According to the ad, this 1966 Oldsmobile 442 has been a drag car since new. Supposedly piloted by famous racer Bruce Allen, the car has been sitting for quite a while. If the seller (or new owner) can find proof that this car was in-fact raced by Allen, it may be worthy of a period-correct restoration. Depending on its race record, the car may even be worthy of a museum display. It can be found here on eBay with a current bid of $2,550. Located in Chesaning, Michigan, the car is a roller. As with most former drag cars, the engine and transmission are missing and were probably swapped into another racer or sold separately. Vintage racecars are very collectible with the cream-of-the-crop selling for seven-figures! Let’s check out this car and see if it may be a good investment for a new owner.
The interior is pretty typical of a drag car. The car has been stripped of anything that didn’t make it go fast or stop fast. Supposedly every 100 pounds removed from a car will make it go 1/10 of a second faster in the quarter-mile. Passenger seats, carpet, console, factory steering wheel, dash, door panels, and any other creature comforts have been removed. You can see that a rollbar cage and shoulder harness have been added, with a factory-looking bucket seat being the only remnant from the original interior.
Obviously the paint and body have seen better days. The ad says the car is one of 54 W30 car that came with a factory 400 tri-power setup. There is also a photo of the Certificate of Title from 1968 showing a signature of “Alfred L. Allen” which may be a link to Bruce Allen? Let us know what you think of this car and if you think it is a real-deal Bruce Allen car.
Would be a great project to restore it to it’s former glory.
However the seller has added that it’s likely not one of the 54 W-30 cars produced.
According to Wikipedia, “Allen’s first car for drag racing was a 1966 Oldsmobile 442 which engine kept breaking with Allen later switching to a Chevrolet L-88 engine.” If this is in fact Allen’s car, the original motor is long gone. A member of the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame, there’s an interesting bio of Allen on their website.
The nice thing about a drag car is that the rust is typically on the surface and not underneath from road salt and traction chemicals!! With that being said it could go either way as a former drag car or someone’s daily driver that was lost to life and time!!
Would be nice if they had the interior and original motor stashed somewhere, this thing w/o any paperwork showing it’s heritage probably has no miles, restoring it back to original would be nice, but this thing w/o parts, is gonna need everything, heat box.wipers everything
Pile of junk