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Lost and Found
Funny Cars...
Often times the lineage of "found" funny
cars is difficult to trace.
Sometimes folks claim to have a certain
flopper because the body/chassis
combination appears to be the same as the
original; claims that are often
"wishful thinking," difficult to prove if
true and sometimes even
fraudulently made. Cars often changed
hands many times and subsequently paint
jobs were changed, bodies/chassis altered,
etc., making exact identification in
later years difficult if not impossible.
The intent in this page is to show 70s
funny cars found in barns, garages,
fields, etc., and where possible, the
car's
history back to it's "glory days." Where
identification isn't
possible... well, just enjoy a lost
treasure found!
This
picture showed up in the late 90s.
Ex-Pisano & Matsubara Vega body from
around the 74-75ish time frame is
apparently languishing away in a garage in
SoCal, but owner seemed reluctant to
provide too many more details.
Update
7/02 courtesy of Paul Katata:
Regarding your latest "Lost and Found"
Funny Car, I
remember seeing that exact Pisano &
Matsubara Vega body for
sale at one of the first Long Beach
Hi-Performance Swap Meets
I ever attended (10 -15 years ago?). Some
guy had it sitting on
the back of an old 68-69 Chevy pickup
truck. Asking price: 150 BUCKS!!..
Yeah, I'm still kicking myself! I remember
the body
being virtually complete. Red anodized tin
(faded), front and
rear tubular structures ("trees"), and
possibly the
Lexan windshield and back glass. The paint
was faded and checked,
but you could make out every detail making
it very easy to duplicate
were you to attempt a restoration...
It was as if the body
was lifted off the car and put aside for
20 years or so! Unreal!
 
From up Washington state way comes
the ultimate 70s funny cars "lost &
found." Tucked in western WA (don't ask
cuz I'm not telling exactly where
it is to protect the owners privacy) it is
probably best characterized as a
"funny car bone yard." Rumored to have up
to 15 funny car bodies,
inventoried cars include Tom McEwen's
"Coors" Corvette (see below,
since sold), Mike Miller's Olympia Beer
Mustang from the early 80s, Rich Roger's
"Miss Debra" Duster from the mid-70s (left
picture, far left), So
Cal's Clarence Bailey's King "Boogaloo"
Cougar (right photo, upper),
Kenney Goodell's Mustang from the late 60s
(right photo, lower) as well as a
complete Camaro and Pinto flopper from the
early 70s, misc parts, etc. etc.
(Photo at left courtesy of Perry at PF
Flyer Racing, right photo courtesy of
Ralph Reiter)
 
Currently residing in Indiana is the
ex-"Purple Magic" Vega of Bob
Simmons. Simmons campaigned the car in New
England during 75-76; photo at left
shows the car in it's 76 color scheme
(trust me, you don't want to see this car
in color... and the lettering does
in fact say "Purple Magic").
In the latter 70s Simmons drove the New
Englander Monza F/C and T/F entries.
Muscle car collector Mike Guffey currently
owns the car (easily ID'ed by it's
"V" body latch in the front grille). Mike
feels the car, although
campaigned by Simmons in the mid-70s, was
built in approx 73 due to the chassis
technology. He also believes car likely
started as a flat nose Vega, was
upgraded to a slant nose. He is looking to
get any pre-Simmons history on the
car for restoration. If you know the
background on this car contact me and I'll
pass it along to Mike. (Photos and info
courtesy of Mike Guffey, photo at left
by Norman Blake)
 
"Just returned from CHRR, where I found
some oldies but goodies at the swap
meet. The Revellution / English Leather
Dart (the red one) $17,500 rolling. The
Kingfish $2600 as is, somewhat rough tin.
John Hoven's Mustang $10,000. The
black paint is flaking off the tin,
exposing the purple anodizing. The guy
with
the Cuda & Dart rolled out Sunday
morning with both cars. The Hoven car was
also still present when we left Sunday
night, which was when everything was
over. I doubt any were sold. The Cuda was
for sale last year too." (Photos
and info courtesy of Ralph Reiter)
  Wearing a
color scheme from the early 80s is the
"currently under
restoration for the NHRA museum" Corvette
of Tom McEwen. Through research
and phone calls folks restoring the car
were able to determine the body is the
same one Goose's funny car wore when it
won the 78 NHRA Nationals wearing
English Leather colors. Original Sarte
chassis for the car still needs to be
located... if you know the chassis'
location, a similar Sarte chassis or the
current whereabouts of Jamie Sarte drop me
an e-mail and I'll pass it on to the
folks doing the restoration. (Photos by Al
Rawlings, courtesy of Glenn Collins)
  
