Drag Historians: Executioner '64 Vette?

A guy I know just dook delivery of an old drag-turned-show car called the "Executioner". This is a '64 Stingray SBC 4-spd. convertible with removeable hardtop. Some really nice chassis work looks like it was done when this car was near-new. Straight axle up front, with beefed up Vette IRS in the rear.

Was obviously retired from the track and then taken on the show circuit. Full button-tuft interior surrounding roll caged cockpit, '70s-style candy paint and cross-ram manifold on a SBC. Removeable push-bar in the rear is a headman's axe, in keeping with the "Executioner" motif. I'll take pics tomorrow, before they get it running at the shop and the owner decides he just wants to sell it.

My fear is that some yuppie who just watched a re-run of last year's Barrett-Jackson auctions will try to buy this thing an return it to stock. I'd love to see it run at Famoso, or cruisin' around Paso next Memorial Day.

Anybody remember/have pics of this little beastie in its heyday?

 

the executioner vette i have seen pics of was a 56/57 ....standard auto supply....want to say the owner was sam gianiono (sp) who is a race engine builder .....heres a shot i have from 69.......might check on gasser madness....as sam won indy among others......granted ....if its the same guy......brandon

 

here is the craiglist ad for it, post the pictures this sounds very nicley done!
This is the known story of the "Executioner," a highly modified 4-speed 300 hp 1964 Sting Ray matching numbers convertible. The car appears to have a genuine 20,000 miles on it. It was apparently turned into a drag racer in the mid 1960s by a passionate fabricator named Bob Regan in Milwaukee. Regan owned a filling station but we don't know much else about him.

If you take the letters on the plexi rear window as gospel, it ran in C/A R (normally aspirated smallblock, altered roadster). After racing it Regan apparently turned it into a show car with paintwork by Butch Brinza, who was pretty well known in Milwaukee at the time -- he actually painted a lot of Corvette specials in addition to other show cars.

According to photos that Butch supplied, the show car was completed in December 1968 and Butch believes it was shown on the "Autorama" show circuit in 1969-70.

At some point the Executioner traded hands and was owned by another gentleman who moved it to Huntington Beach, Calif. in 1981. There is paperwork documenting its arrival in a closed trailer. Once in California the Executioner traded hands and was stored for a couple of decades.

It's still nearly in its exact show condition, albeit with various blemishes and a couple of equipment variations. We found it in a private garage in Central California after going up there to look at another car. What blew us away was the incredible amount of professional work that had been done to the car.

For starters, it has a custom tubular front axle a la "gassers" of the period, all chromed, with American Racing 12-spoke spindle-mount wheels. (Since converted to magnesium Torque Thrust type wheels with racing disc brakes for street use -- but we have the correct American magnesium 12 spokes for it.) The engine is a matching numbers small block (i.e., the original engine) and the hood has "370 hp" lettered on one side. The carburetor is currently a 1x4bbl Holley but we have the unusual side-by-side 2x4bbl manifold and air scoops shown in the picture. Virtually everything under the hood was chromed, including the heads and block. The transmission is an automatic but the car is still set up for its original manual -- the clutch pedal is simply tucked up against the firewall.

Underneath in the back is a big chromed traction bar set up with wheelie bars, all chromed. Everywhere there is an opening under the car is filled with nicely made louvered aluminum panels. The rear wheels are currently black steel with vintage pie-crust MH Dragmaster cheater slicks. The wheels in the picture appear to be kidney-bean Halibrand mags. The car has a kind of Medieval motif with a removable chrome battle axe as a push bar in back, and a badge on the front frame clip showing a knight.

The exterior has an elaborate blue candy paint job by Brinza. He told us that he had a supplier for a certain type of fish scales that he used for the shimmer in the paint -- that was one of his secrets. So the Executioner is covered in fish scales!

Inside is all period diamond-tufted in navy blue naugahyde, even inside the glove box, behind the seats and above the gas tank - and the top interior and exterior (though someone removed the exteriod diamond tuft off the top, leaving a rough black finish) There's a chrome roll bar with a head rest also. Racing seat belts as well.

The car starts, runs and drives well – the engine is tight, does not smoke, and makes great power. It is currently licensed and has a clear title. However not all of the gauges or lights work. Still it is an amazing "survivor" of the 1960s just as it sits, but some TLC would make it even better.

 

Yep, that about describes what showed up over there... I'll go roll it out of the garage and take pics today. If anybody wants to look at it, it's on the same block as the bowling alley where they're holding the Primer Nats parties in Ventura. PM me, and I'll get them to open up for you.

 

And here's what it looked like this afternoon:







more here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/y167/gowjobs/Photos/Executioner/?sc=1&multi=10

 

Pretty cool! Obviously the whole engine is not chromed. Funny, I thought most serious racers swapped out the independent rears in those for solid rear axles? And is that just one taillight on each side? Strange...

 

That interior is the shit!! Love it, excellent score.-MIKE

 

If you can find those pics, is there any way you can scan and post them? I'd love to see what it looked like originally.

 

It would be a crime against humanity for anybody to turn that car back to original. Maintain it for what it is.....a glimpse of the past.

 

Great car. I hope it stays just like it is now.

