Don Lindfors is a lucky man. He owns one of the most iconic gassers in the history of the West Coast drag racing scene. The Blair Speed Shop’s 1948 red and white Anglia, originally built in 1968 by Jay Lindsley in Blair’s Pasadena, California shop, has a long and incredible history. We caught up with the car, parked in the Pertronix booth, at this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

Original owner Lindsley purchased the 1948 Anglia body from Danny Roberts at Blair’s Speed Shop. Working out of a back room in the shop, Lindsley worked with Mike Hoge to design and build the chassis for the racer. Lindsley built the chassis and finished building the car with a 427ci big-block Chevy with Hilborn fuel injection and a four-speed Muncie M-22 rock crusher transmission. An Oldsmobile rearend completed the drivetrain. 

After a year and a half with the BBC,  a SBC was swapped into the frame and promptly went out to set a national ET record in the B/Gas class at the original Irwindale Raceway in California, and later at Lions Drag Strip.

Other builders took notice of the build. The Anglia was used by Contemporary Fiberglass to create molds for fiberglass bodies used for other Anglia clones built by Shores and Hess, along with Phil Lukens and many others. The Oldsmobile rearend was eventually replaced with a Summers Brother’s narrowed Dyna 60 rearend.

Lindsley sold the car in 1972 and it was campaigned on racetracks in the San Diego area by a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. The car changed hands and became a bracket racer based out of the San Diego area for the next 15 years. The car did real well, running in the low 9s and over 150 miles per hour.

Lindfors saw the car and suspected there was some substantial history in its past. He bought the car in 1995 and began digging the clues to uncover the Anglia’s identity. In 2009, after verifying all the details from people involved with the original build, he decided to restore it back to its record-setting days.

Lindfors targeted the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California in 2010 where it made its debut. Starting in November of 2009, he restored the chassis, bringing up to current specs with the intent to campaign the historic racer again. After 2 1/2 months, the car was complete, and was even outfitted with the original livery and paint scheme.

Lindfors has painstakingly researched and restored this piece of racing history back to near original state. A “for sale” sign was in the window when we saw it at SEMA. The hard work has been done for any potential future owners. All you need to do now is race it.