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phone calls, it became clear that the
guy was tapped out on cash and stor-
age space and was willing to sell the
car. On that news, Bigham hitched the
trailer and headed to Ohio. What he
found was the complete undamaged
chassis and bare body sitting there
separated under the carport, while the
rest of the panels were tucked away
inside. Long gone were the Hemi,
Torqueflite, headers, pumpkin, seat, and
steering wheel. The body was still in
one piece, but the time stored outside
had taken its toll. Much of the paint
on the side that was exposed to the
elements had faded away. The rest of
the body panels were in excellent con-
dition due to their sheltered storage.
“I questioned what I was getting
myself into. This car was in pieces,” Big-
ham says. “When I pulled into my drive-
way, my wife was convinced I had lost
my mind.” All the parts were unloaded
into his barn, where they would sit for a
few years because he wasn’t able to
devote any time to the car.
It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that
Bigham managed to start turning some
wrenches on Chevoom. Some friendly
persuasion from a friend got the ball
rolling, so he set out to reinstall all the
body panels and put a drivetrain back
in the car.
Since it was Hemi-powered, a 392 in
place of the original 354 was installed,
along with a shortened Art Carr
Torqueflite and period-correct blower.
None of it actually worked, but at least
the car was a displayable roller, even if
everything looked tired. About a yearprior to the 50th anniversary of the
Ridler Award, Rupp called him and
asked if he could bring the car back to
Autorama, as they were trying to get
as many former Ridler Award winners
together as possible. The catch was
that they wanted the car restored. His
reply was, “Maynard, I am just not
financially in a position where I can
afford to do it right now.” In 2016, he
had a similar request. The organizers of
the Concours d’Elegance of America in
Plymouth, Michigan, asked if Chevoom
would be available for their display of
non–flip-top Funny Cars in July 2017.
At the beginning of 2017, he made
the commitment and took Chevoom to
Greg Cook at Cooks Restorations in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for what
would end up being a very tight six-
month restoration. Cook handled all the
mechanical aspects of the job, while
his employee, Bob Foote, tackled the
bodywork, paint, and graphics.
Mechanically, the car was incomplete
and locating the missing pieces fell on
Bigham’s shoulders. The biggest issue
he faced was locating a decent
replacement for the tired 392 Hemi
that was installed.
That was solved with the purchase
of a 354 Hemi from a local Mopar guy.
The machine work on the new mill was
performed by Morris Automotive
Machine in Manchester, Maryland,
while his friend, Larry “Bunk” Miller, did
all the assembly. As that was unfolding,
Foote was busy rejuvenating the fiber-
glass body. Overall, it was in decent
condition with only some signs ofdelamination on the roof, and a hole on
the C-pillar. Many hours were spent
getting the body ready for a fresh coat
of Moon Eyes Yellow.
While the restoration moved along,
Bigham was still on a search for miss-
ing parts. Items like the Chrysler
Marine U-joints and the door panels
were elusive. One task that facilitated
its completion was reapplying the let-
tering on the car. As a result of some
foresight on Bigham’s part, early on,
tracings of all the artwork were done
by his son, Andy, and would prove to
be a huge help in its completion. The
restoration was wrapped up just in
time for the show, where Rupp was
reunited with it after 51 years apart. In
2018, Chevoom returned to the Detroit
Autorama and Bigham was awarded
the Preservation Award.
If you’re wondering about the writing
on the trunk, the answer is that Chev-
oom was never a Car Craft project car.
Advertising and promotion were
completely different beasts back in
the 1960s, and magazines were the
primary outlets for information. In
exchange for the centerfold in the
June 1966 issue of Car Craft, Rupp
agreed to have the lettering placed
on the trunklid—an arrangement that
carried over into 1967 on the side of his
Cougar Funny Car.62 CAR CRAFT AUGUST 2019