[pont406]

Brian, Bruce didn't sell the alumnium front end to Blair, he sold it to Randy willams, this was in the mid 90's, before/during the car restoration,as I imagine Randy wanted "perfect alumnium" on this resto!as the older parts would have to be reworked ,straighten,etc, plus the hood had been cut for different scoops, Bruce bought this NOS front end from a guy in Salt Lake city, who had a 63 Tempest, that was a salt flats race car in the 60's, he bought it over the counter at the dealership, then never used it! hung in the rafters of his garage for 20+ years. Bruce told me that when he was at Randy's he saw a front fender that was "mashed flat " and a damaged nose piece, could have been the parts that were taken off the car when Joe,or Bill Blair wrecked it back then? as Dave Johnson said it had an alumnium clip on it when he had it. maybe the guys that owned it for 7 years, prior to Dave buying it back in 81, wrecked it? the picture of the car in Pete Mcarthy's book (pg 147) appears to show an undamaged front end, but it could be a steel clip? hood scoop is different from when Dave had it. I've talked to a guy who had the Royal 62 SD car in 63 to 65, one front fender was damaged in a pit accident, he got a new one from the dealership, but had to supply the VIN# to get the alunimum fender.