 

I was thinkin' the same thing-has that 'coffin' vibe to it. And the axe dragbar thing? That's got to be every 80's schoolkid's dream -with the possible addition of Heather Locklear in the passenger seat

 

I SAW THIS CAR AT A PREVIOUS OWNERS HOUSE IN ATASCADERO CALIFORNIA, HE HAD THE CHROME CROSS RAM (not on it) AND IT HAD CHROMED CYLINDER HEADS... I THINK IT HAD DIFFERENT WHEELS ON IT THEN ALSO !!

ALL IN ALL .... THIS CAR KICKS ASS !!!!!!

 

It need's to stay just the way it is

 

Has this thread lost it's way? Does anyone have those pics of the Original? Nice the way it is...Awesome in its earlier state.....Centurion9

 

That interior rules more than anything has ever ruled before. That guy needs to sell it to the right person, one who appreciates it for what it is and wont screw it up.

 

BTT.......This one will appear in another current Thread....I'd sure like to see some follow-up on this.....Centurion9

 

I remember this car from early 1970 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I first saw it at the indoor Custom Car Show here. ( I have pictures of it somewhere ) The last time I saw the car was at Union Grove Drag Strip, Great Lakes Dragway, I watched the car run until the owner blew a rear tire and was asking around for a replacement, that was the last time I saw it. If I remember correctly it had the name "Executioner" in gold leaf on the rear quarters. I was only about 19 when I first saw this car and I never forgot it. I would like to find and talk with the current owner if possible. Thank You

 

The guy that built this car was my dad. I have some pictures and a couple newspaper articles from way back. He used to haul it to car shows with a flamed customized hearse and he set it up with a real skeleton in the driver's seat. I rode in it a couple times. He traded it for a custom chopper to the president on the Outlaws motorcycle club in 1974.

 

Yeah that gas station it sat at was one he managed and worked at the time. I just have a few actual memories of the car. I was pretty young at the time. I would love to see it now and hopefully it hasn't changed that much.

 

Bob, I was cleaning out the basement when i came across a couple of pictures, ( Executioner )I remember i was maybe 13 or 14, My friends Tim and Todd's sister was married to a biker " BIG" guy i think they call him Jingles/Donald, They took use to a car show at State fair where we got under the car for cleaning and polishing and for my reward i got three pictures of the car and a Roger Lyons tee shirt. The car needs to be put back exactly to the way it was in these picture. The skeleton in the car they used her name was Emily. Vaughn

 

Her name was Kathy right? Jingles/ Donalds last name was Foshay and he was the president of the Outlaws. My parents had Roger Lyons t shirts too. They actually rode in his funeral procession on my dad's chopper.
I agree! The car needs to be kept in its original customized state. Thank you!

 

Yes ! Kathy There sister Christine was also maried to a out law, I remember they called and said get over here right away they lived off of Sherman and locust , I remember i ran as fast as i could and when i came around the garage there it was, I just about shit, They drove the car to show kathy's family, It's funny i remember that like yesterday as do i the chopper it had a mural on the sides and top of the tank, I do remember a desert like background Vultures setting on a cactus with toothpicks something like that. This was 40 years ago let me know if im even close. That bike was at the show as well the corvette was set up with black hooded mannequins and guillotine and Emily behind the wheel, The car did very well taking best Engine compartment/Display/Paint/ Most people's vote etc. There was small protest after trying to disqualify the Executioner saying the car didn't run, So after the awards they gassed up started it. Vaughn

 

Yes the chopper had a desert themed mural with vultures, one picking its teeth with a tooth pick all over the gas tank and rear fender. I actually sold the bike two years ago to this old chopper guy a few blocks from my house. I somewhat remember a couple of the car shows but their very foggy. I remember my dad handing me a towel and sending me under the car to wipe off finger prints. Lol

 

Now this was cool!! I was sitting here with my stepdad shooting the shit. We started talking about Jingles because that was my stepdad friend. But jingles is also my ex girlfriends daughters grandpa. So I he brought up his blue corvette. So we start looking 2 hrs ago and came up on this on the corvette forums. I ask if the car was ver in Milwaukee and clicked the link and found this. My stepdad is Tim and he actually stored the car for jingles. What a small world. My stepdad has some stories man lol where is the car these days and what did they end up doing with it?

 

Crazy we can track cars this easy. I Believe the Vaughn gentleman was talking about my stepdad. He stored this ca for Jingles. He told me this a hour or 2 ago and it took me only a bit to get me to your conversation. Does anyone know where the car is now? I see this was originally posted a long time ago. I thought it was a small world that my stepdads old friend was Jingles and my ex as of a year ago her daughters grandfather was Jingles. We were talking about him and this car was brought up and easy as can be I’m here reading this stuff to him of a car he once took care of. He knew your father built it so he was blown away that this was the car and this thread was able to confirm the car last known to be in California was the car once ripping around Milwaukee. I didn’t have my hopes up that this was the car because everything I seen said California. But how many Blue 74 corvette convertible cars named executioner with a big axe on it are out there lol so I kept looking into it.

 

More twists and turns than an archeological dig! I’d love to see pictures of it in its heyday. Just over the top enough, to still be cool