Last night I started reading through the HAMB comet thread on around page 84 there was talk about the restoring on Dyno Dons 65. some say restoration and others say rebody. I will post some of the comments and try to post the pics.
Lot of people are confusing things. Here goes. Pete Gates bought only the 1965 Comet from Dyno Don. Dyno Don`s Eliminator 1 was destroyed at Cecil County in early 1967. Pete Gates was able to get a left over 1966 Mercury Comet body, to start out the 1967 season. Hard to be the same car, when raced together with these 2 cars. He later got a new 1967 Mercury Cyclone body in mid year. Pete later sold both Comets and the Logghe chassis to Wayne Gapp. Dyno`s 1967 Mercury Comet was never sold to another racer. Dyno Don sold the 1964 AFX Comet to Matt Fenton, not Bagwell. Bagwell did buy the wagon. Wagon was cut in half by the flywheel I believe, and was buried. Was later dug up, and the tag off the glovebox was taken off. Dyno`s other 1965 Comet, the one Eddie Schartman drove, was sold to Ray Uhl, out of Cleveland, Ohio. There are issues with the now restored Schartman car. I can do for you Bob, if needed. Daryl
I recently saw a pictuire of a black primered 65 Comet with a chopped top A.W.B. It was in the build up area of Fremont Drag Strip. It was lettered Dyno Don on the side. I've never heard of that version before. Dose anybody have any info on that version?
This is the Dyno car later on after Pete Gates. When the car was found (by a friend of mine) it had the chopped top, straight axle and AWB. It was part of the "Lady Bug" racing team.
I am one of the restorers that did the 65 Nicholson car. It was NOT a rebody per say, but yes, a ton of metal was changed over the years. The owner at the time had a real super collection of real high dollar musclecars and was very adamant about using as much as we could. Everone knows the top was chopped, that was already fixed when we got it. It was altered wheelbase, so quarters were done and rear floor and wheel wells. it had the front frame cut out for a straight axle so the inner fenders and front frame were redone. It would have been the easy way out to just get a doner and swap what little there was, but some real time and cost was put into it. It was finished around 1995, sold to a collector in TN sometime later on. I know its been critiqued pretty hard around here, but at the time we were going on all the pictures and info we could find, some parts werent obtainable at the time. I'll have to try and find some pics and scan, it was before the digital camera age for me. Micky
Micky Hale
Warlock AA/GS Austin
1.
2. I saw that car today along with about 2 inches of documentation as to who had it and when dating back to the original paperwork from LM. I own a body shop and pride myself on my own work but I will have to say that this car is fabulous. The gentleman that has it now also has at least the AWB quarters that were on it when raced in that configuration. I'd take it in a heartbeat and feel good about calling it the real deal.
AFX1964, JAN 5, 2011
https://cometcentral.com/photos/album/YkA7