1964 Chevrolet Nova Chev Two Much II AF/X

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. Doug says: “It was a ball to drive because it was off of the ground or sideways most of the time”. Plagued by big wheelies, this was solved by the invention of the first ‘wheelie bar’, lending itself to keeping the car straight! It was the only ‘Funny Car’ in Southern California outside of Jack Chrisman’s injected Comet, & it got so popular that folks wanted Doug to bring it back east & race the factory cars such as the ‘Dodge Ramchargers’ & Ed Schartman’s Comet. Doug recalls: “I could beat most of the factory cars”.  He raced all over the country at least 2-3 nights a week! When Doug decided to start building his Logghe chassis-equipped Corvair, which was one of the first full tube-chassis ‘Funny Cars’ to hit the drag racing scene, the ‘Chevy 2 Much’ was sold to some gentleman out of Chicago who changed the wheelbase & ran it for a while, until a nasty encounter with a guardrail ended the car’s amazing career.

Fast forward to just before the new Millennium!

Doug had decided to recreate the ‘Chevy 2 Much’, because as he puts it: “Steve Gibbs who was running the NHRA museum wanted me to put a car in the new museum”. So Doug rounded up most of the friends who labored over the original car to help him build the new ‘Chevy 2 Much II’, including: Ted Brown, Tom Rodriguez, HL Shannan, Gary Slusser, Fletch & of course Doug Kruze! When the new build was completed, the new ‘Chevy 2 Much II’ went straight into the NHRA museum and sat for 11 years before Doug decided that he wanted to see the car enjoyed. During lunch one day, Doug offered Ron Maxwell, an old friend from his hometown of Cedar City, Utah, the chance to buy it. Ron jumped at the chance, and immediately began the process of bringing the car back to life. Since the car had a ‘dummy block’ while it was in the NHRA museum, Ron decided he wanted a running & driving drag car, with just the right driveline. The updated drivetrain consists of the following: a 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.

She now sits on our showroom floor here in Saint George, Utah, and is available for new ownership for the very first time! Whether you can remember the early years of 'Funny Cars' & finally want one of your own, or you are just getting into drag racing, it will be hard to beat this nostalgic 1964 Chevrolet Nova AF/X car! There is a plethora of information on the Internet regarding Doug Thorley & the ‘Chevy 2 Much’ cars, so you should have no problem doing your homework about this amazing era in drag race history. Those wonderful years are long gone, but certain pieces of those amazing times continue to live on. This wonderful 1964 Chevrolet Nova AF/X car, lovingly dubbed ‘Chevy 2 Much II’ is a great example. This is an excellent opportunity to own a real ‘Funny Car’ built by the legends who were there when it all started! Of course, all interesting trade ideas are welcome!

Enclosed shipping is available anywhere in the world at the buyer’s expense.