From Gary Morgan:
"The info that Old Yeller VII was sold
as a bare chassis to an upstate N.Y. racer is not totally correct; the
car was actually built by Max B. for an upstate N.Y. racer named Don Kirby.
It was built complete with a body and without the engine. The engine was
built by a Rochester N.Y. engine builder named Jess Healen who Kirby later
worked for building engines. Kirby raced the car in 1963 and possibly
1964 on a few occasions, the car was later sold to a Xerox engineer and
I lost track of it. I believe Don is now living somewhere in Florida."
From Ron Cummings:
"I am puzzled by the Old Yeller VII photo.
It looks like the later aluminum body? Max would most likely have
used the pontoon fender style had he
built the body because he knew enough to exhaust the air out of the engine
compartment to increase motor cooling and reduce front end lift.
Don Kirby was living in the Carolina's Outer Banks the last I heard."
From Author & Historian Brock Yates
(email to Ron Cummings):
"Here's the real deal on Old Yeller VII's
body. The original was a fiberglass Devin based on a Ferrari TR.
Weight approx that of a Kenworth dump truck. The second body, in
aluminum that faintly resembled a Birdcage Maser, was done by Dick Lane
in Trumansburg, N.Y. whose specialty, as I recall, was custom aircraft
interiors with a sideline in race car repair and fabrication. This
is the body that's on the car -- at least the last time I saw the car in
Jimmy Dobbs' collection."
Link to a photo
of Old Yeller VII at VIR from "Racing
Sports Cars". |
