1964 Chevrolet Nova AF/X – Doug Thorleys ‘Chevy 2 Much II’ Funny Car

1964 Chevrolet Nova AF/X – Doug Thorleys ‘Chevy 2 Much II’ Funny Car

Doug Thorley, the legendary ‘header’ builder, was asked by his good friend Hubert Platt from Georgia to build a set of custom headers for his 1964 Ford Falcon ‘427’ race car. This is how the legend began.

Doug recalls, “There was a match race coming up & Hubert had burned his hand quite badly, so he asked me to drive the car. I took two passes, and it was off of the ground most of the time all the way through the quarter mile. Well, that really hooked me, and the minute that I got back to the shop I started building the ‘Chevy 2 Much’. Ted Brown built the chassis & completely reconstructed the frame, Doug Kruze did the sheet metal, and Gil’s Auto Body did the one-of-a-kind bright Candy Tangerine & Red paint scheme. When Hubert’s wife, Bee Platt, saw the brilliantly painted Chevy, she couldn’t refrain from drawing “That Chevy is Tooooo Much”, which Doug quickly adapted to: ‘Chevy 2 Much’.

In 1964, there were only a handful of NHRA national events & the ‘Funny Car’ Eliminator class was not yet in existence, so the car was built as a ‘Match Racer’. The ‘Chevy 2 Much’ started out w/ an alcohol-injected 396ci big-block & weighed in @ 2100 lbs. It ran in the high 9’s at over 150 mph, and is remembered as the first 4-speed car to run over 150 mph in the ¼ mile.

Specs
496ci Chevrolet big-block by Wheeler Power Products in Florida (Dyno-ed @ 742 hp w/ 621 Lbs./ Ft. Torque).
4.250” stroke crank, forged Eagle H-beam rods, Icon forged pistons, Howard’s Cam solid-roller camshaft, exact duplicate #467 of the original Hillborn Injection (chromed & polished), Brodex aluminum heads, Turbo-Hydramatic 400 Manual valve body, 3800 stall converter, and 9” Ford rear-end w/ nodular center section & 4.11 gears.

The front suspension is a period-correct leaf-sprung solid axle w/ Bilstein racing shocks, & out back is a 4-link system w/ adjustable shocks.
To make the car safe & legal for making full speed exhibition passes, additional support & bars were welded into the basic cage frame installed by Doug Thorley years earlier.
The original Bright Candy Tangerine – Red Paint Scheme & Original Gold-Leaf Graphics/Lettering done by Gil’s Auto Body is just as it was when Doug & his good friends built the car.

‘Super Chevy Magazine’ asked to have a photo shoot done in the NHRA museum, and it was featured on the cover of the Nova Annual 2012 Edition, featuring an 8-page spread. Ron showed the ‘Chevy 2 Much II’ quite a few times over the next couple of years and always took home an award, including: ‘Best Nostalgia Car’ @ Boise Roadster Show 2012, ‘Best Race Car’ @ Salt Lake City Autorama 2013, and ‘Best Nostalgic Car’ @ Super Chevy Show in Colorado 2013.

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