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Lee Cohen's Super Pro ET Zephyr
Lee Cohen became interested in drag racing through his father John who drove custom Anglias. Lee's first car, at the age
of fifteen, was a 105E Anglia. At the age of eighteen he bought a sit-up-and-beg 103E Ford Pop in bits, built up and drove
it on the street. Always having a soft spot for Anglias Lee went back to another Anglia with a two-litre overhead cam motor
which rendered it very rapid. After a while being sensible with normal cars he decided to visit Chris Isaacs Race Cars to
put together a spec for a Pro Street 103e Pop which was his dream car. Chris was commissioned to build the car which Lee
drove on the street for three years. He then joined the Outlaw Anglias at the 2006 Halloween Bonfire Burn-up at Shakespeare
County Raceway and the Pop never went back on the road.
In 2007 Lee contested three meetings at Santa Pod Raceway and then imported a 1350 hp blown-alcohol
383 Small Block, purchased a Powerglide and packed them off the Chris Isaacs together with the Pop to
have upgrades applied. Lee's first test with the upgraded car was the 2008 Easter Thunderball (aka Snowball)
at Santa Pod Raceway, after which he got out of the car with a big smile on his face never having experienced
anything like it in his life. After a crash at Santa Pod in 2009 Lee rebuilt the Pop and then sold it.
Shortly afterwards, Ray White's Zephyr Pro Mod came up for sale and after long discussions with Ray Lee
acquired the car. Lee plans to run the Zephyr in Super Pro ET.
In March 2014, about a month before the car's first planned outing, Eurodragster.com caught up with
Lee and dad John at Ray White and Danny Cockerill's new business The Hot Rod House.
Click on any picture for a large image.
The Zephyr was at The Hot Rod House for a check-over before the motor's first fire-up. Specific tasks were the sleeving of
bolts passing through rails through which oil flows, and the completion of wiring by Ray. "Ray knows the car, which was a good
reason to send it to The Hot Rod House", said Lee.
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"Wiffy stems from a friend's party on the Queen's Jubilee weekend", said Lee. "The
guy across the road is a bit of a pisshead. He got quite drunk over that weekend and he started to call me Wiffy and it stuck.
So it's all down to a drunk!"
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The Zephyr now sports 547 ci of Big Block Chevy topped by a 14-71 Hi-Helix Mooneyham blower with hat from Micke Kågered's
first Top Fuel Dragster. The Dart M Big Block houses new Diamond custom pistons with new Venolia aluminium con rods, Crower crank
and new custom-ground Comp Cams cam. The intake manifold is by Indy and heads are BB2 Big Valve by Brodix fed by a brand new fuel
system and given a spark by a Super Mag 4 uprated to 6.8 amps.
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At the bottom end are a custom billet CVR oil pump and Milodon full-length oil pan. The zoomie headers were fabricated by Lee.
The transmission remains from the car's days as a Pro Mod. An eleven-inch double-plate AFT clutch is enveloped by a Browell
8 5/8 clutch can and backed by a three-speed Lenco with air shifters.
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"The car fits me an absolute treat, it feels like it was built to suit me", said Lee. "I feel so at home
in the car, a lot easier in this car than I did in my Pop. Everything is straight to hand.
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"I can't wait to get strapped in and go racing. I want to get that first run out of the
way after my accident at the FIA Main Event in 2009. If all goes well I hope to test at Big Bang at Santa Pod in April."
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The Zephyr's stunning design is by Darren West of Power Race Graphics.
"Custom Car magazine held a contest with the prize of a £6000 paintjob for the best design", said Lee. Darren provided me
with a rendering which I entered into the contest, and his rendering won it for me."
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Simon Clark finished the final detail such as the grille and headlamps and finally relacquered the car.
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From left: Lee's dad John, Danny Cockerill and Ray White of The Hot Rod House, Lee. Sponsors are Lee's dad John;
Synionic oil, the world's most powerful oil, thanks to Andrew Purchase at Prolong;
Mad Danny who did the pinstriping; and Jeremy from Acorn Lettings. Crew comprises John, Ray White, Richard Colby
on clutch, Lee's wife Karen, Nick, and Lee himself. "A big Thank You to Karen for putting up with everything and
helping out", says Lee, "to Dad, and to myself for knocking my bollocks out to pay for everything! Thanks also to
Ray White for his help and support."
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Matt Wright of sponsor WeMoveYourCar.com transported
the Zephyr back to Lee's base at Walton-on-the-Naze. "Matt has helped me a hell of a lot moving the car about so a big Thank You to him",
said Lee. "We are obviously on the look-out for more sponsors to help us out. The car is photogenic and so is guaranteed to get coverage.
Contact me at [email protected]."
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