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Shout out to Mike Meier - just another awesome mopar nut !


timkingsbury

1,900 views

Well as the year is coming to a quick end, a shout out to a great guy and fellow Mopar Nut!

I am not 100% sure what year it was, but sometime after the earth cooled, my Dad, George Asche and I were hanging out at Chrysler Carlisle (or I guess All Chrysler Nationals) when I 1st met Mike.

I think we hit it off immediately and as my Dad said, that guy has that same twinkle in his eye as you do.. Full Throttle Trouble !

Over the years we would see Mike and his buddies, and somewhere a few years ago as we were building the AoK triple Mike commissioned George to build a high end, bore out 265 big block with an AoK triple on it, for the sole purpose of burning tires !

When we purchased the our AoK dragster, I remember bringing the attached picture to Chrysler Carlisle to show a number of people, including Mike. The picture is as it left the dragsters previous owner. He had bought it from Bartone Racing, sold off the big Top Fuel Hemi, took off the wing and tried to run in a class with a big block chevy. He was never successful.

In any case, Mike had one look at the picture and it was "holy crap" and his eyes lite up like a Christmas Tree. I know Mike has been around drag strips for a long time, but I like to think between the Mopar only Drag races

on the super old track associated with Chrysler Carlisle and maybe the Worlds Fastest Dinosaur, Mike got inspired to switch his drag racing from cars to dragsters.

Now, that may be for many,be out of the frying pan and into the fire but the more I get to know Mike, the more

I realize he isnt afraid to take on the impossible or the projects that have a lot of other saying -"why bother"..

A few years ago Mike had brought his 1951 Dodge Business Coupe to Chrysler Carlisle. We had heard him

talk about it, and the cool part is just how much of it he did. It wasnt a farm the whole thing out project.

I remember like it was yesterday, over went George, my Dad Eddy, George's son Rob, his Son and myself for super by the grand stand, and then over to the show field we went to have a look at Mike's car.

We walked up and I think my 1st words were likely like his when he saw the dragster... "holy crap". lol

What I saw was absolutely the nicest Dodge coupe I have ever seen. The workmanship, the paint, and the interior was just jaw dropping. It was the kind of thing you see on $100,000+ resto-mods that someone plows a

modern hemi in it etc. But what he had done was keep true to the drivetrain that came with it, and his custom

changes were things that the Dodge Brothers would have given 2 thumbs up.

Next when Dad and George gave it a good look over and gave it 2 thumbs up, you know Mike had built a show

winner in the eyes of the Asche's and Kingsbury's..

Over time, and as Mike started other projects I had to ask, "So Mike what will it take to buy her!"

Well, it was clear, it just wasn’t for sale, and you know what, I understand and respect that.

As time past, I found not the original car that my Dad had, but a 1941 Plymouth that was very close to his 1st car.

Rob Asche and I had driven 3 days in my race car.. well that is another story for another time.. and purchased the 1941 Plymouth. As we were coming back, having just left a huge pile of US $100 bills for the 1941 Business Coupe I remember sending a note to a few guys, Mike being one. Later on I would find out, that had I asked the day I bought my 41, I could have pried the 51 Dodge out of Mike's arms.

After a big run of car shows, with Mike finding winning as a regular occurrence I think other projects that cost $$

and a lack of using and enjoying the Dodge made it available. Unfortunately I just wasn’t in a position to

buy both.

I have to tell you I thought about it, and I thought about selling the 41 Plymouth to buy the 51 Dodge, but in the end I couldn’t pull the trigger. Over the last year, for other reasons there just is no chance I can swing the 51 Dodge business coupe still, so when someone posted on the forum looking for a very similar car, I thought, well

maybe it’s a sign, I can give Mike a hand. So today as we end 2014 Mike has moved from sort of putting the 1951 business coupe for sale, to it is definitely for sale, to the right home.

And believe me , the right home is the real story. Mike asked me yesterday what I thought he should ask. I gave him a number and to be honest I was a little surprised to see him listing it well below the number I suggested.

The other super news, is in the process, and with some help of his kids I think, is Mike has signed up and is on the P15-D24 site. That to me is the big win win as this guy is an absolute diehard Mopar Nut.

Oh.. also below his "brand new slingshot" dragster. Finished to the point he has fired it down the track, been successful and is already spending the off season making more changes. So yes, Mike is way faster than us AoK boy to get to the track... but hey, at least brother Rob (Rob Asche) took the dragster for a spin. Attached is the picture of him in the car, and yes, he literally drove it out of the garage and lite it up on Main Street Fertigs !

And who knows, maybe the AoK dinosaur may have to square off against the Meier-Mania (my words) dragster !

of course he has 8 cylinders and we only have 6 so he should give us a 25% head start.. lol.. 25% more cylinders, sounds fair doesn’t it ? rofl..

Well again, a huge Shout Out To Mike.. and while I am sad in some way to see his car listed...

http://p15-d24.com/classifieds/item/806-relunctant-sale-1951-dodge-wayfarer-business-coupe/

Well maybe I can kidnap him sometime and redo the paint of my baby, the 1949 Plymouth Business Coupe..

To be honest while I can find tons of guys with way more experience, I cant think of anyone I would rather have. Just think in his 1951 Dodge, you get "ground zero" which was the labor of love for hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of hours !

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