McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
#190183
01/11/09 12:58 AM
01/11/09 12:58 AM
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sixpakdodge
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Since I got my Horizon in October of 2007, I have been curious as to what happened to the other Omnis and Horizons that were built. I have heard varying numbers as to how many were built, but a reliable source has told me 15. Other than my car, I know Johnny Labbous still has his two. Johnny did re-body one into a Laser though. I have also heard that Mike Fitts still has his? From the ones that I have pics of, I believe the majority stayed down south. One is definitely destroyed (On track accident I think it was), possibly another was also destroyed. I know many probably were updated too. I also have a special interest in the Omni that was built for Mark Robinson. It was later converted into a P/S type car by Barnett Performance. I would really like to find this car. My car was originally built for Max Naylor. It's definitely the real deal and has a paper trail all the way back to Max. If you know of one, let me know about it. Send me some pics/info. I have some good chassis shots of mine before it was updated that show an untouched chassis. I'd really like to start a registry for these particular cars.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: hemiparts]
#190186
01/11/09 08:53 AM
01/11/09 08:53 AM
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Quote:
I would try to pm Mike or David McCandless( both are Moparts members) they may be able to put you in touch with Herb personaly. I can promise you he has a mind like a steel trap he never forgets a car he worked on or who it belonged to !!
I'll run this by Herb, but I think I've had this conversation with him before, and he doesn't know the whereabouts of hardly any of the cars. If you find one [or someone who 'claims' to have one] I'm sure he could verify it through some photographs of the chassis.
David McCandless
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[Re: DCM71cuda]
#190187
01/11/09 09:47 AM
01/11/09 09:47 AM
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
#190188
01/11/09 12:15 PM
01/11/09 12:15 PM
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sixpakdodge
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Quote:
Where's Reed ?
Reed and I have had a few convos about these cars too.
David is right though, Herb doesn't know the whereabouts of the cars. I asked him that at Carlisle when I showed him the info on mine. He looked at my car personally at the Hemi Reunion, where I took the above pic.
-Steve
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: sixpakdodge]
#190191
01/11/09 12:54 PM
01/11/09 12:54 PM
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Joined: Dec 2004
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fourgearsavoy
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I know of a Shelby Charger out in northwestern Ohio that has a tube chassis and some race history.I will check and find out. Gus
64 Plymouth Savoy 493 Indy EZ's by Nick at Compu-Flow 5-Speed Richmond faceplate Liberty box Dana 60
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: sixpakdodge]
#190192
01/11/09 03:56 PM
01/11/09 03:56 PM
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Posts: 1,634 Petersburg, Va
Darrell
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Quote:
I have heard varying numbers as to how many were built, but a reliable source has told me 15.
Hmm, I've never thought about how many of these cars were actually built. Great thread and info! Not a 100 percent sure, but I think long time NC bracket racer Tony Ward had one of these cars when they were built.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: slantzilla]
#190194
01/11/09 05:39 PM
01/11/09 05:39 PM
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sixpakdodge
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Are those door bars legal?
Not now. That's what is going to make documenting these cars tough. 99% of the surviving cars are more than likely updated. My car was updated in '95, but many pictures were taken before it was redone. There are still quite a few others ways to tell by the chassis work.
Here's a shot of the interior in my car as it was when Max raced it.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: sixpakdodge]
#190197
01/11/09 07:00 PM
01/11/09 07:00 PM
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Locomotion
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I don't believe the Deputy Dodge was a McCandless car.
Yes, these cars were built for Super Gas, many were run in S/C too.
What are you hinting at with Atlanta?
It seems that the Deputy Dodge car may have been from that area or won a national event there years ago.
...or perhaps I'm also thinking of Gus Upshaw?
Some of the Mopar Performance catalogs from back then have good pics of some McCandless cars. I also remember a magazine doing an article on them.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: Darrell]
#190201
02/10/09 09:11 PM
02/10/09 09:11 PM
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Darrell
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Quote:
Not trying to change the thread but I wonder how many cars McCandless Performance built? There is a local guy that has a Cuda that I know for sure hasn't been down the track in 25+ years that was built by McCandless.
Here is the car, talking to the owner, McCandless built the car around '73 or '74. This was a original '71 340 Cuda with auto and he changed it to a '72 with about 7000 miles on it. It ran in the 10.30-40 zone with a a 340 W-2 motor which was probley pretty good for that era bracket racing. The car hasn't left his yard since since about 1980 or so and he has added a few additions to the shop. All the pics. you see are from his garage and I didn't cover it all! I just wanted to buy the McCandless floor mat! http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding...w_photos_button Sorry for the bad pics., but there was very little walking room around the car trying to take a pic.. I would like to see the car broken out of its Tomb and raced again but that ain't happening!
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: Darrell]
#190204
02/11/09 04:42 AM
02/11/09 04:42 AM
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sixpakdodge
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Quote:
Quote:
Not trying to change the thread but I wonder how many cars McCandless Performance built? There is a local guy that has a Cuda that I know for sure hasn't been down the track in 25+ years that was built by McCandless.
Here is the car, talking to the owner, McCandless built the car around '73 or '74. This was a original '71 340 Cuda with auto and he changed it to a '72 with about 7000 miles on it. It ran in the 10.30-40 zone with a a 340 W-2 motor which was probley pretty good for that era bracket racing. The car hasn't left his yard since since about 1980 or so and he has added a few additions to the shop. All the pics. you see are from his garage and I didn't cover it all! I just wanted to buy the McCandless floor mat! http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding...w_photos_button Sorry for the bad pics., but there was very little walking room around the car trying to take a pic.. I would like to see the car broken out of its Tomb and raced again but that ain't happening!
