"Okay, what happened next?"
"Well, the records are unclear as to exactly what happened.
As far as we can tell, the car ended up on some used car lot,
minus the racing Hemi engine and all the exterior goodies,
of course. Then, it was spotted by one sharp guy who happened
to know his Chryslers. Naturally, the used car dealer thought
he had just ‘another wagon’ on the lot and let
it go for a song. This guy took it to one of the leading restoration
shops and had a full-boogie tires-off, big buck restoration
job.
"It took about 4 years to come up with as many NOS parts
as possible from the swaps. They also found out that Chrysler
had contracted out a lot of work on car to Mr. Casket and
Hearse Performance, and they were a big help in the restoration
process. Of course, many parts had to be hand-fabricated,
and the resto people had to study a lot of old magazine articles
to make the car as authentic as possible. By the way, it was
restored with the powertrain it had when it was running in
NASCAR.”
"What happened then?"
It’s easy to see how the
rear fins and roof peak were refined slightly in the wind
tunnel by Chrysler engineers into the high rear wing configuration
on the Daytona and Superbird. |
"Well, the owner was a little odd, because he gave the
car to his wife to use, you know, his 'n' hers. They both
went to car shows and he brought his original Hemicuda convertible,
and she showed up in...this. They eventually got divorced
and I just happened to be at the right place at the right
time. It was funny, because the poor guy had to sell everything—the
house, the cars, the boats, you know. And the Hemicuda and
this rare Plymouth were going for about the same price. What
a score!"
"Did you modify the car at all?"
"Well, the drivetrain is the original NASCAR single
4-barrel Hemi setup, and the body is the way Chrysler set
it up for Petty even though he removed the tongue and fangs
for racing. The eye¬balls are the correct '58 pieces.
"What about that little wagon you pull behind the car?"
"That's another Mr. Casket piece. It's their special
Coors Lite bier. I got the idea from the sleeper cabs, you
know, on the big semis. The deal is I gotta get to bed before
the sun comes up otherwise I'm in deep...you know. So, I have
one bier at the castle and another for the road. Okay, so
I bend the rules a little. Who doesn't these days?"
"I noticed when you made a pass down the track the car
got a little crossed up."
"Please!!!"
"Sorry. Well, Count, I know all of motorsports owes
you a debt in preserving this rare and important piece of
Chrysler drag racing and NASCAR history for future generations.
It's a fine example of Chrysler engineering at its zenith."
"Thank you. It's satisfying to know that all my efforts
haven't been in, er, vein." 
|
