Save A Dragster

This started out as one of those typical story every race car owner knows too well. A fan approaches you and stalks you from event to event telling you they want your car, love it and on and on. This person usually is in jeans and t-shirt and probably worked overtime or pawned something just to buy the ticket to the event. So after a few times you get tired of this as it is keeping you from enjoying the event so you give them a price you know most people would never be able to come up with. 

Well it backfired this time for Bill "Maverick" Golden who barely even got to drive this car for more than about 7 events. Actually Bill hired drivers for the car as he has his "other" vehicle to drive... the Little Red Wagon wheelstander for which he is most famous for. Rick Mehl, Jim Curtis and another person drove this car a time or two and then took it back to Bill's shop as it was too fast and scary to drive. But anyhow back to the story Bill gave this fan a price for the car and within a couple of days he showed up with cash in hand. Bill really didn't want to sell the car, but he had said a price and now here was the cash. So he sold it to Jim Crumpton who had just retired from the Air Force and cashed in everything he had to buy this car. 

As I understand it Bill sold it without the engine and transmission because that was how most drivers did things back in the 70's as motors and transmissions were proprietary secrets the owners guarded just like they do today. So Jim put the car in storage and started looking for investors so he could get an engine, transmission, trailer, tools and tow vehicle. Unfortunately Jim never accomplished his goals but not without trying everything he could think of. His car obsession helped end a marriage, other relationships, estranged his daughter and more for the rest of his short life. 

Jim passed away a little over 10 years ago now and I was helping his daughter and husband (my best friend) move truckloads of his stuff back across the state. Soon after his death we learned of more storage buildings he had so off we went to clean them out. When we got there it was impossible to find anything worth the expense of saving and bringing back but while there someone contacted us about moving his car under a rotten tarp off a friends property. We went there and behold here was this unique one-of-a-kind car. Well his daughter and husband had no way to haul it, get it moving, or anything and in the condition it was in missing about all the mechanical pieces, fiberglass hand formed body rotting and layers of paint and bondo peeling they didn't think much of it. So I took on the project of getting it here and it set for another 7 years hoping somehow they could figure out to do with it.

I spent thousands keeping it in storage and then more bad news her mother died and they needed to figure out how to bury her and get her things here to their house but they were broke, about to be foreclosed on and contemplating bankruptcy. So again I helped them get everything accomplished as best I could, and in return they decided to give me the car since I had basically paid for it many times over in helping them out.

So I started cleaning it up, doing research on it to restore it properly and putting it back together. Then about 3 years ago while using a friends Bobcat loader to excavate my yard so I could build a building for the car and as a workshop I almost lost my legs when the loader cage broke and pinned my legs for a few hours. After a few months I could walk a little without any assistance but have complications for probably ever, but I didn't lose my legs. However my work disappeared and I tried to file disability only to learn Social Security didn't have any records of me working for the last 15 years so I was denied. Slowly I have been putting the information straight for Social Security and the IRS from my employer's records but once again the car has made no progress and now many seams in the body are wearing thin.

I fear there is about another year before it crumbles and would be useless for a mold to get another body made from fiberglass or carbon fiber. So I am trying to see if others out there are willing to help out someone in need as I have in getting this project completed. The goal is to get the car back to original form as close as possible. It has been hard because there is almost no photos of the car we can find, Bill doesn't have any and his nephew who supposedly has photos and video of the car is holding them hostage for part ownership and exclusive rights to drive the car.

But anyhow the goal first is to restore the car and get it drivable to take on the nostalgia circuit and to car shows. If that is not possible then we would at least want to get the car restored so the body is like original with paint, and a dummy engine and donate it to the NHRa museum in Jim's name. I got about $10,000 in it so far before I got hurt in the basic motor and transmission. All that is left is the supercharger, pulleys and belts (about $1800) and wiring the car and running new control lines (about $800) and adding the safety gear bars, cage upgrade, parachute, belts, seat, etc. (about $3500) and then the body has to be stripped, repaired to make a mold from it and then the new body and custom paint (about $12,000 or more) and tires.