We’ve got to thank Erik Andersson for the tip on this awesome piece of drag racing history that is for sale. You are looking at the restored 1973 Candies and Hughes top fuel dragster that was campaigned by Paul Candies, Leonard Hughes, and Dave Settles. This is one of the last dragster chassis that the legendary Woody Gilmore ever built before transitioning completely over to funny cars. Even more epic is the fact that this is one of the first cars in history to have an aluminum Keith Black Hemi engine in it and that same engine resides in the frame rails today. How early was it? Try serial number #002!
Beyond the neat mechanical bits on the car is the performance history of the machine. This car won the 1974 NHRA Gatornationals and the 1974 NHRA Supernationals at Ontario Motor Speedway. The only bad news about their season was that Gary Beck was even better that year and they came in second for the big prize. They did win the Division 4 top fuel championship though, which was a big deal back in the era when fuelers had to run both divisional races and nationals to be competitive.
This is a bit of a unicorn in another sense as well. It is the only known Woody Gilmore dragster chassis with rack and pinion steering in existence. He built a couple but it is believed that the rest of them were either wrecked or scrapped over the years.
The car was restored about half a decade ago so the parts and piece as apparently showing no signs of wear and tear because not only was it restored, it has lead a very static life, not being hauled about and bounced around a trailer. If you want to own a piece of incredible drag racing history for only $10,000 you have to make yourself the new owner of this car. Seriously, $10,000, it seems way to cheap to be real but it is!
Thanks to Erik Andersson for the tip!
Listing: 1974 Candies and Hughes top fuel dragster for sale
Wow! So basically you pay for half the motor and get the rest of the car for free. Wish I had the money and could fit in it. Like you said, seems too good to be true.
And they couldn’t get the lettering to be duplicated properly? WTF?
There were 5 bodies for the car and ten different rear wings designs. Lettering matches the body from when the car won the 1974 Gatornationals.
Gee the price went up. I was going to buy it at $10,000.
Hate to burst anyone\’s bubble, but the appraised value of this car is well into 6-figures! The \”for sale\” figure which appears in this article must have been a misprint; that is unless Mr.Andersson wishes to personally underwrite the difference for the car\’s PRESENT owner/restorer.
Is it still for sale
It is for sale at the 4th Annual Salt Lake City Classic Car Auction on Saturday, March 4. http://www.classiccarauction.us