One of the more unique "Found" floppers is
the "Durachrome
Bug" of Warren Gunter from the early 70s.
The car is currently in the hands
of the guy that originally bought it from
Warren Gunter. He resold the car, and
after a few years got it back. When he
went to get it, it was overgrown with
blackberry bushes and in sad shape. The
new owner (3rd guy) put in a small block
and bracket-raced it for a while...
then put it out to "pasture"
literally. When the original buyer guy got
it back, he nursed it back to health
and installed the blown BB that's in it
now. The only mod that was done was the
rear-end went from solid mount to sprung.
The car is currently located in the
NW, registered as a home-built dune buggy
(note the "headlights" on
the front fenders) and occasionally street
driven. The original headers remain
on the car with screw-on mufflers. A
"wishes for now to remain
anonymous" buyer is currently looking to
buy the car and restore it.
(Photos and info courtesy of Ralph Reiter
and Richard Hernandez)
Currently located in Oregon is an
interesting compilation of
70s Mickey Thompson funny cars rolled into
one. According
to
Pat Blair at Thompson's Motorsports Inc in
Eugene, "The reason the car
is here is because Lyndy Thompson owns the
shop. She has no plans to do anything
with the car, it was her dads and so she
plans on keeping it (Don't ask... it's
not for sale). She also has four other
cars of her dads; the Revelleader is the
only drag race car. The cost is too much
to try and restore any of them.
Pictured is what the car looks like now
which is what it looked like when she
picked it up in LA from her dad's estate
in 1990. One thing to note on the
Revelleader is the chassis it is sitting
on is from Mickey Thompson's 1970
Maverick funny car which had been wrecked.
When we got the chassis it was
twisted so bad I had to cut it apart to
straighten it out." (Photo and info
courtesy of Pat Blair)
From the mid-70s into the new
millennium comes Bob Taylor's
Hemi Hoss Mustang. According Tiny Eglit
who recently purchased the car...
"I put an ad on Nitronic for "71-73
Mustang Funny wanted" and Paul
Fuess from Texas e-mailed me that he had
complete car that he found and was
selling the body; I made him an offer and
he took it. The car is painted just
like it was when it raced in the 70s, the
paint has a few little cracks but
nothing major. We are having a chassis
built at Valley Chassis Works in
Poughkeepsie, New York. We also have the
"Bob Banning Dodge"
Challenger body from 1970... the
chassis that Valley is building is for
the "Banning Dodge", the "Hemi Hoss" and
an ex-Mike Burkhart
Camaro body all of which will be
interchangeable on the chassis. Look for
updates on HELLFIRERACING.com."
From Paul Fuess, who sold Tiny the
car,
"The
first driver of
this car was Michael Cox, after he stepped
out Paul Gordon drove
it till the car was retired some where
around 1974 or so. I found
it in a shop in Dallas where it had sat in
the same spot since
it was retired. I bought it from Bob
Taylor. I am using the chassis
to build a period correct fuel altered to
run in ADRA nostalgia
events." Tracing the car's history to it's
origin, Cogo Eads reports... "Bob Taylor's
Hemi Hoss was the last Boss's Hoss
that belonged to John and Cogo Eads. We
purchased the car from
Art Ward in Colorado. It was built by Don
Hardy for Art but he
never finished the car and when I burnt
the Barracuda at National
Challenge in Tulsa, Oklahoma we bought
this Mustang and had it
painted in Arlington Texas. After running
the car for a short
time we retired and my Dad sold the car to
Bob Taylor." (Photo
and
info courtesy of Tiny Eglit, Paul Fuess
and Cogo Eads)
Update
4/02: Tiny's
been working on the car; a new coat of
paint captures the spirit
of what 70s funny cars looked like! More
to follow...
 
Here's a body likely not to be restored.
Currently hanging on a den wall in PA
is the left side panel from the mid-70s
"Philadelphia Flyer" Monza
campaigned by "Broadway Joe" Siti.
According to Charles Hoopes
"this body was burned up at Epping, NH.,
with Joe Oster driving... after
the fire the car was mothballed [and
obviously cut-up] for several years until
the Challenger was built." Look for more
info on the Kenny Youngblood
designed (believe it or not the
inspiration for the paint scheme came from
a
moving van Kenny saw on an LA freeway)
"Philly Flyer" floppers on
Round 4 of the site. (Photo at left by JW
Last, right photo and info courtesy of
Charles Hoopes)
 
