Projects Dragmaster Dragster Found Hanging On A Wall.

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That cap is very cool

 

When I talked to Dode he suggested we come a day early to have time to visit, so that's what my son John and I did. We got to meet Dode and see his shop. Dode is a very nice, gracious person that enjoys his life. It was really nice to get to visit with him talk about his racing days and hear his story's. Oh Ya that's me on the right.

 

Dode's shop in some ways is a step back in time. He has row's of shelving that have all sorts of parts from his racing days. This is the 2nd injector Hilborn made for a 6-71 blower. When Dode and Jim built their first Dart Dragster they built a 383 Chrysler engine with a 413 crank making 425 cubic inches. Weiand had to modify a blower manifold to work on their engine, Dode told me this was the original manifold modified by Weiand, he pointed out the section in the middle where it was cut, narrowed and put back together. He enjoys having these old pieces.

 

These two pictures show how he still cuts patterns today. It still had the piece of scrap metal from the two friction shocks he made for us and the original pattern for the guide still in place. This crank balancer is still used by Dode. He has every balance sheet for every engine he's balanced on this machine and each tag is numbered to keep a running total.

 

These are the last pictures I took in his shop, some of his old dragster panels and his nitro flathead.

 

We got to Dode's early the next morning to watch the cars arrive. The line up for the cackle: Magicar, Thunder Chief and Soapy Sales. It was nice to get up close, talk to the owners, and listen to those engines.

 

Dode Martin and Roland Leong while the Magicar is cackling. The classic Victory sign just after shut down.

 

There were also a lot of street rods in attendance. These are just a few that were there.

 

Life don't get any better than that !

 

That is how they were. I have one of the earliest Moon tanks and it is exactly like this one with the exception that the clear tubing over the springs is yellowed and weathered.

 

What a cool thread,thanks for sharing it with us. I'm really enjoying your journey with the old rail.

Sent from my SM-T550 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I am loving the history lesson along with the build and all the cool pictures.

 

Another lucky bastard rides the bus!!!! Love it.

 

kool stuff!

 

fantastic! thank you for sharing.

 

@Rockerhead .... wow ! Have enjoyed this entire thread. Awesome.

Just wanted to make sure Don saw this Willys with his name on it. Too cool. If we're lucky, we'll get some tasty details from yesteryear.

Thanks for posting all of this 1947Knuck. Much appreciated.

 

Great stuff! Look forward to the updates.

 

Rockerhead is a member here... Hey Don.....

 

Current go-to guy for lacing dragster wheels (does most of the current resto's) is Jon Hansen @ www.haydenent.com Jon has done many of the who's who wheels

 

I really liked this car, the interior and the column shifter are just cool. Here's the other two pictures I took.

 

This car has an interesting history and a nice engine. It was in a movie back when and found years later I think in an aircraft hanger and resurrected. My memory may be off on the details.

 

The party was fun, it was nice of Dode to invite us a day early to get the time to visit and see his shop. During the party the next day Dode had the garage at his house opened for the food servers to have everything set up. Toward the end of the party when we we're getting ready to leave Dode was up at his garage, we went up there to tell him thanks and we we're heading home. There's Dode Martin, Don Prudhomme and Roland Leong sitting together talking. I wish I had a picture of that but my camera was already loaded in the truck. We arrived back in Amarillo safely, reflecting on Dodes party and the people we met gave us more than enough to talk about on our trip home. There was also a lot of talk and planning for our car.

 

That Magicar is dead sexy!

 

I met Bobby Schlegel at Dodes party. He is a wealth of information when it comes to Dragmasters. I believe he has the largest collection of pictures of Dragmasters that he's been putting together for years and continues to ad to it. He has the Hellzapoppin and takes it to events, cackles it. He's done a real nice job on the restoration, we stay in touch and he's sent me some nice memorabilia. He's a good guy.

 

Dode told me earlier after looking at the detailed pictures I sent that the rear end was their work, and it was an early Olds, 41-52 based on the 10 spline axles. I found a nice M/T aluminum third member no insides. My son called Owens Salvage in Wellington TX., and got us a complete rear end. I didn't know Bob the owner of Owens at the time but my son did. Bob delivered the rear end the next time he was in Amarillo and my son transferred the internals to the M/T with the help of a manual we bought from Fabcraft Metalworks. It is an open rear end with 3:90 gears. We think it looks good.

 

Outstanding!
Thank you for sharing this with us.

 

Outstanding!
Thank you for sharing this with us.

 

You know this is an x-A/G car yes?

 

I called Dode a few weeks after his party to get his feeling on building the engine for our car. At first he was hesitant thinking we might want to use a late model engine with a lot of chrome, when I told him that wasn't the plan we wanted the engine built just like he built them in 1960 he agreed. Dode said back then they didn't have all that shiny stuff except for Roland, he said Roland liked everything shiny. Roland Leong worked with Dode in the early day's and used dragmaster chassis for his dragsters. Dode called the next week and told me what vintage parts we needed, we agreed to call each other as we found the parts to make sure the other hadn't already got them. I had already located the correct early 283 engine, Power Pak heads, correct Corvette valve covers. Dode used Corvette valve covers on his engines and we wanted ours the same. The only other thing I supplied for the engine was the Grant Spalding Flamethrower Distributor. That was the first thing Dode told me after he agreed to build the engine, that he wanted the Flamethrower distributor. He thought he might have enough parts left over to assemble one, but I was fortunate to find an almost NOS example. So the engine build begins.