HIDDEN TREASURE: Race Cars & Relics at a Historic Drag Strip - Hot Rod Hoarders Ep. 35

on this episode of hot rod hoarders i'm going to show you the hidden treasures at one of my favorite drag strips of all time paradise drag strip in calhoun georgia the track's history goes back to 1961. that's when otto thames built the place he wanted somewhere between chattanooga and atlanta to race and calhoun georgia was the right spot so he built this quarter mile track he ran it for years had match races there super stock races lots of big names came there richard petty even raced there in 1965 with his afx car otto was the type of guy that made you feel like family and he he encouraged people and he made him feel at home made him feel welcome so the track has been successful for all these years now otto passed away several years ago and he left everything to his family and they're still operating the track to this day back when i was a kid i used to love going through my dad's photo albums looking at cars he had owned cars that he had painted and one picture that always stood out to me was a picture of my dad's henry j drag car on the starting line at paradise drag strip you can see the tower in the background you can kind of also see that the starting line is not level so like if you have a four-speed car the car will roll backwards when you're trying to stage so you'll see in this picture that's actually my dad's buddy junior driving the car and that's my dad holding the car in position the point of this is that i was already in love with paradise drag strip before i ever went there otto was a drag racer and a hot rodder at heart so he had projects and toys of his own some of them are more functional than others so i'm gonna show you a mixture of the more usable cars and the stuff that just went out in the woods for years and years and years let's get started with some of the cars that were visible from the pits and the staging lanes at paradise drag strip and then stick with me a little bit later and i'm gonna go out into the woods to show you some of the stuff that hasn't moved in decades one of the more recognizable cars in the collection is the paradise rebel vega funny car now this thing does have some history i'm not sure exactly the details of that so if i do dig up some history on it i'll be sure to tell you guys about it but for now let's just take a look at how cool this thing is it is totally 70s it's got the old vega funny car body the old style frame big block chevrolet with the tunnel ram and two fours really cool piece they also have a rear engine dragster it's kind of a late 70s early 80s type build it's got a little small block in it still a functional car other cars i spotted through the years was a third generation camaro big tire bracket car there was also a ford thunderbird sort of a mid 80s car that reminds you of a pro stock car or maybe a top sportsman car of the time and then there was a pro street first generation pontiac firebird that sat on the property for years now you might recognize this car because mike finnegan bought this car from the tim's family there at paradise drag strip and since he bought it he's put a blower on it he's driven it across country he's done a lot of cool stuff for this car and it's awesome to see this thing that sat and i remember specifically seeing it sitting under the carport it's awesome to see this thing back on the road and seeing it doing burnouts and doing all sorts of fun stuff one of the cars that really got my attention was this split window corvette funny car now this thing is kinda crazy because it was used for truck and tractor pulling way back in the 80s now these cars they were known for their wheelies you know they were really kind of the showman's class of truck and tractor pulling you know flip up bodies which this thing has an extremely thick body something you couldn't pick up on your own so it had a hydraulic ram that picked the thing up and just a super cool piece now it'd been sitting for years the paint was a little rough the tires were dry rotted but i loved seeing this thing number one i love these this body style of corvette number two i grew up watching monster trucks and truck pulling and all that kind of stuff so something like this really just kind of speaks to me i haven't been able to track down the full history on this thing but i know that david bellew built it originally in the mid 80s then he ended up selling it to john hanson who repainted it and gave it this paint job the why not a vet on the side of it anyways it sat here in the the yard basically of the track for years moved around to a few different places uh since then it has been sold and i've seen it bounce around on craigslist and marketplace a few different times i think it's in alabama so now that we've seen the cars that were out in the open where you could see them from the staging lanes or from the pits or wherever let's go into the woods to see some of the hidden treasure that this track has to offer there's a lot of property here and as you go further and further back in there there's cars that have been in the woods for no telling how long there's some pretty crazy stuff back in here so let's go take a walk and you'll be able to hear drag racing in the background it was during one of their events so just kind of walk along with me check out some of the absolute treasures