''Walt's Puffer II'' is an early

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Altered

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

car, built in

Inkster, Michigan Inkster is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Inkster is located about southwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 26,088. History The area was origina ...

.Genat, Robert. "1939 Fiat Coupe Altered", written 21 April 21, 2010, a
''Hot Rod Magazine'' online
Retrieved May 22, 2017.

History

''Walt’s Puffer II'' is a FIAT Topolino powered by a

fuel injected Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All co ...

392 hemi The Chrysler Hemi engine, known by the trademark Hemi or HEMI, refers to a series of high-performance American overhead valve V8 engines built by Chrysler with hemispherical combustion chambers. Three generations have been produced: the FireP ...

, driven by Walt Knoch, Jr. Construction of the car began in 1959. Using a 1939 Fiat body, it was built by Walt Knoch, Sr., and a family friend, for Walt, Jr. It originally had a Latham

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

. It debuted at Detroit Dragway. It routinely turned in passes with 10 second e.t.s and speeds of . Knoch Jr. approached

Ed Iskendarian Ed, ed or ED may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc * Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media * ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...

and

Stuart Hilborn Stuart Garfield Hilborn (9 October 1917 – 16 December 2013), was born in Calgary, Canada. Hilborn was an automotive engineer. He became interested in amateur racing on dry lake beds before World War II. After the war, he began experimenting with ...

for equipment to improve the 392's performance. After switching to Hilborn injection, Knoch set an A/Altered record pass at the 1959 Nationals, with a trap speed of . The car lost the Altereds title at the 1960 U.S. Nationals to the

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile (formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors) was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produc ...

-powered Ratican-Jackson-Stearns Fiat. In 1961, the car's top was chopped, and it was dubbed ''Walt's Puffer II''. It routinely turned in passes with 10 second e.t.s and speeds of . It again lost to the Ratican-Jackson-Stearns Topolino at the 1961 Nationals. The next year, the car won A/Altered at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and only failed to face the Knochs' other car, the A/Roadster ''Walt's Puffer Too'', for Junior Eliminator due to rain. When NHRA realigned divisions in 1963, it required Knoch to change the car's number to 385. He refused, and Wally Parks and Ed Eaton banned him. The car would not run again. ''Walt's Puffer II'' was taken out of storage in 1999 and given a complete restoration by Knoch and Jerry Dotson.

In popular culture

AMT Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

's ''Double Dragster''

model kit A scale model is a physical model that is geometrically similar to an object (known as the ''prototype''). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototyp ...

, a Chrysler-powered Topolino, was issued with the number 285 on the door, the number ''Walt's Puffer II'' wore.

Notes

Sources

* Genat, Robert. "1939 Fiat Coupe Altered", written 21 April 21, 2010, a
''Hot Rod Magazine'' online
Retrieved May 22, 2017. Fiat vehicles 1950s cars 1960s cars Drag racing cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles History of Michigan {{Autoracing-stub