Beech Ridge Speedway, ME, S Mod, 1969

[Maineboy]

Beech Ridge Speedway, in Scarborough, ME, was built in 1948. It was paved in '89. It is in the most southern part of the state and can draw on the Boston and Portsmouth, NH areas for spectators. Not very far to Boston. This track ran the best modifieds in the state, and the highest speeds. Runs lots of late models now and it is on a NASCAR tour. We used to go down there from Ellsworth where I lived on Sat nights just to watch these mods  race. There was a state wide engine limit of 302 cu in for a long time. Most I saw ran 301 Chevy motors. I do not know of anyone in Maine who built these kinds of cars who had college degrees. These were designed and built with "backyard engineering". I have always fondly admired the practitioners of that art. To be successful you had to be a whole combination of things. The best were geniuses. Found this picture a while back and put it on my computer. I have looked at it many times thinking about how I would build a car like this, to capture the flavor of the times, but not necessarily an exact copy. Too much info missing to build a museum replica. Maine also had a rule at the time saying these kinds of cars had to start with an automobile factory original frame. Very specifically NO custom chassis. So that is a major factor. There are many on this forum with lots of experience and knowledge of these kinds of cars. If anyone is interested I would very much like to hear your ideas on how you would approach this. What kind of original frame? What kind of suspension? What is the body from? is it more than one car that gave up it's sheet metal? It goes without saying that it will be powered by a sbc motor. Any and all details you could provide would be interesting.

Beech Ridge 1 by Nathan Pitts, on Flickr

I don't remember this particular car but saw others there along the same line. Some were quite crude, but this one looks quite well built for that time period. I want to try to build a similar car that would capture all it could from the 1969 era of the photo, in this part of the country. I have a plan but it is a ways away re this kind of car model. I talked with Larry at Big Donkey and there are wheels and tires in the mail for this. I have some thoughts  about the frame, suspension and body, that I will keep to myself right now, Dont want to put ideas in anyone's mind. But  if you are interested and have some knowledge of the cars of this era I would very much like to see and hear your ideas on any or all parts of it.

Nathan

[David Bogard]

I am going to throw out the old MPC Wild One "36 Chevy kit as good starting place. That would also include the later AMT/Ertl 8 Ball kits and the like since they were all the same basic kit. Just throwing that out as a starter. Has the Chevy rail-frame that was so popular from the day and a few other visual clues that might make it work for you.

[Maineboy]

David, Great idea. I am definitely going to put that on my "possibles" list and hope more ideas come in.

The thing that struck me about this car was that it was well built for that era. I got a few pics of some mods slightly older than this one that are positively scary. I also had the idea that it looked like it was running like a scalded dog......just sitting still as in the picture. Your Willys coupe has that "look". It just looks like it is going to handle like it was glued to the track. I used the term "presence" above. I think a better word is "the look". That is what I would try to capture in this car. The "look" of those times, and in that place as it as different all over the country.

Nathan