HR Jones

  Meeting Dennis Kelso was and is a big deal in my life. Our paths crossed when Dennis was 16 and piloting a 56 Ford two-door sedan with a stock but stout 312 Y block. I had a 56 Ford big window pickup with a 392 Hemi (i.e. death trap). After a string of old muscle cars and mildly tuned imports Dennis and I thought we should step up to something with a little more performance. This would be about 1976 or so, big American muscle was weak, Detroit was barely managing 200 HP from a 350 small block and even Andy Brizio was fitting import engines in 32 Fords. The gas crunches meant that even two wet behind the ears gear heads could buy a used gasser on gas station attendant wages. Anybody that tells you the late 70’s American automobile scene was dead couldn’t have been buying used 60’s gassers, because Dennis and I bought a 1939 Chevy coupe from Dan Wilkison for pennies on the horsepower. Dan is one of those unassuming, modest engineers that started in the truck shop, built and maintained the drag cars of the glory days and has an ingrained quality ethic that builds hot rods worthy of the title. The 39 Chevy had a Hilborn injected 327, two ring Teflon buttoned 13.5 to 1 pistons, a massive solid lifter cam and 180 degree headers. I am not sure but I think we were both virgins the first time we lit that thing up . . . I remember it like it was yesterday. We were inside the lube room of my dad’s station and that small block was sounding like it was going to tear that place down and take us with it. As soon as we got over the shock of it all we cranked it right back up.

  We never did drag race that car, it was in the words of Reverend Gibbons  “Nation Wide” and back then we were still working on getting out of town, but just being around it and feeling the power was a big thing. Dan had built that motor and the rest of the car with such quality, it stayed with you as a benchmark, you knew what building it right looked and sounded like and that it could be done. The 39 moved on but we are still in our small town way connected to Dan, he crews for Jim Murphy’s front-motored dragster out of Northern California. As I am writing this I called Dennis to fact check his 56 Ford. Dennis will drive the Yank Tank and who knows Dan may want to tan the insides of his eyelids.