The "Soul Survivor" comp coupe was built in large part by the Std 1320 group. I attended my first CHRR in 2001, I got to witness the Magic Car and Vagabond at the In and Out burger get together. Seeing those cars and what they represented made a huge impact on me. I knew right there and then, I wanted to help keep the "flame" going and was committed to bringing the "Cackle" back to the east coast. I searched for a car that I thought would best reflect my feelings of what these cars where all about.
Years later while picking up a race car trailer, I stumbled across a old front engine dragster in Indiana, it was rough and at first, I was going to pass on it. I told the guy who was trying to sell it that I would post pics on the Std. 1320 and see if there was any interest. The first person to respond to my post was Pat Foster, Pat pointed out some details that made him believe it was a Don Long chassis, the owner of the car only knew, it was raced in northern New Jersey as a top fuel car. With Pat's urging, I bought the dragster and brought it home to Pennsylvania.
Over the next few years, I attempted to find some history on the car, but came up empty. With no history found, I decided to build the car into what I thought represented a time period that I cherished as a kid. With help from the Std. 1320 group, I accumulated all the parts/knowledge I needed to assemble my dream car. I started assembling the 1967 style dragster with the parts I had, but as I progressed, I wasn't happy with the "look" of the project. Without any history on the car, it lacked something, this is when I decided to make a comp coupe version. The comp coupes to me where some of the baddest looking cars I ever seen. With thoughts of Eddie Potter's Sudden Death, Pete Millars and Flamin Franks coupes, I decided to go in this direction.
The "Soul Survivor" is my interpretation of what 1960's drag racing is all about, when each car was a extension of the builders personality. The "Soul Survivor" name fit perfectly to me, as it captured the "Soul" of the era I was trying to replicate. I know a lot of people frown that its not an original, but to me, it captures the era as well as any original. The NHRR was the first time we had the chance to show the drag racing world our creation. The response was beyond what I thought it would be.
I really appreciate all the nice comments, but the one that I have to disagree with is that its even in the same league as Patty's version of the Flamin Frank coupe. To me Pat Foster is in a entire world of his own. He was the the driving force behind my efforts and will always be my hero. As far as the S&S race team, Dave Hales, Fred Bear and the entire team have adopted me and my team as honorary members, each and everyone of my cars have the S&S logos on them. The "Soul Survivor" is what the team is about as well, they are the "Soul" of what drag racing was all about.... Rocky
