Where is the old "Missouri Mule" altered wheelbase car

Larry recently sold it to a guy in Omaha, Neb. -- Reed in Neb.

"The car got cut to pieces. According to what I've heard from credible sources; the guy that owns/runs Sled City Fiberglass (Larry Augustine) cut the car apart and currently owns whatever is left of it. Most of the body was dropped over a current pro-mod chassis and the original floorpan/chassis/suspension was sold-off and is long gone.

Larry says he is sending the car to a shop for "restoration". With what, the roof skin from the real thing????? The car is gone guys. It has bitten the dust, end of story. Such a shame that it survived for so long only to be bastardized."


Not sure what is original off this body but here it is....

I will NEVER forget that eBay ad! Wow!

Refering to the Ark. 65 ply --- That's J. R. Thompson's ol' AWB - originally a factory 64 Max Wedge SS lite-wght Ply., he made it an AWB in 1965 - I've got a number of the "take-off" parts from his 64 Ply, 68 SS Dart and 1971 Pro Stock Duster. Was at JR's place recently - heck of a nice guy ! - Reed in Neb. - PS. The 64/65 AWB is alive down in Texas.

Another shot in Don's, albeit a bit dark. Cheap camera.

Pre-AWB complete with aluminum nose. I wished I would have got that with the car. Fred told me Al Corda got the nose.

Another shot right after the AWB mods.

A little paint. Much better. The driver was Derwood Reep. Joe also had a white Dodge that he drove, and there was another AWB Plymouth that ran in B/G that won class at the 1968 U.S. Nationals.

Another shot of Derwood. Pre-AWB again. I should have put them in order.

Running a Mercury Comet. I think this is the track at Carlisle, AR. Rob Ayres told me where all these were run. I think the Carlisle track is the airstrip right next to I-30.

Hey guys, sorry it took so long for me to respond about a car called "The Missouri Mule". My name is Larry Augenstein and I run a small fiberglass company called "Sled City Fiberglass". The Missouri Mule was bought out of Chicago in 1992 by a man in Grove City, Ohio. After owning it for a few weeks, he called me to come over to see what he had under the army tarp. I was all over that car like stink on sh--. It had a cross ram max wedge with zoom headers. It was a 65 Plymouth 2 door post body with a 65 dodge front clip. I wanted to buy it right there on the spot. He said , no way, that he had bought it for the body shell and the hemi title and was going to make a pro mod out of it. He also called it "The Missouri Mule".I couldn't sway his ideas and he said that Mike Guffey was after him to sell the remains to him because Mike had a couple of projects that he was working on and needed the original parts. The body was taken off the frame and was made into the pro mod that has been pictured on another post and is in the Cleveland area and from what the owner that had it on ebay told me , there are no numbers or title now. We don't know what happened to them.
What I bought concerning the original car was, the original rolling altered wheelbase frame, with the front straight axle ( that Johnnie Loo had installed) 8.75 rear end with 4.56 gears, all of the light weight floor pan, steering box still attached to the frame with steering wheel to steer it around with, the original 4 inch tork thrust with spinner caps and the 16 inch wheels on back with M&H slicks. The tilt nose was still attached to the front and still tilted and it came with a set of A/FX doors that were fiberglass with aluminum upper rails and they had aluminum hinges. Actually the only parts that were missing was the body shell and the motor and tranny. At the time of my purchase of the package I just happen to have a decent 2 door sedan body behind the shop. We put that shell on the Mules frame and gave it an Alston 12 point roll cage. With body installed and doors a swinging we took it to the 1995 May Chrysler Classic to show it off.Thats when I bought a ss/aa cuda and "The Mule" went into the barn to sit until July 09 and a gentleman out of Nebraska rolled it into his enclosed trailer and took it home.
A lot of cars change hands and the new owner usually modifies the car to go faster or to make it safer and sometimes the car gets new sheet metal. I have 3 pictures on my website of the car . 2 of which is as it arrived here in Grove City in 1992 and another one with the new sheet metal that we installed. To me and quite a few other people , "The Missouri Mule" still lives.
www.sledcityevents.com punch the gallery then hit Sled City Cars and go to the bottom of page two. I like the history on these old racers and I tried to keep as much of the original car in one package as possible. I also found the new owner a set of injectors and rear wheels, and because we make the complete fiberglass altered wheelbase package, he got that too. .
I hope you have found this story a little different from what all the "EXPERTS" were saying about my association with the Mule. I feel lucky to have owned The Mule and it's history for such a long time. Larry Augenstein / Sled City Fiberglass

