Description:

This Devin was originally built in 1959 as a street car and was somewhat rudimentary with a wood firewall, foot boxes, floor and rear cockpit panel. It had a bored out 283 Corvette engine with three two's and a Ford three speed trans. The body was painted white and it had an egg-crate grille. The car went through three owners and languished until 1995 when the previous owner bought the car and spent the big bucks to have this car professionally built by Tom Lalinsky Engineering into a very fast, reliable and durable vintage racecar. The body is a Devin 195 wide-body with the large grille opening. Headlights are correctly mounted, taped and wired to the dash switch, but are not powered. The tail lights (Unknown Mfg.)are mounted and wired to the brake pedal and operate correctly. The body is painted bright green with flat-black, glare-reducing sections on the hood and front fenders. The original, well-mounted windshield is Polycarbonate and is still clear and has very few scratches. There are vent screens behind the front and rear fender arches. The car has side valences for the straight exhaust - as is on the car now - or for mufflers. Vintage racing mirrors are mounted on both sides adjacent to the windshield. The firewall is now aluminum with aluminum foot boxes, floor and rear cockpit panel. There are hood and trunk lid snap-ring hold-downs. Tow rings are attached to the front and rear of the chassis. The chassis is a heavily-modified 1940 Ford lower frame section that has been shortened, boxed,"Z'd" in the rear and has additional cross members. An upper 1 1/2 Inch tube frame structure is tied into the lower frame with verticals, horizontal side bars with added bracing and three additional cross tubes behind the radiator, under the dash and behind the rear cockpit panel. This chassis is extremely ridgid. Solid tube supports from the frame to the body are glassed into the body at many places. The front suspension is a solid live-axle with a four-bar, trailing-link mounting with a Panhard adjustable track bar. It is supported by a single leaf cross spring (Adhearing to the original Ford set-up.) with Coil-over springs and Aldan "Eagle" dual adjustable dampers. The rear suspension is also a solid axle with the identical mounting system less the cross spring. The rear axle and differential assembly is a heavily reinforced Ford 9 Inch center section with larger axle tubes. It carries Moser large-diameter 28 spline axles, a Strange aluminum "Pumpkin" housing, Winters Wedgelock limited slip differential with a 110-120 Lb. Pre-load. It is a 3.7 to 1 ratio. There is a vent hose and catch can. The front brakes are 11" X 3" finned aluminum Ford drums and are 1959-1962 NASCAR brakes. It has steel fabricated backing plates, Bendix shoes and cylinders and Carbotech "Green" linings. The rear brakes are 10" X 2 1/4" Ford/Bendix with steel drums. It has a GM step-bore master cylinder and an in-cockpit adjustable proportioning valve. The steel wheels are per VSCCA specs and are modern, fully-welded Chrysler Police Package reproduction wheels. They carry Pirelli P4000, 205-70 ZR 15 tires, shaved to 5/32." The alternate tires are Dunlop 600Ls. A Flaming River Vega steering box is used with Borgeson universal joints. The steering shaft is located by spherical bearings and a wrapped vintage Moto-Lita steering wheel made in England is used. The transmission is a Borg-Warner Super T-10 with a rollerized first gear. It carries the short ratios of 2.41, 1.61,1.23 and 1.00. A Tilton, non-slip, three-disc clutch is covered by a Tilton steel scattershield-type bellhousing. There is mechanical clutch linkage. The car was originally raced for many years with the 283 which had 297 Cu. In. with the Rochester three twos and headers. A serious race engine was built by Lalinsky Engineering which consisted of a high-nickel, high-tin 350 block with a 4" bore and a 2.95" stroke for 296 Cu. In. It has a Calles destroked crank, Pro Graham four-bolt main caps, ARP studs, Crower 6" Sportsman rods and Weisco 12 1/2 - 1 pistons. The heads are 461 straight-plug iron castings with extensive port work. A Howard roller cam with Crower lifters, Crane Professional shaft-type roller rockers push Stainless valves and titanium retainers. The rockers are most likely non-conforming in some vintage organizations, but this is a very durable and reliable valve train. A period-correct Hilborn mechanical fuel injection system has 2 1/8" ram tubes. The ignition is by a Scintilla-Vertex magneto. It has a Stewart Stage Three water pump. The headers are HPC coated and they have 4" collectors. This engine produces 525-550 HP at 7500 RPM with a red-line at 8000 RPM. The fuel system includes a Fuel Safe eight gallon aluminum fuel cell,(PC108AN) with a rear mounted fuel filter, steel braided lines, three steel lines from the tank to the engine and a fuel shutoff valve. Sunoco Supreme 112 octane racing fuel (Blue) or Trick racing fuel 110 octane (Also Blue) is used. A Melling Performance high-volume, high-pressure pump maintains 60 PSI hot oil pressure. There is a remote oil filter and cooler, an Accusump cold-start pressure system, an eight quart oil pan and twelve quarts total. There are valve cover breathers with hoses to a catch can. The engine is cooled by a Wizard Cooling aluminum four-core radiator with a catch-can. Straight water with Water-Wetter additive is used. There are dual six-volt gel-cell batteries with charging posts and a master shut-off switch. There is no alternator - the batteries are for starting and brake lights only. The dash is fabricated aluminum with a full complement of Stewart-Warner vintage guages oriented with "Needle at Top", including a mechanical SW tell-tale tach. The dash also contains the light switches (Not powered), oil pressure warning light, a master circuit breaker and the fuse box. The cockpit contains a rigidly mounted curved center mirror, the Accusump under the dash, the brake proportioning and fuel shutoff valves, a dead pedal, rubber matting on the floor panels, a three-compartment Halon Fire System, Vinyl-covered door area panels, correctly mounted Stanguellini black-fabric covered racing seats, approved seat belt anchor plates, Crow Enterprises five-point seat belts dated 2010 (Expire at the end of 2015) and an extremely well-mounted three-point roll bar with head rest pad. Spares include the original hood used with the three twos, brake parts, Hilborn parts - jets, belts, etc., an extra set of Dunlop tires. Documentation includes several letters from prior owners, Extensive receipts totaling over $65,000 for the rehab, not including the car as originally purchased, manuals, brochures, Log books from 1996 to present. This car has been vintage raced at most of the big tracks in the east coast, including Watkins Glen, Pocono, Virginia International Raceway, Summit Point, Beaver Run Race Track, Road America. Since I've owned the car, it has been at Eagle Field for their 1/8th mile drags, Chuckwalla Valley Raceway and about five times at Willow Springs International Raceway. I always wanted to drive a front engined road racing car from the '50's and I've immensly enjoyed owning this car. It is a lot more powerful and faster than I expected. Since the car is faster than the driver, I've decided to sell the Devin and let the next owner enjoy the car. This car is suited to drivers that are less than Five Feet, Ten Inches tall. With fabrication, the pedals could be moved forward about two inches, but at the present time it would be difficult for a tall driver to be comfortable in this car. There is plenty of width in the cockpit for the legs to be splayed out, but it still might be uncomfortable. The distance from the Seat Back to the Brake/Clutch pedals is 37 1/2 inches. To the Throttle pedal is 39 inches. To the Firewall is 45 inches.