After a long search, Illinois' John Dunn
managed to locate and purchase two
vintage Vega bodies. Body at left was
found in NC, is off the ex-Don Johnson
"Beachcomber" F/C campaigned by Johnson
for a short period in the
early 70s as a "replacement" while his
primary car was being repaired
following an accident. Dunn is currently
having a chassis built to put under the
shell and plans on going nostalgia flopper
racing next season. Car at right
features the body off the Screaming Eagle
Vega of Jim Maybeck from the 72
season... was found at a farm sale in IN.
Dunn recently sold that body...
(Photos by John Dunn)
 
Recently found via a swap meet in
Ohio was this TV Tommy Ivo relic from the
mid-70s. Previous owner reports he had the
body for about 4 years, found it behind a
body shop where it was apparently about to
be scrapped. In the 70s Ivo apparently
sold the body to an individual from Canada
where it began it's long, undocumented
odyssey back to the states. Current owner
is looking to sell the body...
(Photos and info courtesy of Micky Hale)
Update
12/00: JW,
Thought you might be interested to know
that I purchased the body
from Micky Hale this past weekend. It is
currently on it's way
back to SoCal as I write this note to you.
I've received the go
ahead from Mr. Ivo to restore the body as
it was originally run.
The tin is so perfect, that I think I'm
going to have Bobby Hansen
build a new chassis around the tin instead
of trying to fit the
body to a current chassis. Car will run as
it did with a 426 and
a Crower style 8-hole hat... Bill
Sweeney
 
Update 8/01:
Bill Sweeney here. I've been meaning to
get some photos of the Ivo Charger off to
you, but I just figured out last week that
I can actually email digital photos
without the help of a computer wizard.
The shot of Tommy with me and the body was
taken out in front of the NHRA museum the
Friday night of the Winters. He unveiled
the twin that night. He thought the body
was, "one pretty race car!" and he meant
as it sat right then! Spoken like a true
'previous owner'!
There are two shots of the body at Grant
Downing's Paralax Race Cars. All the tin
was removed and the body support frame was
made to allow the body to be plastic media
blasted. The 'glass is so light that to
grind on it would do more harm than good.
Plus, no one at Grant's wanted anything to
do with it until the paint was off of it!
As of today, it is done and ready to go
back to Paralax on Monday to begin the
reglassing / repairing segment. Bill
Sweeney
The Damn Yankee Mustang II body
was found several years ago
residing, as pictured, in the back of a
used car lot in western Canada. Exact
history of the car is near impossible to
trace, but it is know, due to engraving
on the tin work, that the body and tin was
done by Frame Up engineering in 75.
Car migrated to Canada in the early 90s as
a BB/FC... body and chassis
were soon separated with the chassis still
today racing as an altered and the
body unceremoniously ending up on top of a
restaurant. It was rescued from that
fate and the used car lot fate by Glenn
Collins. Body was recently sold and
shipped off to an Oregon chassis shop to
have chassis put underneath it... then
off to Calif for some nostalgia racing!
(Photo and info courtesy of Glenn
Collins)
Car as it appeared when it arrived
in Canada... before
the body and chassis were separated!
Update,
courtesy of Paul Weiss, 12/00:
"Talking to the late Bob Simmons (Purple
Magic Vega, New Englander
Monza) he told me he ran a nitro funny car
named the Damn Yankee.
Being from Connecticut and Frame Up
Engineering being from Connecticut
might be a connection. I would be
surprised if Bob owned the car
new. Being good friends with Al Hanna...
maybe one his old car.
 