that are hidden in the woods at paradise drag strip looks like a 62 impala four-door car and you can't see much of it at all it's grown up bad we got another impala way back in there that can't tell much about it it's wrecked probably another four-door car all right looks like we got an early mustang convertible maybe a 67 or eight maybe a 64 or five man these things are grown up yep still got the malibu emblem on the back of it trees are just surrounding it crazy got a little square body step side truck this thing looks like it hasn't been here all that long pretty cool actually fairly solid it's kind of crazy oh look at these back wheels that is awesome somebody's made those they cut the center out probably banded the wheel to make it wider and then put that center way in there got old station wagon here i can't tell much about it uh looks let's see here looks like a a body maybe a pontiac man i don't know all the windows are busted out of it i'm sure it's rusty underneath still cool to see it out here in the woods though old chevrolet truck hiding back in there you can barely see a little piece of it back piece of something don't know what we got oh we got some good stuff coming up here we've got old race car looks like a little chevy 2 race car right here race car project let's say it doesn't look like it ever got finished no floors no guts it's got a pinto or a mustang two front end under it completely gutted out got a narrow nine inch housing hanging in back there ladder bars full roll cage man it's actually pretty solid what in the world how is it not rusty ooh this is a good one 66 or 7 nova pretty rotten pretty rotten sitting here flat on the ground man i still like the little race car that's my favorite so far here's a four-door nova 66 or seven model it's had better days it's had the front end kind of tore off over here we've got a 69 chevelle it looks like or a piece of one anyways it's had trees fall on it and all kind of stuff [Music] man it's packed in here right next to about a mid 70s camaro it's got the aluminum bumpers mid 70s car and then we got 57 ford it's a two-door wagon so that would have been a ranch wagon and look at this drag strip race track let's see if we can get a little closer look at see what that says okay this says up on top you can barely see it in those faded letters paradise in yeah paradise in drag strip race track calhoun georgia oh man how cool is that we got a looks like an nhra sticker on the windshield man otherwise this car is just absolutely killed man it's rough it's got john's pistons sticker that's awesome the insides is just full of stuff oh this is amazing look at that windshield how did that not get busted out sitting here in the woods crazy that right there that's got to be the coolest thing here we got to get through some briars and stuff see if we can get there oh yeah yeah can't really read the other side either but man that is cool let's see what's inside anything good see [Music] that is just beyond cool i guess i got to get to the back of it and see if there's any lettering back there here's all the drag racing slick all wadded up it's pretty cool oh that's an old mickey thompson cool man this let's see here what does this say on the back it's got lettering back here it says home of the oh man i can't see it paradise scramblers i think is what that says home of the paradise scramblers it doesn't get much cooler than that that is awesome it's rusty but man it is cool about a 60 model looks like 60 mile chevrolet four-door car no motor look at that interior in there isn't that crazy how did that not just completely rot away still together i like my ls10 that doesn't look like it belongs but whatever and then look at this not too often you see two 60s gto stacked on top of each other one the bottom one looks like about a 65. top one is a 66 or seven man crazy absolutely crazy look at that gto in the grill this thing is demolished get a good look at that frame and rear end we got a little two-door falcon it's had a bad day i don't know if that was a wreck or a tree fell on it but either way tore up pretty bad no motor a couple of tires stacked in here here's a four-door fair lane looks like about a 63 if i had to guess but i see the little fins on the back that tells me 62 or 3. clean car mostly together some kind of big chevrolet hood i'm guessing mid to late 60s okay here we go got 55 chevrolet two-door post man it is rotten it's been painted a few times it looks like it's got lots and lots and lots of pine needles 57 chevrolet front end sitting here upside down i'd say that's rusty but look at that stainless steel trim still there still looks pretty good crumbled up crumbled up chevelle fender is what it looks like i always like the looks of these little falcons little two-door hardtop they got a cool little body line cool roof line and they're little lightweight cars good for drag racing there's our gto buddies again best friends forever [Applause] let's see what we got here oh chatsworth georgia dealer plate cool yep it's a big old car big old malibu now this one's actually pretty solid too kind of crazy that it's so solid sitting out here like this it's obviously been here a while very cool third gen camaro pretty crusty oh it's a hot rod it's got a cowl hood can't see much else it's kind of kind of yucky looking let's see what else we got here we got an early