What do they mean

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Wdstk@69

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I have a 1966 Plymouth, Valiant that was a drag racing car, it had a 340 four speed in it for racing, I bought the car less engine & transmission, it has the following letters & numbers combination on all the windows ; SS / J with the number 326 under it, what do they stand for. ?

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Simple. It ran in the old Super Stock class, "J superstock." The numeral is the owners race number. You can download older NHRA rule books back in the years to see what the rules were and how they changed over the years

Some classes might have an "A" after the designator "J" to indicate "Automatic" transmission

It would help if you knew what time period it last ran, as the rules "then" are not the same "now"
 
Wdstk@69 said:
I have a 1966 Plymouth, Valiant that was a drag racing car, it had a 340 four speed in it for racing, I bought the car less engine & transmission, it has the following letters & numbers combination on all the windows ; SS / J with the number 326 under it, what do they stand for. ?

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Nice ride! @66340SEDAN
 
The car looks great as it is, I hope you aren't planning on changing it!
SS/J is the NHRA designation for the class it ran, which is Super Stock J class.
The car was run with a manual transmission and if it was run with an automatic, the designation would be SS/JA
The 326 under the SS/J is the number the car was given by the NHRA.
Maybe a good thing to do is to get your hands on a NHRA rule book and it will break down the class the car ran in.
And to add, the 340 wasn't allowed in that year of car let alone a Valiant in Super Stock because the 340 wasn't introduced until the '68 model year in Barracudas and Darts.
It probably had the 340 in it for bracket racing and the numbers on the car weren't removed.
The car would have ran in Super Stock J with a 273 and a 4 speed.
Very cool.
I wonder what it ran back in the day...
 
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One sweet ride, hopefully you can find the original owner and racer.
 
The number was assigned to the driver. The cars don't have numbers, drivers have numbers. If your friend drives the car the number on the window must be changed.

To race in a traditional SS class (SS/J) it needs to have an engine that was available new in the car. You could race it in SS with a 340 and then it would be in something like GT/H for example. The non original engine you choose must be approved by NHRA for SSGT and many of the popular choices are approved. You would put an A at the end for an automatic. GT/HA

You could put a challenger drag pack engine in the car and then it would be in a SS class like FGT/F. Which means factory GT F. These don't have an A for automatic so you don't know the trans by the class on the window. They all run together.
 
Because the number starts with a 3, it means that the driver claimed Division 3 as his home division, most likely in NHRA. It may include Illinois; Indiana; Kentucky; Michigan; Ohio; Wisconsin; and Western Ontario, Canada. I don't know if NHRA had any different states in Div. 3 decades ago. The only driver I could find who had 326 in Super Stock was Craig Watts from Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada around 2019. His car at that time was a GT/LA Mustang. But it's possible that the driver of the Valiant retired and that number was assigned to someone else afterwards. Other classes like Stock, Super Gas, etc. have their own separate set of numbers, including 326.

Does your car have any "local" decals or sponsors that may have a phone or address? That could narrow down the area that it's from and possibly provide contact info to any local companies that may have been associated with the car. Most of the decals on the car are "contingency decals". These are companies that have a marketing/advertising deal with NHRA that if a car wins or gets runner up at one of their races while using their parts and displaying the proper decals, they get paid extra money from those companies. (Contacting the contingency sponsors probably won't yield any info.)

What's that big round decal above the rear tires?

You'll have to sign up to post, but there is a racing site that will probably have people who may recognize the car from way back - whenever it was and be able to provide some history on it.

Class Racer Forum
 
What a badass lookin little Valiant! The candy stripe paint is of course an homage to the Ramchargers race team of the early to mid 60s. Just super cool!
 
Locomotion said:
Because the number starts with a 3, it means that the driver claimed Division 3 as his home division, most likely in NHRA. It may include Illinois; Indiana; Kentucky; Michigan; Ohio; Wisconsin; and Western Ontario, Canada. I don't know if NHRA had any different states in Div. 3 decades ago. The only driver I could find who had 326 in Super Stock was Craig Watts from Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada around 2019. His car at that time was a GT/LA Mustang. But it's possible that the driver of the Valiant retired and that number was assigned to someone else afterwards. Other classes like Stock, Super Gas, etc. have their own separate set of numbers, including 326.