This Mustang II is currently located in
Hawaii and the owner, Paul Fernandez, is
attempting to trace it's history.
According to Paul "Its a AA/FC that was
purchased in the mainland by Ken Kepner of
Oahu in the late seventies. The car
last ran about 1987. I purchased the car
in April of 1998." Paul noted the
fire windows are shaped like pineapples
which likely identifies this car as a
Sarte build car. Another clue as to the
previous owner might be in the grille
art as most folks didn't repaint the
grille when repainting car. If you've got
some ideas contact Paul directly at retroracing@msn.com
Currently residing in Hawaii,
appropriately enough, is the
ex-Hawaiian Charger of Roland Leong.
Current owner reports following the 70
season car was shipped back to the
Islands, eventually found its way into
bracket racing before being abandoned to a
backyard. Owner rescued the car about
10 years ago. Plans are to restore it to
either 69 or 70 Hawaiian colors (minor
color and tin differences) and show the
car. To help with the project, if anyone
has detailed pictures of either the 69 or
70 version of the Hawaiian, contact me
and I'll pass the info on to the owner to
help with the restoration! (Photo
courtesy of Bruce Wheeler)
Found
in central MN by Ken Chase was this
ex-Larry Gould Charger. Gould campaigned
the
car with a Ford SOHC powerplant in the
early 70s before the car was sold and
went Super Comp racing. Car later was
converted to sand drag status before
disappearing. Lineage on the car points
back to the Logghe Stage 1 chassis being
from Dyno Don Nicholson's Eliminator
Cougar of the late 60s which started life
as the STP Cougar, was later campaigned by
Sidney Foster as "Foster's King
Cougar" (Cougar body was destroyed by a
blower explosion at Budds Creek)
before Gould acquired the car and renamed
it "Trojan Horse." (Photo
and info courtesy of Ken Chase)
Pictured
is the ex-Burkholder Bros. "Brotherhood"
Cuda body which ran in SoCal
in the early 70s (chassis is not from the
original car). When this picture was
taken, the body was owned
by Glenn Collins from Surrey, B.C. Car was
last run in 77 after which the chassis
apparently went to Sweden and the body
ended up on top of an auto parts store.
Body was retrieved from that fate and went
through several owners before Collins
acquired it. Collins also owns a another
un-raced 70s Cuda body and a Mustang
II shell, the former of which is being
mated to the above chassis for
restoration. (Photo courtesy of Glenn
Collins)
Update 4/04: Larry
Pettit bought and brought the Cuda body
down from Canada, but ended up not using
it after spending about $6000 to bring it
up to the usable condition seen here.
The Cuda body now resides on Jeff Gaynor's
hard running nostalgia AA/FC; Larry Pettit
has built a 72 Mustang nostalgia flopper.
 
The 70s meets Y2K... in late 99 the
on-line auction house e-Bay featured
Wild Willie Borsch's (ex-Pee Wee Wallace
Black Stang) Mustang II flopper from
the mid-70s. Car was more or less
complete, missing 2 speed, fuel tank,
minor
misc. Owner reported car had been in
storage since 77, found in garage in
MI... at auction time car was
located in So Cal. Reserve price for this
piece of history... $60,000. (Photos used
with permission of owner)
Now
here's a car with an interesting
history... this flopper was supposedly
verified
by Nick Boninfante to have been an early
70s Graeber chassised, red, Jungle Jim
Camaro. Car passed from JJ to the Wahlay
Bros and ran as a Warlord Camaro. Car
was then sold to a couple folks from NYC
and painted up in Rustler Steak House
colors (as shown here minus lettering) in
approx 76, but no one has any
recollection of actually seeing the car
run. Car ultimately made it's way to
South Dakota where Bob Gibson found it,
traded a FE dragster for it, resold it
to Ken Chase who has since also resold it.
Rumor has the car being restored to a
Jungle Jim configuration. (Photo, info
courtesy of Bob Gibson)
 
Della Woods late 60s Charger flopper went
on to become the Hippie Hemi of Pop
Whitt in the early 70s campaigned as an
injected nitro car on the East Coast
Fuel Funny Car Circuit. When the car's
racing days were over it was literally
"put out to pasture" in Maine. But
apparently the body wouldn't fit in
the owner's garage, so the body was cut up
to facilitate getting it in! What a
shame... (Photos courtesy of Robb
Lowe)
This
Charger body was found in Arkansas and had
apparently last been utilized as the
"Christian Raider" BB/FC. It's ownership
prior to that was not
traceable. Body was purchased by an
individual who has the Mustang II (minus
body) version of the Chi-Town Hustler.
Plan is to reshell the chassis with this
body and return it to Chi-Town colors. To
date, body hasn't been mounted on
chassis and whole project is still sitting
in an airplane hangar in CO. (Photo
and info courtesy of Bob Gibson)
This
71 Camaro was found in a barn in northern
IL. Based on the body style the owner
believed the car to be a Jungle Jim car
(according to Bob Gibson of the NHRA
Safety Safari everybody with a Nova or
Camaro flopper thinks they have a JJ
car!!!), but based on the Kelsey Hayes
wheels and chassis, Bob believes the car
to be one of Dick Harrell's 71 Camaros.
Harrell apparently had two cars in 71,
the one he was fatally injured in and most
likely this one. (Photo and info
courtesy of Bob Gibson)
Here's the same
car pictured above as it is being restored
today!!! (Photo courtesy of Mike DeLille)
This late 60s Charger was found by
Bob in PA. Not much left
of this old warhorse other than the body,
chassis, steering and some tin work.
Based on the body style, car's location
and color, car might be the
"Vitamin C" Charger that ran on the
injected nitro East Coast Fuel
Funny Car Circuit in the late 60s/early
70s. (Photo and info courtesy of Bob
Gibson)
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