Super Mustang Restoration

After purchase, the car was moved three times until its final destination on 5 acres in Buckingham, a rural community on the outskirts of Ft. Myers, Florida. I began searching for the history and builder of this car for the next 4 years. Then in 1991, I showed a photo of the broken body to "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and he remembered the car. Several days later Ron Pellegrini called me from California stating that he had just received a phone call from Don Garlits saying that I possible had his old Super Mustang Funny Car. That phone call must have lasted an hour. It was such a relief to finally discover who the previous owner was and the background of what was sitting in my field! What makes this story interesting is that, when I brought the car home after it's purchase (and I didn’t find this out until talking to Ron 4 years later) I actually went past Ron's home which was about 2 miles away from my home in Southwest Florida. I purchased the car in March , 1987 and Ron moved to California later that year in September of 87 and neither of us knew how close he was to his old Super Mustang.

Many articles and photos started to come together and we now have full documentation of the "Worlds Fastest" Mustang Funny car in 1965. The car sat for another 13 years and went through 3 hurricanes covered up in my field and tied down. Finally in 2004, I made the decision to restore this car to its original state, so that all could see and enjoy a part of racing history, which may have been destroyed and forgotten.

My first purchase was a set of the original type wheels for the front & rear. Locating a complete 57 Olds rear end was a bit harder. Next it had to be shortened as it was originally. My biggest decision was to admit to myself that certain things have to be left to the professionals. The chassis and all tubing was totally deteriorated beyond safety standards. So a complete new rolling chassis had to be duplicated from the original pieces. I contracted a complete reconstruction, including an original spec Hemi motor with good friend and former funny car driver himself, Bill Holtz. Bill was the owner of Holtz Custom Fabrication in Ft. Myers and along with Everett Oliver took on the challenge of reconstruction with great dedication. Bill and Everett took this project on more as a labor of love than as an income. They literally hand built a complete race car as it would have been done back in 1965. They were cautious not to use any modern day technology so that the finished car would look just as it did back in the 60’s. The new frame was constructed of chrome moly tubing just as the original with a few modifications made in the interest of safety and strength. New lexan windows were installed all around and both doors were made operable with original hinges and door handles. Operable tail lights were put in for esthetics and a set of new glass dummy head lights were set back into their sockets. A 12 volt Dyna Batt dry cell battery was tucked up in the rear between the push bar framing with a rear push/pull kill switch. The body was put on and off many times to get a proper alignment and attachment to the frame. Up front sits an original type 3 gal. Moon fuel tank with all the original type plumbing to the motor. The original aluminum aircraft bucket seat was used and re-upholstered along with new certified 5 point seat belts. The new steering wheel was made removable and a new dash pod was built housing a memory tach, boost and oil pressure gauges. To complete the rolling chassis, an original set of Hilibrand rear wheels and American Front wheels were found and powered coated. The rear 10.50 x 16 slicks with the Dental tooth ribbing were duplicated by Adams Hot Rod Rubber out of Oregon City, Oregon.

The only original pieces in the car today are the steering box, aluminum aircraft seat, front axle (which had to be replaced in 2007) and the fiberglass body. Everything else was duplicated from original pieces. Two major changes were made. One was the installation of a 2 speed power glide transmission and the other was the use of alcohol for fuel. Both these would allow me to move the car in and out of shows and trailer with out a great heat problem. The old original transmission was a 39 LaSalle box with only high gear, which meant push starts and no reverse. We retained the old wood push bar and parachute for esthetics.

Figure 1: (Photo circa 2004) New frame and support tubing.

Figure 2: New Sheet metal and Lexan windows

Figure 3: Rolling body on new chassis.

Figure 4: Original old 39 LaSalle Transmission.

Figure 5: (Photo circa 2005) New seat, Parachute pull cable and fuel shut off.

Figure 1: New Moon 3 gallon fuel tank

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Figure 2: New dash and gauges.

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Figure 3: New push bar and parachute backing plate.

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Figure 4: Reproduction slicks by Adams Hot Rod Rubber.

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Figure 1: Mock up of motor in chassis

Figure 2: Ford Lettered MT Valve Covers.

Figure 3: Chassis Mock Up.

