It’s not entirely unheard of for people to attempt to track down a special family car from their childhood. Maybe it was stolen when they were a kid, or their parents had to sell it to pay the bills. Heck, sometimes, the car just got sold because one of the parents wanted something new and didn’t have the space to store it until their kid could start driving it. But how many of these stories involve moonshine, racing, a double murder, and a forgotten hero of early stockcar racing?
The Wilkes Journal-Patriot reports that Thomasville, North Carolina, resident Bill Blair Jr. is looking for help finding the dark blue 1940 Ford coupe that his father used to race. Blair recently partnered with Statesville’s Southern Distilling Co. to produce a brand of legal moonshine called Blair’s Last Run that features a picture of the Ford coupe on the label.
Legal moonshine may just be unaged whiskey with some good marketing behind it, but Blair actually has a real connection to the illegal stuff. His father, Bill Blair Sr., reportedly spent years running moonshine starting in the late 1920s. “My daddy used to haul moonshine. He hauled liquor during the week and raced on the weekends,” Blair told the Journal-Patriot.
As the story goes, Blair Sr. was finally caught on December 24, 1932 with 125 gallons in the trunk. While in court, he allegedly told the judge, “I’ll tell you one thing, judge — you can bet your bottom dollar that’s gonna be my last run.” Unsurprisingly, it was not actually his last run, but it does make for a good name and backstory when you’re trying to sell legal moonshine.
Blair Sr. didn’t actually own the car on the bottle, but he did race it and use it to run moonshine long after he pledged to stop. Instead, it belonged to a friend named J.T. Springer, who sold it in either 1946 or 1947 to a man named Bennie Cross, a fan in the stands who liked the car so much, he bought it on the spot. “Bennie just had to have that car,” Blair Jr. told the Journal-Patriot. “He just had to have it, so they sold it to him. He drove it home that same day and stored it in a building beside his house.”
And when we say racing, we don’t mean the amateur kind. Blair Sr. has his own Racing Reference page and a Wikipedia page. He was also profiled in Red Dirt Tracks: The Forgotten Heroes of Early Stockcar Racing by Gail Cauble Gurley along with Jimmie Lewallen, and Fred Harb. So if you saw moonshine and racing and thought NASCAR, you were right on the money. The man was basically the godfather of NASCAR.
Unfortunately, for Cross and his wife, who were reportedly known to keep large amounts of cash in their house, a failed robbery led to their deaths in December 1975. In the process of dealing with their estate, Cross’s daughter then sold the car about a year or two after her parents’ deaths. Blair Jr. claims to have been trying to track the car down for the better part of a decade, but so far, he hasn’t had any luck.
“I want the car because my daddy drove it,” Blair, who is now 85, told the Journal-Patriot. “Knowing the history of the car, it would mean a lot to me. And I believe it still exists somewhere — I just haven’t been able to find it.” Later, he added, “Someone in J.T. Springer’s family said they thought the car was sold somewhere around Martinsville, Mount Airy or Wilkesboro, but it’s never turned up. I’m still looking for it, but there’s no telling where it’s at.”
It may be a long shot, but he said he hopes getting more publicity will help bring up new leads. After all, even if it’s been repainted, there can’t have been that many 1940 Fords sold between 1976 and 1977 in that part of North Carolina. Although, it is fully possible that the current owner has no idea that their car has a history that would make Steve Earle proud. “I’d love to have that thing,” Blair Jr. told the Journal-Patriot. “I wouldn’t pay a million dollars for it, but maybe a little bit under that.”
If you or anyone you know may have a possible lead on where the car is located, the Journal-Patriot asks that you send your tips to [email protected]. And if any community can be of help here, surely it’s us. Do your thing!