Some people are going to whine and bitch about what my brother has done to this Sedan DeVille, but if you saw how far gone this car really was before he started patching on it... that's why it has a '51 rear bumper. I spent all day lettering on it today with a 1" foam brush, some masking tape and a few spray cans... gotta love the "flaked" top! While I painted, my brother welded on Travis' Newport.
Thats awesome (I think...) Ya'll really gonna demo em or is it a display type thing... (I thnk they are wicked cool....)
Oh no... these things are going to go wreak havok on those early- '80s full-sized boats out at the County Fairgrounds on Wednesday night!
sure they look evil. but. from someone who knows, they aren`t very likely to do good . the ticket is a 71-76 gm product. the newport is a good car though. that might do something. good luck to him though.
Cat daddy take it from someone who knows. I could drive right through either of those in about 30 seconds. The Newport however I would like to have to build viagra hard. I have been building hard ass derby cars for 13 years since I was 14 years old and around here those cars just wouldn't cut it. Below I will attach some pics of the car that I ran Wednesday night. It was a 72 Dodge Monaco wagon with a 74 Newport "SHOCKER" subframe under it. I was running a built big block 400 with a olocker 8 3/4 with a 5:13 gear
Chains aren't on the Cadi yet... aren't allowed to cut off bumper ends or smash the door tops around here. That mower also wouldn't fly here.
So what happens when you get hit on the front with that Cad and the hood bends those pipes over so they blow right into the drivers face?
I really don't understand the point. Restorable or not, you'll be destroying a lot of vintage parts and to what gain? Frankly, I think it's just stupid.
I've ran several of them ..did well back it the day My favorites were 57 thru 64 Fords ..prefered 62's hard as Christmas Candy Should atleast save some of that trim off that Caddy , some one would want that ? make sure you are safe , fire is always a concern
My brother ran '72 Olds and Pontiac wagons the last two years... couldn't find one this year. Travis ran the same '58 Imperial for the last five years, but there wasn't enough left to weld back together after last year, so he's giving the Newport a shot. As far as side-impact goes...
like all forms of auto sports the more work you do the better you look during the event.. those sure are some well prepared demo cars... As the years pass and what is avaible is what you use. my favorite 52 chevy stick shift. then a desoto { a money maker} have used chrysler imperials{ outlawed the next year} some ford wagons, fwd cad not very good, a 54 buick, several 56 chevys,good luck be safe and cover that battery..please!! bobby..
The battery box and tank are going in on Monday, along with the hold-down chains. We were focused on lettering it while I had some time during daylight hours... and welding the spiders in that 3rd member.
Newport looked decent. Might want to atleast get rid of some of the trim off that DeVille. I don't really see the point though, even if someone gave you the cars, you could still part the thing out and get something out of it, then go buy a smogger to tear all to hell. I know its a different mentality, but jesus, they don't repop some of those parts anymore.
To tell the truth, when my brother finally decided that he wasn't going to find an "acceptable" car in time for the derby, and told me that he was going to go pick up this '58 DeVille, I was a little skeptical, too. I know my brother, and he just isn't interested in taking the time required to catalog and sell all the trim, gauges and glass that he took out of this car. I told him to save it all, but saw no evidence of it when I went to the shop today. Having dealt with selling to restorers and hotrodders, I can see his point - he's got no time to spare for people calling on some advertisement or auction, wanting to come look at all the parts, and then trying to get them from him at half of whatever price he finally sets. If you give them away, some guy's going to cry when you won't deliver them. He decided it wasn't worth his time and trouble, and he just wanted to go back to the County Fair and smash a couple of cars in the annual demo derby. Yup - once a year. Not enough rednecks around here to make it a weekly or monthly event. That's why these cars don't have to be as "viagra-hard" as you yokels out in the sticks have to build them. Most of the cars that show up won't even have altered suspensions... half won't even have the diff's welded. Most will be early '80s Town Cars and Cadillacs - I hear they're going to have a Mercedes this year. Our original plan was to use a Rolls Royce I located, but by the time we got them to make a rule change to allow foreign-built full-size cars, the guy decided to pay my buddy for some work that he'd done instead of giving him the Rolls in trade.
I've dealt with people like that too. Free isn't good enough for them. But, you could just throw them outside.
I just returned home from the demolition derby at the Orange County Fair in Middletown, NY.... Notable cars were two mid 60's full size Chryslers, a late 60's Continental and an early 70's Pontiac that appeared to have been in really decent shape. No Imperials this year (the kings of the derby world). Winner was a mid 70's full size Dodge or Plymouth. As far as wrecking vintage cars in Demo's goes....I say it is better than it going into the crusher or shredder without one last hoo-rah, but not if it is a nice car or a good source for parts. If nobody ever saved any parts we'd all be screwed.
I've always thought, if I was rich enough, I'd love to enter a concourse Duesenburg or something in a derby. Maybe I'd get a load of my friends together and smash up a fleet of Ferarri F40's....something just plain wrong.
[ While I painted, my brother welded on Travis' Newport. DO YOU STILL HAVE THE GRILL & HEADLIGHT ASSYS FOR THIS CHRYSLER ? I COULD USE THOSE !!! ALSO, P/M ME IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THE PARTS LEFT FROM THE CHRYSLER... I CAN USE STUFF FOR MY '61 DODGE
Are the roll-bars and interior bracing required....or were you guys just worried that a four door hardtop would fold up too easily in a side impact? Lots of work went into those cars....do you figure on getting more than one derby out of them?
The Jalopy Journal
