Devin sports cars were born from the fertile mind of Bill Devin. Dubbed the, “Enzo of Okie Flats” by magazines back in the 1960s, his sports cars were designed to compete against all comers and were versatile enough to be used with many different engines, and raced in many different formats. Yes, the vast majority were road raced, but more than a handful of enterprising drag racers saw the potential in the small car to haul ass in a straight line.
Two such racers were Dean Bontrager and Jay Wilbeck of Kansas. These two young fellows piled about $4,000 together and built themselves one mean little bastard of a car. The Devin was stuffed with a 426ci Max Wedge Chrysler engine, 727 Torqueflite transmission, and we’re guessing an 8 3/4 rear end. The two men raced and won lots on the local scene with each of them flipping a coin between runs to see who would do the driving chores.
The operation was a little more involved than just stuffing an engine into the car, though. Bontrager took the stock Devin body and widened it significantly so that the big M&H slicks would be enclosed in the bulging fenders. The boys had a car that was capable of running high 11s at nearly 120mph. That was dragster territory in the early 1960s and it only got better from there. They put fuel injection on the Max Wedge engine and eventually, before the Vietnam War ended their racing partnership, Wilbeck and Bontrager were able to run down in the bottom 11s at nearly 130mph.
The car then went the way that many race cars do, through the hands of many owners, each a little less emotionally involved than the last. The car lived in a barn for decades before seeing the light of day as an item for sale at the Joliet, Good Guys show. Mike Mulcahy bought the car and is the current owner. BangShifter Greg Rourke caught up with Mike and shared the photos below with us.
This car is totally rad and we hope that it someday looks and sounds like it did when Dean Bontrager and Jay Wilbeck were terrorizing Kansas with it.
Here’s a link with some cool history on the car
Be aware that this car is for sale. Its in Warrenville, Il. Contact me and I’ll pass along the sellers information.