No this isn't the original Hot Chief #1 but a good looking facsimile of the car driven by Jim Wangers that won Top Stock Eliminator at the NHRA Labor Day Nationals held at Detroit Dragway in 1960. It was the first Pontiac to win a NHRA national event. The whereabouts of the original Coronado Red Pontiac Catalina is unknown according to Jim Wangers. [Read more about the car in Jim Wanger's book, Glory Days.]

The car pictured is owned by Kenneth Davis who purchased the Catalina in 1998 with the intention of re-creating the legendary Hot Chief #1. Ken's car is currently equipped with the original 318 hp, numbers matching tri-power 389 cubic inch engine but he intends to replace it with a 389 "A" engine rated at 348 hp. During the past two years the body was refinished in Coronado Red (base coat-clear coat), and received factory 8-lug wheels, new Ventura scheme door panels, seat covers, and headliner. Next will be the installation of a high performance 389 "A" engine and a 4.56 Saft-T-Trac rear. Although the car is still unfinished, it took 2nd place at the Pontiac National Convention car show in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2000.

When completed, Ken intends to race the car as a nostalgia stocker.