"Twistin’ Texan" El Camino

[hvy70ssParticipant]

OK Folks!
Here come another memory jogger. Anybody remember the Twistin Texan 68 or 69 El Camino? Not sure of year, but it was a aqua or teal in color. If I remember right it was a 4 speed super stock or modified production car. Pretty sure his name was Tex Edwards from Newburgh NY. Always had a cowboy hat on too!! Any stories or pics???

Bob Smith

[dinoKeymaster]

AQUA? Thats Tony Mone’s ‘ODD JOB”…..Tex’s was Black… brought me “beverages” disquised as PEPSI cans. Plenty of shots of both in T O’Shea photo gallery (ODF MEMBERS Area)

[vbobParticipant]

Here’s the best I can do!!

‘Video’Bob

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[dover1320]

The Texan is still around and I talked to him not long ago. I have about 10 picz of him a one of the EL PARKED NEXT TO The Odd Job El camino. I trying to get him invovled but he’s not to interested. BRIAN M.

[dinoKeymaster]

Just TALKED to “Twistin Tex Edwards” ! Brian tracked him down…still in the Newburgh area. I asked him if he was retired…He said ‘Retarded?” oh….yes …but the El Camino is long gone. He ran a 427 L-88 and a 454 in it. Took out the race motor and put a LT-1 in it and ran it on the street for a couple of years. Said he had fun beating the Mustangs. It then went to what he calls the “Chop Shop’ suffering from rust and street wear. He’ll try to make it to the 4th Nostalgia Drags. Brian is pilfering his stash of photos.

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[dover1320]

OH Yeah !!!!!!!!!!!! Hung with the man it was cool the Dover vibes were cranked up he was askin about a bunch of people some which are gone now no one is ready for that. Everyone knows that car one of the most memerable of period and you were a car guy in orange county you knew him . The launchs it would pull were wicked seen on some film i have if you were there you know. I will be gettin together soon with him im putting a collection of pictures together for him. My personal Dover favorite.
Brian

[hvy70ssParticipant]

I hear ya Brian! One of that era’s fan favorites. Back in the ’70’s I went to his place in Newburgh for some BB Chevy parts. Ton’s of stuff…one thing I remember is a pair of aluminum open chamber heads on his shelf. Brand new in the box!! . I would LOVE to see any other pics or Super 8 footage of that car. Please keep us posted. Thanks

Bobby Smith

[dover1320]

I counted 21 wins in 69 alone that comes down to almost the whole race season who were the guys he ran Casey and others in C,D, F, gas classes. I guess you could call them Texas Toast!. Brian

[mikey]

Brian, I know the guy who bought the El Camino from Tex. He lives in Newburgh, and may still have the car. I’ll check and get back to you. Also, Tex always ran for “Trophy’s”, not the money. Mostly , when I ran Dover for “test and tune” he ran C/Gas, same as me. I won’t say who won, but I never lost to him. 😀 Still trying to figure out how that thing could get into C, and D/Gas with either the 427, or the Bored 454. 😕 But, I will say this, he was a nice guy at the track, and a nice guy at his Used Car Lot. Lots of fans loved that car. He was good for Dover. His Lot was on the corner of Wisner Ave. and Broadway, next to Dunkin’ Donuts. If my memory is correct, Ray Anderson from Broadway Auto Parts used to do his machine work, and maybe the assembly, but that, I’m not sure about. ……………….Mikey 😆

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[babycakesParticipant]

Mikey has a real good point there with his question; how did he legally run C or D gas,with a ‘ big-block’ Chevy ? I don’t know how much that El Camino weighed,but in comparison to say the ‘tri’ 5 Cheys (I’m guessing ‘close’ to that weight of an El Camino) with ‘small’ blocks’,just fit into the C and D gas classes,right? Only possible thing I can think of is alot of added ‘ballast’ weight,added in the bed perhaps,to make that gas class? I agree with Mikey….good question… 🙄 ❓

[dinoKeymaster]

About the “Ballest” . . . . from my vantage point,in the tower…I always saw Tex ‘unload’ the bed when he parked in the gasser pits ,right behind the tower.I seem to remember some 5 gal pails FULL of nuts,bolts,misc. small metal. Guess he needed a lot of spare parts. That would be after he went through tech and got weighed.

[mikey]

Ah, hell, lets not pick on Tex too much, we’ve all done our share of”rule adjustments”. He was good for the track, brought a lot of people from the Newburgh area. I know that my C/Gas Nova, with a 402, had to weigh in at, I think it was 3456. I had to leave all the steel sheet metal on the car plus add “ballast”. After I got the worked over 366 Big Block in the car, I could run a full glass nose and doors, and pull out some “ballast”. Can’t remember what it weighed though. I talked to my friend Robert Muscat, who bought the “Twistin Texan”, but he sold it back in 90 or 91. He’s going to see if he can locate the car and get in touch with me. Bob is living in Hyde park now, but says he’ll try hard to locate the car. Might be cool to see if it could be bought on the cheap, and “restored” to it’s previous “glory days”. ……………..Mikey 😆

[dover1320]

That would be cool to find that i am ready wright now . What times did he run anyone rememer. Mikey i was at John Savinos and heard this guy talk with a accent as he was leavin and asked John who he was so!!!!!!!!! i ran out after him man i am glad i asked !. Brian

[mikey]

Yea, Brian, Tex was pretty much OK. He was pretty tight with Ed from Eds Custom Auto. Ran a Dodge Dart with a bbbiigg small block Mopar engine. It was another of those “slightly modified” engines. I’m pretty sure it was supposed to have a Hypo 273 in it, but I believe it was a 340 at least, maybe bigger. Savino might know, you never can tell.
………………Mikey 😆

[babycakesParticipant]

Brian,is he still ‘wheelin and dealin’ selling cars part time,or ‘really’ retired from the car business completely?

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