Nice post about your association with the rebodied remains of the "Missouri Mule". At least you didn't put the 65 Dodge body on it like you were thinking about back in 1993.

Can't wait to see how the guy in Nebraska represents what he has. I'm sure he has extensive documents of the new body being put on the "frame" of the unibody 65 Plymouth.

No expert here, just calling it as many others of us see it.

At least you didn't have to take a 66 Dodge body off of the "frame" like the McJury ex Strickler car(photo attached).

Great Stuff,
Alex Polewik (A990 Fan)

This is the type post that makes moparts very worth while and invaluble to the hobby.20 years ago this was impossible,would cost you a fortune in time and money to track info like this down without computer.I hadn`t even heard of the car before but I guess they all have history.The pictures alone are great,kinda shows how rumors can go wild too........

I am originally from nebraska so me and Reed have a lot in common even if I have never met him in person,he is doing what I always wanted to do.He is the man,maybe he needs majic jack

Ahhh, so there is some correction to what I had understood/posted. Seems as though I had some whos' and whens' confused, but the WHAT part still remains:

The car was cut to pieces. Body is a pro-mod car now. Larry got the floorpan/chassis and rebodied it with a donor shell and it is now in Nebraska. Was it a whole Dodge shell or a donor Plymouth shell with a Dodge nose?

How can anybody say the car "still lives" when it was dissected and transplanted into 2 very different cars? I don't see it as "still lives" More like "not buried yet". Keep in mind that I don't own any pieces of the "Misourri Mule", so take my opinion lightly.

Sorry guys. I'll go back to my own AWB Dodge that is undeniably pieces of 2 cars put together. Both were junk then, and what is left still is! No expert here, just a hacker who likes the old stuff. Good thing I don't have any valuable cars, ha?

kool thread.i have a question tho.with all the changes and evolution with these cars what is the best way to restore em. their 1st gen status before altered or after with possibly more exposure or history and status with wins.

Thanks for the great info Larry.

Hey there Primer King, There will always be fact and rumors floating around about every car and in fact, every person. It looks like you have a good start on your AWB 65 Dodge 4 door project and when you get to the point of needing the AWB fenders,hood,bumpers,scoop,doors,trunk,and dash board, just let me know and I will give you the special "Missouri Mule" discount.

Hello Larry/guys. Glad that we got all that ironed out and we can still communicate on good terms. I have no plans for any sort of interior in my Coronet as I am going to put the Hemi (when I actually get one) where the dashboard should be. I will need a 'glass nose though, so I will keep you in mind when the time comes. Thank you for the generous offer.

I caught up with the Flashback and McKesson Bros cars at Lebanon Valley earlier this year. What a blast to watch them run and they're great guys to talk with!

Here is an ebay link to what remains of the car:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180599745561&viewitem=

My father owns the body that was the mule..... it is in cleveland ohio it has a rj race cars tube chassis and has a duel plug hemisphere set up similar to a modern funny car in it.... my father is not a space ball and we do have the matching numbers from the original body on the car

July 5th, 1964 ad in the Kansas City Star reads as follows:

426 SUPER Stock-1964 Plymouth. Missouri Mule; holds track record. Excelsior Springs, Medford 7-3059

The last I heard about the Mule was that the guy that I sold it to in Nebraska, kept all the parts that I sold him and sold the rolling shell to a guy in Minnasota. That guy in turn put it on ebay and could not sell it quick, so he scrapped it for scrap steel money.