Classic Rust Engineered to Perfection

We have wanted to do a story for some time about Chris King, a Montana rancher and way serious Mopar® enthusiast—he has cars stored everywhere on his ranch. We mentioned Chris in a September/October 2008 Mopar Magazine story about his friend Earl Edgerton’s passion for vintage Chryslers and planned to someday do a story, but Meryl Rygg McKenna beat us to the punch with a recent article in Montana Best Times magazine. We re-print the story below.

Words: Meryl Rygg McKenna

You can’t judge a book by its cover; and you can’t judge a man by the appearance of his pickup. If you by chance see a 1935 Dodge in need of a paint job, colored by dust from several counties, don’t assume the driver is some old codger at odds with the 21st century.

If it’s Chris King, 58 years old, from Winnett, Mont., he’s no slowpoke. His 1935 Dodge purrs along at 70 mph. It may be old on the outside, but under the hood is a whole new attitude.

“It has most of the original components,” said King. “I’ve tweaked it a bit, which dramatically improved the running and mileage—I keep up with traffic, and it gets 20 miles to the gallon.”

King understates “tweaking” just a little bit. The truck has some major modifications to the original engine and driveline. Take, for instance, the virtually one-off cylinder head. It is one of only two or three built by his friend Earl Edgerton of Santa Rosa, Calif.

“Earl (Edgerton) was a kid from Big Fork, Mont. who lives in California. He bought an old ‘33 Dodge, and somebody gave him my name for getting information on it. We became immediate friends. That was 10 years ago,” King explained.

Edgerton cast a new head for the ’35 Dodge six flathead that moves the intake valves from the block to the head. Called an “F” head by engineers, it is similar to the one Jeep® built for its little four cylinder engine back in the 1950s, though Edgerton’s is a completely new design using more modern components. King topped the engine off with three carburetors and a Fenton free-flowing exhaust manifold. The engine also has a custom-ground camshaft by Edgerton. King backs the engine up with his own overdrive system to allow more relaxed highway driving to keep up with traffic.

Lately, King has more than kept up with traffic. Through a series of fortunate events, he and some friends broke vintage car speed records the past three years at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The old Dodge pickup, though, is King’s favorite. He drives it most of the time and tucks in a handful of tools in case it stops.

“I like to drive old cars,” King said. “I don’t drive them so people can see them. I drive them because I like them. I understand how they work.”

How many cars does Chris King own?

“Well,” he stalled, “that depends on your definition of ‘car.’ Does it have to have all four wheels? Is it a car if it has no engine? I don’t know - we don’t 
keep track.”

He has his favorites, besides the pickup, that he uses occasionally—especially a ‘33 DeSoto he has used as a push car at Bonneville and ‘41 Plymouth. Many, many more are available for parts, parked in a coulee, or are tucked away under wraps.

Back to the Ranch

This rancher with an engineering degree understands old cars, but he doesn’t stop there. After college, working for an industrial equipment company, he missed the solitude of the ranch. King and his wife, Gari—pronounced “Gary”—were able to buy into his dad’s ranch piece by piece, starting with running a few cows while King worked for his father.

Eventually, they graduated from an old trailer house —snow blew through it—to a rescued foursquare from town that had fire damage in its attic. They moved the house to the ranch and, with help from friends and family, pieced together the lovely home they have now.

King is a mainstay in the close-knit Winnett community. After nine years on the local school board, he’s been county commissioner for six. He and his father use a model grazing rest-rotation system on the ranch. He has fun, too—in 2010 he played the role of town mayor in the community’s comedy/melodrama production. He drives his 1935 Dodge pickup all over the state, to meetings of stockgrowers’ associations and the Farm Bureau policy development committee. He admitted he’s been on “some state boards and things,” his voice trailing off as if in hopes the subject would change quickly. He is known in the community as a man of few words, quick to give credit to others—but also as one who gets things done. It’s a small place, he said, and when good people come asking for help, or say, “You ought to be on the school board,” well, you just get in there and do it.

He flies a 1943 Piper Cub airplane around the ranch.

“It’s not fast and it has no radios, so it’s not actually for going anywhere,” King said. “I take it up about once a week in the summer to check on cattle—it takes 15 minutes to do what would take three or four hours on the ground. It’s a very simple old airplane, perfect for ranch work.”

The Montana Dodge Boys

King’s fondness for tweaking mechanical things started early.

“Dad always played with cars,” he said. “And even as a kid, I was tinkering with them. Dad had a Model A Ford I was interested in. He said if I could get it running, I could drive it around the ranch. It got so I’d see an old car somewhere and think, ‘I can make that run.’ Of course, the dreaming is easier than the doing.”

King’s affinity for old cars played perfectly into the friendship with Edgerton that attracted other Mopar® gearheads and eventually formed the Montana Dodge Boys and their “Fast Four Special.”

“We got together at Bonneville and just observed,” said King. “In the evenings, we’d go in to Wendover and shoot the bull with other guys. Earl decided to build a car and take it to Bonneville. He raided my junk pile for parts, and I said I’d help in the pit.”

One of their new friends was Pete Hendrickson, of Bozeman, Mont. Hendrickson, in the throes of Bonneville speed fever, vowed he’d build a car for competition within a year. Edgerton bet $100 that it was impossible (he lost). Perhaps Hendrickson’s enthusiasm was, at that moment, slightly inflated, but “he’s a businessman, a manager, and he planned it all out,” King recalled.

The way King told it, Hendrickson put Tony Smith, a gunsmith and engine builder from Lewistown, Mont., in charge of the 1928 Dodge Fast Four engine. Hendrickson worked on the chassis for the 1928 Dodge Victory Six roadster and put King in charge of the drivetrain. They enlisted friends Bob Bassow, of Bozeman, and E.J. Engler, a Gallatin Gateway, Mont., architect, to shape fiberglass and “make a 1928 Roadster body presentable.” Edgerton was to cast the head and grind the cam.

Mind you, these gearheads consisted of a rancher, an architect, a restaurant owner, a gunsmith, a retired engineer, and a graphic designer. They set records at Bonneville the last three years in a row with the Fast Four Special—and one of the records, set last year belongs to King.

The guys will go around again this year—hoping for more records. (Want photos, videos and more or the team’s story? Go to fastfourspecial.com, fastfourspecial.blogspot.com and hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0903_1928_dodge_bros_victory_six_roadster/index.html. You’ll see a vintage Mopar speed fest.

Meryl Rygg McKenna can be reached at reporter2@lewistownnews.com.