Fred and Diane Bowden Loan Their Car To NASCAR!

[Ron Hill]

From: Buz McKim [mailto:Buz.McKim@NASCARHall.com (Buz.McKim@NASCARHall.com)]
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2013 6:45 AM
To: Diane Bowden
Subject: RE: '57 Nascar



Fred and Diane,
Just a note to let you know that we unveiled your wonderful Chevy this morning at a breakfast honoring 100 of our members. Of course, your car was a major hit. There were actually gasps from the audience when it was unveiled. Also attending were Buck’s widow Susan and his son, former driver, Buddy Baker. Buddy had tears in his eyes. Great memories for him. Attached is a photo I shot and much more is to come. Many thanks for making this affair a rousing success!
All the best,
Buz

[crewman060]

Sil drug us down there 4 years ago at Thanksgiving.nascar hof really not bad,pretty cool for a gearhead.There is no sheetmetal on cup cars,they have a Yota on desplay,sheetmetal might be 1/16,then smoothed out with bondo.The neat thing was seeing the evolution of cars thru the years.Cool deal the Bowdens did.how did they come to own that car?

[Gene East]

Is it a '55 or a '56?

I lost interest in NASCAR years ago when all the cars looked the same except for the decal on the hood.

Did live in N.C. for 3 years when NASCAR still had some "brand ID". That was fun!

My high school driver education car was a '57 Chevy. If we had only known then what we know now

[Gene East]

I just took a longer look and now I see it's a '57. Beautiful car!

In any case, those 3 year model Chevys were great on the street and on the track and I've always been partial to Fords!

[Ron Hill]

Sil drug us down there 4 years ago at Thanksgiving. NASCAR Hall of Fame is really not bad, pretty cool for a gearhead.There is no sheet metal on cup cars,they have a Yota on display, sheet metal might be 1/16,then smoothed out with bondo.The neat thing was seeing the evolution of cars thru the years. Cool deal the Bowdens did.how did they come to own that car?

Fred isn't too good about answering my emails, so I emailed his wife. Fred has a 5,000 square foot garage. In it he has one of every '57 Chevy that came with fuel injection. All are black and white. Buck Baker's, '57 didn't have fuel injection, but it did win the Daytona 500. The interesting thing about this '57 was the gas tank. Under the rules in '57 your car had to be like the "SHOW ROOM". '57 Chevy's gas caps were in the tail light. The "Racers" learned to hit the Chevy's in the tail light, so they couldn't open their gas cap. So, for Daytona, they allowed the gas tank to be fueled from inside the truck. They held the trunk lid down with a "BUNGEE" cord. Pretty cool stuff Fred has...Nomad, Cameo, Corvette, Bel-Air. Plus some other stuff in his garage.

Fred and Diane are "Self Made" but they have never forgotten where they came from.

[Skoontz]

That car was on loan to the Drag racing museum at Pomona for several years. Next to it was Ned Jarrets 1949 Hudson Hornet. Fun car.

[Ron Hill]

Fred bought it from a fellow in Phoenix ages ago. He has run it at Irwindale and Fontana….for fun! Diane. Cool stuff, really!