Our magazines have a voracious appetite for material - consumed with enthusiasm as filled with features issues, draining our file cabinets in their struggle for the soul of our publications to keep. Fortunately the old car hobby consists of a mass of networks, so finding a car often leads to others.
In this case, our connection in a car generates leads to a few drag racers factory rare, but it is even better if the track also links to the men who originally these cars driven by the quarter mile covers.
Gary Barnes is a Maryland collector in our August 2012 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines (HMM # 107) appeared with his 1967 Shelby GT 500, a car since he was back when he was only 12 years. Shelby Barnes bought a few years later, when he was 18 and restored, and recently had a new stem to stern restoration, then we connect to the photo shoot to make the car. Then he saw the beam in his garage.
The car was tagged with vintage colors, with "King Ford Sales" emblazoned on the doors, under the window was simply says Gary, who Bud Bud Shellenberger, King Ford service manager who also drove the car in competition "Bud". for the dealer - and he was a friend who still lives in the country. It was even better when Gary said he was a friend of Tom Thompson, who is still in the hands of the 1965 Mercury Comet B / FX broker who had taken when it was new, was one of only 15 built by Bill Stroppe by Mercury, which was in excellent unrestored condition.
Of course we had to get together the original cars and their drivers, and we did for the January issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines. The story describes how Gary Barnes found and restored the Lightning, and the details of some of Bud experiences with him back in the day, Tom Thompson also has stories to tell about their time on the track with his kite.
The story is part of our "Fast Factory" is the theme for January, which is also a profile of the restoration of one of the first cars 1968 Mustang Cobra Jet factory drag, a 1962 Chevy 409/409 with the Impala and a 1967 lightweight package WO23 Hemi Plymouth Belvedere II Super Stocker. Look appears on newsstands or in your mailbox very soon.
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