Atypically Inexpensive: 1961 Devin 295 Drag Race Car
With the price of the typical well known vintage racing machine being more than the typical 401k, the conscientious classic buyer needs to dig deep into the well of weirdness to find something that is both atypical and inexpensive. Find this 1961 Devin 295 Drag Race Car here on eBay offered for $22950 buy-it-now or make-offer, located in Wilsonville, OR with less than one day to go.
From the seller:
Vintage, Survivor, Original Devin bodied race car that was raced in the 60’s & 70’s at Carlsbad, OCIR, Palmdale, LA county and other tracks in the area. It has an original 1961 dated 409/409hp engine # 3788068 dated D 14 61 and has an assembly stamp T1115 QB (Nov 15th 1961) ( NO VIN stamp), 3814690 cylinder heads K 19 61 (Nov 19th 1961), GM 3814678 single 4 barrel Winters aluminum intake manifold, Holley carburetor, Federal Mogul #9 Camshaft, original chrome valve covers w/ aluminum breathers, Vintage Mallory Rev Pol dual point distributer, Sun Tachometer, 400 turbo, transmission cooler and 4.11 Posi rear end. The car sits on a narrowed, shortened and space drilled 1956 Chevrolet frame that has Triumph rack & pinion steering, 90/10 front shocks, 15×9″ & 15×3.5″ Fenton wheels. The car is titled with a VIN tag and has original California Black license plates.
This is a “Barn Find” car that has been sitting since it was last raced in the late 70’s. There is a lot of documentation including a bill of sale from 1965, registrations since 1975, time slips and old pictures. It still has the Porsche “India red” paint and sponsor decals from when it was last raced. I sorted out the car enough to start the engine, it runs good and sounds solid, but it has not been driven.
The car was raced as number “293”, but was also raced under the name “Red Dragon” and “Ziggy Too” I have talked to the person that raced it from 1965 to 1979. It has a pretty cool history !! There is a lot more to say and I would be happy to discuss the car with you.
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SCARY BUILD Quality
I have seen this car in person and, as cool as it is, it needs a ton of work. It was "run" through the MAG auction in Reno in August of 2017. As I recall it was a 'no sale'. What I do remember is how flimsy it was/is. Under the fiberglass body was a lot of plywood.
To make this right and use it for racing again, you likely need to do a full body-off restoration and put it on a proper race-spec chassis. As it is, you really could only trailer it to shows. It's got a license plate, so maybe it could be make street legal, but then you're really just racing against death.