Rust never sleeps. Especially when it's attacking bare metal on a dragster chassis sitting in a shipping container in South Queensland, Australia. I've watched the race car gradually deteriorate since it left Brad Hadman's shop three and a half years ago, and have finally decided to stop the cancer and bring it back to full health.

Isn't that rather difficult to do when you're about 8000 miles away? Yes, and no. Yes, I can't be there to do all the work. No, it's not a problem as my dedicated hard-working Aussie crew, led by Darren Fahy, are taking care of business in my absence.

He organized a work party with the other crew members, Steve Piesley and Mike Hyde, a few weeks ago and they stripped the car down to a skeleton in a matter of hours. (The engine and running gear had been removed shortly after the Winternationals for a full autopsy).

Darren rang me last night with the good news that the restoration project is in full swing, with the first pieces back from the sandblaster already and ready for paint. Within the next week, he hopes to have the complete chassis blasted, primed and ready for the new gun-metal grey paint. I can hardly wait to see the results.

Here's a few pics (courtesy of Ken Lowe's digital camera) of the car in it's current state. As always, click on the thumbnails to see the full-size images.

Our next update is planned for late Saturday night, with some pics and news from the first day of the B.C. Old Time Drags at Mission Raceway. Stay tuned for that report.