Cumberland, MD. – I have to confess, the first time I walked past this car I didn’t give it much of a look, just thinking someone did a good job of building a Gasser tribute. Then Jim Frost told me to have a close look at it because it was all original. That’s the part that makes this car particularly mind-blowing.

Brian Davis was proudly showing off the “Goldrush 2,” a car actually built by his grandfather, Ted Davis, back in the 60s. What really (and I do mean really) stands out about this car is that it’s all original as it was built by Ted and never restored, yet still looks like a fresh build.

This gives you an inside look at what a race car from the 60s was all about. Brian is very proud of this car and for good reason. His grandfather, Ted did pretty much all the work on it himself and after he was through racing it, he kept it and just took excellent care of it as it was stored away. Brian filled in some of the history of the car’s past in saying, “He raced it out in Chicago and after he moved back here, home, he never raced it anymore. I got a lot of trophies from Oswego Dragway where he raced it, but it’s all original still, never restored and I’ve never changed a thing on it from the way he had it. It got handed down to my dad and then to me. It’s been in my family since the 60s.”

Not only is the car a historical monument of sorts, Davis also has some original time slips from the track, giving us undisputable evidence this car was a stout performer back in the day. And in addition to the time slips, there were also a couple of trophies on display, one from ’67 and another from ’69. There’s also one from the Mid-American Car Show when the car was first completed. I’m pretty sure this car could roll into a car show today and walk away with the same award. Brian Davis would agree with that as he says, “My granddad was pretty handy guy. “About the trophies, Davis would go on to say, “I have a lot of them, just too many to bring and some’s not in the best of shape. The black on the trophy says Oswego Dragway that’s where he raced it at, out in Illinois. He went out there for work in the early 50s 60s. It’s showing its age a little bit but for as old as it is it looks pretty good still. He kept it up on the lift in his garage for many years.”

Amazingly, the car still has its’ original 327 engine from its’ racing days and it still looks like it could go rounds at the track. There is one minor detail that hasn’t changed. Davis confessed, “The only thing different that I know, it sat for so many years and he had a hard time getting it started, it had a magneto on it and he took that off and put a distributor back on it, so it doesn’t have the magneto on it anymore. We finally got it running again and it starts up fairly easy and I’ll try to get it running a couple times a year now just keep everything, all the parts, moving.”

This is another example of the quality cars and people you run into at Frosty’s Hot Rod Show. If you’ve never taken this show, you need to make it a point to go there next year. Great people, great cars, and all for a great cause! Mark your calendars and be there!

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