History

This 1959 Devin was a one-off, built originally as a street car. After it was converted to a vintage racecar,(See above in Description) it has been extensively vintage raced for about 16-17 years at most of the big tracks back east, including Watkins Glen, Pocono, Virginia International Raceway, Summit Point, Beaver Run Race Track and Road America. For the last few years the car has been to the Eagle Field 1/8th mile drags and raced on the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, and about five times at Willow Springs International Racetrack.Performance Data

• Group C-2
  
• 2100 lbs
  

Engine

• Tom Lalinski Engineering
  
• Chevrolet
  
• V-8
  
• 297 Cu. In.
  
• 525-550
  
• Period-correct Hilborn Mechanical Fuel Injection. 2 1/8
  
• Iron, 461 Straight-plug, heads with extensive port work.
  
• High-nickel, High-tin 350 iron block
  
• Pro Ghrham four-bolt
  
• Calles destroked - 2.95
  
• Crower 6
  
• Weisco 12 1/2 to 1
  
• Howard Roller
  
• Stainless, titanium retainers
  
• Roller lifters and Rockers - Crane
  
• Tilton 7 3/4
  
• Tilton 7 3/4
  
• Tilton/Tilton bellhousing/scattershield
  
• HPC coated 4 into 1 headers
  
• About 8 hours
  
• eight
  

Fuel System

• 
  
• Fuel Safe(PC108AN)
  
• 8 gallons
  
• Hilborn
  
• 110 Racing Gas
  

Oil/Water System

• Wizard Aluminum
  
• Front
  
• Stewart Stage Three high capacity
  
• Two quart
  
• Front left
  

Electrical System

• Scintilla-Vertex Magneto
  
• None
  
• Two Six Volt Gel Cells
  

Transmission

• Borg Warner
  
• Super T-10
  
• Four-rollerized first gear
  

Rear End

• Ford
  
• Nine Inch
  
• 3.70
  
• Strange Aluminum
  
• Winters Wedgelock
  
• Moser 28 Spline
  

Body

• Fibreglass
  
• Green/Black
  
• Good
  

Chassis

• Lower - ladder, Upper-Space frame
  
• Lower-modified Ford, Upper-Tom Lalinski
  
• Lower - 2X3
  
• Black Paint
  
• Good
  
• Solid Axle, Four Link with coil-overs and a track bar.
  
• Solid Axle, Four Link with coil-overs and a track bar.
  
• Aldan
  
• F- 11X3
  
• Flaming River Vega Box
  
• Fully Welded steel, Chrysler police
  
• Pirelli P4000 205-70 ZR 15
  

Interior

• Black and Aluminum
  
• Vinyl and Aluminum
  
• Halon Safecraft Three-compartment
  
• Crow Enterprises, five point, 2010
  
• Vintage Stewart-Warner
  
• Vintage English Moto Lita
  

Spares

• One hood, one front brake drum
  
• Second set of valences
  
• Hilborn parts - jets, belts
  
• brake parts, shoes, springs
  
• misc small parts
  
• Extra set of Dunlop 600L tires.