Heavenly, Story of a 65 bfx

[SASSY]

Today I talked to a drag racer that winters here in the rv park where we are, his name is Dennis Riley
He told me a bit of this story last winter but I never wrote it down and when I went to post it here parts of it escaped me .
Dennis told me about a 64 Comet his friend raced back in the day, they called Heavenly.
The car was delivered to Priestly Lincoln Mercury here in Oceanside Ca., direct from The holy grail of Ford race fans Holman Moody.
Ken Casteel was the driver - wrench of the car. I have his ph number now and will ph him this spring when Im home.
Dennis relayed to me some of the unique items on the car that ken raced.
Came from Holman Moody with cage, light weight buckets, some type of plastic side glass.
Everything that unbolted from the body was fiberglass, hood, fenders, doors, trunk!
Under the hood, the Cobra 289 with weber carbs, probably the 306 hp version.
The motor was promptly removed and bored and streched out to the 350 ci range.
The car was campained in southern Ca. For a couple of years and discarded for a 66 Comet from Holman Moody with Fe power.
Dennis tells me he and Ken are still close, that they build and race Mopars today and that he would probably be happy to share when I call him.
They race at Firebird in Idaho among other places. I have wanted to go to that track for a while, this is a good excuse, if I needed one, lol
I will update this post, hopefully with a pic or 2 after I talk to Ken.
Fred

[poboyjo65]

cool story Fred ! Keep the reports coming! I found a couple pics of it.I believe it was our own Magnificent Muttley who posted them.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thre ... 4/page-110

[SASSY]

Well, it was a 65 EH!, I'll be talking to Dennis shortly. Thanks for the pics JO.
IS THERE ANY WAY TO EDIT TITLE?

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

Fred;you beet me to it,I have those pictures and more,it was restored and sold at auction[don't remember which one]!Is he sure it did not come from STROPPE in Long Beach,CA.? ROY.

[SASSY]

Well Roy, I'll find out, I told the story as told to me, but when I get to talk to Ken there may be more corrections and edits to this thread

[ants875]

Fred,

Cool story thanks for sharing.

Jo,

cool link you shared some cool pics of some other comets there!

Ant

[SASSY]

Fred;you beet me to it,I have those pictures and more,it was restored and sold at auction[don't remember which one]!Is he sure it did not come from STROPPE in Long Beach,CA.? ROY.

Roy, I had the opprotunity to talk to Dennis again today and upon quizzing him on the Holman Moody history and that you thought it was out of the Stroppe shop, he said you are most likely right that his brain probably just tied the 2 together.

He then told me that the motor was done at the now famed Dragmasters, just a few miles down the road in Carsbad.
How the wrist pins were so high in the piston that they entered the oil ring groove.
He helped Ken install the motor and how it burned oil so bad and they had it apart 3times before they figured out the problem,.
Something about pinning the oil ring, I dont really understand it.

Also a story about trying a new weber clutch and blowing everything from belhousing to the driveshaft hitting 4th gear,, did that twice, before weber said, wrong clutch!
Dennis shared a lot of stories, and still races today, well builds today, son drives, their cars are too fast for his reflexes,,lol

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

Fred;it could have been Holman/Moody and Stroppe,they were together for awhile!!The pin in my 347s was into the oil ring,had a spacer to hold the ring pack! ROY.

[poboyjo65]

Hey Fred!
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/car ... 10751.html

I think this solid red one has been on here maybe...

[SASSY]

Hey! Thanks Johno!
I'll be sure show this to Dennis at the first opportunity.
I couldn't see a date anywhere on the add, how did you find it?
Fred

[poboyjo65]

I just bumped in to it Fred ,I cant remember where or how,that was hours ago . I looked at the ad again , I think it is current.

[loman]

that is a cool looking car and piece of history. I did notice in the pictures that vin on the door does not match the vin on the fender apron. The last 4 digits on the door look like 3181 and the apron's last 4 digits are 2180. It makes me wonder a little bit about the unrestored comment. In either case still good piece of history.

[ants875]

that is a cool looking car and piece of history. I did notice in the pictures that vin on the door does not match the vin on the fender apron. The last 4 digits on the door look like 3181 and the apron's last 4 digits are 2180. It makes me wonder a little bit about the unrestored comment. In either case still good piece of history.

I'm only looking at this on my tablet and it wouldn't let me zoom in but the door is clearly 3180 and the fender looks like it also says 3180 but since I can't zoom I could be seeing the apron wrong. I'd want to think that for what they are asking they would have these details covered but who knows. I'd be very hard pressed to believe that car is unrestored.

Ant

[Comechero65]

From what I see in the pics, it looks like the serial # is 3180 on both the fender and door tag.
Ron

[SASSY]

I'm pretty sure the doors are glass anyway so the tag must have been moved