ONE OF THE TOP TEN HOT RODS OF ALL TIME

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PICTURED ABOVE: A fully restored Coates and Kanis Gasser showing at the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance in 2012

When they were kids, Jerry Kanis, Tom Kanis and neighbor Paul Coates were always talking about building a hot rod. After all, how much could it really cost to a build a car like the ones they had once watched at the old Beechmont Dragway. 

So in 1966, the three of them finally set out to do just that. Their original intent was for this to be a low budget project, it had to be. Jerry had just graduated and Tom and Paul were still in school. To start, they needed two basic components, a car and an engine. A classified ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer turned up an old 1946 Mercury coupe. The car was found sitting behind a barn out in Clermont County, Ohio. Apparently it had been there for years. It was rough, but the price was right at $50 bucks. 

Now for the engine. A junkyard search turned up a 392 Cubic Inch Chrysler Hemi that would be perfect. The engine was taken from an old, wrecked 1958 Chrysler Imperial. The price, also $50 bucks!  So now with a $100 investment and the two main components secured, the question arose, where will we build it? 

Jerry Kanis soon approached his father Earl for permission to use his McLean Drive garage. Earl agreed, however just for a limited time. Little did Earl know he was not only making a three-year commitment for use of his garage but also for his assistance and expertise with the project. When the car arrived the body was in rough condition. 

First, the car was stripped bare. Then a tremendous amount of metal work and resurfacing needed to be completed. And to top it all off, the car was painted with thirty-six coats of brilliant Kelly Green metal flake paint, a very forward thinking concept for the 1960's. 

The engine had its own challenges. It required a tremendous amount of work to be adapted for racing. Instead of being converted to fuel injection, it remained naturally aspirated utilizing two Holly 750 CFM carburetors cross mounted on aluminum induction stacks. The block was bored out to over 400 cubic inches and was rebuilt to produce over 500 horsepower.  With countless hours of blood, sweat and tears already invested, the project was now rapidly changing in scope, size and expense. 

The car soon became a family project with all hands on deck. Even the younger family members got involved. At one point John Kanis's sixth grade school teacher, Sister Margaret Ann Corbet, was overhearing talk out in the schoolyard about this race car. The nun's brother, whom which she greatly disapproved, was into building and racing cars as well. The nun was becoming concerned about John's growing interest with cars and did not want him going down what she considered was a road to ruin. One night she felt compelled to call John's mother at home to express her concern. She told her, "Get that boy away from that car!" Needless to say, the nun's detest did not deter John in the least. 

After three years of working nights, weekends and holidays, the project was finally completed. The Coates and Kanis Gasser was a sight to behold and was ready for racing! As the 1969 season began, the car began competing at local drag strips. However, most of that first season, the car was plagued by a puzzling mechanical problem. Something was causing it to “lurch” off the starting line and then stall. The problem had the crew baffled. After months and months of tinkering the culprit was found to be the timing advance. A simple adjustment of the distributor easily corrected the problem. With the end of the 1969 season quickly approaching it was back to the track! The car was now running like a beast. On the last day of the season, the car turned an extremely competitive 10.65 seconds elapsed time on the quarter mile track at Edgewater Park Raceway. 

But as winter was setting in the winds of change were a blowin'. Shortly before the 1970 season was to begin, Jerry Kanis was promoted from his marketing position with Ford Motor Company in Cincinnati to "The Glass House", Ford's corporate headquarters in Detroit. That spring, Tom Kanis and Paul Coates, both ROTC Cadets at Xavier University, completed their studies. Soon after graduation they said goodbye to their families and were off to the jungles of Vietnam. There was a war to be fought. Sadly, the car would never be raced again.

The years went by and everyone's lives went in different directions. Moves, marriages, divorces, children born, parents lost, life simply happened. Over time, the family eventually lost touch with the car that was the main focus of their lives for those few short years back in the late 1960's. The Coates and Kanis Gasser was all but a forgotten memory.  

Fast forward to the early 2000's. One day of the blue one day Jerry received a phone call from his former partner, Paul Coates. Paul was excited to tell him that the old green coupe had been found! Apparently, it had been sitting out in the middle of a cornfield at the Ohio-Indiana state line for some time. Other than the paint coming off in sheets, the car was relatively intact. Most importantly the Chrysler Hemi engine, now a very sought after power plant valued at over $50,000, was still mounted in its belly. 

The coupe eventually ended up in the hands of a gentlemen named John Ridgeway of nearby Milford, Ohio. John had purchased it with plans to restore it to its original glory. Ridgeway graciously involved the Kanis family and consulted with them during the entire restoration process. He wanted everything to be period correct even down to the original artwork. Jim "The Dauber" Farr, now in his seventies, was brought in to letter and stripe the car just as he had done some forty years earlier when he was a young art school graduate. Even the Coates and Kanis logo was recreated on the doors.  

When completed, the car looked exactly as it originally did back in 1969. And in all honesty, probably even better. The car was restored strictly to be show car and was never intended to be ran on the drag strip. But no corners were cut; the Gasser was rebuilt to race ready condition down to the M&H Racemaster slicks. 

At the reveal, with a crowd gathered, the Hemi engine was started and the ground shook. The Coates and Kanis Gasser roared like the beast it once was. The car showed well and won its category in every local event it was entered in that first year. By 2012, the car was showing nationally. That summer, while at the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Ridgeway was approached by the NHRA. They requested that he bring the car to the NHRA Summer Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend for a special presentation.

So on September 1, 2012, with both Jerry and John Kanis in attendance, the NHRA ceremoniously awarded the Coates and Kanis Gasser the title of "One of the Top Ten Hot Rods of All Time." The NHRA stated that the car was one of the finest examples of what an American enthusiast would build in their back yard during the glory days of hot rodding. It was quite an honor for everyone involved. The car now resides in Milford, Ohio and is still shown regularly.  

- Jerry Kanis