Hot Rods Dare to be different - 63 Scout

You can't script this. That's great!

 

Did you go buy a lottery ticket, because Winnipeg is by no means a small city? The chances of that happening are exceedingly unlikely. Too Cool though.

 

Okay, I got goose-bumps with that one ! Way too cool...

 

Jeff gets his ride - And - The weird karma continues

This past weekend I made good on my promise to give Jeff Pratt his promised ride in the Scout. I'm sure he was expecting a quick idle around the pits but I was having none of that. So I spent more than a little time adding a second seat to the Scout.

Jeff and his wife Kim came to the track and hung out at my trailer all afternoon. He brought me a hand painted car show board his father had made for the Scout back in 1971. He also brought me an original 1971 car show poster advertising the "Elephant Hunter" as one of the featured cars in attendance.

The third bit of memorabilia was another car show board for his father's build before the Scout... It was a 1949 Ford Prefect... You know... the same make and model of my families other nostalgia car, the 1949 Prefect - the Prefect Storm...

Oh yah... and his father's last Hot Rod was a Candy Red 2006 SRT8 Charger.... The exact same as my wife's Candy Red 2006 SRT8 Charger currently sitting in our garage beside the Scout

More Planets Align

Early in the afternoon the Scout's second owner, Rich Bedford stopped by the trailer. I introduced him to Jeff. The two men swapped stories about the Jeff's father and Rich told him more about the Scout. Then the 3 people who represented the 55 years of the Scouts history posed for a picture. It was truly satisfying moment.

The Ride...

I was letting a friend, Gary Misko get his competition license in the Scout this weekend and after his first 1/8 mile pass I had Jeff jump in with Gary for a ride back to the trailer. This was literally the first time Jeff had been in the Scout while it was running and he truly thought this was his promised ride... Nope... I handed him a racing suit and we found him a helmet, then strapped him in while I took the Scout back from Gary for one run. I had cleared the ride with the track prior and made it clear I would stay slower then 14 sec (as per rules). The track manager, Darryl Wruck warned me that a 3ft wheel-stand with a rider would likely be frowned upon. When I asked about the burnout, Darryl smiled and simply said "let'r eat !!"

I garantee that Jeff thought I was going to do the same short burnout that Gary had been doing - Wrong - As I smoked past the starter shed all I heard from beside me was Wooo-Hooo !! I kept the smoke show going to about the 60 ft mark then backed up through a cloud.

I pulled the wheels a few inches off the launch and hauled ass to the 330 mark then shut'er down.

Jeff was ecstatic with the ride and the experience.

 

Cool story. Memories that will last forever.

 

Certainly way cool. Especially with a hemi. You should be able to get a 331 or 354 hemi at a reasonable cost. It would be well worth a bet extra effort and cost than taking the budget sbc like most people. Even an olds would be a cool option that would better set the old school tone. As they were more popular than the sbc for drag racing for many years.

 

The Scout became famous because it had a 426 Hemi. Something I cannot afford and could not afford when I was re-building it. At the time of the re-build I talked to Richard Wood who shot the pics of the Scout in 1970 that ended up in the 73 Hot Rod Yearbook and the conundrum was, restore it as it was, but then it wasn't street legal nor safe at the track by current standards, or build it to current specs and pound on it. I also decided this was my Scout and I'll build it the way I can use it the most, but still respect the heritage and history.

I have never regretted using my "budget" sbc combination. Besides, a 331/354 or an Olds engine would still not be the original 426 Hemi it was known for.

 

very cool. i gave the previous owner a ride in the coupe that i promised him when i bought the car. it was no easy ride but a full tilt ride down a deserted road. the guy was screaming the whole time. he was very scared. he did like the ride.

 

It's been a long while since I posted an update, but we seem to have the Scout heading in the right direction.

Last fall we went to the Fall Fallout with a suspected hurt race car. After addressing a number of relatively simple fixes we embarrassed ourselves in the burnout box with the blown small block shooting ducks and breaking up. We endured the tow of shame in front of literally every person in the stands and then watched the show.

