In the last episode, the Northwind Top Fuel dragster, the car that shocked the racing industry by winning the Drag News #1 spot in’65, had finally been found in a garage in Vancouver, British Columbia. It had been stored there for nearly thirty years. It was at that point in the story that the hard work really began, as Jack Coonrod had to sort through and find all the missing pieces of the car and create a schedule to complete the restoration.

In early 2006 Jack brought the car back to the U.S. and moved it into his Vancouver, Washington, shop. The car hardly resembled the beautiful hot rod it had been in the mid-sixties when it was a full-bodied fueler with gold-flake paint. The over-the-roll-bar body was pretty rare back in those days, making the car resemble a streamliner from the Bonneville Salt Flats. It had been a beautiful racing machine then but the thirty years of storage had been hard on the Northwind. 

In the last episode, the Northwind Top Fuel dragster, the car that shocked the racing industry by winning the Drag News #1 spot in’65, had finally been found in a garage in Vancouver, British Columbia. It had been stored there for nearly thirty years. It was at that point in the story that the hard work really began, as Jack Coonrod had to sort through and find all the missing pieces of the car and create a schedule to complete the restoration.

In early 2006 Jack brought the car back to the U.S. and moved it into his Vancouver, Washington, shop. The car hardly resembled the beautiful hot rod it had been in the mid-sixties when it was a full-bodied fueler with gold-flake paint. The over-the-roll-bar body was pretty rare back in those days, making the car resemble a streamliner from the Bonneville Salt Flats. It had been a beautiful racing machine then but the thirty years of storage had been hard on the Northwind. 

The missing pieces would be nearly impossible to find.  In any case, the plan was to recreate the car with all the original parts. Valve covers, blower drive, injector, front spindles, and front wheels were just a few of the parts that were either unusable or missing altogether. The biggest hurdle to overcome, however, would be to find the hand-made aluminum tail section that had been missing since the 70s. Was it possible to find, fix or repair all the needed items and make it to Pomona in November for the big fire-up with Ed McCulloch in the cockpit? Sure sounded like a tall order!

Step one was to strip the car, sandblast the frame and get it over to Bruce Cassidy. Bruce, a semi-retired machinist, had owned Cassidy Manufacturing in Vancouver, Washington, a company that installed basketball backboards throughout the country. Bruce is one of those people who are passionate about drag racing and has done a lot of chassis work for the sport. For years he was involved with several Northwest dragsters, including as the M and M Special, driven by Gordon Fabeck, which was originally an Ed McCulloch car.

Before the Northwind chassis arrived at his shop considerable time was spent establishing the car’s original wheelbase, as it had been stretched out when a gas Chevy motor was installed in the early 70s. After a lot of research, including several long discussions with Kent Fuller (original builder of the Northwind chassis), it was determined that 140-inches was the original length. Fortunately, the 13-inches that was added to the existing frame was forward of the motor plate, requiring fewer major changes.

 

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Bruce is a perfectionist, and that’s just what the project needs. As mentioned, the plan was to make the car all original, and Bruce understood what was needed to make everything perfect. He talked to Fuller several more times to make sure the motor location and other important specifications were exact. Bruce has a chassis jig at his home shop and has worked on many Kent Fuller creations over the years. This certainly qualified him as an expert on this type of car.

It took about three weeks of long days for him to make the old Northwind chassis look like a brand-new piece. It was craftsmanship at its best. All new welds and rebuilt brackets enabled him to recreate the original wheelbase, and soon the famous Northwind was on its way back to life.

Many times during the recreation work came to a halt. Finding forty-year-old original parts seemed impossible at times but to the old drag racer it was just another obstacle to overcome. For years many racers bought up these parts and stored them. Jack knew this, and by making phone calls and sending e-mails to friends and acquaintances throughout the racer network many of these stored parts were uncovered. The people who had them seemed to instinctively know that someday someone would want and need these parts.

For example, Jack made a call to Bucky Austin, a successful Alcohol Funny Car racer and owner of several radiator and muffler shops in the Puget Sound area. For years Bucky has been collecting old parts from early hot rods. He remembered the Northwind fuel dragster, even though he was a young boy back in 1965 when the car was touring around on the West Coast.  Three of the hardest pieces to find would be the Mickey Thompson intake manifold, a Delta blower drive and an early Enderle injector hat, with holes in the side. These parts hadn’t been used on racecars for a long, long time, but were must-have items if the reconstructed Northwind were to remain original.

When contacted, Austin stunned all involved when he said “not only do I have all three items but I won’t accept any money for them.  I want to donate these items to the Northwind project.” In one fell swoop a huge obstacle to the project had was removed.

 

 

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Finding all of the parts was proving to be harder and more costly than anyone could ever have imagined; so Austin’s generosity and dedication to the project made this project fun to be a part of. Things that seemed impossible to do or find in the beginning were all falling into place as the Northwind project kept moving forward.

Another obstacle to overcome was the need for a new front axle. The specially built axle was a radical design by Fuller for the “Magicar.” It has a mount in the middle, which uses a rubber biscuit for suspension as part of the unique design. Jack thought he might get a piece of tubing bent up, and with a few welds here and there, could replace the old beat-up one on the car. No such luck.

Once again, however, good luck befell the reconstruction project. Once again contacting 73-year-old Kent Fuller, Jack asked if there were any hope of finding a replacement for this one-of-a-kind part. “No,” Fuller said, “but I’ll build you one for nothing and send it up to you right away.” Fuller additionally volunteered to build an original butterfly steering wheel, using stainless steel with mahogany grips, just like the original Northwind of 1965. Kent was the “main man” in building dragsters back in those early days - it’s been reported that he built around 250 cars during that time. To have the guy that built and designed the car build a new front axle and steering wheel and donate them to this project was another huge step as the project continued to move forward.

When the axle arrived at Jack’s shop, the next step was to have it heat-treated. Jack dove into the yellow pages, hoping to uncover a local company that would take on the job. Jack’s hope was that a local company might give him a break on the costs of heat-treating the new axle. With a few pictures of the Northwind, and the axle, Jack headed for Swan Island in North Portland and Stack Metallurgical, Inc. Ray Berry, the Production Manager at Stack, estimated a price of $250.00 for the job. But once he saw the pictures of the car and heard the story about the reconstruction, (and the sell job by Jack) Ray felt he could put the axle in with other parts and do the whole job for nothing. For the wonderful donation, Stack receives a car display of the Northwind. No doubt that will turn some heads on Swan Island!

So the progress continues on the Northwind project….piece by piece, item by item. It has taken a lot more time than anyone had imagined in the beginning. But it’ll all be worth it on the day the original Northwind cruises into the racetrack. The debut and “fire-up” had to be pushed later into 2007 but, as it was said earlier, “it’s got to be right and original.”

Part 4 of the PROJECT: NORTHWIND gets into the dreaded and complicated over-the-roll-bar tail section fabrication and the plan for producing the gold metal flake paint that made the car stand-out in a crowd.

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