...

... You are another True Car Guy !

... :flag::flag::flag:

...

And the story just keeps going. So nice of you to share the car with the former owner like that.
You've done a super job on, not only the restoration, but acquiring the history. Hopefully not for some time, but the next owner is going to benefit greatly from all you have done for this car and it's heritage.

More ownership history work completed today. I took the car to Chillicothe, Ohio where 4 prior owners or family members (owner deceased) reside. Then headed over to Lynchburg, Ohio to meet up with the son and wife of the second owner (Doug Davis). Doug is the guy that created Rat's Nest. It was a good day. In order from most recent owner/family to earliest. One owner family member (3rd owner had to cancel)
John Taylor - owned the car from 1981 to 1982 and sold it to DJ Justice who was the guy I bought it from in the prior post.
Terry Walley (deceased in 2018, represented by his wife Laura)
Ralph Willis (deceased in 2021, represented by his daughter Brandy, stepson Chad, and son in law Richard)
Doug Davis (deceased in 2006, represented by his wife Judy and son Denny)

Jim ...your passion reaches beyond cars but also to the heart and souls of the families. Congratulations.

Doug, agreed! So cool :biggthumpup:

There was definitely some emotions flowing yesterday, especially for those representing the owners that are deceased. I was happy to bring a little joy to them in the form of an old muscle car their loved ones enjoyed very much.

Aside from the human interest happenings yesterday, I got to see a few new snaps of the car from back in the day. 3 new ones from John Taylor in the '81/82 timeframe, and one from shortly after Ralph Willis bought the car ('77/78 timeframe), dropped a drivetrain in it and went racing. According to the guy in the car in the pic, this pic was taken right after they got back from National Trails in Columbus. He said the car had Fenton Super Sharks on it at the time.

Awesome

Way cool!!! What a great story. Love the history of these old cars.

Ya like pics right?
 

Took Rat's Nest back to it's home track from the early '70's early this morning to catch the sunrise lighting on the vintage track sign. Enjoy!!

Here's some more pics at another local spot to catch the sunset lighting.

Very nice!!:cool2:

----Great pics of a great car!....Bill S

Love this car.

The car looks great! So happy to see it done.

Well, they're never really "done" are they:dunno:
Sold off my survivor jack and restored/installed a date code correct jack for the car. Not than anyone ever sees it, but I know it's right now:grin:

^^ Very true words, they are never finished & Dan B & I Joke like referring to the hidden correct jack,,,,,,,"I can See it from HERE!".
Nice job

Another post from the "you're never done" archive....I was never quite sure what my speedo setup was supposed to look like - reducer/no reducer so I just had my original to the car cable plugged right into the trans. At MCACN, I spent quite a bit of time and took quite a few photos of Doug Perry's black low mile L78. It has the same trans/rear combo as mine and was obviously original, so I went out and found a 90 degree adapter and installed it. Also removed my speedo clip and added some dumdum over the hole just like Doug's car. My adapter isn't the correct part, but at least it now looks somewhat correct. If anyone has the correct 1:.777reducer (6476735) that you're willing to part with let me know. I know they're tough to find but I might be willing to part with some cash for the right one.
Thanks Doug P. for bringing the car into the public view, it's stuff like this that keeps us hobbyists going with new things to work on!

You know there no way you’re ever putting that car back to stock right? That car looks way too good the way it is
Curious about the gas tank was it blacked out back in the day as well?

Or does it just look that way in that last group of pictures? Answered my own question on this one w post 450 must just be a reflection of the asphalt

Are you sure it had the same trans as yours? Meaning the same part # on the trans tag?

You can't go by physical appearances. There were two different speedo drive gear sizes and hence two different part #'s for each trans model. I've seen the same trans model and axle ratio have and not have the adaptor.

Kurt, no I am not sure. I was unaware of the different part number vs just M22 vs M21.
The trans in my car is not the original, I only "know" it was M22 from the guy that was the 2nd owners racing partner back in 1971. He was in the internals of the trans multiple times over the 4 years they raced it. Still not proof-positive, but the best I have.
I was hoping the speedo cable code thread over at CRG would verify trans/speedo adapter, but it seems that CW (my cable code) was used in multiple applications. CW is the code on Doug P.'s build sheet for that survivor L78 with M22 / 4.10 rear.

Curious was your m22 pro shifted? My M21 was dumped for M20 internals for the wider ratio and pro shifted.

