Ivo's 4-engined car

[Notch1320]

TV Tommy Ivo's Wagon Master: The 4x4 Dragster With Four Engines And 2,000+ HP

In the early 1960s TV Tommy Ivo and a small crew set out to build a four-wheel drive dragster with four Buick nailhead V8s. It was designed to be the

silodrome.com

 

[Cliff]

I saw this car at the old Tucson Dragway in early 1980's. It was the funny car version and Ivo hisself was driving it. Ivo had retired (which didn't last) and had sold the car; stopped at Tucson to run it.

 

[TopFuel@Lions]

That car Bob, when driven by the Snake drew the largest crowd in the history at San Fernando, over 10,000. Hurry up Cliff, start the reposts.LOL


TopFuel@Lions

 

[MichaelD]

For some strange reason, I thought I saw that car at San Gabriel without a body? I guess I could have googled it to make sure.

 

[Cliff]

Mike, the car was originally built in 1961, as a 4 engined dragster, because of the NHRA nitro ban. Ran 4 Buicks on gas. That is the car you saw at San Gabe. It ran that way until Ivo converted it to a funny car. BTW, there was another 4 engined car, Galpin Ford sponsored it. 4 Ford engines w/ Mustang body. I believe Ivo's car match raced the Ford car several times. People loved them cuz of all the smoke from 4 slicks.

Flashback Friday: "TV" Tommy Ivo's Legendary Four-Engined "Showboat" - Dragzine

In 1961, famed actor and drag racing legend "TV" Tommy Ivo rolled out a creation that would become one of, if not the greatest exhibition vehicle of all time. With four Buick V8 engines strapped to the framerails, Ivo's all-wheel drive dragster was a true marvel.

www.dragzine.com

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=4+engined+funny+cars&atb=v210-1&iax=images&ia=images

The 2nd link has a few photos of the Ford car.

 

[tb]

For some strange reason, I thought I saw that car at San Gabriel without a body? I guess I could have googled it to make sure.

Mike, the car was originally built in 1961, as a 4 engined dragster, because of the NHRA nitro ban. Ran 4 Buicks on gas. That is the car you saw at San Gabe. It ran that way until Ivo converted it to a funny car. BTW, there was another 4 engined car, Galpin Ford sponsored it. 4 Ford engines w/ Mustang body. I believe Ivo's car match raced the Ford car several times. People loved them cuz of all the smoke from 4 slicks.

Flashback Friday: "TV" Tommy Ivo's Legendary Four-Engined "Showboat" - Dragzine

In 1961, famed actor and drag racing legend "TV" Tommy Ivo rolled out a creation that would become one of, if not the greatest exhibition vehicle of all time. With four Buick V8 engines strapped to the framerails, Ivo's all-wheel drive dragster was a true marvel.

www.dragzine.com

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=4+engined+funny+cars&atb=v210-1&iax=images&ia=images

The 2nd link has a few photos of the Ford car.

Ivo's four-engine enigma

Ask any 500 Tommy Ivo fans which of his many, many race cars is his most famous, and it’s a pretty safe bet that 495 of them will say it’s his wild four-engine Showboat. And who could blame them? With four Buick engines snorting at once and driving all four wheels, it was an unforgettable sight.

www.nhra.com

Some highlights of the article, Prudhomme drove it all but one time on the west coast in the early days, story goes TV Tommy's studio got one look and told him he could not drive it per his My Little Margie series contract.

Tom McCourry is the one who put the wagon body on it in later years.

The Galpin Mach IV was built much later, ran in the early 70's. The engine set up is different from the Ivo car. the engines face back to back and run a gear cluster between the engines, as one article said, one very abused cluth LOL.

 

[Litefoot]

Mike, the car was originally built in 1961, as a 4 engined dragster, because of the NHRA nitro ban. Ran 4 Buicks on gas. That is the car you saw at San Gabe. It ran that way until Ivo converted it to a funny car. BTW, there was another 4 engined car, Galpin Ford sponsored it. 4 Ford engines w/ Mustang body. I believe Ivo's car match raced the Ford car several times. People loved them cuz of all the smoke from 4 slicks.

Flashback Friday: "TV" Tommy Ivo's Legendary Four-Engined "Showboat" - Dragzine

In 1961, famed actor and drag racing legend "TV" Tommy Ivo rolled out a creation that would become one of, if not the greatest exhibition vehicle of all time. With four Buick V8 engines strapped to the framerails, Ivo's all-wheel drive dragster was a true marvel.

www.dragzine.com

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=4+engined+funny+cars&atb=v210-1&iax=images&ia=images

The 2nd link has a few photos of the Ford car.

I believe Tom Mc Curry took the car to Tom Hanna when he owned it with sponsorship from Buick and named it the wagon master