SS & DI’S PROJECT SUPER MODIFIED RESTORED
Sat, 2009-08-29 16:28
Joe Spinelli loves old cars, especially the ones he admired within the
hallowed pages of the now defunct Super Stock & Drag Illustrated. 
That’s
why when the opportunity to purchase one of the magazine’s more popular
project cars, Spinelli didn’t think twice about buying.
Spinelli, who lives in southeast Pennsylvania, purchased the former Project Super Mod car driven to an Indy victory by Arlen Fadely, and restored the classic Ford to original specs. The classic Ford is also the same vehicle Mike Edwards drove to the final NHRA Modified world championship in 1981.
“I’d like to think these cars deserve restoration,” said Spinelli, who consulted extensively with the car’s original builder Arlen Fadely on the project. “I don’t do this as a business. It’s purely a hobby.”
That’s why when the opportunity to purchase one of the magazine’s more popular project cars, Spinelli didn’t think twice about buying.
Spinelli, who lives in southeast Pennsylvania, purchased the former Project Super Mod car driven to an Indy victory by Arlen Fadely, and restored the classic Ford to original specs. The classic Ford is also the same vehicle Mike Edwards drove to the final NHRA Modified world championship in 1981.
“I’d like to think these cars deserve restoration,” said Spinelli, who consulted extensively with the car’s original builder Arlen Fadely on the project. “I don’t do this as a business. It’s purely a hobby.”
Spinelli discovered the car online and it was far from the original specs with red paint and gold stripes. He made a special trip to Detroit in order to authenticate the find and seek purchase.
“It was raced up until about three years before the gentleman put it up for sale,” Spinelli said. “He had it set up with engine, transmission and all of the electronics.”
Spinelli wasn’t interested in the powertrain combination. He wanted the body.
The seller was interested only in selling the car as a whole.
Spinelli returned home and he doesn’t recall exactly whether it was a phone conversation or email correspondence which led the owner to accept his offer for only the car, minus all the other items.
“I told him that he could take whatever he wanted off the car, I just wanted the body,” Spinelli said.
Spinelli towed his trailer to Detroit and took delivery of the car. He also met Fadely to discuss the original build of the car.
“He gave me the lowdown on the car,” Spinelli explained. “He also provided me with a few items, one of which helped me tremendously.”
That item was the car’s original paint chip.
“It was good that he did that because it is a pearlescent orange,” Spinelli added. “It had gold flake. I would never have been able to reproduce the paint.”
Fadely also supplied Spinelli with a score of one-off parts.
Spinelli brought the Maverick home and initially did nothing towards the restoration. He wanted to thoroughly research the project and develop a game plan.
“I knew very little about the car,” Spinelli explained. “I had seen it in the magazines. I took a year just to acquire all of the magazines and talk to previous owners.”
He began the project in July 2007 and while the endeavor is nearly complete, he’s still missing a few details, details of which he expects to have completed within the next month.
“When I received the car, it had morphed into something different,” Spinelli said.
The one common denominator of the car with its owners was that it was a winning combination. Reportedly, the third owner of the car, Scott Mann of MPG Head Service, had earned a living based on the winnings.
The devil is in the details for Spinelli. The details are what motivated Spinelli.
“The car had disc brakes all the way around,” Spinelli explained. “It had a Ford small block Windsor engine and automatic transmission. It was set up pretty slick but I looked past all of that to the rolling chassis.”
Spinelli purchased a similar Maverick as a parts car to provide the parts needed to restore the drum brakes and the trim parts.
“The stainless steel parts I was able to save,” Spinelli explained. “The anodized aluminum stuff I went out scrounging parts. There was a lot of labor an elbow grease went into the project.”
So what project is next?
The old Rickie Smith/Keith Fowler Maverick comes to mind, all he needs to do is find it.
That’s
why when the opportunity to purchase one of the magazine’s more popular
project cars, Spinelli didn’t think twice about buying.Spinelli, who lives in southeast Pennsylvania, purchased the former Project Super Mod car driven to an Indy victory by Arlen Fadely, and restored the classic Ford to original specs. The classic Ford is also the same vehicle Mike Edwards drove to the final NHRA Modified world championship in 1981.
“I’d like to think these cars deserve restoration,” said Spinelli, who consulted extensively with the car’s original builder Arlen Fadely on the project. “I don’t do this as a business. It’s purely a hobby.”
That’s why when the opportunity to purchase one of the magazine’s more popular project cars, Spinelli didn’t think twice about buying.Spinelli, who lives in southeast Pennsylvania, purchased the former Project Super Mod car driven to an Indy victory by Arlen Fadely, and restored the classic Ford to original specs. The classic Ford is also the same vehicle Mike Edwards drove to the final NHRA Modified world championship in 1981.
“I’d like to think these cars deserve restoration,” said Spinelli, who consulted extensively with the car’s original builder Arlen Fadely on the project. “I don’t do this as a business. It’s purely a hobby.”
Spinelli discovered the car online and it was far from the original specs with red paint and gold stripes. He made a special trip to Detroit in order to authenticate the find and seek purchase.
“It was raced up until about three years before the gentleman put it up for sale,” Spinelli said. “He had it set up with engine, transmission and all of the electronics.”
Spinelli wasn’t interested in the powertrain combination. He wanted the body.
The seller was interested only in selling the car as a whole.
Spinelli returned home and he doesn’t recall exactly whether it was a phone conversation or email correspondence which led the owner to accept his offer for only the car, minus all the other items.
“I told him that he could take whatever he wanted off the car, I just wanted the body,” Spinelli said.
Spinelli towed his trailer to Detroit and took delivery of the car. He also met Fadely to discuss the original build of the car.“He gave me the lowdown on the car,” Spinelli explained. “He also provided me with a few items, one of which helped me tremendously.”
That item was the car’s original paint chip.
“It was good that he did that because it is a pearlescent orange,” Spinelli added. “It had gold flake. I would never have been able to reproduce the paint.”
Fadely also supplied Spinelli with a score of one-off parts.
Spinelli brought the Maverick home and initially did nothing towards the restoration. He wanted to thoroughly research the project and develop a game plan.
“I knew very little about the car,” Spinelli explained. “I had seen it in the magazines. I took a year just to acquire all of the magazines and talk to previous owners.”
He began the project in July 2007 and while the endeavor is nearly complete, he’s still missing a few details, details of which he expects to have completed within the next month.“When I received the car, it had morphed into something different,” Spinelli said.
The one common denominator of the car with its owners was that it was a winning combination. Reportedly, the third owner of the car, Scott Mann of MPG Head Service, had earned a living based on the winnings.
The devil is in the details for Spinelli. The details are what motivated Spinelli.
“The car had disc brakes all the way around,” Spinelli explained. “It had a Ford small block Windsor engine and automatic transmission. It was set up pretty slick but I looked past all of that to the rolling chassis.”
Spinelli purchased a similar Maverick as a parts car to provide the parts needed to restore the drum brakes and the trim parts.
“The stainless steel parts I was able to save,” Spinelli explained. “The anodized aluminum stuff I went out scrounging parts. There was a lot of labor an elbow grease went into the project.”
So what project is next?
The old Rickie Smith/Keith Fowler Maverick comes to mind, all he needs to do is find it.
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