As EngineLabs has noted before, the backstory of an engine can be more compelling than the actual hardware. We’re all fans of the iconic 426 Hemi, and by itself this fully functional and handsomely dressed elephant motor from the ‘60s would inspire comments of tribute and reflection as well as envy. It’s a working symbol of the innovation and competitive backbone that we all honor when twisting a wrench on our own engines before heading to the track. It’s up for bid on eBay with a starting price of $35,000, and there’s a boatload of watchers.

The engine was built at Petty Enterprises with a Racer Brown camshaft and 11.5:1 pistons.

But the story goes deeper than the classic Hemi orange paint. This engine has direct connections to the Petty clan racing Superbirds in NASCAR and to the last American hero, Junior Johnson, tearing the up back woods of North Carolina with a full load of corn liquor in the trunk of a Dodge B-body. While the fingerprints from those legends can be found on the Hemi’s massive rocker covers, an asterisk is still required for the provenance papers. You see, this Hemi’s historical lore will be retold in one of those “would’ve, should’ve, could’ve” fables.

In a nutshell, Maurice Petty built it for racing but NASCAR said the famed winged cars couldn’t use engines over 305ci in 1971, and Chrysler killed off Hemi production engines that same year—pretty much serving notice that the Hemi was on its way out of competition.

“They had this NASCAR motor at Petty Enterprises, and Junior Johnson wound up with it,” recalls Larry Cleary, who’s handling the engine’s sale. “He was going to put it in a 1966 Dodge Coronet that he was running in the moonshine business.”

Besides NASCAR coming down on the Hemi, about this time the Feds were also coming down on notorious bootlegger Clay Call, arguably the most famous and hard-to-catch moonshiner in North Carolina. And Junior Johnson was one of his best drivers, even though he did get caught a couple times and served some time behind bars.

“But Junior was getting big in NASCAR with sponsorships, so this engine has sat in the crate since then,” says Cleary.

Call, who remained a close friend of Johnson and also kept most of the moonshine cars in his stable, passed away about three years ago. His family has since started a legal distillery operation, and recently Call’s widow called Cleary to help her sell some of the automotive hardware that still sits in the garage.

“I first saw that engine in 1973 when I met Clay and was working on some of his cars,” remembers Cleary, who now works out of his Roman Road Auto Restoration business in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. “I told [Clay’s widow] it needs to be running before I can sell it. It hadn’t been turned over since Maurice built it.”

Cleary disassembled the engine, cleaned and checked the internals and reassembled with fresh lubrication. He noted that Petty had bored the block .020-inch over and installed 11.5:1 pistons to complement a hotter Racer Brown camshaft. The original engine had a single 4-barrel intake, but Cleary found a period-correct dual 4-barrel intake in Call’s collection. He then topped it off with a pair of Edelbrock 750 cfm carbs, which are direct descendants of the Carter AFBs found on the ‘60s Hemi.

Here’s one of Clay Call’s ’40 Ford moonshine cars. Larry Cleary has restored many runners from Call’s collection.

“When I took it apart, everything looked like Maurice had built it yesterday,” says Cleary. “Put it together and fired right up.” (see video above)

Potential buyers may be a little ambivalent about purchasing a historical engine that “could’ve been a contender.” It was in the Petty’s engine building room but never got into an engine bay of a Petty racecar. It was in the garage of Junior Johnson’s favorite bootlegging employer, but never got installed into one of Junior’s favorite midnight-run cars. It’s kind of like buying a Super Bowl ring from a player who sat on the bench. Still, it’s a great looking engine that’s been around some legendary players. It’s going to be a great addition to someone’s collection!

The Call family remains involved in hot rodding and racing, sponsoring Aaron Brown’s rat rod project that has run over 186 mph at the Ohio Mile.