Long time C Body enthusiasts that belonged to the C Body Dry Dock website back in 2004 - 2005 (like myself) followed the build of the Flyin' Whale by a gent named Henry up in Maine who set out, and succeeded in building one of the fast C Body street cars and perhaps the best handling C Body, at least at the time it was built in 2005.
Henry sold the car in 2006. It was featured in the June 2006 edition of MOPAR ACTION. The car went across the country to Tacoma, Washington to someone who was going to yank the drive-train out but after driving the car, realized how special the car was and how much work, engineering and fabrication Henry put into the car so he put it up for sale and it disappeared until last fall.
Last fall, I happened to come across a listing for an auto auction that was going to take place in early December in Alabama. As I quickly scanned the photos of the approximately 80 cars being auctioned, a red ' 66 Chrysler 300 with a hood scoop caught my eye so I looked at the few photos posted of the (very dirty) car and recognized it as the Flyin' Whale. Turns out the owner had his own private museum that he also rented out as a banquet hall. It turns out that the owner of this private museum (and other businesses) was forced to file for bankruptcy in Federal Court and the court ordered the auction of all of his cars. I got in touch with the auction company, had them do a walk around of the car and answer my questions and I bid by phone and was lucky enough to win the car. The car arrived via open trailer around December 11, 2017. It barely ran with a bad fuel leak from the carb and hardly any brakes but a neighbor and I nursed her into my garage for the winter.
I will fill in the details of what Henry's build included for those who don't know the background and what I have had done to the car and an explanation on why I did some of the changes.
I finally got temporary plates for the car last Friday, took her out for a safe somewhat mild 30 minute ride yesterday as the tires on the car date to 2005 and one of the front tires had a cut in the sidewall. I had today off for the Columbus Day Holiday and headed down to my "race car mechanic" to have the new tires and wheels installed and an alignment done. Here are some photos taken today and one of the photos from MOPAR ACTION. Driving this car is incredible, to say the least but for now I will post the photos and update this thread further with more details. The car does look better in the photos than in person as it is an unrestored car from California with 80% original paint.
Henry sold the car in 2006. It was featured in the June 2006 edition of MOPAR ACTION. The car went across the country to Tacoma, Washington to someone who was going to yank the drive-train out but after driving the car, realized how special the car was and how much work, engineering and fabrication Henry put into the car so he put it up for sale and it disappeared until last fall.
Last fall, I happened to come across a listing for an auto auction that was going to take place in early December in Alabama. As I quickly scanned the photos of the approximately 80 cars being auctioned, a red ' 66 Chrysler 300 with a hood scoop caught my eye so I looked at the few photos posted of the (very dirty) car and recognized it as the Flyin' Whale. Turns out the owner had his own private museum that he also rented out as a banquet hall. It turns out that the owner of this private museum (and other businesses) was forced to file for bankruptcy in Federal Court and the court ordered the auction of all of his cars. I got in touch with the auction company, had them do a walk around of the car and answer my questions and I bid by phone and was lucky enough to win the car. The car arrived via open trailer around December 11, 2017. It barely ran with a bad fuel leak from the carb and hardly any brakes but a neighbor and I nursed her into my garage for the winter.
I will fill in the details of what Henry's build included for those who don't know the background and what I have had done to the car and an explanation on why I did some of the changes.
I finally got temporary plates for the car last Friday, took her out for a safe somewhat mild 30 minute ride yesterday as the tires on the car date to 2005 and one of the front tires had a cut in the sidewall. I had today off for the Columbus Day Holiday and headed down to my "race car mechanic" to have the new tires and wheels installed and an alignment done. Here are some photos taken today and one of the photos from MOPAR ACTION. Driving this car is incredible, to say the least but for now I will post the photos and update this thread further with more details. The car does look better in the photos than in person as it is an unrestored car from California with 80% original paint.
