I'm kind of getting ahead of myself since I have not laid eyes on this car for over 20 years. I first saw her in the early 80's sitting in front of a man's house in the driveway. He had a small single car garage, but the car sat out front. I of course asked him if it were for sale and he told me no, but he did show it to me. Under the hood was the 426 Max wedge crossram! The car was a genuine 426 Max Wedge car. I would stop by occasionally and bug him about the car and he was always nice about it, but said no each time. As time went by it was starting to bother me that it was sitting outside for at least three years now and it was starting to go down hill. Originally the paint looked great and the original interior was perfect, but now some rust spots were starting to creep here and there and the top of the back seat was fading. It was also under some pine trees and those needles were filling up every crack and gap. I would make him get the keys and open the hood doors and trunk about every December and clean out all of the needles out of the gutters and jambs. I told him back then that I was making sure the needles didn't allow the gutters to rust through so that I would have to replace the trunk when I bought it from him! LOL Each time I would show him the new rust or damage and plead with him to get it into the garage that was filled with his tools and other things. A few years later I moved out of state, but I came back every few years and saw that the car was gone about 1989. I left a note asking about it, but never heard back from him. About each 3 or 4 years I would do the same, never hearing back from him. His garage had windows that were hard to see through and I never went to look to see if the car was inside as badly as I wanted to. Well, I was in that city again today and drove by one more time to find out whatever happened to the car. Knocked and nobody answered, but I could see in the garage this time because the lights were on. My heart sank because the car was not there. AS I was getting back in my car the front door opened and there was the car owner, like me, looking a little older. I explained who I was and he remembered me right away. I told him about how I still could not get his car out of my mind and I had always wondered what became of it. He smiled and told me that he had it stored in his wharehouse and it's been there from about the late 80's! I must say I was a little shocked since I had pretty much given up any hope of seeing it again. We talked for a while and he told me that his health was failing and it looked like he was never going to get to it like he had hoped. He said that since I had shown so much interest in it he figured I would give it a good home. We have not pinned down a price yet as he wants to check a little to see what he should sell it to me for but he said it would be a very fair price and he would sell it to me. When I go back to finalize the deal I will take many pictures. But the moral of the story is never, ever give up when hunting a rare and elusive old car!
Best of luck I hope you get it. Fun cars! Rough &ready raspy old farts that will bring tears to your eyes every time you squeeze the throttle
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great story with a happy ending! I can't wait to see pics. Well done.
If you want 2 more? I know where they are(looked at them a week ago and KNOW they are still there), one is turn key max wedge cross ram ready to go and the other is a max wedge clone that just needs finished put together...both are FOR SALE and I am not interested. PM me for details...
What happened????? If you ever do get photos post them! A "real" Max-Wedge is rare..98% of the ones you see today are clones..some done better than others.. Keep in mind there are no "matching numbers" like a Chevy. The car should be a Detroit built car..check door jam tag. The fender tag should have a "9" or "09" under the alpha sequence.. Keep in mind that I have seen police equipt cars with the "09" "09" was a "special" order car.. You can verify numbers on block etc but a quick thing to look at is the drivers front of the block must have "AAQA" (like the pic of my avatar) If it is a Max block it will have this. 440's and standard 413's do not. Good luck and you probably already know all this and all the other changes on a Max car but it drives me nuts when guys and dealers profess a cars history and want a mint for the thing when just looking at the firewall tells you its a clone most of the time..But hey it all comes to price and what is it?? Good luck I hope you get the car whatever it is (413/426 I hope)..and for a good price They are all cool.
This is what a real '63 Max Wedge looks like - this one's special, it's the first 'real' imported drag car in Australia, and widely accepted in the local drag racing community as having the longest history at the strip of any drag car still currently running. Just got a new motor and paint recently, still has its lightweight aluminium front panels, and recently ran 9.24 @ 143 mph with a 1.310 60' in preparation runs for the new season. At one stage, this car was road registered and driven, and even did some circuit racing for a while.
The Jalopy Journal
