It’s hard to imagine, but the Fast Freight ‘41 Plymouth is actually the second 41 Dave Fenzel has owned. He got his first ‘41 when he was 16 and he built it as a street rod. It was a part of his life for 10 years before he sold it to move onto something else. He had always wanted to build a gasser, so he started with a ‘55 Chevy. His brother, however, was more realistic and said, “You’ll never get that done.” Dave admits, “He was probably right.” That’s when he found his current ‘41 Plymouth on Racing Junk and bought it as a “roller.” The car had no engine or transmission and they had to totally rewire it and put in all the aluminum panels. From that point on, the car has been constantly evolving.

When Dave bought the car, it was heavy, weighing around 3500 pounds, and needed to shed some weight. To help accomplish that, Dave added a fiberglass front end and deck lid that he actually fabricated himself. That alone helped lighten the car up quite a bit. With one of the more eye-catching paint schemes on the track, it’s surprising to realize the car has been wearing the current paint job for 5 years, yet it still looks as fresh as the day it was painted. Dave studied a lot of pictures of other cars to come up with his own old-school design for his paint scheme, zeroing in on a few of the concepts he really liked before painting it.

Speed-wise, the car has seen a best time of 10.05 seconds, set at Maple Grove Dragway, but that was with a larger engine under the hood. The current engine combination has experienced a best E.T. of 10.20. Dave noted that wind affects the car a lot, and that is easy to understand given the large surface area of the ‘41. Although he’d like to see his car get into the 9s, Dave says, “I’m happy. I’m thankful for what I’ve got. I’m just going to leave it alone and just enjoy it.” That’s sound logic that’s hard to argue with. The previous owner ran a blown big block in the car that ran 9.40s, so it is possible to get there if Dave ever decides to go all-out. The previous owner saw Dave’s completed product at the track and told him, “I think I made a mistake.” It’s obvious Dave Fenzel didn’t make a mistake when he came up with the ideas he had for building and painting this car. The “Fast Freight” gasser, is surely fast fun for Dave Fenzel.