When Dave Giles set out from Tennesse to Alabama on a Saturday morning in 2006, he thought he was about to get the deal of the century on some vintage Halibrand wheels he’d spotted in an AutoTrader ad. It wasn’t until he was perusing the veritable goldmine of old-school wheels that he spotted a pair of early American five-spoke spindle-mount wheels, that as a nostalgia drag racing aficionado, he immediately recognized as being from an early A/FX car. As it turns out, the car that belonged to the wheels wasn’t too far down the Alabama road. And, that’s the beginning of the story of how Dave Giles ended up with the original Tiger II A/FX 1965 Chevelle.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

In the early 1960s, drag racing captured the attention of American automotive manufacturers. For the fans, the Stock category gave them the ability to cheer on recognizable cars that they could find at the local dealership. The Big Three manufacturers quickly came to recognize the benefit. “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” was born in this era. “Factory” cars started making their way to drag strips with manufacturers’ support, whether overt or sometimes a little more in the shadows.

As classes developed, the Factory Experimental class came to be, where a “stock appearing” car could fit a different type of powerplant under the hood. Larger engines were making their way between the frame rails, and innovation went into overdrive. It didn’t take long for teams to start putting Top Gas dragster engines and ultimately nitro-burning engines, in these “stock” cars. The “Dodge Chargers,” and the Sachs & Sons Mercury, driven by Jack Christman were the forebearers in Factory Experimental (A/FX and S/FX) as the cars got lighter and the engines got bigger and they garnered more attention on the West Coast.

The Tiger II from Texas

However, the Southwest had a drag racing scene all its own. And, in early 1965, Chevrolet sent a brand new 1965 Chevelle 300 down south to Jimmy Adcock of Amarillo, Texas. It came with no motor or transmission and no VIN or title. From day one, this Chevelle, provided by the factory, was meant to be a race car. Adcock quickly started making changes to prepare for the racing season. He installed a straight front axle and a Pontiac rearend. It remained left-hand steer, and essentially stock, for the time being. But, back then race cars were being altered on almost a weekly basis.

As he prepared for the 1966 racing season, the transformation became more in-depth. Adcock worked with T-Bar Chassis to create what is believed to be the first purpose-built, center-steer, all-tube chassis for a “funny car”. It was lightened with a bevy of fiberglass parts and from under the hood came the growl of an Enderle fuel-injected 376 cubic-inch small-block Chevy on a 30-percent load of nitromethane. The Chevelle was painted in gold metal flake and the name Tiger II was added, due to Adcock’s sponsorship from Esso, whose slogan was “Put a Tiger In Your Tank.” Midway through 1966, the Tiger II received an engine upgrade, with power now provided by a Hilborn-injected 427 cubic-inch big-block Chevy.

The Tiger II became one of the most prominent AFX-Funny Cars in the nation. It was a match race favorite because of its giant wheelstands and it was featured in multiple magazines and advertisements of the era. In 1967, Adcock’s Esso sponsorship went away and the car was repainted blue, with the name “Blitzer” emblazoned on the doors. However, the clock was ticking on the categories of stock-bodied Factory Experimental cars.

Gone in the Blink of an Eye

The run of those early altered wheel-base Funny Cars only lasted a few years before flip-top fiberglass bodies covering purpose-built chassis became the must-have combination to be competitive. The A-Factory-Experimental and S-Factory-Experimental classifications gave way to the nom de guerre “Funny Car,” and it stuck. The Funny Car class evolved but remains one of drag racing’s most popular categories. However, this special moment in drag racing history where “stock appearing” factory-backed experimental cars ruled the drag strips is long gone.

A Funny Car in the Haystack

The Chevelle changed hands, and ultimately drifted into obscurity. That is until that Saturday afternoon in Alabama when Dave Giles noticed a set of funny car wheels. Upon asking “Where’s the rest of the funny car?” Dave was surprised to learn it was in the area. What he found was a dilapidated vintage funny car, sitting outside under the trees and covered with leaves. At the time, he didn’t know the historical significance, but he knew he had to have it.

