Cool Cars & Square Roll Bars: A Look Back

In 1997, I had just finished up an interview with Ed Iskenderian where I had learned about an east coast coupe called the “400 Jr. Special.” I searched my archives for images of the car, but came up blank. Ed didn’t have any either, but he did mention that Arnie Shuman might. So I looked up Arnie, found an address, and wrote him a letter… on paper… with a pen… and then put it in an envelope… with a stamp and everything.

And then I waited. I didn’t hear back from Arnie for almost a year. And then one day, a manilla envelope showed up with a book inside, a letter, and a picture of the 400 jr. built and raced by Jack Nash and Carl Carpenter.

Of course, the book went on to become one of the bibles of historical east coast hot rodding and remains a staple in many libraries to this day. But, I had kind of forgotten about the 400 jr. until this morning when the letter and photograph fell out of the book as I thumbed through it.

It seems kind of hard to believe, but I don’t think I found any other photos of the car. I did a quick google image search this morning and found nothing. It just seems weird to me that such a striking car with a competitive history left such a tiny trail. One picture?

I’ve gotta be missing something. Maybe you guys aren’t?