Mondello Matsubara Fiat almost ready for CHRR

19/09/2007

Its the holy grail for any AA altered enthusiast, and it's nearing completion!

As regular readers may be aware, DRC Review has been following the rebuild of the famed Mondello Matsubara Fiat Fuel Altered of 1969, which has been made possible through the efforts of three individuals – Karpo Murkijanian, Pete Eastwood and Derek Bower. Well, we’ve just received another batch of photos from Karpo, and as you can see, the whole project has now moved on several stages since our initial story in June.

The scoop is a regular Hilborn unit cut down so the barrel valve can be accessed more easily – an old racer’s trick. The motor is a 427 Chevy with 8-to-1 compression, Venolia pistons, Howards rods, billet crank and .708-lift camshaft

The chassis is complete, that magnificent ‘blown’ Chevy motor is back between the rails and hooked up to the rear end, and the body is now undergoing a full repaint to original specification, complete with custom lettering and striping. As you can see from this series of photos, and those already posted, the car is being restored to an exceptionally high standard with all of the little details that were present in the original car. We can only take off our collective hat to Karpo and his merry band of helpers, for the way in which the project is progressing.

Check out the quality of workmanship

If you want to see this legendary AA Altered up close when complete, then you will need to be at the forthcoming California Hot Rod Reunion over the weekend of October 12-14, and especially at the Friday night get together at the Double Tree Inn, to which the car has been invited. No doubt the debut of this iconic Altered outside the hotel entrance, complete with its barking Chevy on nitro, will be a major crowd draw.

The majority of the photos below were taken a week ago, while the ones showing the gold leaf lettering are from this week.

Story: Andy Kirk
Photos: Karpo Murkijanian

Fresh from the paint shop

The lettering marked out above and mid-way through the outline striping below

The lettering marked out in white crayon at the striper’s shop

Every little body detail is being replicated

Variegated leaf applied to the nose

This photo from 1969 is what the team are aiming for - though it will almost certainly be built and finished to an even higher standard than this