Wheels Galleries

Wouldn't this strike fear in your heart if you encountered it rumbling along a rural highway under a blue-and-white Kansas sky?

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

Kendall Heinrichs says he had no idea how much time or how much money his Edsel would require, but that it has turned out even better than he expected.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

Kendall Heinrichs decided he wanted to build something that nobody else has. His choice of a '58 Edsel drag car seems like a fairly safe bet.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

Heinrichs says the "winged" cars of the late 1950s have been overlooked by collectors and restorers. He actually wishes the horizontal tail fins on his Edsel were a bit bigger.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

There's no mistaking the Edsel for anything else, with its distinctive oval "horse collar" grille. Note how the pro stock-style hood scoop mirrors the contours of the grille.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

Although the '58 Pacer was built on the smaller of two Edsel chassis available that year, it still weighed in at almost 3,800 pounds. Heinrichs chose a 460 Ford V-8 engine originally destined for a Pro Stock Truck to haul the weight down the drag strip.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

"I just love the lines of that car," says owner Kendall Heinrichs. His father, Lowell Heinrichs, and brother, Romney Heinrichs, handled the job of eradicating rust, straightening body panels and applying the Colorado Red and off-white paint job.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

A full roll cage and thin shell-style racing seats are complemented by a new white headliner and snazzy black-and-red upholstery by Morgan-Bulleigh.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

Safety is a prime consideration on a sedan that should be capable of 11-second passes down the drag strip: a padded full roll cage and a window net will protect the driver in the event things go wrong.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

A racing fuel cell and rear mounted battery help transfer weight to the rear of the Edsel at launch. This view shows the wide wheel tubs fabricated to keep the drag slicks inside the body lines.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo

The use of wheel tubs and a narrowed Lincoln rear end allows the Edsel to tuck its racing slicks inside the original wheel well contours.

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Isaac Fast / Courtesy photo