Does your car have any "local" decals or sponsors that may have a phone or address? That could narrow down the area that it's from and possibly provide contact info to any local companies that may have been associated with the car. Most of the decals on the car are "contingency decals". These are companies that have a marketing/advertising deal with NHRA that if a car wins or gets runner up at one of their races while using their parts and displaying the proper decals, they get paid extra money from those companies. (Contacting the contingency sponsors probably won't yield any info.)

What's that big round decal above the rear tires?

You'll have to sign up to post, but there is a racing site that will probably have people who may recognize the car from way back - whenever it was and be able to provide some history on it.

Class Racer Forum
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That says; Cobra, Cooper tires
No phone numbers or addresses on the car, on the side of the front fenders it has "Ed Cook Race Cars"
ch1ll said:
One sweet ride, hopefully you can find the original owner and racer.
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I had to go to Columbia, Tenn. (South of Nashville) to get the car,
Ed Cook Race Cars is on both front fenders. The guy I bought it from may have had the car for 1 or 2 years, he bought it from the estate of the guy who built/raced the car who must be Ed Cook. With the car being in storage for 12 years, that wood put it around 2009 or 2010 when the car was racing ???
 
Dartnut said:
The car looks great as it is, I hope you aren't planning on changing it!
SS/J is the NHRA designation for the class it ran, which is Super Stock J class.
The car was run with a manual transmission and if it was run with an automatic, the designation would be SS/JA
The 326 under the SS/J is the number the car was given by the NHRA.
Maybe a good thing to do is to get your hands on a NHRA rule book and it will break down the class the car ran in.
And to add, the 340 wasn't allowed in that year of car let alone a Valiant in Super Stock because the 340 wasn't introduced until the '68 model year in Barracudas and Darts.
It probably had the 340 in it for bracket racing and the numbers on the car weren't removed.
The car would have ran in Super Stock J with a 273 and a 4 speed.
Very cool.
I wonder what it ran back in the day...
Click to expand...
No, I am going to leave the outside just the way it is.
 
I don't suppose this is the Ed Cook?

hot-cars.org

Menacing 426 Max Wedge Plymouth Savoy (VIDEO)

Ed Cook bought this 1963 Plymouth Savoy with the assumption it was a 426 Max Wedge clone. However, it turned out that he got himself a real Super Stock Mopar.
hot-cars.org hot-cars.org

FAST - Ed Cook goes 10.26 @ 131.70

FAST had our last race of the year at Maryland International Raceway, and Ed Cook had his 63 Savoy Max Wedge flying! Multiple passes in excess of 130 mph and a personal best of 10.26 @ 131.70 Congrats Ed!
board.moparts.org board.moparts.org
 
Cool Car !!! Hope you can find some history on it . I agree with the other posts: put a post on Classracer. com looking for info on the car people on that website are very knowledgeable as are members on this site.
 
Wdstk@69 said:
I have a 1966 Plymouth, Valiant that was a drag racing car, it had a 340 four speed in it for racing, I bought the car less engine & transmission, it has the following letters & numbers combination on all the windows ; SS / J with the number 326 under it, what do they stand for. ?

View attachment 1716339249
Click to expand...

It wasn't SS legal with a 340. I'd have to get out the rule book and see what J is but it's probably a 273.

Keep the stick.
 
it runs SS/k now, matt steins 66 valiant runs that class, 235/273, combo, its very completive , seen a video where he ran 10.05 @ 131.78 mph. just food for thought.
 
Cars have a natural class it fits into, then you can add or subtract weight to move up or down one class. But the car needs to be complete to meet rules. Some cars can't legally remove enough weight to get to the next lighter class. They only allow 170 lbs for driver. So if driver is 300 then you have a 130 lb disadvantage from the start.

The number starting with 3 means the driver lives in division 3. Driver can claim a different division but the driver number will not change.
 
413 said:
Cars have a natural class it fits into, then you can add or subtract weight to move up or down one class. But the car needs to be complete to meet rules. Some cars can't legally remove enough weight to get to the next lighter class. They only allow 170 lbs for driver. So if driver is 300 then you have a 130 lb disadvantage from the start.

The number starting with 3 means the driver lives in division 3. Driver can claim a different division but the driver number will not change.
Click to expand...
Where would division 3 be located. I bought the car in Columbia, Tenn.
Thanks
 
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