Pictures are worth a thousand words so there is little commentary here. Just enjoy this "work of art". Pay close attention to the detail. Unfortunately this is one of those things you have to actually see to fully appreciate and photos don't do it justice. However, they're the next best thing to being there. This page is for those who couldn't attend and to remind the rest of us that we got to see something very special at its debut.

These photos are in no particular order and there are no "bad shots". Many thanks to the following "shooters" who contributed pictures for this page: Robert Briggs, Vic Cooke, Jim Phillipson, Paul Hutchins, "Pete" Garramone, Tom Jobe and Don Ewald. If I missed anyone, please remind me!

Dave McClelland, "Tom did this because he CAN, and there is no better reason. But if you have to describe it's purpose, it is the finest example of industrial art that you will ever see".

Gary "Mr.C" Cochran (Hanna's alternative "driver") tries the cockpit on for size. Besides Cochran being one of Tom's "heroes" , he's also one of the few drivers who could get into the car. Tight fit is an understatement.

Engine builder and close friend, Bob Creitz was a constant presence all weekend. He was having as much fun as Hanna.

Hanna's pit area was like this much of the weekend. Everybody wanted a closer look.

The "horn button" on my car reads a little different than you related as it's very hard to read. It was the last of a thousand last day rushes and we needed something to cover the center of the wheel. A hand carved Bob Knight deal was out of the question so Chuck made that piece and allowed as how it was pretty blank. I said, call the trophy shop and ask if they will stay late and engrave something on it. I was a mental vacuum by then and couldn't think of anything more creative than my social security number to put on it. Someone suggested the "most toys" line and I said why not. It was Creitz who changed it to "He who dies with the nicest toys wins".  Hanna

The front suspension as well as the chassis is stuff I built myself. The front damper is an aftermarket mountain bike air/oil shock that has a high degree of adjustability and seemed a natural for a dragster application. Hanna

The front wheel hubs on my car have a story behind them. Tom Jobe built those hubs for the Surfers II around '66 or '67. Turned them on his father's gunsmithing lathe. He went on to create a complete wheel and tire package that I thought (then as well as now) were/are the most beautiful dragster wheels ever done. When I went back to the Tatum auction 2 or 3 years ago intending to buy the car, (which turned out to be a bit of a sham as the car really wasn't for sale) the original Surfers II wheels which Tatum had run the tires off of, were in a box among some junk.

I bought the box, kept the hubs and with Jobe's direction, ended up with the proper wheels. But no tires, as the proper size was long out of production and nothing else looked right. Jobe again came to the rescue and with some of his worldwide contacts secured for me brand spanking new tires. Not old stock, but brand new tires! On my own, I wouldn't have had a prayer of owing those tires. Those wheels really do make the car. Hanna

There are nearly 40 years of wonderful history between Tom Hanna and The Surfers. I would never have mentioned the wheel story because every bit of what he has done with his new car/art is of his "doing" alone, but now that Hanna has explained the wheel deal, let me add on to the story.

After Tom Hanna bought the Surf II wheels at the auction he had his talented crew copy the hubs and then sent me a finished/chromed set of them as "paper weights" (as Hanna described it)... are we talking very expensive paper weights here?. Then he had the original hubs re-chromed and sent them off to Buchanan's Wheel Service in LA to have the rims replaced and the wheels re-laced. Buchanan's chose to replace the original chromed steel Triumph spokes with their own new stainless spokes which accounts for the slight yellow color you can see in the spokes if the light is just right. The new rims are the same exact English WM2 40 spoke chromed rims that were on the original Surf II wheels in 1966, and the tires are the same size too (2.00 X 18). I had no idea that the proper tires were available anywhere in the world but Tom Hanna found out that the proper tire existed while searching around on the Internet and somehow we were able to get some of them through some motorcycle racing friends.

I could talk for days about my hero Tom Hanna but let me stop for now and attach a picture of one of my beautiful "Hanna paper weights" (below).
Tom Jobe

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" - George Carlin

Some of Hanna's Thoughts and Comments:

Turns out the wheel base is approx 179", the rear track is 35" and the front track is 43 1/2". The wheelbase is no more scientific an equation than it happened to be as long as the length of the two steel channels we had in house to use as a temporary chassis jig.

Several have allowed as how this was an expensive car, or the most expensive dragster or some such. I possess no authority to really know but, speculate it may be the third most expensive. the other two being green. And, those cars by anybody's measure are treasures well worth the tariff.

This is likely so only because my labor was free. The most expensive component in it was the bellhousing, and even then I was able to buy it bare and we did all the machining here in house. I built the chassis, body, and all the detail fabrication myself with the able aid of Chuck Luney. Corey Conyers painted it in his one-car garage after hours for just the cost of the materials, Creitz built the engine as a gift. wouldn't take a dime. Dwayne Corn at H&L metals bent the tubing just before he retired. He had bent all the Woody, Don Long, and Roy cars back in the '60s and it seemed he still charged '60s prices. Very reasonable. Mooneyham did the blowers at his usual very reasonable fee (and isn't it nice to have Gene's touch as a part of your car?), Tom Cerillo did the mag that I had brought home from the Tatum auction which is likely the mag The Surfers bought for the engine they put in Surfers II for the Bandel bros. Don Long supplied some bits and pieces. Fuller kept me true to his art.

If you ever want to do a thing along these lines, There are five other companies that were also a joy to work with: Brendan Murray, Mark Williams, Murf Mc Kinney, Chris at XRP, Phil Lofton at Early Hemi Parts and Dwayne at Saum Engineering.

This was a labor of love. I enjoyed every minute building it and the trip down memory lane it required. Hanna

At this point I don't know what we will do with the car. It was a rushed finish and there are many of the details that have to be redone. Of note, when we put the body on the car at the CHRR, that was the first time the body had been on the complete car. We had put it on the bare frame for the sign work, but never on the finished car.

Two days before we left for Bakersfield, we started the car for the first time and next morning took it out to the local drag track sans body. I hadn't been in one of these things in 38 years, so we did a couple of practice push starts and one short smokey squirt from the starting line then loaded up and left the next day.

As for what we will do with the car next, we need to change the engine to Creitz's specs. The cam that was in it was one Paul Sutherland gave me. It had a ton of overlap and Paul thought that would really make for a "ratty" idle. Creitz wasn't too hip on the idea but we tried it anyway, and as he predicted, it made the thing run like it was retarded and as was evident in the Cacklefest, wanted to melt the headers off the car.

We'll fix that, and make a few other changes then find a time to practice getting the maximum tire smoke out of the thing. My intent was never to race the car. I thought the best we could do was work on the "smoke and noise show" side of the thing. I figured the more current safety stuff we could include in the car without compromising the 1968 look, the more likely Gibbs would be willing to let us smoke the tires out there a little further. Today's tracks are 10 times more sticky than in the old days and any car will want to eventually hook up rather than smoke the tires. Art Chrisman figured the thing out several years ago with the Hustler II. If you saw him at the earlier reunions, he could make that old beauty smoke the tires about anywhere down the track without ever letting the thing hook up.

A good smoke and noise show without risking the car or the jockey is what I would really like to accomplish and we'll work toward that end to whatever extent Steve and the powers that be would be comfortable. The last thing they want is to kill a bunch of us old geezers. They need to save us from ourselves so cancer can do the job in it's usual slow and painful fashion. Hanna