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Does
anyone like modifieds?
Everything
from old Ford sedans and coupes up to a full bodied Mustang super
speedway car that was driven at Daytona by Ray Hendrick. This
car was run on the road course there last winter and was clocked at over
186 mph. Not too bad for a homemade car built and raced
the first time over twenty years ago, is it?
How
about a Maynard Troyer Pinto, an original Richie Evan's Pinto, one of
the old 2x Eddie Flemke coupes, or a show car in memory of Lenny
Boehler, a # 3 that is as pretty as any car that ever showed up for any
show, anywhere.
Lee
Allard's little old 1/4 Twister cut-down was there, looking lots better
than it ever did back in the days when it was winning at tracks all over
the Northeast.
But
the very best car in the garage, (at least as far as I'm concerned), was
a really beat-up Hudson coupe. If anyone ever knew what year it
was, that information has been irrelevant for so long now that no one
cares anymore. This car looked like a walnut shell, painted with a
combination of red and white spray cans, or maybe even some leftover
house or barn paint, covered with bumper stickers from just about any
and every race track in the eastern half of the country, what
looked like a black iron water pipe rollcage, obviously welded together
with a beat up old stick welder from Sears and Roebuck.
In
other words, it looked an awful lot like some of the cars that graced my
garages over the years.
I
will add that this thing had an awfully strong sounding big old flathead
Hudson six, a shiny new aluminum head, a bunch of carbs mounted all
in a row, some pretty ancient dirt track tires, and it was staying
up with the big boys out on the Magic Mile.
There
were even a few old Winston Cup cars present: one of the old Tide
# 10 cars, another that had Derrick Copes name over the door and a
pretty nice Wood Brother's # 21 Mercury of the David Pearson era,
complete with the cigarette lighter mounted in the dash panel.
The
road racers and bikes were not quite as prolific this year; possibly
because of the heat and humidity and the PR folks say the crowd was down
a bit at the show as well. That's a shame as the quality of cars,
which were on display had to be seen to be believed. Everything
from the Dean Van Lines Special which Eddie Sachs broke the 150 mph
barrier at Indy with up to one of the scarcest and most beautiful
Duesenberg Town Cars ever built. And Packards of every type,
color, and I think most years of their production were represented here.
(I have always had some kind of thing about Packards.)
That
Maserati was back for the show, but I think my favorite this day was
an old Buick truck, unrestored, it's been in the same family since it
was new. No shiny paint, the upholstery is showing its age, and
there were signs of rusty water having boiled out of the radiator.
But this old girl is still running strong.
With
all the cars present, the hospitality of the Bahre family and the
graciousness of Mr. Neergaart and his folks in the PR department, the
good weather for the whole weekend all taken into consideration, what
really makes these meets the most interesting is the quality of the
people who are spending their money and time to restore some great
old cars.
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