WOW! That paint job looks awfully familiar...
That's how Max had mine painted in 1982-3ish.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: DCI]
#190206
02/11/09 08:57 PM
02/11/09 08:57 PM
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What was the deal with the gold slant 6?
Don't know, it was a 4 bbl. motor though. I don't know how maney of you caught it, but on page 15 behind the motors is the Winston sign that had the Omni-Horizon in it that I remember seeing years ago. This guy bought the sign new years ago. Anyone know the deal on the car?
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: Darrell]
#190207
02/11/09 09:13 PM
02/11/09 09:13 PM
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sixpakdodge
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Quote:
Quote:
What was the deal with the gold slant 6?
Don't know, it was a 4 bbl. motor though. I don't know how maney of you caught it, but on page 15 behind the motors is the Winston sign that had the Omni-Horizon in it that I remember seeing years ago. This guy bought the sign new years ago. Anyone know the deal on the car?
I saw the sign. It's Roy Hill's car. Roy took an Omni nose and "tried" making it look like a Plymouth nose. The car had Plymouth tail lights also.
I talked to Herb and Chick DeNinno tonight. Only about four cars actually came out of Herb's shop. They went to Mark Robinson, Max Naylor, Johnny Labbous, and another individual from the northeast who painted his car black with a red/white/blue stripe. Neither could recall his name. Possibly another car or two? Any of the other cars would have been built from Chick's shop in Maryland, Fabrication INC. These cars will all have a brass chassis tag on them.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: sixpakdodge]
#190208
02/11/09 10:15 PM
02/11/09 10:15 PM
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These cars will all have a brass chassis tag on them.
Yep, my cousin had a '91 dragster with the tag.
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: sixpakdodge]
#190209
02/11/09 11:41 PM
02/11/09 11:41 PM
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Florida_70Bee
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Quote:
Quote:
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What was the deal with the gold slant 6?
Don't know, it was a 4 bbl. motor though. I don't know how maney of you caught it, but on page 15 behind the motors is the Winston sign that had the Omni-Horizon in it that I remember seeing years ago. This guy bought the sign new years ago. Anyone know the deal on the car?
I saw the sign. It's Roy Hill's car. Roy took an Omni nose and "tried" making it look like a Plymouth nose. The car had Plymouth tail lights also.
I talked to Herb and Chick DeNinno tonight. Only about four cars actually came out of Herb's shop. They went to Mark Robinson, Max Naylor, Johnny Labbous, and another individual from the northeast who painted his car black with a red/white/blue stripe. Neither could recall his name. Possibly another car or two? Any of the other cars would have been built from Chick's shop in Maryland, Fabrication INC. These cars will all have a brass chassis tag on them.
I worked at Maryland Performance Center/ Fabrications Inc. from 1988 to 1990 and Chick Dennino was one of my bosses. The Fabrications cars did indeed have a Brass Fabrications Inc. tag on them with the month and year of construction as I recall. The one Omni I remember that Chick had built during my time there was Richard Higley's Big Blue express Omni which was driven by Charlie Brandenburg. That car was totaled in a top end accident and the car was stripped to the chassis and hung (Yes I said hung!) on the wall at Fabrications Inc. I have no idea what happed to the chassis after Chick closed down Fabrications many years later.
Here is a picture of the Omni shortly before it's demise..
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Re: McCandless Performance Omnis...Where Are They Now?
[Re: Florida_70Bee]
#190210
02/11/09 11:51 PM
02/11/09 11:51 PM
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sixpakdodge
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What was the deal with the gold slant 6?
Don't know, it was a 4 bbl. motor though. I don't know how maney of you caught it, but on page 15 behind the motors is the Winston sign that had the Omni-Horizon in it that I remember seeing years ago. This guy bought the sign new years ago. Anyone know the deal on the car?
I saw the sign. It's Roy Hill's car. Roy took an Omni nose and "tried" making it look like a Plymouth nose. The car had Plymouth tail lights also.
I talked to Herb and Chick DeNinno tonight. Only about four cars actually came out of Herb's shop. They went to Mark Robinson, Max Naylor, Johnny Labbous, and another individual from the northeast who painted his car black with a red/white/blue stripe. Neither could recall his name. Possibly another car or two? Any of the other cars would have been built from Chick's shop in Maryland, Fabrication INC. These cars will all have a brass chassis tag on them.
I worked at Maryland Performance Center/ Fabrications Inc. from 1988 to 1990 and Chick Dennino was one of my bosses. The Fabrications cars did indeed have a Brass Fabrications Inc. tag on them with the month and year of construction as I recall. The one Omni I remember that Chick had built during my time there was Richard Higley's Big Blue express Omni which was driven by Charlie Brandenburg. That car was totaled in a top end accident and the car was stripped to the chassis and hung (Yes I said hung!) on the wall at Farications Inc. I have no idea what happed to the chassis after Chick closed down Fabrications many years later.
Here is a picture of the Omni shortly before it's demise..
Chick and I discussed this car. He fixed the chassis and Max Naylor bought it and reskinned it with another Omni body. He doesn't know what Max did with it.
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