As far as Lee Abrams knows, he and his twin brother Gary are the only guys goofy enough to ever turn a 1954 Kaiser-Darrin into a full-blown drag car.
In fact, they’ve done it twice.
The first time around came back in the early 1960s, when the teenagers somehow talked their dad into letting them by a battered Darrin for the princely sum of $150. The second time came many years later, when Lee discovered the faded hulk of a race car residing in Florida and got a chance to buy it back. The second time around has proven to be just as much fun as the first for the Tucson, Ariz., resident, who has turned his “Miracle Car Wash” grass roots racer into a show-stopping show pony that is still capable of turning some exhilarating times on the drag strip.
“When I got the car done and running [a second time], it was unbelievable. It was an unbelievable feeling,” says Abrams, who will be showing off the car for a second time next month at the Iola Old Car Show in Iola, Wis. “And to have it again in its racing form … it’s just amazing. I didn’t build it to race it, I built it to show it, but I built it like I was going to race it.”
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