It’s fair to say that Munz really likes 1936 Fords. One of his favorites is the ’36 convertible sedan that he drove in the 1984 Great American Race. A handsome Deluxe Model 73 in Codoba Tan with a vermilion pinstripe, this car was an AACA Senior Class Award winner in 1978 and it wears its coveted badge in the grille. Ford accessory fog lights and a prancing greyhound ornament make it even nicer. Munz drove in the Great Race with a Hot Rod legend for a co- pilot: the late Don Thelen. The owner of Buffalo Motor Cars and sometimes known as “Buffalo,” Thelen built several America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winners during the course of his career including the 1933 Ford Roadster known as “Mere Image” for Jim and Florine McNamara in 1987 and John Siroonian’s ’32 Phaeton, the 1981 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winner. One of Thelen’s own cars, his ’32 Ford Victoria, was named one of the Most Significant ’32 Fords by a panel of Hot Rod experts in 2007. Thelen also built the ZZ Top ’33 Ford Coupe for legendary rocker Billy Gibbons. As Munz tells it, “I didn’t know who Don Thelen was when I met him at an auction in January 1984. He was just a guy dusting a ’34 Ford Roadster. It was a day or two before the auction started. I was standing there, admiring this car. I said, this is a beauty. He said, ‘Thanks.’” Munz asked when the car was going through the auction and the man replied that it wasn’t. There had been a paperwork error. Thinking quickly, Munz suggested he sell the car in the parking lot. “So, after a little conversation, I made a deal and traded him a pretty nice ’40 Ford Convertible and some cash. He said his name was Don Thelen, but at the time, that didn’t register.” Munz said Thelen told him he needed to take it back to his shop and do a couple of things, then he’d be headed east with the roadster, planning on dropping it off in a couple of weeks and picking up the ’40. “So, a couple weeks later, he called from Wisconsin Dells,” Munz continued. “I gave him directions to the garage. He pulled in, unloaded the ’34, loaded up the ’40 and we shot the breeze for a little bit. I said, where are you heading? He said, ‘I’m heading to Cleveland to pick up the ZZ Top Coupe.’ “I said, what? He said ‘The ZZ Top Coupe. It’s on the World of Wheels Tour. I’m taking it to Columbus.’ He said, ‘I built it.’ So I said, that’s pretty neat.” But Munz started having some doubts about the car he’d just purchased. “After a week or so examining this ‘gennie’ almost 1,000-point roadster that I told Don I wanted to take on the Great American Race, I decided it was too small (for luggage) and too nice. So, I went to Atlantic City a month later in February. On the last day, this tan ’78 AACA Senior winner with a Potter accessory trunk came cruising through, and I bought it.” Munz called up Thelen and said, “I’m in Atlantic City. I just bought a car I would prefer to take on the Great American Race … I told him what it was and asked, would you do a mechanical restoration if I ship it out to you?” The race started at Universal Studios in Los Angeles and finished in Indianapolis, Indiana. Don said, “Sure, on one condition … That I go with you.” “You’ve got a deal. So, I shipped it out. He rebuilt a ’37 Ford engine. John Dietz did a Columbia 2-speed rear end. We added juice (hydraulic) brakes, put on new tires and calibrated the speedometer. Back in those days, if your watch didn’t tick, you were disqualified. There were no fancy timepieces—all wind-up stuff.” Munz said he went out a few days early and he and Thelen cruised around L.A. to break in the engine. Munz said the pair talked to a former girlfriend of Thelen’s who was now dating a Corvette guy. “They were doing quite a bit of road rallying,” Munz recalled. “We got some tips from them. “We started on the trip as an adventure. But about a day into it, I said, why don’t we bear down and see what we can do? We ended up in 14th place out of 90-plus participants. We received a nice trophy and $1,000. We ended up in Indy and did a lap around the track. Some friends came down with my trailer and we loaded it up and took it home.”
