Don, who now lives on Oahu, Hawaii, notes, "I was quite happy with my street-driven '57. However, after half-listening to this kid and the description of this tube-axled '55, I recognized it would be an even better drag car than mine." He dealed and got the drivetrainless '55 a few days later.
Because the new big-block Chevys cost a fortune, Don chose to install aHilborn-injected 301 small-block that he already had. As a class racer,Don was skilled in setting up the car in a manner that allowed him tomake class changes at the track. Don says, "I'd bolt in weight where thegas tank was. I even had it down to where removing the rear seat andarmrests would give me a class advantage. My goal was to always run in aclass where there were more than six competitors. More competitors meantmore runs. So when C/Gas had a light field, I'd add a little weight andrun D/Gas. There were times when I'd run a C/ or D/Altered, as I hadfuel injection. It just came down to how many cars showed up in theclass.
Another advantage Don had was that he lived about 4 miles from Lions. "Inever put the car on a trailer; I'd tow-bar it to the track. It was abudget deal."
Don and the '55 would go on to race from 1966 until December 1972. Yes,the tragedy of shutting down Lions the first weekend in December 1972was more than the loss of 1,320 feet of pavement at sea level; it wouldalso be this Gasser's last drag race.
Don remembers the weekend: "On the first day, the doorslammers ran, andon the final day, the pro cars ran. The '55 ran its last race at Lionsin 1972. I don't remember how I placed, but after the race, I parked thecar for the next 30 years."
So that should show you that the livery displayed here is not how thecar was campaigned in the late '60s and early '70s. As the before photosindicate, the '55 was dark green with the only drag-branding being thestickers in the rear quarter-glass. "I never changed the paint on it.However, I did place a $100 deposit to do a ruby-redpearlescent/metalflake paint job on it, but never completed the task,"says Don. "Then they shut down Lions and it sat in my side yard from1972 to 2001, when Bill came to retrieve it."
Bill Fowler's story coincides perfectly. "In 1999, I had been to amedia-blasting company in Chatsworth, California, and in their shop wasa killer '55 Chevy. I asked the owner, Damian, if he knew of any '55Chevy Gassers for sale. He replied immediately that he had a friendnamed Dean, who had a good friend named Don Nunes, who had raced a '55at Lions. It was possible that the car was for sale, as Don waspreparing to move to Hawaii."
Bill and Don would talk several times over the next year and a halfafter being introduced by Dean. One day, opportunity came in a phonecall. "I'm ready to sell the car," said Don, and Bill agreed to theprice and bought the car sight unseen. Don recalls, "I told him what itwas like and everything. I really didn't want to sell it, but as it gotcloser to me moving to Hawaii, I realized I had to get rid of some of mystuff."
When Bill came over to pick up the car with his truck and trailer plusthe requisite cash in hand, he saw the car for the first time.
"Wow!" Bill's jaw dropped.
Maybe it was not such a good deal. For the last 30 years, not only had afamily of rats taken refuge in the car, but a chain-link fence had beenbuilt around the car itself to keep the dogs and other people away. Billconcurs, "It took a full day to dig it out of the hole, take down thefence, and cut the bushes down around it." Despite the urge to back outof the deal, Bill, being a man of his word, made the transaction andheaded home with his Gasser.
Thus began the long process of restoring it, but not necessarily back tothe way Don raced it, instead, to an elevated status. Those of you whoare purists may have issues with the current lettering and livery. Billvehemently defends the historical yet fictional look of the car. "Sure,I could have bought any old '55 Chevy and claimed it was a '55 Blair'sGasser, but this car was truly built at Blair's."
Surveying the condition of the car when Bill got it, he knew they had alot of work to do. Bill says, "Plus, we had to be patient." Bill tookthe car to Jack White Restorations in Campo, California, which did thebodywork, with the qualification from Jack, "If you're in a hurry, I'mnot your guy." More than a year later, Bill had the '55 back.
Bill's best friend and artist, Brad Barrie, is credited with deftlyapplying all the lettering. Royal Muffler of Chatsworth, California,handled the installation of the Flowmaster exhaust system.
Inside, Mike Ambrose of North Hills, California, replicated the TonyNancy seat upholstery, and Jerry Harris of Bakersfield, California,restored the rear suspension. Bill is quick to source the rebuilding ofthe Oldsmobile rearend to Curt Hamilton of Van Nuys. Bill says, "No oneelse would touch it."
But if the car is a Blair's Speed Shop special, why the Solo Speed Shopconnection? Bill notes, "My focus was to show that our effort at SoloSpeed Shop is to celebrate and romance the greatest era of hot rodding.What we're trying to do is say that Solo is about being unique. As hotrodders, we're out there doing it our way. Solo. However, as much asbuilding this car was my individual decision, a project like this takesa community of guys who think alike. Hence, Solo Speed Shop, way up inthe Valley."
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