I bought this car from a gentleman in Orlando, Florida by the name of Ed Lukas. Ed is a NHRA world record holder and personally knew Don Carlton. Ed hired Don to build him a Pro Stoker and this is how the story began.

The car was finished in 1980, but never saw the track, until I bought it in 2000. The rolling chassis had been in storage for quite some time and was in need of a lot of TLC. The car has been completely updated with a new Konis and springs - front and rear. The four link was tweeked by Jerry Bickle and a set of new 60 inch Bickle wheelie bars were installed. A new 6:18 rear gear, tires and all new brakes were installed and the chassis was reworked to fit a Chrysler custom 904 trans from Justice Racing Transmissions (Creston, IA). The front end has an original Pinto rack and custom--built Carlton spindles, gold-anodized pieces, that are offset. The front suspension is a Carlton custom A-arm design. The original gel cell was removed and two Holley blue pumps were replaced by a 2-gallon jazz cell and a big product engineering pump, all relocated to the front of the car. The power comes from two 16 volt Turbo Start batteries that are relayed to the engine by a MSD7AL3 ignition box.

I bought this car because one doesn’t see many 80 Volares that are stretched and slammed to the ground and although the car is considered an antique, it is very up-to-date. With a W-8 small block and me in the car, race-ready, it tips the scales at 2,400 pounds, even.

We’ve only made sixteen 1/8th mile passes on the car, we have 60-footed the best, a 1.24 and went 5.68 ET. I project that the car will 60 foot 1.20 and with a little engine tweeking should go 5.50, with its’ current engine combination.

I really wanted to turn some heads when I showed up at the track and made a few passes. So when it came time to put together an engine I decided to go with a very exotic W-8 motor. My combination consists of a R3 block with a Sonny Bryant 3.25 stroke crank. Groden aluminum rods and custom Patterson racing pistons from BME. The cam is a 60 mm special grid and keyed jessel lifter move comp cam push rods. The heads are W-8 Mopars that flow 378 intake, 267 exhaust and are filled with titanium valves and Manley triple springs topped off by 1.7 jessel rockers. The intake is a custom sheet metal piece with a single custom worked 1050 Holley. This combination netted 720 HP on Patterson’s dyno at 8700 rpm.

Special thanks go out to engine builder Steve Luther, Creston, Iowa.