| From Gary Morgan:
"The info that Old Yeller
VII was sold as a bare chassis to an upstate N.Y. racer is not totally
correct; the car was actually built by Max B. for an upstate N.Y. racer
named Don Kirby. It was built complete with a body and without the
engine. The engine was built by a Rochester N.Y. engine builder named Jess
Healen who Kirby later worked for building engines. Kirby raced the
car in 1963 and possibly 1964 on a few occasions, the car was later sold
to a Xerox engineer and I lost track of it. I believe Don is now
living somewhere in Florida."
From Ron Cummings:
"I am puzzled by the Old
Yeller VII photo. It looks like the later aluminum body? Max
would most likely have used the pontoon fender
style had he built the body because he knew enough to exhaust the air
out of the engine compartment to increase motor cooling and reduce front
end lift. Don Kirby was living in the Carolina's Outer Banks the
last I heard."
From Author & Historian
Brock Yates (email to Ron Cummings):
"Here's the real deal
on Old Yeller VII's body. The original was a fiberglass Devin based
on a Ferrari TR. Weight approx that of a Kenworth dump truck.
The second body, in aluminum that faintly resembled a Birdcage Maser, was
done by Dick Lane in Trumansburg, N.Y. whose specialty, as I recall, was
custom aircraft interiors with a sideline in race car repair and fabrication.
This is the body that's on the car -- at least the last time I saw the
car in Jimmy Dobbs' collection."
Link to a photo
of Old Yeller VII at VIR from "Racing
Sports Cars".
|