The Digger is a true Texas legend that is finally back on the road. It was originally built by Mike Minette in 1973 and is an insane street-legal drag racing car. There is literally nothing else quite like this car. If Bruce Wayne was a drag racer, this is the car he’d own. But the Digger now belongs to Richard Rawlings, who has had a life-long connection with it.
In the latest video release on the Gas Monkey & Richard Rawlings YouTube channel, he and his team finally get this legend back where it belongs: On the road. Let’s dive into this and find out how they brought this Dallas legend back to life.
The History Of This Custom Texas Hot Rod
Rawlings fell in love with this hot rod when he was young, and he dreamed of owning it one day. That dream came true back in the 2000s, but things didn’t quite go as planned and Rawlings sold the car in 2011. As we covered in a recent article, he has finally gotten this car back in his stable, and he's determined to get it running and looking the way it should.
The video begins with Richard Rawlings taking delivery of new wheels for this unique hot rod. These 13x16 and 13x3 bear paw wheels are hard to find but were worth the hard work of acquiring them because they look sensational on the Digger. That was the easy part of the restoration, though.
Rebuilding The Digger Hot Rod
The real graft on this project was rebuilding the mechanical parts and adjusting the frame to get this hot rod running right. The Gas Monkey team has put in a serious effort to get every aspect of this project just right. The engine for the Digger is a work of art and has been painstakingly restored. It is now putting out 495 hp and almost 600 lb-ft of torque.
They have also installed a new floor, dash, and seating arrangement to make the car a smoother ride for the driver. New brakes have gone in too. It’s now ready for a test drive, so they can identify any further tuning that the car might require.
The guys fire the engine and the roar is deafening and almost blows the microphones in the video. As Richard Rawlings says, this is like a fire-breathing dragon. They fix on the steering wheel and squeeze into the cockpit then take to the road. This hot rod looks like a whole bunch of fun to drive and turns head on every turn it takes.