Hate to start a riot on here...but Wilkesboro just ain't the moonshine capital of the world.....Dawsonville, Georgia is where it's at!!! Both moonshine and the birth of stock car racing. Just read "Driving With The Devil" and you'll know what I'm talking about. In fact, there was 5 drivers from Dawsonville to win a race at Daytona. 4 were moonshiners (Bill Elliott was not)
I think the overlooked big cars from the late 40's would be perfect for a shiner build. Chambered exhaust and a snotty cam might blow the cover but.....
I had a maroon Hipo 289 powered 40 Ford coupe back in the mid 70s. Back then it was illegal to sell Coors East of the Mississippi or something like that. Couldn't buy it in Minnesota. I always wanted to put a false trunk floor in the '40 and smuggle some Coors from Kansas on a visit to see family. Thoughts of a dumb 20 year old.
My Grandpaw use to run shine. He was put in jail for it two times. He kept it buried in jars until it was time to have it hauled out. My Dad use to tell me story after story about making it, hauling it etc etc. Dad said when he had a batch ready he would start bringing all this moonshine into the house and putting it everywhere. Late at night an ambulance would drive in and they would load it all in the back and haul it out. Thats something you never hear. Everybody in the county was in on it haha, except the fed. boys. The funny thing is I have pics of my other Grandpaw standing next to my Dads Dad still that they took in for evidence (he was a Jailer and Police Chief). Times were so different back then. My Grandpaw was arrested and not searched too good. He had his 38 pistol on him in the jail. Dad said his uncles went and told them they were taking him home and they knew where they all lived and the police let him go. The feds were pissed off haha.
Funny you should bring that up about the Coors Seesko. In 1969 when I was still 19, I drove from Maryland out to see my uncle in Flagstaff Arizona. My uncle loaded the car with as much Coors as I could carry and hide for the return trip. Had a breakdown in Texas and was running low on money. Called my Dad and said I'd have to sell the Coors to make it home. He directed me to the nearest Western Union to pay for repairs and said don't let anything else slow me down. Hit a Winter storm in Tennessee that got so bad that you weren't allowed on the roads even if you had chains on your snow tires. Waited till the state patrolman left the diner and I pulled out and went the other direction. Not another soul on the interstate, but I was used to the stuff living in the Northeast and made pretty good time considering. Hmmmmmmmmm, how many years later was "Smokey and the Bandit"?
My coupe has that look, at least for a little while longer, until I put the Whitewalls back on next week.
My X FIL had a 63 Ford ambulance station wagon, red light on top. I recall it had a 406 tri power but I don't know if it came with it. I was told it used to mule untaxed liquor. I guess it could be considered a disinfectant. Maybe not. Tom S.
Thanks Caddy "Elvis" Man, in State of Ga. Moonshine, Place to BEEE! I've benna' drinkin' your stuff since 1980, EF V-8 Nat'l Meet, An I'm frum TENN. Sounds lik I NEED to bring Lot'sa Buddies...................KOOL! (Dam, I'm a Poet !!, an did'nt no it !!!!! ) ha
Thats the look I was going for when I built my 46! Ive always been fascinated by the cars that ran whiskey.
Just a llink to some nice music while you are reading this thread ol mountain dew http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HttxkInLqU&feature=BFa&list=WLC27D8E8F43BFC48D&index=23
Towing race cars to Road Atlanta for SCCA Nationals, a few years in the 1970's we loaded the back of the truck with Coors and floored it over with tools and parts. Sold it at the track and paid for the trip. Truck was a 1-ton Dodge dooley and it held a bunch of Coors. "East bound and down..."
I'm fine with you taking the flathead out if you give it to me other. Any other reason to take a flathead out would be ridiculous.
You said it was impounded by the fuzz right?? So, go to records, get the history IE police records...do some homework...talk to the family or origional owner and keep the history alive!! Its a 4 door after all but it IS a 34 with a cooler history than my coupe!! F#*K a 350 Chevy in that gangster OG FORD! $0.02
Just got me a shell of a '39 Pontiac coupe, and this is the look I'm going for also. I may not live in shine country, but I'm not far from Capone's old cabin.
A lady in the outfield in turn 3 at Autofair in Charlotte should have them, she has tons of cast aluminum stuff, lots of intakes.
Really enjoying this thread. When I was 13 to 15 years old, Freddy Fryar and Harold Fryar would come down to Birmingham to race on Sundays. I think they both had cars that, to me, were beautiful 55 chevrolets. They were black with blackwalls, small hubcaps and beauty rings. Biguns on the rear and normal tires on the front. I would often see this style of car when traveling in North Georgia and East Tennessee. I did not understand why I did not see more of this style elsewhere. If I ever build a 55, it will look like that. Well, I did not put 2 and 2 together and realize that the style was that of a "Moonshine" car. I guess they got the style from this era (maybe Junior Johnsons 40, I don't know) Later, after I was 16, I worked at a car lot and drove cars to and from the auctions here in Alabama. The moonshine folks (a big family near where I lived) only used nondescript 4 door chrysler products. Empty they would stick up high in the back. I drove a couple of them (empty) and was always followed by the cops. anyhow, I really loved the style, just never see anything like that now.
The 53 Coupe I bought in southern Missouri had a stainless steel marine type vent in the rear cowl panel. I still wonder exactly what that was for.
I'll never forget a statement by Junior Johnson during a magazine interview I read several years ago. I wish I could find it to quote, but I'll do my best to paraphrase. He stated he'd never forget the first speed equipment catalog he ever saw from California somewhere. There among all the cast aluminum manifolds, covers, and other goodies, was a bell housing adapter that would mate the V-8 Cadillac engine to the early Ford flathead transmission. He went on to declare that particular part as manna from heaven, because now for once they had the ability to use the powerful ambulance engine in the lighter hydraulic braked chassis, and create a vehicle that in his words, even with a full load could not be caught by conventional means. There is no form of automobile racing like that from days past. It no longer exists. Tom S. in Tn.
i love these cars.. i saw a 46' ford years ago on ebay that was found in a shack on someones property.... early hemi and super super stiff rear suspension. it was the coolest looking "find" i've seen. It' be cool to drop an early caddy or Hemi in my lil 53'.....
growing up west virginian and living in whats considered to be the heart of appalachia i have heard lots of stories about the old cars. it would be great to see moonshine runners catch on as a building style like gassers are. on my 40 i opted to use the stock front axle with just a reversed eye spring so it doesent sit too low kinda like a moonshine car.
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