Damfino
One of the most unique race cars to ever
carry the Memphis Rodders banner was this
early rear engined dragster.
Coincidentally, 'Damfino' is also related
to Jack Friend, who's 32 Ford coupe was
examined in the previous
post. It seems that Jack
and fellow Rodders member George Root
teamed up on this aircraft drop tank
turned dragster long before the aft
motor design became standard fare in
drag racing's most purposeful classes.
The rear engined dragster design made
infrequent appearances during drag racing's
early years, but such race cars have been
around as long as the sport has been an
organized activity. Most were short
wheelbase, and were likely a fair handful
to drive. Yet there were a few competing at
drag strips nationwide in the late fifties
and early sixties, a cool ten years before
Don Garlits turned dragster racing on it's
head with the dominant top fueler that he
debuted in 1971. Some examples of
yesteryear back motor diggers are analyzed
on this HAMB
thread... but damfino why they
overlooked the subject of this post.
Well, we should probably cut the Hambers
some slack since most of these cars were
"regional" and we can always tell all if
a more current thread should appear.
Locally, Jack Friend and George Root put
this sleek car together from a military
surplus aviation drop tank which they
scored at the Lazaro brothers salvage yard
in Memphis. They wrapped the tank around a
100 inch wheelbase chassis built from oval
shaped PBY aircraft
wing struts and mild steel tubing. A
Ross steering box (from a Crosley) was
employed in order to keep the car aimed
at the big end. The engine was a 392
Chrysler with a .030 over stock bore and
a stock stroke. The Hemi was fitted with
Hilborn fuel injection, and a Vertex
magneto for extra go power.
'Damfino' also featured two inch diameter
exhaust headers, and a 39 Ford transmission
with Lincoln gears (using only 2nd &
high gear). The rear end was from a 39
Ford, and was fitted with a magnesium quick
change center section.
Neither Jack or George are still with us to
give a first hand accounting, but all
indications are that this race car was
competitive, and feared whenever it pulled
into the pits at local drag meets held at
the Halls TN airstrip, and at Lakeland drag
strip. It serves as an enduring example of
the resourceful engineering that
exemplified early drag racing. With little
to go by other than a desire to go fast,
these guys put together 'Damfino' from
scrap yard cast offs, and produced the
slick and forward thinking race car shown
here in Marshall Robilio's photos.
Of course, with a race car as unusual as
this, one has to wonder what became of it?
I mean, what else are you going to do with
a with a dragster made from a fuel tank
except race it? Oh, I suppose you could
convert it to a BBQ grill or a some other
ignoble fate, but you should still know
what it was before you got carried away
with that smokey taste. So, if you have
some insight as to the whereabouts of
'Damfino' feel free to chime in and give a
report. It might be fun to bring it back
and show it off alongside the 32 coupe that
Jack prowled the streets of Memphis with.
Speaking of which, I thought you should see
another vintage image of Jack's 32 coupe
that showed up in a stash of photos I've
been scanning since the previous
post. This one is from an
early indoor car show most likely held
at the Memphis Fairgrounds. Although the
photo is black & white, it's pretty
obvious that the coupe has a new paint
job and a freshly updated look. New
"flipper" hub caps and wide white wall
tires, go together with the now
hood-less profile and what is apparently
a chartreuse paint job. I'm thinking the
black & white tuck and roll
upholstery is also new at this time, but
I can't can't swear to it. Regardless,
it's quite a change from the "Chelsea
Auto Parts" look we reviewed last time.
Arthur Trim revealed a lot of technical
info about the dragster via e-mail and
basically provided a reason to write about
'Damfino' from the comments he made about
the coupe and his old pal Jack. We tried to
determine the color of the coupe as seen in
this updated photo based on the grayscale
tones, and we initially settled on a shade
of blue as it's new color. However Jeff
Lucas, who now owns the coupe, reports that
there is a layer of chartreuse paint
between the original red, and the blue that
was the last paint job showing on the
chopped grill shell he still has stashed in
his shop. Considering that the remaining
blue paint on the shell is a darker shade
than what is seen in this photo, we're
pretty confident that this is the coupe's
"yellow-green" look, no doubt adopted for
the indoor car show season somewhere around
1958-1960. Thanks to both Arthur and Jeff
for helping with the details.
As impressive as many of today's
professionally built street rods are, I
find this ethic of building a choice car
from found parts to be most appealing and
true to the original concept of what this
whole hot rodding thing is actually about.
As I collect photos of the Memphis Rodders
early days, this do-it-yourself mindset is
evident in almost every image. Thankfully,
this approach seems to co-exist with the
pro-built cars in today's automotive
culture. So, when a proper example of a
homemade hot rod shows itself in this
general direction, you can expect to see
some reference to it in this blog. It seems
like an appropriate nod to Memphis'
original hot rod club, as they paved the
way to today.
LK