Parts for sale…….
FOR SALE: History
The Hairy Canary was built and piloted by Bert Straiton in 1962 and raced until the
fall of 1968. The truck competed many weekends in BC at Mission Raceway, Abbotsford
Airport, Boundary Bay Airport and Ashcroft Raceway. It also ran in Washington at
Arlington, Bremerton and Seattle. The truck ran consistent low 11 second ET’s and
was powered by a high compression 301 SBC setup with an Enderle stack injection,
Vertex magneto, and Hooker fenderwell headers. The T-10 4 spd saw many 11,000 RPM
shifts as the ’55 Chevy spooled rear end housed 6.37 gears. M&H Racemaster
“pie-crust” slicks made for quick launches and raunchy shifts. The sparse interior
only contained a ‘50s style chrome legged kitchen chair that had been cut down and
welded to the floor. The stock front I-beam axle and drum brakes were retained while
the leaf springs were re-arched and spaced away from the stock ’39 Willys chassis to
give it the “nose-bleed” stance which was ever so popular with gassers back then.
Bert said it was definitely the hairiest gasser he had ever raced!
I found the truck in the backyard of an old hot rodder back in 1999. The goal was
always to restore back to it’s gasser look of the sixties. The truck was in pieces
when I found it. The cab was decent, but the original hood is long gone as it flew
off the truck and over the local bridge and into the Fraser River, back in ’68 while
being trailered home from the track one weekend. I ran a mechanical Hilborn stack
injected 292, fed by a moon tank, in it for the first couple of years, but then
decided to convert it to an Offenhauser 2X4 cross-ram setup for the street on a
rollerized 400 SBC. It runs a Vertex magneto and Hooker fenderwell headers just like
Bert ran in the ‘60s. It has a Super T-10 4 speed connected to a ’58 Olds posi with
4.10 gears. The truck has been to a few drag strip reunions, but never raced, over
the past few summers, but mostly driven on the street to preserve it’s history and
keep the old gasser spirit alive and well.
I also have a fresh 327 with a Donovan gear drive, GM ported/polished “461″ heads,
roller cam and Hilborn injection that I will sell in place of the 400.
If you have any questions please call or email me.
Dave
Vancouver, BC
778-228-0205
xhairycanary@hotmail.com
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