by Mayberryman » Fri Feb 27, 2015 7:07 pm
In the late 70s through the late 80s there was quite a fad in either attempting to restore an early racecar or make a street vehicle mock up of well known cars. Three come to mind each different and each with different outcomes. I have a good friend (John Shealey of Morgan fame) who took one of Gene Lovelace's old 60s era coups and had it restored and made street legal. Years ago he took the car to show to Gene's widow and she was so touched that she gave John one of Gene's old racing helmets. For you who do not know Gene was a terror at Langley Field Raceway in Hampton Va. for many years. Car #2 is a tribute car owned by Wright Pond (Brother of Lennie Pond 1973 NASCAR
Cup rookie of the year) Wright had a noted mechanic and classic car expert build the car and the Red #1 shows up at car shows fairly often. I believe that the car was built to look like one that long time modified owner, Micky Limeburger owned for many years with the likes of Runt Harris and others as a driver. Now for the other side of the story, in the early to mid 80s there was a NASCAR lookalike ford that looked like an old car owned by the Wood Brothers, being both a cop and racing nut I use to see that car parked at many local watering holes in the area and it was known to be a car to be on the lookout on weekend nights because of probable alcohol consumption by the driver. This car ended up in the front yard of a house cut in half because of impact with a large tree. The car and driver came to a tragic but not unexpected end.