Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars Here we are sharing pics and verbage. Along comes Ted who just backs one of the real things out of his Cat's Lair Museum.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars I could not resist when I saw Jason post his wall art by Kennedy Bell :TU: The wagon will be sporting some of these chrome valve covers too.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars That white '68 Buick GS 400 appearing in the cluster of photos was owned by my good friend Ed St. Angelo from St. Angelo Buick in Barrington, RI. That car had factory cast iron Stage 2 heads and the factory Stg. 2 pistons on a 455 he built for it. I have pictures of it running at New England Dragway in '73. It had a black frame with red control arms on the front and rear. Those photos are on the inside and back covers of the 1974 Kenne-Bell catalog. I also see Judd's Speed Shop Buick out of NH, (doing wheelie) which ran stage 2 heads in the Pro-Stock class. That photo was also taken at New England Dragway. I still have my 74 catalog. I also have Kenne-Bell Stage 3 heads I bought from him new in '74 on my car now. (still have one of his MK IV cams, brand new!) Dennis
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars Same as my pic #2 set 1 above. I assume that is you current car .
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars I still got my copy.....and most of the parts i ordered from it:beer Peace WildBill
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars Tom, obviously those two guys are the famous Jones & Benisek race team with their famous Stage 1 car which beat the Super Stock record and took the title away from a 440 6-Pack Superbee. Those are really great pictures of them and these two guys really helped push the performance image for Buick. My hat's off to these guys!
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars i have a 1991 k.b. catalog and those pics are inside of those covers too.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars Did you know the story of the Kenne-Bell saga of trying to produce the iron Stage 2 heads? I paid a deposit on them in about 72 or 73. He had casting problems throughout the attempted run. He sent letters out periodically to let his customers know what was going on. I still have all of them, including the envelopes. After a while he sent a letter offering to refund your money or you could opt to by his "Stage 3" heads, which were "S-1" service replacement heads (new) that were ported in L.A. I opted to by the Stage 3's. That was a time when you could call Jim and speak to him. He never left you wondering. He's a standup guy. Why can't vendors do that today? Dennis
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars JW, Neat mag article, thanks for sharing! I have an old article from 69? With some of the same and different info. I'll try and scan.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars I also want to salute Lennie Kennedy and Jim Bell. These two guys also pushed Buick's performance image.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars I ended up with some Kenne bell aluminum pullies that are new but kind of rough finish . Not sure how old they are anyone know about these . The do not look as nice as my March pullies John
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars These are my repos on top. The original from what the repos were made of is on the bottom. Thanks to Gary Pain for the nos original.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars Where could i get a set of those Kenne Belle valve cover decals?:eek2:
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars At the old Kenne-Bell shop he had several large poster boards with the original photographs of those shown in the catalogs and many others of customers cars. Also many more 8 x 10 color and B/W photos along the tops of the walls in his office and main entrance. I wonder what happened to those? Jim is and was quite the "character". Could be very generous with his parts and money to help the Buick cause. Opinionated to say the least but a real asset to the movement. Several photos of my GSX hung on that wall, wish I could get a hold of those. Several trips down there to pick up parts and do some racing shown why the phones would oftentimes ring unanswered for hours..... pizza boxes on the tables, soap operas on the tube and lots of bench racing in the shop area with guys like Ed Moser (his head porter and developer of the iron Stage 3 converted heads). What a time! The demise of KB was a blessing however as it spawned the likes of TA, and we haven't looked back since :TU: But my hats off to Pop, Jim, Doug, Dave and rest of that era. They were breaking new ground with an unpopular brand and cared less of the smirks they got at the races.
Re: Old Time Pics Kenne-Belle Equipped Cars Thanks Bill, its been awhile since I've seen those photos. On the first page I see Gary's 69 above my GSX and to the left is Mike T's wagon when he was running a 350. Pretty cool stuff. Lots of other names are familiar as well. Wonder where they've all gone, both people and the cars.
