Robbie Davis Cleans up his Act

By Tony Thacker

Robbie Davis, a member of the Estranged car club of Portland, Oregon, is one of those guys who finds the right stuff, stuff the rest of us pass up, or worse, completely miss. Take these two Gassers for instance: They were raced in the Pacific Northwest by Erwin Homeyer in the early ’60s and Robbie spent almost 10 years reassembling the team.

People often wax poetic about barn finds, and even though they might not be a common occurrence, it is true that some race cars have been found languishing in someone’s garage or out in the back forty, like these two original ’60s Gassers. Their story begins in 1962 in Santa Rosa, California, where Ed Binggeli, proprietor of Bing’s Speed Shop, campaigned an F/Gas ’41 Willys. The primrose yellow coupe was cleaning up with ETs in the mid-12s and speeds of 105 mph and higher.

The car first appeared as a postage-stamp-sized shot in the June 1962 issue of Hot Rod Magazine included in a feature on the Half Moon Bay Drags. The writer said that it, “…proceeded to turn back many bigger boys.” There was enough reader interest to merit a four-page feature of Ed’s racer, which appeared in the November 1962 issue of Hot Rod.

The secret behind Ed’s racing success was his flathead Ford. Using a 1941 truck block, Ed gave it a 3⁄16-inch over-bore and fitted a ¼-inch stroker and 1949 Merc crank to increase the displacement from 239 to 286 ci. (The key to Ed’s and many hot flatheads’ success was the reworked crank lightened by 15 pounds then drilled, peened, polished and balanced.) The rods were fitted with Forgedtrue pistons and Pedrick rings. Ed put many hours into the Offy aluminum heads, shaping and smoothing the ports. He even fitted baffles into the siamesed middle pair of exhaust ports for improved flow. Likewise, the valves were given a lot of attention: He used 1 5⁄8-inch intakes and 1 ½-inch exhausts and fitted them with Lincoln Zephyr springs. The final compression ratio came to 9.5:1. An Isky 404A cam was used in conjunction with Isky’s solid lifters.

Three Stromberg 48s sat on top of the Weiand intake and were fed by a Bendix electric fuel pump; a manual-advance Harman-Collins distributor lit the fuel. Ed also removed the generator for racing. Incidentally, the 10-inch carb stacks were made from Ford V-8 60 cylinder sleeves. A Weber steel-faced flywheel and pressure plate with a 10-inch Velvetouch disc transferred torque to the 1939 Ford transmission, and he eventually added a Halibrand quick-change with 1934 Ford axles and 1940 Ford brakes.

In its first six outings this winning combination, according to Hot Rod, “set three new strip records for its class, took Street Eliminator honors twice, placed in Little Eliminator twice and remained undefeated in class.” Best time for the coupe was an ET of 12.65 with a top speed of 106.38 mph.

Like many readers, Erwin Homeyer noted Ed’s success and started building his own ’39 Willys racer. Impressed with the performance of Ed’s flathead, Erwin called him about building an identical engine. Apparently too busy, Ed agreed to sell Erwin the one out of his car. While waiting for the engine to arrive, Erwin had Earl Schieb give his Willys a $19.95 blue paint job, and then he went racing.

For four years he cleaned up, but there were two clouds on his horizon. The officials at his local track in Woodburn, Oregon, thought the “finger” he had painted on the side was offensive, and they made him remove it. In its place he painted a head sticking its tongue out. Worse, he was never able to better Ed’s times, running a best of 12.7 seconds.

Wanting to go faster and knowing the Willys was too heavy, Erwin had been tracking a pink ’48 Anglia for some time. Unfortunately, it was owned by two women who refused to sell, until one day, when he found it on the side of the road with a blown rearend. He located the owners and bought it for 50 bucks. He stripped the running gear out of the Willys and slotted it into the Anglia. Like the Willys, the Anglia was given the Earl Schieb treatment, but to his dismay, Erwin discovered that the price had gone up 50% to $29.95. Arguing that it was a smaller car, Erwin questioned how it could cost more money.

Erwin raced the Anglia throughout 1967, but changes to the class structure were being made, so he decided to quit racing. Erwin’s cars were pushed into the back of the Homeyer building on Union Street in North Portland, where they sat for decades until the building was purchased and the cars disappeared.

Almost 40 years later, Robbie Davis was helping a friend pick up a ’56 Nomad in Scappoose, Oregon, which is about 20 miles from Portland. There, tucked in the corner of the barn, was the Homeyer Willys. The car wasn’t for sale, but after several months of persistent calling, Robbie was able to purchase it. History on the car was scant. Three years passed until a chance meeting with the current owner of the Homeyer building let Robbie know that Erwin was still alive. Robbie got in touch with Erwin and sucked up the Willys’s history in order to help with its restoration. Always in the back of his mind, though, was a nagging desire to find the Anglia.

The resurrection and preservation of these vintage drag cars by enthusiasts like Robbie Davis is a fitting tribute to the pioneers who built the sport.

The Willys was really rough and needed major surgery. Obviously, because it had gone in the Anglia, the complete drivetrain was missing. The firewall, floor, trunk and roll cage had all been torched out too. Robbie’s initial plan was to restore the car with a flathead, but he ultimately decided upon a small-block Chevy. He wanted to drive and race the car, and besides, the Chevy had been lying in a corner of his garage for 12 years, so why not use it? Also, in his conversations with Erwin he learned that Erwin had planned to replace the flattie with a small-block or a 348, so Robbie had no qualms about his engine choice. Robbie boxed the original frame, fabricated a new cross member, installed his 383 with an 850 Holley, and added a Liberty four-speed and a 1957 Olds rear axle located near the 1936 Ford pickup wishbones.

Robbie had not given up on the Anglia. He eventually discovered that it was owned by Tom Sherwood, but it wasn’t for sale. Following five years of negotiations, Tom and Robbie finally came to an agreement, and in 2012, the Anglia and the Willys were reunited.

The Anglia was in remarkably original condition, it retained the original drivetrain, including the dual-coil Kong ignition, and possibly one of only three Isky 505 cams in existence. According to Ed Iskenderian, he only made three 505s: one was stolen, he gave one to a friend, and he sold the third to a racer in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps this was the third cam. Missing were the original Offenhauser heads, which had been replaced by Edelbrocks; however, Erwin had them and they were soon reunited with the car. Erwin also had his original racing helmet, championship jacket and timing slips from Woodburn and McMinnville. The car was even sitting on its original trailer with the 1967 license tags.

Three months later, with a new lick of paint for the Anglia by Aaron Clyde of Southbound Customs and lettering by Spiderman, the two cars were tearing it up at Eagle Field and Toutle just as they had at Woodburn and McMinnville 50 years earlier. In the 1⁄8-mile, the Willys ran a best of 7.00 with an 11.50 for the quarter. The Anglia has only run the 1⁄8 with a best of 7.60.

Robbie had been planning a match race reunion with Ed Binggeli, who had built a replica of his Willys in 2013. Unfortunately, Ed passed away at age 91 before the race could take place. The resurrection and preservation of these vintage drag cars by enthusiasts like Robbie Davis is a fitting tribute to the pioneers who built the sport.

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