Lost Muscle Cars. Wes Eisenschenk
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Название: Lost Muscle Cars
Автор: Wes Eisenschenk
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Автомобили и ПДД
isbn: 9781613253120
isbn:
The Fairlane GT A GO GO, based on a production car, presented a different set of problems. The first was tax liability, which would have come due as soon as any show car of this type ceased to serve its original purpose. The second was product liability. These cars were sent to outside contractors for modification. They were totally torn apart for repainting, custom bodywork/features, and interiors. During that process, certain parts critical to safety, emissions, or day-to-day function may have been removed and not replaced.
No one kept track of these items, but Ford and the other automakers were not blind to this fact and couldn’t risk one of these cars actually being driven, especially on public roads. Combined with the tax liabilities, this usually meant a one-way trip to the crusher.
But every year, show car barn finds surface; some were hidden by the designers who worked on them; some were just stored and forgotten long ago. Some collectors specialize in show cars. So not all disappear; we just can’t see them anymore.
Hurst-A-Matic 1970 SS Nova Giveaway Car
By Wes Eisenschenk
By 1970, the Hurst Corporation was large and in charge of the performance shifter market industry for muscle cars. Known mainly for its 4-speed transmissions, Hurst was one of the few businesses with whom Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and AMC allied themselves in an effort to maintain an edge in the marketplace. Lagging behind in salability was Hurst’s line of automatic shifters. What the company needed was something to create awareness of its all-new shifter for 1970. Inside the corporate offices, a plan was developed for just that purpose. Hurst planned to give a 1970 SS Nova to the lucky person who came up with a clever name for its new automatic shifter.
And the Winner Is
Walt Trapnell was a salesman for M&H in 1970, selling racing slicks in Cleveland, Ohio. One day, he came across a Hurst display that was asking the public to get involved in naming the new Hurst shifter. Walt, a father of two boys, jotted down four separate entries for each member of his family. On his son Todd’s slip, he wrote “Hurst-A-Matic.” Thinking nothing more of it, Walt went back to work and let the contest slip out of his mind.
Todd Trapnell, the three-year-old Hurst-A-Matic Nova giveaway winner, salutes the cameraman with the V-for-victory sign, which he learned courtesy of Linda Vaughn. (Photo Courtesy National Dragster)
A few months later, he received a phone call from Hurst corporate notifying him that he was one of 147 entrants who had submitted the name Hurst-A-Matic in the Hurst Nova giveaway contest. From the pool of 147, Hurst had conducted a drawing to whittle those down to 25 contestants. The gentleman on the phone told Walt that they were going to be conducting a final drawing and if he won, he would be receiving a call back in 15 minutes.
About 10 minutes later the phone rang in the Trapnell house. Walt eagerly answered it and was told that he, or rather Todd, was the winner of a brand-new Hurst-equipped 1970 Nova SS 396.
A Trip to the Nationals
Not only had the family won the Nova, but they also won an all-inclusive trip to the 1970 U.S. Nationals held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Todd and Walt were invited to partake in all of the festivities surrounding one of drag racing’s premier events. They were excited to receive such an amazing gift, but they were disappointed when Hurst informed them that the flight included for the trip to Indy was for only two individuals.
The Trapnell family felt that they had won as a team and wanted to celebrate as a team. An agreement was made so that Walt drove instead of flying so the whole Trapnell family could enjoy the festivities in Indianapolis. Walt went on to reveal that Hurst was first class in taking care of the family. Todd, just three years old, was the star of the weekend. The Trapnells were going to be rubbing elbows with all of the top names in drag racing, from Garlits and Prudhomme to Sox & Martin. Most notable of all was that Miss Hurst Golden Shifter Linda Vaughn was going to be Todd’s personal host.
One event they attended was the pre–U.S. Nationals gala. When it was time for a Hurst representative to take the podium and talk about the successful ad campaign, and to announce the winners of the giveaway Nova, Vaughn scooped up Todd and made her way to the podium.
As Linda spoke about the guests of honor for the weekend, Todd flashed the V-for-victory sign that Linda had taught him, giving everyone in the crowd a chuckle. Walt went on to say that when Linda handed young Todd back to his mother he overheard Todd exclaim, “Mom, she’s squishy!” The U.S. Nationals went down to the wire in the Top Fuel division with Don Prudhomme barely inching by Jim Nicoll in the finals. The event is well known for what happened after Nicoll crossed the finish line: His clutch exploded, ripping the dragster in two.
Prudhomme, with perhaps the best seat in the house, watched in horror as Nicoll’s dragster disintegrated and he saw the front half of the car (with its engine) shoot past him with no sign of Jim. By a stroke of luck, Nicoll had flipped on the chute just before the explosion.
The opened chute lifted the driver and his cage/cockpit up and over the wall, setting Nicoll down in the grass. He sustained only a concussion and a swollen foot.
Home Again
After the finals, the Trapnell family returned home to Cleveland, with the Nova following shortly thereafter. Hurst had removed most of the graphics on the car, leaving it with just the gold striping and a few decals on the rear quarter panel.
The Hurst Nova, without its giveaway graphics, tackles the quarter-mile at Thompson Drag Raceway in the early 1970s. This is the last known photo of the car before it slipped into oblivion. (Photo Courtesy Charles Gilchrist Collection)
We’d all like to imagine that Walt stored the Nova away in the corner of the garage for young Todd to receive on his 16th birthday, but that is pure fiction. Walt drove the car for the rest of the summer but found out quickly that a Posi-Traction 396 big-block with 350 horses underfoot and icy Ohio roads don’t go well together. Soon Walt had purchased an old Tempest to handle the winter duties and parked the Nova until spring.
The union between the Trapnell family and the Hurst Nova soon ended; the car was listed for sale. A middle-aged couple purchased the car with the intention of going Powder Puff racing on the east side of Cleveland. Thompson Dragway photographer Charles Gilchrist captured the Nova before the car vanished from the public eye.
In Cognito
The website Yenko.net is highly regarded as one of the best sources on the Internet for discussing all things Chevrolet muscle. In 2007, a thread was created questioning the whereabouts of the Hurst Nova. A series of promotional photos featuring Todd and the car were posted along with (perhaps) the last known photo of the Nova campaigning at Thompson Drag Raceway. As far as almost everyone is concerned, the car has simply vanished without a trace.
During discussions with the Trapnell family, they disclosed all the information they had on the Hurst Nova. Ironically, they’d never been approached until I located Todd in late 2014. The Nova had been painted Hurst White СКАЧАТЬ