BeeLine Willys Gasser

The black one is the one I remember. When I saw it in red I could not place it as the “Bee Line” Willys I remembered.

“Ahhso”

Pat

Hey guy’s I think it was a ’57 Imperial. I used to tease Uncle Al that he was the only guy to tow an Olds powered race car with a Hemi. As far as the colors go it was black and all steel until the end of ’64 when he put the fiberglass on it and painted it red. By the way he won the 1960 US Nationals in Detroit and set the Nascar record in Daytona the same year for his class. When he matched raced with KS Pitman, SWC and Big John he always held is own when they had switched to hemi’s and he still had the Olds.I beleive he built a 5/8ths stroke 392 hemi for the 1967 season, but for business reasons sold everything. Russel Grady bought the car and I think Gene Terenzio bought the engine.

Thanks to every one for the great respect you showed my Uncle at this reunion, Peter Maple

Wile watching the 2009 video and My old boss Al Z. I noticed that he was all smiles wile looking at his old car, Then when he got in it and got comfortable, He went right into race mode,The smile went away and the racing face Al Z. I’m going to blow your doors off took over, I guess the racing part of us never leaves us. P/S Peter tell them I said Hello

I started working at Bee Line when I was 19,1964, I started out as a brake mechanic, went on to front ends, then Jimmy Yerks took me under his wing and taught me how to do machine work, rebuild rods, bore blocks, balance crank shafts, I was there on and off for 9 years, Bee Line, Grady & Gommi, and Nelsons Auto, were all within a block of each other. My shop was across from the Colony Grill on Myrtle Ave, around the corner from Fairbanks Transmissions.

HI DINO . I CAN ADD THAT PAUL NELSON / NELSONS AUTOMOTIVE WAS RIGHT ON THE CORNER OF WEST MAIN AND WEST AVE UP THE STREET FROM BEE LINE AUTOMOTIVE OFF I-95 AT EXIT 6 . PAUL HAD A MEAN 427 66 CHEVELLE THAT SKIP BROWN DROVE FOR HIM . PEOPLE SAID HE WAS GREAT WITH CARBURATORS AND TRICKING OUT THE IGNITIONS AND TRANS REAR END SETUPS . HE STILL IN BUSSINESS TODAY GOTTA BE IN HIS 70S . HE DID A 4 SPEED SYNCRO TRANNY OVERHAUL ON MY 67 MALIBU SS CLONE CAR BACK IN 2003 . OLDER AND STILL AND PRETTY WISE HE LOVES TO TALK ABOUT THE OLD DRAG RACING DAYS . I USED TO SEE SKIP AT PAULS SHOP ONCE IN A WHILE AND AT SOME OF THE WEEKLY CAR CRUISES WITH MY CHEVELLE HERE IN STAMFORD AND WESTCHESTER . FASTLANE.
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