Well this is my first time to do a post like this but hear it goes. A few of the older hot rod guys that I know and one that I work for told me about an old 40 Plymouth drag car that I might want to go look at. The story goes that the guy who owned this car bought it sometime in the late 50s early 60s for 1 dollar from a neighbor (there is a piece of paper in a big folder of the history on this car that says I . Sell this to Al for one dollar) and built it into a street racing drag car. Al put a 55-57 Packard v8 in the car that he bored out to around 374 but we dont know for sure. It ran 2 carter four barrels on a hand made aluminum tunnel ram intake. He also made the headers that have biiiig dumps that are blocked for street use. The interior has t-bird buckets and a fold down back seat. An aluminum dash with about every Stewart Warner gauge you can get and man it is cool. But it turns out Al had it sitting for years and had always wanted to get it running and driving again he just hadnt yet. Unfortunately wile he was on vacation he was diagnosed with cancer and had to stay out of state. Well the guys thought it would be really cool to get this car running and driving again for him when he came back so for a couple of weeks they worked on getting it working. But the owners condition worsened and it turns out he wasnt going to make it back. Well the first time it got fired up again it was by Als best friend Coke who had him on the phone at the time and Al was so happy he could barley speak. Oh yea they ran it on aviation fuel and man it sounds cool! Since Al wasnt going to make it back Coke was going to tow it to Colorado so Al could drive it or take a ride in it. But Al p***ed away before Coke could head up there. Als family members came down and saw the car. They even drove the **** out of it for Al. The car is going to stay in the family as it should. I just thought you guys would like to hear about this story and car. I know Im not a good writer but I hope I did alright. Hear are some pics of the car and a video of it starting up for the second time. Sorry there kind of big. And click on the video to watch.
That's nice what you guys were doing for the cause. I'm glad that your friend got to hear it running before his p***ing. Thank you for telling us some history on the car.
Hey those are great friends, alot of the guys on the hamb are the exact same way. Thanks for sharing the story. Great car. Welcome to the hamb. Joe
No offense to the Dearborn Dudes, but nice to see something besides a Ford. And, it isn't powered by a SBC either. Thanks for sharing the story, pictures and video. I will admit pieces/parts for these oddball engines are gettin' mighty expensive. JT
Great story with a bitter sweet ending. What Al's friends did for him is what friendship in this life and this hobby is all about.
DOUBLE WOW!! if I could have one car out of close to 200 that I've owned it would be my 374 Packard powered black 51 olds 88 club coupe. most radical hot rod of my life. great story of friendship thank you for sharing..........Lim
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