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From: alumcan
Email: alumcan300dhd@aol.com
Remote Name: 205.188.208.137
Date: January 14, 2003
Time: 10:53:30
The story I got, (9 (?) owners not counting me) Craig Stephens had the car only one year, then traded. The car was then bought by a service guy from the Pikeville Ky area. It was abused mostly on the coal mine strip roads, and what ever outlaw drag strips. The motor only lasted a year. Next owner was from the Carleston WV area, and never changed to title over. Then the Coiner brothers got the car, and installed a '61 383 stick out of a wrecked St. Albans cop car. They are the ones that told me about the dash plack(s) that mentioned that this car was bought new by Carig Stephens and was supposidly used a few times on his TV shows. They throwed away BOTH placks. The Coiner brothers raced the car in the early 70's. According to several (older) Street Rodders I Know down there, that car was unbeatable then. Oh, the color was changed by the 2nd Pikeville Ky owner to black. Next a St Albans collage kid got the car then parked it. Next owner was a co-owner of one of the toughest beer gardens in this area. You had to fight to get in and try and fight to get out. Many times there was a fights/shootings/stabings out into Rt 19. It got to the point that a State Police Cruser on Fri and Sat nights sat down at the end of the straight-a-way to nab drunks/try and control fights. Finally the palce burnt down. The fire dept wouldn't respond. I think by order of the sherrif. Anyway, somehow when they got it, the Coiners had swapped back the orginal knocking 350 and told them it was a 383. The Beer garden owner sold/traded/ to his brother along the WV PA border. It sat untill '77 when the county went on a junk car witch hunt, and it got hauled to the closed yard, where I got it in '83. What happened to what was left? A Chevy dude burnt my garage down. Two of the biggest MoPar haters bougt the guy a steak dinner for ridding the world of 'junkey' MoPars. I had gone out to Einstine's neck of the woods and picked up a almost rust free 318 2bbl '58 Fury to do a number motor swap. The Gunn Fury, the body was falling off the frame from rust by this time. It had laid on its side the whole time in the yard. So all I have left is the title, bumpers/wings a extea 2 4 set up, linkage etc, and that 350 stick motor that I sunk $2,700 1983'4'5 dollars in, to totaly re-build. It was never fired and wasn't hurt in the fire. But I lost several other valuable things, three 150 speedometers, one complete set of NOS Fury gold, plug several sets of good used silver/gold inserts. I had unough parts I probably could have built two '58's. Back then right after the move, the number of people interisted in Christines/58 Furys wasn't near what it is today! But the movie did bring out all of these parts that have been hidden away, mostly not knowing actully what the part was really for! The one NOS Fury Gold Quarter piece, the 'junkey wooden' packaging actually fell apart as I was carrying it down from a dealer's attic. These parts were litterly falling into my lap. Someone would come up to me and say, "I know where there is a part that looks like that car in the moivie that goes around killing people. Sure enough, there would be either a very nice or NOS piece. Right before the fire, I was working on piecing together the fulie unit. Why? I had no need for it, I guess, I want to have it and could maybe sell later down the road. One part was in Ringling OK the other supposidly was in Wisconsin. There was supposidly a Plymouth that looked like the 'movie car' pulled out of some river up in NYC that had a very funny looking 2 4 set up. I got ahold of the guy, but he talked too fast and I talk too slow, and the only two words I understood was Hah, and Smuck. I called him 9 times pleading for him to get someone who I could understand, before he finally changed his phone #. After the fire, that's when practilly everything went down hill for me. First the Insh. company wasn't going to pay for my garage, they defiantly were NOT going to pay for any old cars, trailers, parts, tools and such. I spent a couple days in the nut ward at the hospital over this deal. Then the layoffs started, then totaly lost my job. I can't turn my garage into a place of business, Insurance co. will not give me liability on the garge. The only place that hires old farts is minumium wage, $5.50 hour. Anyway, if someone had a '58 Fury they could very easily turn in into the Peter Gunn Fury. I got the title, and new motor. According to Ma Mopar back then, less than 50 were 350 stick's That's my story and I'm sticking to it. However I do have two alblums of pictures, paint #'s, information. Several rolls of film of the aftermath of the fire.
