1959 Pink Elephant III

Chris Wickersham is a Devin expert who has restored nearly ten Devin-bodied cars including seven of the original Devin SS sports cars. Perhaps more importantly, he is of Irish descent. Why is that important? Because it seems there really may be something to the “luck of the Irish” thing. This month’s Hidden Treasure is a well-known Devin-bodied special. Acquiring it didn’t entail an endless string of disconnected telephone numbers or undeliverable letters. Nor did it require crawling over boxes caked with 50 years of grime or a 15-year romance process with a reluctant seller. No! This Barn Find was all about luck. This one actually found Wickersham.

Jim Chaffee of Mount Baldy, California, built a series of cars in the late ’50s known as the Pink Elephants. The third car was built in 1959 using an Austin-Healey frame and a variety of other Healey parts. Front suspension was by independent A-arms and the rear was via live axle. Disc brakes provided stopping power up front, and drums did the job at the rear. A J-style body was sourced from Bill Devin. Body modifications included the addition of a headrest and a hood scoop. And of course…the car was painted a fabulous shade of pink! Go power was provided by a 283 Chevy that breathed through three two-barrel Rochester carbs.