Not until Tom Jones saw a 1988 magazine story about Jimmy Nix's unfinished effort to install a 392 Chrysler did he realize exactly which car was sitting in his garage. In that historical article, Jimmy recalled cutting out the floor and firewall before Chrysler "nixed" his plans to run a set-back fuel motor. Note remnants of Dean Jeffries's candy-red and -blue paint on the driver's door. The clutch pedal was likely installed by some subsequent owner. (Photo ©Mark Bruederle)
Unconfirmed recollections of Midwestern spectators indicate that the two relettered cars ran locally that season, and that one or both were involved in two crashes; one minor, the other major, at the World Series Of Drag Racing. Because the ex-Jimmy Nix ride still exists, we might assume that it was the ex-Jim Johnson car that got “wadded up” at Cordova. Due to
the ready availability of ’64 Dodge 330 sedans in 1965, a wrecked one had no resale value whatsoever. Thus is it logical that the Johnson car was stripped, junked and crushed four decades ago.
For the same reason, it’s likely that the same, sad fate befell the mysterious third Charger; the only unit among the otherwise-identical triplets that retained a stock rear bumper andunflared fenders (for reasons unknown). The only action photo I’ve seen came from the team’s March 1964 debut at Fremont (Calif.) Drag Strip. In our tape-recorded 1988 interview, Nix recalled how he’d flipped his original ride at San Diego, not long after the Fremont introduction. A connecting rod broke and was forced into the camshaft, locking up the motor and the rear wheels. “It slid, then slow-rolled a couple times,” he said. “We left that wrecked car in California. It was never fixed, I think.” With Dodge 330s still rolling off of assembly lines and plenty cheap, there was no reason not to junk one that had been upside down.
|
