When we were ooglinf the photos of the Arnie Beswick driven Mercury A/FX racer yesterday we couldn’t help but wonder if there were more surviving AWB race cars out there for sale. We found this cool 1963 Savoy A/FX machine for sale on eBay and we think it would be the perfect book end to go with Beswick’s Comet.
The altered wheel base A/FX cars represent a time in drag racing’s evolution that was kind of weird. These cars were definitely “in-betweeners”, bridging the gap between stocker, gasser, and what would ultimately become the flip-top funny car. Chrysler had a fearsome factory team as did other manufacturers (like Mercury).
This particular car got “the treatment” in 1964 by then owner and racer Jon Thorne. The car was an original 413 Max Wedge cross ram machine. When Thorne saw the factory altered wheel base cars, he decided to build his own and shifter the rear end up 14″, installed a ‘glass nose, straight axle and bolted a blower onto the top of the Max Wedge mill. A Hemi was soon to follow, but he did not use a blower, instead deciding on mechanical fuel injection.
The car was restored several years ago, but all the original parts and pieces are present. So many of these cars met their end in a grisly fashion. They were, but the accounts of the men that drove them, awful handling cars with weird weight bias and a strong propensity to stand on their bumpers. The wheel stand thing was so bad, Chrysler famously sent a memo to the racers running their factory cars to cut it out because the wheelies were too hard on parts.
So here’s the question, do you choose the injected Hemi Plymouth or the blown Cammer Merc?
Source — eBay Motors — The Jayhawker A/FX 1963 Plymouth Savoy
