylinder.
“In three seasons and two cars, I never broke a single engine or driveline component, never adjusted anything, and never lifted off the throttle,” swears Lytle. “The 70-weight engine oil was changed once a year. The 24 spark plugs were never changed.”
No other fendered car of its time came within three-quarters of a second or 15 mph of Jim’s 9.31/163 best. One overlooked ingredient to this kid’s incredible performance was his no-smoke launches; most others still believed that the harder you smoked the tires, the faster you’d go. Lytle also pioneered direct drive for full-bodied cars, enclosing everything from the truck flywheel back to the Pontiac rearend within a 14x17.25-inch torque tube of his own design.
Ironically, this historic combination made only three appearances for its builder, all in 1964 at Lions Drag Strip, before Jim grew tired of making single runs. “Nobody would race me,” he explained —
with one exception: “A four-cylinder, 990-pound D/Dragster challenged me to a grudge race. I caught him at the eighth-mile and beat him by four car lengths, 9.47 to 9.89.” (Older readers may remember that match from a cover of Modern Rod magazine.)
“Aircraft engines were banned by NHRA at the time,” he continued, “so I was fortunate that C.J. Hart let me run at Long Beach. I tried to race all of the A/Gas Supercharged heroes, who were barely breaking into the nines. They’d tell me to come up with $2,000 first, but I was a 20-something draftsman earning 120 bucks a week. I had less than two grand in my whole car, including the engine!”
Ray Alley purchased the turnkey operation in late 1964, renamed it P-51, and toured the West Coast as a lucrative exhibition act. Alley subsequently sold his money-maker to movie-stuntman and Cal Automotive Fiberglass owner Tex Collins, who ultimately cut up the Ford chassis for another Allison project.
Lytle bought back his hand-formed body in 1968, then stored it for two decades. In 1988, he restored drag racing’s first lift-off fiberglass shell for the Don Garlits Museum Of Drag Racing, where it resides to this day. Last year, Jim re-created the entire car as Big Al III. Those two stories will be told and illustrated next month, in our final installment. 
In 1986, the famous flopper shell showed the effects of two decades of neglect after Tex Collins last ran the sedan (as Tex’s Twister). Lytle bought it back from Collins in 1968, paying $500. The body came within 24 hours of being junked before its original builder rescued it from a Sacramento, Calif., curb. Its painstaking restoration will be detailed next month, along with the story behind the complete clone that appeared in 2005.
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