(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) – Another young gun building and wheeling a gasser these days is Mike Lewis (Lewy).  In 2008 – once convinced by friend Ryan Pope that they could build a decent, primered, street gasser for $5,000.00 from the rough $300 hulk Mike had already purchased – the work began.  Mike, Ryan, and friend John Gilligan setup the straight tube axle three and a half inches forward from stock.  The idea of a simple, street gasser soon took a turn due to many suggested additions and changes.  The motor was set back about a foot.  Then it was decided the altered wheelbase thing was cool so they moved the rear axle forward six inches.  At this point (2010) Mike decided he needed a better body so a 52-hour epic adventure to Kansas City, KS was completed with the prize being another, better Lark body.  The Stude was taken to Mike’s place of employment, Cefalu & Son auto body in Goshen, Ohio, for the beautification process to begin.  Mike daily rubbed goodness on the panels with friend Dan Billow that just happened to be building his ’55 Chevy alongside the Lark.  Expert tutoring was provided by Chris Yarmark and Jeff Cefalu.

CarThe fiberglass front end is a custom piece.  When the sanding dust cleared Ryan Pope ended up painting the car and Josh Shaw lent his killer art skills for all the graphics.  Finally at the end of 2011/early 2012 Nessie was ‘complete’, however, no project is ever done.  It’s had 3 motors, as many transmissions, and two rear-ends thus far.

(Author’s note – we first saw Nessie in May of 2014 during the Nostalgia drags at Thornhill Dragway.  The car was blown apart over that winter and didn’t make another lap until the culminating thrash upon arrival at the 2015 Meltdown Drags.)

Among changes done during this latest attempt at completion were a new, hand-made firewall by Mike Wagner of Cornfield Customs and a new roll cage by Dave Hentz.  The chassis is stock Stude with a 2×3 boxed front section.  The tinwork inside was also done by Mike Wagner of Cornfield Customs.  Keeping tabs on the moving parts is handled by Sun gauges. The seats were sourced from LimeWorks Speed Shop.

The motor was built by Joel Huhtala of D/T Performance. The Dart block 406 has 12.5:1 Carillo pistons, 2.08 aluminum pro-filer heads, and a .660 lift roller cam while the spent gasses exit through custom headers.  All that power is coupled to a Jerico 4 speed (featuring a long, inline shifter) via an aluminum flywheel and adjustable clutch sent by Ram and housed in a Lakewood blow-proof bell-housing.  Strange engineering set up one of their center sections with a full spool and 4.56 gears (5.14 next year) spinning their 35-spline axles inside an early Ford Bronco housing.  A Speedway rear disc kit hauls it down from speed.  The homemade 4ft ladder bars transfer the weight back to the M/T 30×10 ET Streets.  Front rolling stock consists of Coker front runners and real-deal magnesium spindle mounts.   Best time so far has been 11.16 at 121 mph and everyone is certain there’s still a lot left in it.

Mike would like to give a BIG thanks to Ryan Pope, John Gilligan, Mike Wagner, Erv and Connie Lewis, Dave Hentz, D/T performance, Pat Bowling and family, Dan Billow, Jace Jordan, and many others for pitching in and helping make a very unique car. Most-importantly he’d like to thank his fiancée, Lauren Mancini, for supporting him and sharing the same passion for the car and the love of nostalgic drag racing.

Click the photos below to see the Lark Ness Monster in full size and then scroll –