The Don Morris Special

The Don Morris Special as it appeared in 2017. Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

Don's grandson with the car. Photo courtesy of William Touhey.

The Don Morris Special is a hand made boattail roadster built by Don Morris of Racine, Wisconsin. The build was completed in April of 1938, and according to the Racine Journal Times Newspaper Archives April 27, 1938 it was the fastest and most beautiful automobile of Racine. Don, who was in charge of engineering at Twin Disc Clutch company, spent two years perfecting his dream-car, working nights, weekends and holidays. Painted deep blue, Don fit the streamlined car with a V-8 engine. According to Don's grandson, it was built all from steel, using some parts from other cars. The grille and some of the metal trim were made from scratch.

100 MPH

The first test runs were done in April of 1938, and the long, only waist-high automobile was capable of a maximum speed far in excess of 100 miles an hour.

Still in the Family

In 2017 the car was located in Florida, owned by Don's grandson. It was then painted red and powered by a Mercury flathead V-8, and it ran a pulley made to fit the back of the generator so Don could have power steering.