Hi guys! (and gals) I just registered after searching the name of my dad's old dragster and looking through some awesome photos. I am on a quest to find my dad's old dragster. I have a few specifics, but I am going to sit down with him soon and find out as many details as I can, but this is a preliminary search. Here's what I know: He named the car the "Buntline Special" and he raced it in Michigan (Detroit Dragway mostly) in the 50's and early 60's I believe. It had a 392 Hemi with a Potvin Crank Drive Blower (it was on top at one point) and was a beautiful car. He also showed it at Cobo Hall at the Autorama and took may trophies from racing and showing. Unfortunately, all of his tropies were destroyed in a building collapse back in the 80's. My dad used to drag race on the weekends, and street race on the weeknights down Woodward Ave in his'57 Vette that he ran with a big 421 McKeller Pontiac. Does anyone know where I can find this car? I am at a point in my life where I would LOVE to bring it back into my family. I will be finding out as much as I can and updating this thread as I go through my journey. Here is one of my most sentimental pictures, and it was over 20 years before I was born. This was my dad's car at Cobo Hall's Autorama sitting next to the "Wingfoot Express" land speed car. The "model" is my mother. She used to work on the car right beside him. By the way, my dad's name is Jim Przybylski (as is mine). Please help! You can email me directly at jimpski(a)gmail.com. Thanks for any help you can provide!
That FED is sweet! Wish I knew anything about it.. I'd help out. Good luck on the search. I'll be watching this thread in anticipation.
That is a neat old car... There is a Detroit Dragway group on Facebook,that might be able to help ya. Good Luck. Rick
Thanks for looking guys! The crank drive blower was pretty unique. It may prove to help finding the car. My dad's Vette was Polo white and probably very loud. He told me plenty of stories about the local cops knowing him from a mile away (literally). It had cheater slicks, a 4 speed, (sometimes) open headers and still has a chrome rollbar with a bolt in 3rd bar that goes down to the p***enger floorboard. We have been restomodding it for the last 14 years or so. We should have it out to the Woodward Dream Cruise this year if everything goes well. He worked at Chevy in the Corvette program and knew (albiet not well) Zora Duntov.
im going to ask dave crane for you. i will be in touch with you threw a pm. dave may be able to help.
just in case you guys are interested in this i have a friend that has all the info on the car! i hooked the two of them up. i will let him tell the story. power of the hamb!
RD; I should have thought of that...Your freind has parts from EVERY car that ran in Michigan...LOL check your messages Rick
Wow. What a night. Thanks rd! I spent over an hour on the phone with Dave Crain and another 2 on the phone with my dad. I never would have thought I would find out so much info in such a short amount of time. It turns out that the car you see in my picture above is one of Dave's fondest old dragsters. He remembers seeing it when it first came into West Michigan with the guy my dad sold it to, but Dave had seen the car many times before and even has pictures he took of it, including the one here with my mother. How about that. Dave is a real car guy, and is very nice. I listened to stories about this and other cars, and I could have listened to more. He personally invited me and my father to come out to his Museum, and spend some time reminiscing, and even invited us to a party later in the year (which I fully intend on attending). He even got me in touch with another person who has TONS of pictures of this car. From what he tells me, it was even on the cover of HOT ROD magazine once. Even better, he still has some of the original parts from the car! I could not have believed that it would be this easy, and I guess I picked the right place to post this. Thanks everyone! Here is a link to one of the pictures of this car (look familiar?). Apparently there are more out there. http://www.joestevensphotos.com/Dra...ma-1964/14269606_9Eszd#1055310438_cHnMm-X3-LB
What's different about the Potvin/front drive blower is the Injector. Ive never see an ancient Hilborn mounted to the top of the blower facing upright. Im wondering if someone hand fabbed an adapter/transition,or if one was actually available back then. For example,the Mooneyes dragster has the Injector bolted directley to the top of the blower,& the blades point at the drag-link. I really hope you can find this thing,& it looks like fellow HAMBers are already on it! Good Luck Edit,,any clue to who's jet car that is in the background?
Sweet! This is yet another testimony to how helpful the HAMB are to the people with the right questions! Good job HAMBers! I'm glad that you were able to find out so much in such a short amount of time! So now that your question got answered, what's your next planned move FED-wise?
The Buntline Special when Dudley Proctor had it. 2 Owners before your dad. Matt Picture is from the cover of Hot Rod Magazine March 1961
This type of car isn,t cl***ed as a dragster, it is a modified roadster. Driver could sit anywhere with a engine setback greater than 25% of the wheelbase. Neat, mean cars in there day.
Figures. I'm a newbie to the whole drag racing scene. I have no knowledge of cl***es, letters, etc. Forgive my lack of knowledge. I'm a young 'un. I still have plenty of time to learn about this aspect of racing so I'll take this as part of my learning experience. Thanks for correcting me and explaining why and such. Regardless of what it is, it's still cool.
Got that right!! way cool!! I don't even think they still have that cl*** anymore,seems like the only cl***es in drag racing now are "pro ",AAFD & funny car! JimV
This is the 1959 Buntline Special Roadster. It had a steel body. In 1960 Dudley switched over to a gl*** body. Dudley sold the car at the end of 1960. When he sold the car the new owner had a 392 Hemi put in it and a 4 port hilborn. After that the car went to Jim, and as you see in the picture posted at the beginning of the thread it stayed the same from the second owner to the third owner. When Dudley had the car it ran A/Modified Roadster. Matt
So, I know it's been a while since I posted here... Looks like almost 6 years... My dad and I successfully got the '57 Vette out to woodward and had a few years of enjoying the Dream Cruise with my two sons. But unfortunately, that ended this year as my dad lost a 4 year long battle with Leukemia on Dec. 6th, 2016. I miss him a ton, and will forever remember the memories we had. I still am interested in learning more about the Buntline Special, and when going through his things, found MANY more pictures of the car. I am working on getting them all imported to my computer to share. Mattbee, if I remember correctly, werent you building a kind of tribute car similar to the Buntline? If so, I can give you more detailed pictures if you need them. To all of you who helped years back, and provided info and support or just kind words about the car, THANK YOU. This is a great forum to be a part of, and I will make sure to stay active on here. Especially now since I have inherited my dads Corvette, and will be using it as we always intended. Car shows, Dragstrips, Cruising and best of all... Making more memories with my kids. Here are some of the pictures I have loaded so far of the Buntline and the vette. I'm back. 20161207_174138 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 20161207_174037 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 20161207_162721 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 20161207_162628 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 20161207_173553 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 20161207_173308 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 20161207_173330 by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 0815151444g by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM 0815151845a by laserred97gt posted Dec 28, 2016 at 9:27 PM
hey bud, im the guy who hooked you up with dave crane. i havent seen any posts from matt in a long time, but he said it would be awhile for him to get the car done. if you search on here he did start a build thread. the last i saw he had i believe the rolling ch***is done, and it looked reall good! i will try and find out more. i will keep you informed what i find out. i hope the car gets finished. glad to see you got your dads vette, and sorry of his p***ing. beautiful car!!!
Hey Jim, So sorry to hear about your Dad. I have been working on the recreating the 1960 version of the Buntline very slowly. (the 1960 version is identical to when your Dad owned, except it had 6 Strombergs instead of the 4 port Hilborn). This picture with the body on was taken two years ago. I'll dig up the latest photos I found of the Buntline and send them to you. The Corvette looks great by the way!
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