Jim MacPherson Vintage Race Car Recreated, the Back Story

By Ken MacIsaac, with Mike Francis, Colin Quinlan & Geoff Armstrong

Ken MacIsaac recently visited with Mike Francis in Moncton (NB) where Francis has recently finished the recreation of a 1977 Dodge race car which was driven by legendary Jim MacPherson. In this interview, we learn how the recreation came about, accompanied by a gallery of photos that document the project…

Ken – Tell me how this restoration came about? Were you looking to restore one of Jim MacPherson’s stock car?

Mike– Not really. I moved to Moncton from Saint John in 2015. Originally I thought it would be kind of neat to use an old street stock chassis and hang an older body on it. That was my original plan and intent. But I caught wind that Jim MacPherson still had two of his old stock cars. He had the original car that he had raced for 20 some odd years and a backup car that had run at Petty Raceway quite a bit. So I went out to see him. Sure enough, those two old stock cars were in his backyard. I asked him ‘what are you gonna do with those?’. He said he had lots of people wanting to buy them but was always reluctant to sell them.

Ken – And he agreed to sell them to you?

Mike – He did, but only after I told him my plans for them, which was to either restore them or hang a body on the one of the chassis’. But before I even went to talk to him, I had found a Dodge Dart body in Saint John. So I was already starting to look for an old Dodge street stock or Dodge chassis to put the body on. So the timing of meeting Jim and buying his cars worked perfectly. Anyway, I made a deal with Jim and got both cars.

Ken – So tell me about this one, the one you restored?

Mike – Technically, this car is a reproduction or recreation, not an actual restoration. This was created using the backup race car as the starting point.

Ken – What about the other car of Jim’s you bought?

Mike- The other car is a Dodge Aspen. This was Jim’s main race car for over 20 years. It last raced in 1996. In fact, Jim raced it in Shediac that year, and this is how it came off the track. It hasn’t been touched. But both cars had Aspen bodies on them when I got them.

Ken – So tell me about the rebuild?

Mike – First, I got in touch with Geoff Armstrong at GD Fabrication & Race Car Parts in Saint John. Geoff builds cars, repairs them, does everything on them. I told him I had one of Jim’s old cars that I wanted to restore. I also told him I had a donor car with the drivetrain still in it.

Geoff – Mike brought the donor car to my shop, as well as the Jim MacPherson car. I cut the cage out of Jim’s car and put it in the donor. We also used the rear end from Jim’s car.

Mike – We used Jim’s wheels too. They were a small bolt pattern, so we had to find parts that would fit that pattern, which turned out to be a ‘71 Dart. So we found bits and pieces here and there.

Ken – The body sits perfectly on the rebuild.

Mike – Geoff made sure everything was squared up and sitting right. There was lots of discussion on how far back, or ahead the body should sit. We really wanted the body to look like it was ‘70’s style. We had to alter so much stuff, but we really wanted to make it look like 1977.

Ken – Tell me about the motor and transmission?

Mike – Jim ran a 340 engine in his stock cars. We have a 318, only because it was easier to find one and cheaper too. The motor came from another donor car that I found down in River John N.S. It was a 1988 Diplomat and it was running when I bought it. That was my original intention too. I wanted a donor car that was running, so I could use the motor and transmission right away. The transmission is a 904 automatic, which was what Jim ran for years in the ’70s. So we hauled that Diplomat down to Geoff’s shop. We took the engine and transmission out, and just scrapped the rest of the car. Now in the ’70s, Jim ran ‘direct drive’, so there was no torque converter in his race cars. But we left the torque converter in because it’s just easier to move around. Jim was really ahead of his time back then. It was unheard of back in his day to run direct drive. Nowadays, all the Sportsman cars run ‘direct drive’.

Ken – I love the interior and dash. It’s so simple.

Mike – I had no pictures of the original dash, so Geoff put in 3 retro-style gauges. That’s all Jim ran. The seat is something I had. Jim used a seat out of a Dodge van when he raced. And that van seat is still in the other Aspen car.

Ken – Did Jim know about the progress on the rebuild?

Mike – I’m Facebook friends with Jim’s wife, so I kept her up to date on its progress and she’d tell Jim. Rodney Ogilvie works with Dave O’Blenis at the track, lives next door to Jim. So when I’d see Rodney, I’d fill him in on the progress too.

Geoff – I replaced about 90% of the front suspension with new parts. So once I finished all the fab work, mechanical work, and wiring, it was time for bodywork.

Mike – Colin Quinlan, who’s a crew member on Devin Snell’s team, did all the bodywork and painting. As you can tell, it came out amazing.

Colin – The body was pretty rough when I got it. It took me a while to get it finished. The quarters were already welded on when I got it, and Geoff replaced the center floor section. But the lower panels needed extensive repairs.

