1958 Ed Williams Speedster

Ed Williams of Fithian, Illinois, enjoyed a reputation as one of the best farm machinery repairmen and fabricators in the corn belt - 'An auto age village blacksmith.' His objective was to come up with a car that could be used on the road and compete in the 'Flying Mile' runs at Daytona, and he succeeded. The striking appearance of the car makes it difficult to believe that one man in his welding shop on a limited budget built it. It closely resembles the Kurtis-Kraft roadsters of the early 1950s. The all-steel body was built by hand with Cadillac clutch disc, 1940 Ford front brakes, 1955 Mercury rear brakes, differential rear axle and drive shaft, Pontiac taillights, Chevrolet Swiss Red Lacquer paint, and original Stewart Warner gauges including a 160 mph speedometer set in the original aluminum dash behind the original Plexiglas windshield. The powerplant is a 427 Ford with a top loader, which was installed in 1964 after blowing up the dual quad, milled heads 1950 Oldsmobile engine. The subject of magazine articles of the 1950s and 1960s, the car has continued to win trophies and turn heads with its original paint and interior.