falcon two-door hard top and it's got moss growing on it pretty bad and we've got another little forward here [Applause] this one's pretty solid that's a buildable car i'm sure the floor pans and stuff are rotten but very buildable compared to its brother over here got some kind of old ford right there torino ltd i i don't know might have to help me out on that one in the comments because i don't know my fords all that well pretty complete car pretty solid too very buildable some kind of frame looks like maybe a a body and it's hard to say let's see here we got a 57 chevrolet four-door station wagon looks like it was a 210 if i'm looking at my details right here 210 station wagon it's got a lot of rust in there it's okay it's got some moss growing on it a little bit here and there okay we got what used to be a pontiac pretty messed up well we got a four-door chevelle what are we looking at here 66 is look what it's looking like 66 four-door chevelle it's a malibu trim package i mean it could use some quarters but very buildable crazy little falcon station wagon love these falcon wagons those are cool and it is absolutely full with hubcaps and random stuff i see a transmission poking out i kind of want to get a closer look in there see what else what else is in there mainly hubcaps yep almost all hubcaps all right we got a little chevy too pretty early one 62 to 65 it looks like two-door post it's a 300 which means it had a little bit of trim on it the 100s had no trim they were your base model cars let's see here we got an early mustang wind has busted out of it let's see what we got two-door hard top malibu it says pretty rough hey we got a corvette i can't tell what year it is yet get a little closer to it it's obviously a third generation a c3 car but i can't see much about it to tell if it's an early one or a late one or what it is all i can tell is that it's had the front end cut off of it frame and all that must have been wrecked it's a neat old barn what we got here torino i'm guessing torino with the back end cut off of it got a few little treasures in there hubcaps and wheels and stuff hoods and the engine blocks all kinds of stuff got some random parts over here truck beds motors a little small block chevrolet yeah another little chevrolet motor another little chevrolet motor six cylinder can't tell what that one is uh not a chevrolet i don't know 57 chevrolet hood sitting here back around to that 55 we saw earlier there's 57 from the end got a little small black motor hiding under the hood there all right we got a 58 ford two-door post man this car's got a lot of trim and stuff on it bumper still looks usable that's pretty good let's see what else we can see about it windows are busted out of it but man lots of usable trim got a little corvair panel van that thing's got some serious patina and rust what else we got got old chevrolet station or it's not a station wagon panel van panel truck i'll get it right here a minute yeah it looks like maybe a 58 or nine rusty pretty cool though 64 or 5 chevelle two-door hard top originally blue looks like this one's cool 56 chevrolet looks like a 210 four-door station wagon pretty rusty been here a while tree's laying on it tree's pushing up against it 55 chevrolet station wagon two door got a c10 or maybe 20. yeah i think it's a 20 it's eight lug it's buried and i can't even tell what the car is next to it not sure can't get in there to it for all the briars and sticks and stuff oh here's another 55 it looks like 55 chevrolet two-door post pretty crusty old car still cool all right let's see let's see if we can guess it's a 68 or nine uh see a malibu emblem on it it's two-door hard top complete [Music] a couple of fords we got a little falcon two-door hard top it's crunched in on the front fender here and on the back and everywhere else we've got a looks like 64 ford fairlane that's cool two-door hard top windows are busted out of it unfortunately it's probably rotten underneath but pretty presentable out here these are really neat cars a couple of really good fords i didn't even notice this car sitting here i can't get to it looks like 64 chevelle maybe a 65 cannot tell two-door hardtop i can tell that that's about it here we go 264 impalas it looks like both of them look like they're two-door hard tops i got to say a huge thank you to the tim's family they've always been welcoming and supportive and i just appreciate them letting me roam around in the woods and check out all the cars and stuff in their collection and i just got to say to support your local drag strip keep those places open and if you're ever in the calhoun georgia area you got to check out paradise drag strip it is one of the coolest tracks in the country

Channel: Hot Rod Hoarder

Views: 95,046

Rating: 4.9191699 out of 5

Keywords: abandoned drag cars, hidden treasure, historic drag strip, car collection, old cars in the woods, abandoned, exploring in the woods, pontiac gto, junkyard, classic car junkyard, rotting in the woods, paradise drag strip, drag strip, drag racing, historic race track, historic race cars, mike finnegan, Finnegan's garage, hot rod hoarder, hot rod hoarders, cars in the woods, vintage race cars, abandoned cars, abandoned muscle cars, cars abandoned, hidden treasures, hidden

Id: pZjZjcRggVQ

Length: 24min 47sec (1487 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 25 2020