The 1960’s delivered some of the coolest quarter mile contraptions ever conceived at a time when ingenuity ruled and if it didn’t work, it was tossed aside and another off-the-wall design was created in someone’s garage. One of the more interesting cars of the era was this early ’67 Pontiac GTO Funny Car driven by Dick Jesse, that essentially looks like a AA/FD in disguise with a body wrapped over it. This car was one of a line of cars campaigned by Jesse to carry the “Mr. Unswitchable” namesake, and the new design gave him a completely unobstructed view of the race track.

This car began as a sleek GTO right of the showroom floor and transformed into a Funny Car that incorporates many well-engineered design elements. This includes an inner panel surrounding the cockpit to keep out unwanted tire smoke, directing it up and out through a set of “zoomie” funnels crafted into the body. The roofline, as can clearly be seen, was altered with Jesse’s slant-roof design, intended to overcome the high speed lift that many Funny Cars of the time were experiencing by acting as an a spoiler. At it’s highest point – the tip of the roll cage – it measured just four and a half feet in height.

Image: Car Craft Magazine

While the roof of the “Mr. Unswitchable” was an altered factory sheet metal piece, the front end, trunk, hood, and fenders were all molded fiberglass components from A&A Engineering in Atlanta. The hood was molded to the fenders and the bumper to the grille, with 12 bolts holding the entire body to the 4230 chromoly chassis that had holes drilled throughout to reduce the overall weight of the car. The stock GTO wheelbase of 115 inches was increased to 120, however, the body itself was actually 2-inches shorter than a stock GTO.

The wheels are American mag with spoke wheels in front and Pirelli tires, with M&H 11×16 slicks on the rear. The engine in the car began as a 421-inch Pontiac mill with Super Duty Mondello heads, an Iskenderian Super LaGuerra 550 “blower kit” cam assembly, Mickey Thompson rods and pistons with Federal Mogul bearings. The compression was 8.5:1. A Hilborn “bug collector” air intake sat atop a GMC 6-71 supercharger modified by Ed Iskenderian. One of the other interesting features of the car was the “zoomie” headers with aluminum collectors that tunneled along the body and exited out the rear of the car.

While not confirmed, a car bearing a striking resemblance to the “Mr. Unswitchable” ’67 GTO was recently found at a fabrication shop in Massachusetts, offering the possibility that this one-off piece may still exist.