I can't believe that 65 Comet has ANY original parts on it from Dyno Don's.The last time I saw the 65 it had a chopped top,whacked front and rear wheelwells[whacked,not just altered],was so thrashed not much was useable! The one that is supposed to be his original car looks totally wrong.I guess you could cut the vin# out of the inner fenders and put them on another 65 Comet and say it was "Restored".JMO,ROY.
Roy, A very good friend of mine found the car in CA. He shipped it back to PA. and began the restoration with replacing the roof and shock towers. He didn't touch the rear modifications before he sold the car. He told me he regretted replacing the shock towers and said if he had it to do it all over again and kept the car he would have just replaced the roof and left the rest alone. This is what the car basically looked like when found it. It was part of the "Lady Bug" race team along with Ronda's '66 londnose Mustang evidently. This is almost as bad as someone tubbing Dyno's '64 Comet in the early 80's....
Restorations of famous race cars that had been totally trashed but did survive in some form is a touchy area to get into. The Nicholson '65 Comet was a mess when **** Bridges bought it. At that time there was not as much interest in altered wheelbase cars, especially cars that were not delivered to racers new with an altered wheelbase. **** could have no doubt resurrected it in altered wheelbase form for much less than what he spent on it bringing it back to it's present form. I don't know if it has exactly the same wheelbase as it did new or if it has ANY of the original 1965 parts other than vin. The main thing is it survives as a reminder, to all who care, of Don Nicholson's drag racing endeavors. There are many,many other simular stories.
Thanks to all of you who have posted about attending past Super Stock Reunions. This is one non-S/S-A/FX-Funny Car that attended the '96 Super Stock Reunion. It is of course the "Pure Hell" AA/FA of Rich Guasco and driven by Larry Huff. It was the first East Coast appearance tour of the car in over 25 years. Larry turned times in the high 6s at well over 200 mph. Rich had the car on display in the "Golden 50" area at the 50th NHRA Winternationals and I got to spend some time with him.
Back in the 60's race cars were constantly evolving so when restoring, recreating or cloning (take your pick) it's a tough call to decide which version to do.
I agree with you Jack. This is a super rare factory '62 413 Max Wedge Dodge that was at the '95 SS Reunion. My apologies but I can not remember the names of the husband/wife owners. That is "Big Daddy" between them.
One of the first guys to get into the Nostalgia Super Stock movement about 30 years ago was Indiana's Rusty Symmes. This is his unbelievable '62 Z-11 equipped 409 Bel Air with aluminum front end at the '95 S/S Reunion. Rusty also had a '63 Z-11 Impala. Has anyone seen him lately?
I raced at that event a couple of years. We brought my coupe and a dragster that we later found out was a ****era ch***is. Slept in the pits. Ate hot dogs with Nito Neil in his Winnebago. Met Guasco, Jon Lundberg. It was a cool deal. Still have the T shirts. Was that the year it was 105 degrees?
Wow, that is a name from the past. I met Rusty way back in 85 or 86 at a show in Cypress Gardens, Florida. He had a super nice 69 COPO Camaro at that show. IIRC it was the very first Muscle Car Nationals sponsored by Muscle Car Review magazine. I haven't heard from him in 20 years or so.
Speaking of "Nitro Neil" here are some pics of him at the '96 S/S Reunion. He is truly one of the most memorable racers I have had at one of my events. We still keep in touch. He got married, had kids...priorities change. He is building a family Rod but still has the dragster. It was hot every year!!!!!
The last time I saw Rusty was at the Bowling Green Hot Rod Reunion in 2004. He brought a couple of his cars on a vintage White car hauler tractor trailer rig that he had just restored. Rusty also raced his '69 ZL-1 Camaro in the "factory stock" cl*** at the Muscle Car Showdown....and WON. He was always ahead of the curve. I sure would like to hear from him again.
H L Shahan, Shirley Shahan and a bearded Kenny Safford at the '97 S/S Reunion Hall Of Fame ceremonies.
View attachment 908910 View attachment 908911 View attachment 908910 View attachment 908911 Bill "Maverick" Golden attended several Super Stock Reunions. These pictures show up close the nice workmanship.
Rusty had two black 62 bubbletops at the Thompson G***er Reunion last year. One was racing and one for the show. I think this car has cracked into the 8's, it's definitely one of the fastest 409's in the country.
Thanks Jim_ss409, Speaking of G***ers the legendary K.S. Pittman and wife LaVaun were regulars at the S/S Reunion. That's the lovely Bunny Burkett he is clowning around with and H.L. Shahan to the right getting a kick out of it. Very sad we lost K.S. recently.
Here's one from one of the shows down a Dinwiddie, not sure of the year. My pal Danny Gouveia, whom I've not seen in a number of years in his Carolina Thunder nostalgia S/S 409. Joel
The restored Old Reliable 4 Z-11 at the S/S Reunion the year that it was held at Norwalk, Ohio ... was that 1998? Next to the OR4 is the restored Alan Green-**** Milner Z-11. That was a great track for the event. Joel
Rusty Symmes has a reputation for having the most beautiful '62 Bel Air's in the country! The Black-on-red bubbletop he finished recently is absolutely mind-numbing! Killer color combo with incredible paint, aluminum front end, Z-11 high port heads and two-piece intake. One of the neatest things about it is that he restored and installed a set of rare Howard's chrome steel wheels for a great Day Two look.
Here it is! Check out the rare Howard's wheels and fenderwell headers. Those are a great wheel choice that are overlooked when most people go for Aluminum or Magnesium wheels. This is probably my absolute favorite car on the planet!
Joel, I contacted Danny when I put this year's reunion together and he tells me he will be there with "Carolina Thunder".
This is the original Tasca T-Bolt driven by Bill Lawton. Factory Lightweight restorer Randy Delisio bought the car in the early 90s and did a beautiful restoration in time for the '95 S/S Reunion Randy is one of this year's Reunion honorees.
The Jalopy Journal