When we got it home we confirmed that we had burned both head gaskets. So we got the heads re-decked, short block inspected and a new set of Cometics replaced the copper head gaskets.

This winter we sent the fuel injection to Spud Miller at Fuel Injection Enterprises (FIE). The first issue identified is that my fuel pump, 80A-5 is too small and running out fuel at 6200 ish. Which explains why the Scout seems to stop pulling and plateau in 3rd gear. (I swear to God I thought I had an 80A-1). Since a new Enderle 80A-1 is a min 6 months back order, Spud ordered me a Waterman .900 and set up the tune from there.

After very disappointing fiasco of an experience dealing with Aeromotive. (Sent me a wrong rotation pump - twice) we got the Scout running and set up the tune as recommended. On the 5th pass, the Scout went an effortless 9.35 / 143, lifting at 1100 ft, which obliterates the previous best of 9.60 / 141 (different passes)

The current set up in the Scout is very soft. Blower is running 1-1 making 9 lbs, timing is a moderate 35 degrees and I still haven't sorted out launching off the trans-brake with the injection on the blower. There is a real 8.90 in this set up but I don't think I want to find it. I need to add some bars to the chassis to address some twist and beef up the steering parts to stabilize the Scout as it slows down at the top end (Sketchy !!). But bottom line, it's running what it looks like it should and I'm pretty happy with that

 

Putting on a show at the Manitoba Gassers and Nostalgia Racing Association (Man Gas) Sept event.

Video 1
Just before this pass, I yelled over at my brother (who is in the other lane) that the wind was blowing left to right into the stands. So he put me in the near lane - you know - to keep the wasps and bugs away from the spectators.

Guess I got a little carried away and just a bit out of shape. The ol plow truck was up on 3 wheels - twice.

Video 2
Myron, the track starter, got a little animated in his discussion with me before he let me stage... He was actually more excited than angry.
Scout went 9.63 / 141 leaving about a week early on the light

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3664005353821168

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=631438278970430

 

are you coming to the fall out this year? if so remember our international beer agreement. i can bring a case of spotted cow. good stuff to trade for kokanee. i have some shine to.

 

Yes I am coming down along with a few friends. I do recall our beer agreement !!

 

Nice video SAXXON! Looking radical out there.

 

The Scout Has a Name ??
Over the many years the Scout has been called many names, but the two most used have been: "The Elephant Hunter" - and - "The Hemi Scout "

"The Elephant Hunter" name was coined by Mr. Richard Wood for the 1973 Hot Rod Yearbook feature he wrote and shot. The 2nd owner, Rich Bedford, always called it the "Hemi Scout"

I have never referred to it as either. The Elephant Hunter name was from the 1970s and now it no longer has a Hemi. So I have never called it anything other than "The Scout" (And maybe a few names I cannot repeat here)

Last year Sheldon Lischinski (Doctors Olds ) joined the Manitoba Gasser events (with an Olds of course) and started his own campaign to call the Scout the "Hurst Hairy Harvester" in context with the Hurst Hairy Olds from the 1960s. I humored him at the time and sort of waved off the idea

This year, Sheldon escalated his naming campaign and actually had decals made. For his effort and because he's a seriously cool guy, I agreed to put them on the Scout for the Aug 4 Manitoba Gasser weekend

Well... the reaction has been positive and it's seriously growing on me.

I'm not happy with my alignment decision and may re-do the application to line up the curves of the lettering - but I'm thinking the name may stay

Thank you Sheldon. I really appreciated your efforts and your part in the event

 

I think it's a great name !

I agree the top "H" needs to be directly over head the iH, so the i looks like it would fit inside the legs of the top H, with a gap between the two of course.

 

The 'H's are aligned fine if you keep the colors, but I'm not feeling the flowing letters pattern. I'm also thinking the H in the Hurst wouldn't work right if it was also the "little man on a tractor" symbol, like the IH symbol. If that could be worked out, that'd be another good play on symbols.
Marcus...

 

Agree with all of it. I have some more of these decals on order and we'll make some adjustments to the format and alignment. Lining up the "H"s is definitely in the plan