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Topic starter
04/05/2025 2:07 pm
Here is an amazing story of this young man ( JOHN CHARLES SNYDER) and his "FAST" 1967 Corvette 427...
Very Well Worth Reading
Awhile back I discovered I had a very famous Johnny Lightning Corvette in my collection that has with an impressive, but sad story that comes with it. I have had this diecast car well over 10 years. Here's a 1/64th scale Johnny Lightning release that is more famous than allot of collectors know. A 1967 Corvette with the names of "Ko Motion" and "Astoria Chas" painted on the sides. It set a record pass in AHRA of 11.04 and later a record pass of 10.47 in NHRA, which was a mind blowing pass back then.
A great car to have in your collection. It has made allot of history and set records in drag racing. It was owned and raced by 19 year old John Charles Snyder. He was sent to Vietnam Jul 04, 1968 and was killed in action Aug 27, 1968.
A great car to have in your collection. It has made allot of history and set records in drag racing. It was owned and raced by 19 year old John Charles Snyder. He was sent to Vietnam Jul 04, 1968 and was killed in action Aug 27, 1968.
After John's death, Glen Rosen and driver John Mahler got permission from Chas’ mother, Grace, to continue racing the L88 Vette with the objective of winning the national record for Chas. When Rosen was ready for the AHRA record run, the L88 was chock full of the hottest parts from Chevrolet and lots of speed parts. The L88 was balanced and blueprinted, the bottom end beefed up, had modified aluminum heads, a performance camshaft, a 850 cfm Holley double pumper, Hooker headers, 4.88 rear gears, a Hurst shifter, and 10-inch slicks. With Bill Foster at the wheel Charlie’s L88 took the AHRA A/Corvette national record with a 11.04 et @ 129 mph. The official listing in the record book reads, “In Memory of Astoria Chas.” Later, Mahler ran a 10.47 et at a local track. Then the car was trailered to Chas’ sister’s house, garaged, and covered for the next 31 years. After three decades, the Snyder family finally agreed to sell the car to Spielberg, on the condition that he would not restore or modify the car. Today, the car is as it was the last day it was raced. The Buddy Holly of Corvettes lives on!"
Many model replicas have been made and released of this 67 Corvette from the HO scale slot cars, to the 1/24th plastic model kits, to the 1/64th and 1/18th scale diecast models.
Many model replicas have been made and released of this 67 Corvette from the HO scale slot cars, to the 1/24th plastic model kits, to the 1/64th and 1/18th scale diecast models.
This topic was modified 12 months ago 2 times by Stangfreak
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https://youtu.be/RmdWFGAm84E
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https://youtu.be/OUn1v-vksos
04/05/2025 2:59 pm
Thanks for photos and history of the car.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
04/05/2025 3:05 pm
04/05/2025 3:24 pm
A lasting memorial in an unusual and prolific way. Thank you for this interesting history.
04/05/2025 11:50 pm
Thank-you so much for making us aware of this young man and his Corvette. R.I.P. Sir 🇺🇲
05/05/2025 12:36 am
An extremely interesting history and story of this remarkable automobile !
05/05/2025 10:40 am
Yeah, you're right SF. Many of us have seen this model, in various scales, but were not aware of the rich but sad history associated with it. Thankyou for your post & pics; it was very informative.