Herb McCandless - Crossing the USA 2023 - Ep 1: Classic Restos - Series 54
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- čas přidán 19. 11. 2023
- Fletch and his companion Mark Behr from Shannons Insurance embark on a road trip across America.
They start their journey by visiting the Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi, where they explore the USS Cairo. The USS Cairo is an ironclad boat built in 1861, used in the American Civil War as a river gunboat. It weighs 512 tonnes, is 175 feet long, and is powered by five fire tube boilers, with a single huge paddlewheel that can reach a river speed of 7kpm. In June of 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison at Fort Pillow, enabling Union forces to occupy Memphis and was sunk shortly after. It was later discovered in 1956 in the Yazzo River and is now partially reconstructed and preserved.
Fletch and Mark then meet Herb McCandless, a legendary racer who earned the nickname "Mr 4 Speed" for his ability to shift a manual transmission smoothly like an automatic. Herb began drag racing in 1959 at the age of 16 and eventually became one of the team drivers at the successful Sox & Martin drag racing team. In 1968, with the introduction of the Hemi 4-speed engine, he won 36 of 52 races and placed 2nd in 8.
Today, Fletch and Mark visit the McCandless Collection, run by Herb's son, Michael. The collection boasts hundreds of cars and memorabilia centred around his father’s racing career, making it possibly the best privateer collection in the US.
The collection includes a red 1959 Desoto Station Wagon with an Adventurer Powered option with 2 four barrels, beautifully restored to perfect condition. Additionally, there are three of only five believed-to-exist 1959 Desoto Adventurer Convertibles, all immaculately presented.
Finally, they see Norm Thatcher's 1958 300 D Bonneville, which boasts a 392 Hemi with two four-barrel carbs, a three-speed that clocked 156 mph, and the Land Speed Record, in original condition today as it drove off the salt flats.
Fletch describes Herb as a fantastic character with an incredible racing history. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
LOVE IT , VERY VERY VERY GOOD😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Thanks Fletch what a amazing collection of Chrysler cars. 👍
Love your work Fletch, thank you! 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🚗💨
thanks for the great vid Fletch and crew. Cheers from far north.
Great video Fletch, enjoyed the trip✌
Bucket List
Herb is a book of knowledge and skills with a passion to pass it all on. Keep it up, Fletch, privet collection. Wow
Great episode Fletch , about a year ago I discovered a you tube video "Mr four speed" all about Herb's racing career ,I think Iv'e watched it four times by now, really interesting to see the pioneering development that went into his cars , in particular the A body "Demon" ,they perfected it to the point of launching (and wheel standing) with no body twist. When I was a little kid (in New Zealand) a recent 1972 American "Hot Rod" magazine somehow appeared in our family home, amongst the Womans Weekly's and Time magazines and there was a report in it on recent drag racing events ,including a photo of a Dodge doing an unbelievable wheel stand, and the caption said Herb Mc Candless , It made a big impression on me ,and I still have that magazine now.
1962??
Glad I'm not the only one who says the wrong dates. Fascinating tour, looking forward to the rest of the trip
Great episode Fletch. We certainly had a lot of fun, saw some great cars and met some amazing people. 👍
Impressive collection and a very nice man with great stories to tell. Thank you.
Great video Fletch. What a guy Herb is.
Another great episode, Mr. Fletch. I hope your road trip includes a stop at the museum own by Don “Big Daddy” Gartlis in Ocala, FL. I haven’t been to the museum in 30 years so I don’t know what’s what anymore.
Best video ever I reckon Fletch. What an absolutely stunning collection of very interesting Mopars to look at and listening to Herb modestly describe his success was wonderful to watch. He is an absolute gentleman and I could listen to him for hours. I loved his description of modern cars as jelly beans too, what a great way to describe the current crop of lookalikes. Looking forward to episode 2 already.
For Anyone who was as fascinated by Herb as I was,,,Just finished watchin a 4 part docco on CZcams called Mr 4 Speed. AWESOME viewing.
How cool was DeSoto...