Faithful readers, I wish I could have teleported you all with me recently to Snake’s operation just north of San Diego. Ever since he finished the amazing restoration of his ‘67 Dodge D700 yellow Hot Wheels Funny Car hauler, he’s been gnawing on the idea of finding my similar red Hot Wheels rig. Don’s had been owned by Richard Petty, mine by Sox & Martin. These are the transporters we used during our Hot Wheels days in the early ‘70s. Keep in mind that it’s been 35 years since I sent it down the road. Very rarely do good things happen to obsolete race stuff.

Well, Don tells me that Don Lowery, a former NASCAR Winston West campaigner, approached him at the 2010 LA Roadster Show, saying he was the guy I’d sold my hauler to, and he had info on its next owner.

So, Don starts doing some detective work, and it turns out that just maybe my old hauler’s been rotting away in a field near Riverside, California, for the past 15 years. He’s skeptical but decides to check it out. Don showed me the pictures on his cell phone on just how rusted and busted it was. There were trees growing up through the engine compartment, home to just about every type of critter (excepting a mongoose)!

If it had been me, I’d have done an about face and not walked, but ran away. Not Don, though, he started rooting around in the interior.  Amazingly, in the glove box, he found the metal Chrysler “Certicard” that was issued to every new vehicle. Wiping off 35 years of grime, he found what he’d hoped for, the Sox and Martin purchase data. Eureka! He’d found it. His guys cleaned the old derelict out the best they could, dug it out of the mud, loaded it up, and hauled it home.

His restoration team’s been working on it steadily all these months, and let me tell you, she’s a beauty, better even than the day it rolled out of the Dodge assembly plant.

The chassis, cab portion and the mechanicals have been restored, including the engine. Don could have just slammed in a new crate motor, instead he rebuilt the original. The hauler part is still being loved on. You would not believe know nice it is: paint, fit, finish—the whole nine yards.  As soon as I find out when and where Don’s gonna debut it, I’ll let you know.

Last time I told you that a Mongoo$e/Snake movie was in the works. Well gang, it’s been funded (the hardest part), the script’s written, and the actors to play Snake and me are being recruited. We’ll keep you posted on the progress. There will also be updates in the Drag Racer Magazine section of Motortopia.com.

Thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you next issue.

Tags: Don Prudhomme, Hot Wheels, Mongoose

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