This 1959 Devin SS, Serial number SS109 had been documented and verified to be the car Dean Bontrager and Jay Wilbeck raced during the 1963 – 1965 period.
In 1962, Dean Bontrager and Jay Wilbeck bucked the trend of buy a factory produced “Hot Rod” and chose instead to build their own very unique drag car.
Knowing that a lightweight car would be faster, they purchased a fiberglass Divin Sports car body from HMB Fiberglass. The body was widened to accommodate a ladder style chassis they fabricated and a 426 Max Wedge with a Torque Flite trans was chosen for the drivetrain. Over $4,000. of their hard earned cash and countless hours of “free” labor created this 1,800 lb. Lightweight.
Each week Dean and Jay would flip a coin to see who would drive the car and they terrorized the competition, running low 11 seconds ET’s at over 120 MPH!
Their racing was put on hold and the Devin sold when Dean was drafted and Jay joined the family business. We purchased the car in 2011 from Mike Mulchy who bought it in 2007. Complete ownership history is still being researched.
Our sincere thanks and compliments to Adam Engelhart from AAA Restorations in Adams, Minnesota for creating another fantastic and period correct restoration!