Hey guys. I’ve just been contacted by Dennis Birdwell of Reno, Nevada. He inherited two jet dragsters from his older brother Jack, who worked with Romeo Palamides back in the day. They are the “Untouchable” dragster, equipped with a J-47 jet engine (photo attached), and the “Scorpion” dragster, equipped with a J-35 jet engine. They have been sitting in a shipping container out in Reno for what Dennis figures is about 30 years.
Anyway, Dennis is in his 70s now and is thinking about selling these two historic dragsters. He didn't know how to proceed so he reached out to me (knew my name from my book
Speed Duel). I said I’d pass on the word, hence this post. If you’re interested, you can contact Dennis by email at DBirdwell1[at]aol.com, or on his cell phone at 775-691-1943.
Can't figure out how to post a photo. You can check out Dennis's photo of "Untouchable" here:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/romeo-palamides-%E2%80%9Cuntouchable%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9Cscorpion%E2%80%9D-jet-dragsters-4-sale.1120347/Samuel Hawley
author of
Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties (2010) and
Ultimate Speed: The Fast Life and Extreme Cars of Racing Legend Craig Breedlove (forthcoming in October)