Projects The Original "Purple People Eater" dragster 1957

All is well Pete......I'm looking forward to making it to Detroit this year so I hope to see you there brother....stay well.

 

I hope that diff doesnt encounter any issues... would definitely be quite the painful way to go with where that's resting.

 

Your most correct on Mike Smiths great drag machine from those early days at Kohler Dragway. I ran into Mike Smiths son and he let me know he still has his dad's original dragster . Here's a picture of me wearing their original helmet and sitting in this once very competitive dragster with it's original flathead....very cool.

 

Lol....I definitely get it brother....I had Forest and Forest Racing over build that 3rd member just for that reason. I've had lots of good advice from my racing friends on making the dragster safe.

 

I finally got some of my parts I needed to get the old dragster up and going so it was off to my pal Dennis Dale's shop to team up on getting the Purple People Eater running and stopping. After a few long days of thrashing in the shop we had the old beast up and going. The motor rumbled well as Dennis and I took turns going for a test spin thru the lovely village of Kirton.

 

This past weekend I had the pleasure of showing the old dragster at the Canadian Concours d'Elegance at Cobble Beach Resort. It was the first time any dragster had been invited to such a show and I must say it was pretty cool rumbling down past the resort in the dragster between the big rigs as they unloaded the Duesenberg's ...lol.....it was a fun weekend and it was great to see so many dig the dragster. Plus thanks to all my pals that came out to enjoy the moment with me, it was much appreciated.

 

Congratulations!!

 

Awesome!

 

Just a few more fun pictures from the Canadian Concours event .

 

The weather has been great for October so it was the perfect time to do a photo shoot for a few of the magazines that have expressed interest in doing a story on the old "Purple People Eater". Big thanks to my pals that helped throughout the afternoon and into the evening......it was a long day but made for great memories

 

In the pic I copy/pasted below there appears to be a corner of a Willys coupe visible with "cheesed on" rear fenders and clearly not tubbed. In the early 80's I saw a black 40-41 Willy coupe in Bradford (on the street ... I believe it had a 'glass front with 41 grille. I believe the owner lived in the area at the time). Supposedly was an old drag car and apparently the present owner (at that time) had traded a Corvette for it. Next time I saw it, it was yellow and apparently now owned by the son of the owner of the gas station on McCowan rd (Toronto) just up from the 401 (station is still there). I then heard a rumour that the son had been killed when the Willys fell off a hoist. I never saw the car again. Unless that is a 'glass car, there can't be too many steel, untubbed Willys coupes in the GTA with "molded" rear fenders. I wonder ....

 

Hello borntoloze....your story of that Willys coupe from your past is very cool brother........you have some keen eyes to pick up on those molded rear quarters. This is a 1938 Willys all steel coupe which was a old drag car down my way back in the 1960's at St. Thomas Dragway and it carried the name ... " Plum Crazy" with a purple paint job as you can see from the picture I've post below. The coupe now runs a big block 454 Chevy and one of the other cool features is the old Winters quick change rear-end. In the same picture to the right of the dragster, you can see the cab of a truck...it's actually a 1941 Willy's all steel pick up...... this old timer definilty had some awesome stuff stashed in his garage.

 

A bit dusty, but it’s alright, in fact it’s a gas.

 

Pretty cool to see a two part story on the "Purple People Eater" on the pages of Canadian Hot Rod Magazine for the Feb/March 2023 issue. The editor sent me a sneak peek of the story front page.

 

Well Deserved, Congratulations!

 

Great story

 

Amazing work, and great story
This dragster looks like pure art, and probably in the best shape she's ever been

 

Common fallacy of the diffs blowing up and getting the driver--- never happened unless a QC was used--and even then. The pinion was in front and pressure was forward, but for the ring gear to come back the gear would have to shatter besides shearing 12+ bolts holding it to the carrier, or the pressure would have to pull all 4 bolts holding the carrier caps to the housing and shear both axle shafts at the same time. But one has to consider that the weak link in all of this are the gear teeth which will be the first thing that break before anything else comes apart. The most serious cases of the rear end injuring the driver is when the rear locked up and spun out of the chassis and the front of the case hit the driver as it came around. Having a .250, .375, .500 or thicker welded to the back of the housing means nothing when that happens

 

I'm happy to say, I have a well built 9inch with 31 inch axles, 4:11's and a spool from Forest & Forest Racing between my legs. Plus I'm only running narrow 8.20 slicks which will spin more then dig and I'm only making exhibition runs with this old girl so I won't be pushing that 300 horses up front to hard. So I don't foresee this diff giving me any problems. The dragster actually ran a banjo rear end originally and throughout it's racing years the Stroker club members told me they just broke axles

 

Hate it when people overreact about the driver sitting on the rear end--- they have no clue, The only reason I put a strap on the back is for a restoration, because back in the day, it had one. Over time I have watched your progress on this and you did a fine job

 

currently the build I am working on and have no qualms about sitting over the rear end housing

 

Very cool brother.......what's the history with your dragster or time period of the build? What are you running for power? I should say, nice work and great to see another vintage dragster being built.

 

No history except I have a copy of the prints from a company that sold kits ($125--$275 welded) in the early '60s and thats what I am going with. Chevy II four cyl with a 4/71 POTVIN style and a 2-port Hilborn

 

I have around 9 Cackle builds to my name along with the Ivo "Showboat" build, Currently in the shop is the Roland Leong HAWIIAN II restoration and working out a deal for the Berry Bros & Hughs dragster resto. I just wanted to build something different that people will drool over because its from the early '60s when a couple guys built their own stuff with what they had

 

Would that be a 194 Thrifty Fire ? I really like your vision dreracecar of using this tiny 4 cylinder motor supercharged. I actually have another vintage rail in my shop that was built back in the late 1950's which actually ran a 4 cylinder A90 Auston motor. I have later dragster built by early Canadian dragster builder Gray Yanocko but his first rail ran the same motor A90 Auston running a super charger with 3 Stromberg carbs on a small amount of fuel in the tank. In 1956 this combo ran in O/D class and won with 12 seconds flat. Here's a picture of what I have cleaned up after finding it in the spot as the " Purple People Eater" all those years back. I'm slowly gathering parts. Gray Yanocko the original builder was exactly that type of racer who built from what he had left over from the last rail or on the shelf of his speed shop...."Gray's Powerhouse".

 

Its a mercury 153 marine engine ,does not matter as the all look the same and I bought it cheap.. One of my favorite movies is "GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW" and one of the dragsters featured (there were only 2) was Kent Baber's Crosley 4 and Ivos Buick in the backround

 

As featured in Street Rodder June 2017

 

Hard to believe I built this 55 back in the late 1970's and I still today drive the wheels off it ....lol. Thanks stanlow69..... here's a few of how it looked in the 1970's to current.