New project: Hawaiian Punch Dodge Charger mini funny car…

musclecarjohn · Saturday at 12:48 PM

Hey guys, I picked this up a few years ago and am just now getting around to showing it some love.

I know very little about this one and the previous owner was a pretty crafty fabricator so I’m thinking he bought this in very rough condition and cobbled it back together in one piece…I bought it basically for a song.

I pulled the body off today and next week, it’s heading over to my sign guy for paint and lettering.
Next up is new alloy wheels and tires…any suggestions or advice is appreciated…thanks in advance.

John

Whitetrashrocker · Saturday at 4:03 PM

Looks like an AmEx or Manco frame.
I don't see anything extremely wrong except mis matched tires and the spring mount haphazardly screwed into the valve cover.
I like the hydrolic brakes.

Post up your progress. We're watching.

Hellion · Saturday at 8:55 PM

Whitetrashrocker said:
Looks like an AmEx or Manco frame.

Could be. Has some Manco features (pedals, seat cushions, front spring spindles) peeking out of what appears to be a custom, stretched funny car frame to go with the body. Was looking for a Manco manufactured funny car kart but didn't find any

musclecarjohn · Sunday at 9:56 AM

Hellion said:
Could be. Has some Manco features (pedals, seat cushions, front spring spindles) peeking out of what appears to be a custom, stretched funny car frame to go with the body. Was looking for a Manco manufactured funny car kart but didn't find any

Thanks guys…it looks to me like those front extensions have been added…I bought this from my friend Cole Foster, son of the late Pat Foster who’s last dragster creation sits in my garage…both extremely talented fabricators.

Hellion · Sunday at 10:07 AM

musclecarjohn said:
it looks to me like those front extensions have been added…I bought this from my friend Cole Foster, son of the late Pat Foster who’s last dragster creation sits in my garage…both extremely talented fabricators.

How would you describe the quality of the welds? I thought I saw a few that were approaching "booger weld" status but they may have been a weld that was *overdone* a little for extra strength or what-not.

*I am not a welder by trade or hobby

musclecarjohn · Sunday at 1:44 PM

Hellion said:
How would you describe the quality of the welds? I thought I saw a few that were approaching "booger weld" status but they may have been a weld that was *overdone* a little for extra strength or what-not.

*I am not a welder by trade or hobby

They don't look great, especially on those front extensions...pretty sure Cole cobbled this thing together from basically nothing.
It didn't matter to me because I only gave $600 for it and it was only 3 miles from my home...I knew I'd be investing way more than that, lol!

musclecarjohn · Tuesday at 3:02 PM

Loaded in the truck and headed out to paint tomorrow…did all my research on the lettering, enough for my sign guy to take it from here.

Hellion · Tuesday at 4:30 PM

I had no idea the body and a lot of the details on it (headlight lens effect, etc) were hand painted with a brush. They passed the 10 feet (and 500 miles through cyberspace) rule. I didn't miss the repaint over the original graphics, however.

Now it makes lots of sense.

musclecarjohn · Tuesday at 4:44 PM

Hellion said:
I had no idea the body and a lot of the details on it (headlight lens effect, etc) were hand painted with a brush. They passed the 10 feet (and 500 miles through cyberspace) rule. I didn't miss the repaint over the original graphics, however.

Now it makes lots of sense.

Yes, it's all there...still visible and enough for my guy to work with.

musclecarjohn · 2025-11-20T10:23:20-0600

Further progress on the little car today, I dropped off the body at Frank Signs with all my photos and we went over everything…not going to paint the car, just removing the lettering that’s on there and Frank just doing his thing…this will have a patina look…there may be some vinyl in there as well, I said no problem.
With that part under control, my buddy Pat and I removed the rear wheels so I could study the drive and keyway size, which appears to be pretty standard.
Pat used to race karts so he turned me on to the hub idea which allows me to custom spec the wheels which will be a 5”-6” stagger as they are sized currently, just swapping in slick tires, which should be here tomorrow.

I removed the seat which will get reupholstered in black vinyl, I’ll get that over to them tomorrow.
More research into wheel styles continue…one thing we know for certain is that they will be polished, lol…Stay tuned.