AUGUST 2019 CARCRAFT.COM 61Visionary in Design,
Maynard Rupp’s 1966
Hemi-Powered Chevelle
Funny Car Was Recently
Reborn
Eyes Yellow paint. From there, it was
sent to Detroit pinstriper Paul Hatton.
The foundation for Chevoom was its
tube-frame chassis, built by Rupp at
Gratiot, with the engine cradled in a
detachable rear-mounted subframe.
The mid-engine design addressed
driver safety, which was further
enhanced with the addition of a full
rollcage installed by Kay Industries in
Detroit. Because construction of the
car started very late in 1965, Rupp
scrapped the idea of a 396 Chevy mill
and switched to a familiar friend from
his rail days: a 1956 Chrysler 354 Hemi
punched out to 402 ci wearing a GMC
6-71 blower mated to a Weiand mani-
fold. Backing the Hemi was an Art Carr
modified Torqueflite that was linked to
a 3.90-geared 8^3 ⁄ 4 Chrysler posi rear
with a pair of Chrysler Marine U-joints.
Before Chevoom ever made a pass
down the ’strip, it racked up some
serious silverware. It was entered at
the 1966 Autorama, where it won the
prestigious Ridler Award and also a tro-
phy for Best Engineered Car in Show.
When it finally hit the track, Rupp
spent much of 1966 match-racing it
and earned quite a large pile of cash.
While he was still racing Chevoom, he
was already building the STP-spon-
sored Cougar Country flip-top funny
car that he would go on to campaign in
1967, so the Chevelle was sold at the
end of 1966. In the Jan. 1967 issue of
Car Craft, Chevoom was listed as one
of the “10 Best Rods of 1966.” In the
hands of the new owner, it apparently
did some passes down the ’strip until
the Hemi called it quits. It was perma-
nently parked after that and it quickly
faded into obscurity. There isn’t much
known about it until it was acquired by
Ken Bigham in 1985.
His acquisition of the Chevelle tookplace as a result of pure coincidence.
At the 1984 Fall Carlisle swap meet, he
was trying to flip a race-prepped 1937
Ford Coupe. Hanging on the car was a
sign stating, “Wanted: AFX or early
funny car.” While he was sitting there, a
guy approached him, looked at the
sign, and said, “I know where there is a
car you’d be interested in.” He claimed
it was an old rear-engined Chevelle
Funny Car sitting under a carport that
he drove by every day, and he would
get the owner’s contact info. Bigham
gave the guy a business card, and
when he went home, he dug out his
old issues of Car Craft and found
Chevoom. He recalls, “When I saw it, I
thought, Oh, man, that is just killer, but
I wasn’t smart enough to get the guy’s
name and address.”
A few months passed and he finally
received a letter with the owner’s
contact info and location. After a few