Well, not quite a garage find, but here is the story. In 1976 I worked for Mr Automotive in Broken Bow, NE, running the machine shop and waiting on customers. As an 18 year old that was totally into cars and drag racing, it was my opportunity to meet a member of the old Custer Sabers by the name of LeRoy Collison. In our many talks about racing in the late 50's and early 60's, he told me about the rail dragsters they had built. The original was now hanging from the rafters in his barn, as they had built another from exhaust tubing that they finished running with. Of course being the hotrodder I am, I tried to buy it. To no avail. So time goes by.......move eventually to Elm Creek, NE. Still a hot rodder now with a shop of my own working and building hot rods. Buying parts and pieces from the local salvage yard for years, and making friends along the way. Jump to last Thursday, when Tony who unloads people at the yard, calls me and says I need to come to Kearney, he has something I would be interested in. So that afternoon I run into town to see what has peaked his interest. What I find is what looks like a stretched model A frame slingshot dragster frame with a model A front axle and suspension. It looked like swiss cheese, as the frame, strut rods, cross members, and even the front axle had all been cut out and lightened. To the point that the entire thing weighed in at 250#. Needless to say it came home with me. But in talking with Tony, I found out it came from my old stomping grounds. As to my knowledge only 2 dragsters were ever built in Custer County, it had to be one of the Custer Sabers cars. After several calls to friends back home, I finally came to Gene Chapin, an original member of the Sabers. After several questions, it came to light he had helped build this rail in the late 50's, with a buick straight 8 and a 3 speed stick! Start in 2nd and shift to 3rd. This was the rail hanging in the rafters for the last 50 years that I had tried to buy years earlier. How it ended up in the junk yard is still a mystery. Thank heavens for good friends as a piece of Nebraska racing history would have been lost forever. So the plans for the future.......find a Buick straight 8 and restore it.
I live in Omaha and know of a very nice Buick 2dr that is for sale in Iowa with the straight 8 already machined and sitting in a crate to be put back together. $2000
Over three years old, bt if you need some straight 8's I've got a pair of dis***embled 263's I'd part with.
The Jalopy Journal