Next, came the business end of the car. Bill Holtz was a seasoned Alcohol Funny car builder and driver himself and was quite familiar with the old Chrysler Hemi motors. Using a 1958 vintage block and heads, the exterior was kept pretty much as it was with the Hilborn injection and 6-71 GMC blower. All the good stuff was put inside, but was de-tuned to about 850 hp for reliability. The headers were changed from a multi-tube under chassis set up, to a set of 2” side exit weed burners. All this was coupled up to a 2 speed Power Glide transmission with a TCI 5,000 RPM stall converter and trans-brake. The final drive went thru an original 57 Olds rear end, shortened approx. 10” with Moser axles, a Mark Williams spool and 3:90 gears. To make things interesting, just as Ron did, we duplicated the valve covers to match the original type that Ron used with the FORD script on the covers. The covers that Ron had were off a Hemi conversion kit that Mickey Thompson built for the 427 Ford rocker arm motors and Pontiac motors. These conversion heads were VERY limited and now days EXTREEMLY RARE. Obviously they came with either Ford or Pontiac script on the covers. This made Ron's competition wonder what type of "Experimental" motor he was running, for neither Ford nor Pontiac had Hemi head motors at that time. Even today, I get questions as to what type of motor is this.

The final challenge was the body. By all accounts, the body needed to be trashed, but this part of the car could never be duplicated reasonably at today’s costs, so the decision was made to salvage it and do the best we could. My son Scott, wanted the head-aches and honors of bringing this back to life. He spent many a night and week end massaging the body, re-enforcing the weak and thin areas and straightening out the warped body panels that the harsh Florida sun destroyed. The body was so thin in places that you could almost see thru it and after a couple of months of hard work, Scott had it ready to spray. We used the original Wimbledon white for the body and Guardsman blue for the stripes. After the painting came the new Lexan windows, door handles, tail lights and head lights. Now it was loaded onto a rolling jig and transported back to Holtz Custom Fabrication for final assembly.

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Figure 1: (Photo circa 2006) My son Scott starting body preparation for paint.

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Figure 2: Old body being prepped for repair - notice how thin the fiberglass is!

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Figure 3: Scott - with many hours of body prep and putty behind him.

Figure 4: Finally, the first of 4 coats of Wimbledon white paint.

Figure 1: Scott doing the layout for striping.

Figure 2: First coat of Guardsman Blue for the stripes.

Figure 3: Stripes applied and paper removed.

Figure 4: Painting complete & tail lights installed.

Figure 1: Body assembled on rolling frame.

Figure 2: The body assembled over the frame and fasten it down.

Figure 3: "Chute" packed and ready for battle!

Figure 1: First movement out of the shop. (after 20 years - it brought "tears" to my eyes)

Figure 2: Brass Nostalgic Restoration Plaque.

Figure 3: Everett loading the Car into the trailer for the trip to the Sign Shop & lettering.

On March 3rd, 2006, the "Super Mustang" was fired up and "RE-BORN"!
Bill Holtz had the honors of the first ride and laid a little "patch" in his parking lot. (I can't blame him for that!)

Now the car was loaded into its’ own special trailer and taken to the Sign Shop for lettering. All the lettering was done in vinyl material duplicating the original lettering from black and white photos supplied to me by Ron. Now the car was officially complete and ready for show and GO.

Sorry Ron, but it took me three years to do what you did in 3 weeks.

Figure 1: Super Mustang at "Signs-R-Us" of Port Charlotte, Florida

Figure 2: Lettering and graphics complete - just as it was May 1965.

Figure 3: The finished car and a piece of history preserved for all to see!!

In closing, an icon of drag racing history has been saved and re-born for all to see and read about. I want to personally thank all the dedicated people who worked with me on this project and especially Ron Pellegrini for all his patience and input on the documentation. Even though I’ve owned the car for over 22 years, I never gave up the dream of seeing it completed in all of its “Race Trim”. By all accounts, Mr. Pellegrini built the FIRST funny car, the FIRST altered wheelbase Mustang, the FIRST all-fiberglass bodied Mustang, and the FIRST "World’s Fastest" Mustang (in 1965). My final trophy will be to see Mr. Pellegrini and his “SUPER MUSTANG” re-united once again.

DON’T CRUSH THEM - - - - - -RESTORE THEM