Went to an auction this Saturday, a very well respected drag racer, Bob Beal had passed away, and they auctioned the contents of his print shop, and his racing, and '57 Ford parts collection. I came home with about 200 Hot Rod mags from '51 to '74, and a built 390 powered 1 owner '57 Ford Country Sedan - super solid and indoor kept. The car pulled his 460 Hemi powered ('66 426 HP block) injected rail all over the West coast and Canada. And pushed it to the line - driven by his wife, with his two boys in the back seat. Check the wagon in the background with it's push bar on it. Thought it would make a great puller, and family wagon. Tried to buy the dragster and it's custom built trailer as well, but it went waaaaay too high for me, probably right money, but just too much for me. Lots of neat stuff - motors, Top loaders, tons of '57 Ford parts - hoods, front clips, you name it, more than I have ever seen in one place, a '63 I think T bird, rolll bars, Hemi engine, pistons, cranks, tools, the list was pretty extensive, as well as his print shop equipment which was awesome and very old school. It was a step back in time, and it was over so quick. Kind of sad in a way. Bob was an awesome guy, early on a line technician for the Ford dealership in Salem Oregon, and was instrumental in Jim Livingston''s purchase of the Woodburn Drag strip in the early to mid 60's. I took him an old Holley 'bird cage' carb once, and he rebuilt it in no time for me, no one else would. He was also well know for his 427 powered '57 two door wagon (sold previous to the auction), and his '57 blown T bird (kept by the family), that he took to Bonneville and raced, and also street drove in Bonneville trim! He was the real deal, and will be missed. If you have any pics of Bob's cars running anywhere, please post them. I'd love to see them. Here's a couple of pictures I took, and one of the wagon at it's new home. Enjoy.
I remember that wagon and the rail from woodburn years ago. Who bought the rail? That is a very neat car.
Steve - some folks from Eugene area bought it. I have their # if you or someone wanted to contact them. I tried to buy the pushbar that was made for the car from them, it was in the trailer, but they said no. I measured it, and will make another I guess. I also wanted a couple of pics that were of the wagon, they gave me one they had 5 copies of, but no other ones. The wife bought it for the husband, just for fun she said. They apparently aren't into Vintage drag racing or anythng, just thought the car would look neat in their shop. there were a few things in the auction that belonged to another thing, but were not where they should have been. Would have been cool to have kept it all togather. Tim
The rail and trailer brought 17.5k plus a 10 percent buyers fee. It included a bunch of pictures, and trophies, plus all that was in the trailer.
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