Ken – The color stands out for me. Easily recognizable as Jim MacPherson blue.

Mike – It’s actually ‘Petty blue’, which is what Jim ran in the ’70s. It was known as a different name back in the day, but technically, it’s still Petty blue. Around New Brunswick and even the rest of the Maritimes, that car and color combination is legendary. When I was a kid, I saw this car run at Hammond River, Brookside and Riverglade, so it holds a special meaning to me.

Colin – Same for me. I watched Jim at Hammond River and Riverglade for years. And I got the paint code for the ‘Petty blue’ from Shane Armstrong. Shane’s originally from Saint John, living in North Carolina now. Shane restored and painted an old Dodge truck, and he used the same color blue.

Ken – For those not familiar with Jim and his success, tell me about his accomplishments?

Mike – Jim started racing in 1965. He won his first championship at Brookside Speedway in 1969. He had a career season in 1974 winning the points championship at Riverglade and Miramichi. He also finished second at Brookside that same year. As far as Petty goes, I know he finished second in 1987. Up until 1981, Jim had won more races at Riverglade then anyone else, including Frank Fraser. Jim’s point standing statistics at Riverglade are impressive. Between 1965 and 1981, a 17-year stretch, Jim finished in the top five an astonishing 11 times and in the top 10 14 times, while also running other Maritime tracks. He’s also the 1988 International champion at Riverglade.

Ken – His stock cars always looked professionally built with the best of equipment, but that wasn’t the case?

Mike – Not at all. Jim built and maintained his own cars and most of the parts on his cars. When he built the Dart, he used a set of ‘Petty Short Track Kit Car Plans’. Jim’s a very smart man who believed in doing it all himself. His philosophy was ‘to keep the car simple, it’s easier to fix if something goes wrong’.’.

Ken – So after Colin painted the car, it needed to be lettered.

Mike – It did. But first, we needed a windshield. Travis Barr Auto Glass stepped up and put a glass windshield in it. Jim didn’t run Lexan back in the day, only glass. We were lucky though. The windshield we used came out of the donor car, and it wasn’t even cracked. That donor car sat in a field on Loch Lomond Road in Saint John for many years and eventually ended up in a junkyard. Travis worked his magic on the windshield and installed it in the car. He buffed it too, which makes it look like a brand new one. We ordered a rubber kit for the windshield and we were all surprised that the kit could still be ordered.

Ken – So now it was time for lettering?

Mike – We got Jack Wilkins in Saint John to letter it. It took him about 6 hours to letter by hand. The car was still at Geoff’s shop in Saint John, so Jack just came over and did it there. Jack’s an artist, so it came out amazing.

Ken – Pat Lawrence is starting a vintage racing tour for next year. Will you compete in it with this car?

Mike – No. My racing days are over, unfortunately. Since I moved from Saint John, I don’t really know many people to go racing with and crew it. When I moved to Moncton, I sold my stock car trailer and most of my equipment. I just didn’t think I’d need any of that stuff again.

Ken – So what are your plans with the car? Where and when can people see it?

Mike – My plan is to put it on a trailer and haul it to a race track and show it off. That’s what I want to do. I really didn’t want it to sit in a garage and have two or three people look at it once a year. I want to have it as a mobile display. I’ll take it to the car show at the Maritime Motorsports Hall Of Fame next June. That will likely be the first car show I’ll take it to.

Ken – Would you take it down to Riverside Speedway? Jim had run there in the ’70s and early ’80s. It would be nice for fans to see it.

Mike – That’s my plan, but it’ll depend on my trailer situation. Right now, I’m just renting a trailer to move it around. But I’d like to take it there for the IWK 250 race.

Ken – So you got two cars from Jim. What’re your plans for the other car?

Mike – My intent is to just get it running. I kind of blew my budget on this current car. But I want to leave the Aspen ‘as is’. Maybe change the fuel cell out. The front end is seized, so fix that. It has a 340 4-speed in it that isn’t seized, so it should be able to rebuild. That’s good. This Aspen bodied car won the 1988 International at Riverglade. So maybe restore it to that time period. That chassis was originally the Dart. Jim had Petty kit car plans that he used to build the car. He widened the cage and put a fiberglass body on it in the early ’80s when he ran some early MASCAR races. This car has tons of history attached to it, so that’s why I’d like to leave everything on it ‘as is’.

Ken – You brought the car to Jim to show him, and he had no idea you were coming?

Mike – He knew it was finished but was surprised when I showed up to show him. He was very happy to see the finished product. And in true original builder and racer fashion, noticed a couple of subtle differences which I personally thought was great.

Ken – Well the car looks amazing, and fans will love to see it next year.

Mike – I’m very pleased with how well it came out. I can’t thank Geoff Armstrong enough for the work he did. Colin Quinlan did a beautiful job with the bodywork and paint. And Jack Wilkins incredible lettering.