I believe it was "pro shifted" by Doug Nash BITD. Way back in post 140 I shared a story told by Doug's son about Doug Nash coming to his house when he was a kid. The car also sported a Doug Nash "ProShift" sticker on the upper front fender just ahead of the Hayes sticker. It took me a while to ID that sticker and even longer to find a pair of originals to put back on the car!

That’s awesome, you’ll know if the one in there is pro shifted it’ll bang hard in and out of gear . Even when idling through the pitts or around the block . Any shift is an agressive bang .

For those who aren’t familiar with pro shifted trans missions here’s some info. Kinda long winded but gets the point across. https://youtu.be/fJ_ZKHPrtPM

Here’s a pic of a pro shifted gear

Faceplates is a little different , but works kinda the same way

A little more owner history
 

Terry Walley (L) & Ralph Willis (R). These two guys were friends and both were prior owners of my COPO. I spoke to each of them after I purchased the car, but sadly, they both passed away before I could get the finished car to them. Both raced the car on weekends. Terry raced it in the red/white/blue Rat's Nest paint scheme sans stickers. Ralph raced it in the black/gold paint scheme that he applied in the late 70's.

That’s cool info on the previous drivers good job locating all that info . My RAIV bird has been tough to find owners. I found info on the first owner after the dealer recently but his wife had recently passed and the house sold can’t find where he’s gone after . It’s a really nice thing to find the trail at least though.(lived 14 minutes from CT dragway , about 2 as a crow flies) Too bad those guys (that raced yours) didn’t get to see it finished.
When I was putting the RAV engine in my car that Stephens raced in pro stock one guy was really interested as his freind had owned it for many years but never run it. He passed away the weekend I got it running in the car . It’s a shame when stuff like that happens .

Good job preserving that car though and I’m really happy you made it the race car. It’s a great car either way but the interesting history of the car is its race heritage IMO. All those weekends at the track each a story in itself anyone who has raced a car for many years understands every weekend of racing has a story. Such a great car and such a good job restoring it and sharing it with us.

Finally dug out the only photo I have of Doug Davis (lower left) who created Rats Nest. This scan is from his photo album along with photos of the A990 Hemi lightweight he and Rick Wilkin campaigned in the mid-60's.

This car is now listed in the SuperCars for sale section.

Contact the attorney who handled the closing. The seller's mailing address should be on the closing statement,

If not, the attorney would have an address to send the 1099 to.

If that fails, ask the attorney who the seller's RE agent was. The agent may have contact info.

Don’t want to hijack this thread, (my apologies to OP) but that was a false alarm, the number got” translated “wrong somehow and it’s a different person and looks like they passed away in 2012. One digit was off in the area code from. Back then, when searched initially it was the wrong number used , it’s straightened out now but doesn’t seem like it’s gonna do me any good . Will still keep working on it but doesn’t look promising .

Had a chance meeting with Doug Davis's other son Tim this morning at the Dayton Cars & Coffee show. Tim is also a geared with his passion being his 300ZX Turbo which he's owned for 27 years. This was the first time Tim had seen his Dad's car. Fun time!

Very cool!:cool2:

Had another great day adding to the history of the Rats Nest COPO. Went to the Gathering of the Geezers event at KilKare Dragway. Met up with Denny Davis who took Rats Nest down the track just like his Dad did over 50 years ago. Denny had his daughter Emma riding shotgun. Video is posted on my Facebook page.
Also ran across a relative of a prior owner. Terry (Gator) Knisley is the nephew of Daniel Knisely (deceased). Daniel owned the car around 1975 and drag raced it without lettering but still in the red/white/blue paint scheme. Gator remembers this car sitting on a trailer at his uncle's house.

My best attempt at recreating pics from 50+ years ago. I took these with a high resolution camera so hard to duplicate a shot from 1971 timeframe.

Here's a couple of crappy cell phone pics from the photo shoot this weekend.

Rats Nest digital ink
 

https://youtu.be/2Zb-CmwHzUQ?si=EmSfoQ7o30samkUd

Tommy Lee Bird created a great video of the car for his Youtube channel "The Hot Rod Hoarder". Enjoy!

Another digital article on Rats Nest
 

Very cool!!

and so it has begun.....
 

The deconstruction of Rats Nest back to just another COPO has begun. I think that's a 5W-20 tear being shed by Rats Nest.:no: Vintage speed parts relegated to garage art duty until the next project needs them.