This car was really clean. It had a lot of neat tricks on it. I kept thinking, before we found out whose car it was, this is something substantial.
— Dave Giles

That sale wasn’t easy. It took some time—months actually—and good old-fashioned, southern haggling between gentlemen before Dave finally convinced the owner to let go of the car. After he got it home, the Chevelle sat in Dave’s shop amongst project cars. And, because he had so many projects, he sold it to a guy in Illinois. It was during this time, that the owner and a bevy of internet sleuths traced the lineage and found out the significance of the Chevelle.

Dave admits when he saw on the internet that the car he had briefly owned was such a historically significant early funny car, he felt it was “the one that got away.”  But, the universe has a way of working things out. The Illinois owner didn’t make progress on the project either and Dave just happened to see an ad that it was for sale again in 2018. He jumped on it and brought it back home, 10 years after his original purchase. The decision was made to take the Chevelle back to its 1966 Tiger II configuration and in 2020 the work began in earnest.

The Resurrection of Tiger II

Most of what you see now is the original car, down to the very rare magnesium, spindle-mount front wheels. Every effort was made to make the Tiger II period correct. Dave admits he wasn’t looking to over-restore the car and make it “museum quality”. He wanted the car to be just like it was at the track in late 1966. He was even able to get in touch with Jim Adcock to ask questions about what they had done to the car as it evolved. As it sits, Tiger II is a time capsule from a period spanning a couple of months in late 1966, when they had put the 427 in the car, but just before repainting it to be Blitzer.

The Tiger II is not just for show. Dave built it to go, although it hasn’t seen the drag strip yet. The engine is a 427 cubic-inch big-block Chevrolet built by Randy Bradford (Bradford’s Camshafts/Bradford’s Fiat AA Altered) out of Camano Island, Washington. It features a Velasco billet crankshaft, Wiseco pistons coated for nitromethane, a solid roller camshaft and lifters from Comp Cams, Manton Pushrods, GRP aluminum rods, Dart iron heads with Manley valves. Bradford cut O-rings and decked the block for nitro. The engine is topped off by those beautiful, tall Hilborn injector stacks. The detailed restoration even includes Jimmy Adcock’s A&B Automotive decal on the valve covers. The engine makes a healthy 1,200 horsepower on an 80-percent load of nitromethane.

The transmission is an Ultimate Turbo 400 from Mike’s Transmission. The rest of the driveline is Mark Williams. It’s built to run competitively in modern nostalgia AFX but it looks just as it did in 1966.

The chassis is the original, built by T-Bar. The firewall, grill, and trim are all original, as are the body panels. In 1965 Adcock added fiberglass from Fibercraft, including a fiberglass 1964 Chevelle front end, since there was no fiberglass for the ’65 available yet. All of the fiberglass on the car now is the original Fibercraft, except for the hood, which Dave says had become too warped to get straight. It now carries a modified VFN fiberglass hood to replicate the original. Dave had Trickpaint & Custom in Wenatchee, Washington apply the House of Kolor Gold metal flake paint. The Tiger II’s period correct lettering is all done by hand, over the paint (as it should be).

A 1,200 Horsepower Time Capsule

The restoration was completed in 2024. The Tiger II is a time capsule of a brief, but important, time in drag racing history. The car runs and is ready to race, but while Dave races a nostalgia fuel-altered on a regular basis, he’s not as keen to take the Tiger II down the track on a full run.

It’s ready to go run and run hard. I don’t mind doing some smoky burnouts and stuff, but I really don’t want to personally race it because I’ve been on fire. I’ve been upside down, you know, I’ve been all over the track. I’m really not too keen on running it like that.  — Dave Giles

Dave hopes to take the Tiger II to the Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and maybe make some cacklefests. Ultimately, he’d like to see the Tiger II go to a museum. There, fans of drag racing today could see Tiger II and for just a moment, step back into 1966 and the heyday of Factory Experimental, the precursor to modern Funny Cars.