Description
'Honest Charley' was built as a drag-racer back in the late 60's. This P-Code, 390CI 330 HP, 4-speed Galaxie fastback is the original 1974 AHRA Stock Record holder owned and raced by Bill Samuels from 1967 to 1976.
'Honest Charley' was built by J&E Automotive (long-time racers Johnny and Eddie Bone of Pea Ridge, Arkansas). The Galaxie was sponsored by Honest Charley’s Speed Shop of Tulsa, Oklahoma and raced at Tulsa, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, and Green Valley Race City in Smithfield, Texas.
Charley has been very well cared for and kept in good condition by a few different collectors since it was retired from racing. Charley is a very original car that benefited from a refresh and underbody detailing in the early 1990’s. Every effort was made to maintain the hand-painted signwriting exactly the way it was lettered when it was raced in the late 1960’s and early 70’s.
Charley is pretty much as-built in 1967, with glass-fibre wings, bonnet and rear bumper, with an aluminium front bumper, and no heater, A/ C or brake servo.
I believe the engine is ‘as raced’ in period, with big cams, period Accel distributor and Hooker headers. The original gearbox was swapped out for a T10 at some point.
The main yellow ‘Honest Charley’ logos are all hand-painted, and the car is signed by the signwriter.
I bought Charley in 2020 from a collector in Santa Monica, who had used Charley for twelve years or so for local car shows with his son and grandson. Charley arrived in the UK on 30th October 2020, and was UK registered on 1st December 2020.
The required MOT threw up a couped of issues, like leaking brake lines. I replaced the brake master cylinder and front brake lines with a Wilwood, and added a bias adjuster.
The T10 gearbox tended to jump out of third gear on hard acceleration, so I removed it and had it rebuilt by Competition Transmission Services, with torque locks. When refitted, I put in a new flywheel and McLeod clutch, and rebuilt the Holley carb. It's been great ever since.
I discovered some dodgy wiring behind the dash, so whilst converting the lights to UK spec, I replaced a part of the front loom, as well as a new voltage regulator, horns, washer bottle and pump, and fuel sender unit. I also added a battery isolator switch.
When Charley arrived, he had 14" Cragars on the front and 15" on the rear. So I replaced the fronts with 15", and put new Cooper Cobra tyres on all round. Charley also came with a pair of M/ H rear steel wheels with slicks, which stay with the car.
A recent change is the front seats. Charley came with a very heavy pair of Bostrom suspension seats, which I replaced for a pair of custom-built lightweight aluminium bomber seats. Thankfully, these proved to be very comfortable on the Le Mans trip!'Honest Charley' is an original, a survivor from the '60' and 70's! Charley never fails to turn heads, and raise a smile. And the exhaust note is something else.... like having a heavy calibre machine gun under your right foot!
Since being in the UK, Charley has been to Goodwood and Bicester a few times, plus a good few other local events. But the absolute highlight was a trip to Classic Le Mans in France last summer. The trip down was great, but the return via Bayeux, Omaha Beach and the Normandy coast was epic. Perfect roads for Charley to stretch his legs! A 400 mile round-trip and Charley never missed a beat!
I had planned to take Charley back to the drag-strip this year, through the UK Nostalgia Superstocks. But I’ve got too many other projects on the go, and so I don’t really have time to work on Charley as well. Hence trying to find a good home for Charley.
