"The Coolest Car Guy Story Ever"…….for me.
By Jimmy Gaboury
The Story that Opened the Door
In 2006 I wrote "My Memories of Flathead’s Revenge," about the Model A Sedan D/A drag car of The Indian, Mike Struzinski. The Revenge, as we call it today, is in the collection in Harrisburg, South Dakota, where Joe Floyd has 1936 Fords and other great flathead cars.
We see it regularly, as it just made an appearance at the "CRUZE to Jimmy’s" Car Show in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, on June 7, 2008. It will also be at Thunder Valley Raceways in Marion, South Dakota, where our car club, the Nostalgia SuperChargers, will be at the track, with Craig Floyd driving for drag events. We should also see it again at Brainerd International Raceway this summer. By the way, The Revenge ran a 13 flat with a little nitro in the mix. The Indian would be dancing!
In 2006 I wrote "My Memories of Flathead’s Revenge," about the Model A Sedan D/A drag car of The Indian, Mike Struzinski. The Revenge, as we call it today, is in the collection in Harrisburg, South Dakota, where Joe Floyd has 1936 Fords and other great flathead cars.
We see it regularly, as it just made an appearance at the "CRUZE to Jimmy’s" Car Show in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, on June 7, 2008. It will also be at Thunder Valley Raceways in Marion, South Dakota, where our car club, the Nostalgia SuperChargers, will be at the track, with Craig Floyd driving for drag events. We should also see it again at Brainerd International Raceway this summer. By the way, The Revenge ran a 13 flat with a little nitro in the mix. The Indian would be dancing!
In that article, I wrote about where Flathead’s Revenge was built, The Grease Pit Lounge. The Grease Pit was a place with rows of old rental garages on the east side of St. Paul where my brother Jerry Gaboury and the car club the "Dualateers of St. Paul" built their hot cars and threw back some beers. "We cruised through the Grease Pit parking lot in Jerry’s hot yellow 55 Chevy post," I wrote, "which we believe was one of or may be the first big block 55’s in the Twin Cities, or perhaps on the planet, circa 1959."
With a 30 over 348, Jahns pistons, Isky 505 cam, and some head work, the first Rat ran 13’s at Twin City and Minnesota Dragways and won a mess of trophies that I’ve had on display at my shop forever. Needless to say, my big brother Jerry, the first Rat 55, and the Dualateers all fueled my love of hot cars, drag racing, and classic car restoration. Jerry, whom many know as "Bones," sold the first Rat yellow 55 in 1962 and went on to other great cars, his latest being Bad to the Bone, a nostalgia front engine dragster with (of course) a blown Big Block Chevy. His latest Rat runs 7:40’s.
For the past five or six years I have been a vendor at "Back to the 50’s," the Minnesota Street Rod Association’s biggest and best car event, promoting my auto restoration and sales company, Jimmy’s Custom Rods and Classics, or Jimmy’s CRC. (You can check us out at www.jimmyscrc.com). Last year at our booth next to the MSRA t-shirt shack, we were displaying our cars and handing out brochures when two east side St. Paul gentlemen came up to me and asked if I were "Jimmy," and if I were the one that wrote the article on "Flathead’s Revenge." When I replied "that be me," one of the two brothers said that he was the one that purchased that hot yellow 55 from my brother in 1962. He went on to say that he still has the car and thought that "we needed to own it".
It seemed like an eternity, but just after "50’s" he called and said that he was willing to have us take a look at the car. I wanted to make a big production and bring some kind of film team, but he asked us to please keep it simple. He didn’t want all kinds of people knowing where the car was. On July 10, 2007, my son Justin and I headed for east St. Paul. As we cruised through the east side, little did we realize that the car had been five minutes from my folks’ house where my siblings and I grew up. Think about it! All these years, 45 years, it was just down the road in somebody’s back yard! Remember, my brother Jerry sold this car in 1962. I was twelve years old in ‘62 and hadn’t seen it since. I decided to keep this all a secret from Jerry, although it was very hard not to let the "Rat" out of the bag, so to speak. I did give in and told a few people, and then became worried because I heard back from others that it was so cool that I had found my brother’s car! I thought it was out, over - the surprise that is - but no.
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