Table of contents for June 2020 in Mopar Action

I GOTTA CONFESS… I wasn’t born with a silver Pentastar in my mouth. I wasn’t converted over to the Mopar camp until later in life when I was “re-educated” (a term humorously used by China and North Korea to “convince” dissidents back into the party line, or simply disappear) by Rick Ehrenberg. The first family bus was a ’54 Buick Century—pretty quick with the small Special body packing the big Roadmaster engine. No power steering or brakes, but fun. I drove that in college and drag-raced a fraternity bro, John Marsini, who had a supposedly “hot” ’54 Olds. We made 3 or 4 runs, with all the bros rooting us on. Johnny tried every combo in his 3-speed (Low, Super and Drive) trans while I just punched my Dynaflow in…

A727 >> A518 My ’67 Dart has a 2014 5.7 stock engine, TTi headers, Hotwire harness, a 727 with manual valve body, and a 3.23 rear. With this setup, it ran a best of 12.8, but 60-foots like a pig (2.1). A friend gave me a converter good for 2K stall, and the car then went 12.4s. Question is: I can get a good A518 for free; will this torque converter and my valve body go into that? The car crosses the finish line at 5K, so I will be putting in 3.91s, too. Thanks for your time. Richard Gilbert Willoughby, OH Richard–No problem, my time here is 4:30 p.m. Now to your question: It depends on the year of the 518. Early ones—some were built w/o the lockup converter—one…

IT’S 1970 , and a young Bob Hunsel has just bought himself a 6-month old used ’69 Road Runner for $1995. He has owned that B-body about 3 weeks when he jogs into the local C-P dealer to pick up an air filter for his bird. Walking through the showroom, he stops in his tracks as he catches a glimpse of a Lime Light Green car. “What’s that?” he asks a salesman. “Why, that’s the brand new 1970 Plymouth AAR ’Cuda!,” comes the reply. Bob is mesmerized by the green-E and, from that moment on, he wants one. That 340 6-Bbl ’Cuda’s price tag is a steep $4300—about that of a modest Corvette, and way out of Bob’s reach. He might have been able to scrape up a down payment…

SOMETIMES the coyotes do it. You can spend a lot of time and energy trying to be sure your next ride purchase is what it is purported to be, but it doesn’t always work out like you want, especially when you haven’t had a lot of experience. For collector Jim Dorion, who had just finished up his first couple of Hemi restorations in 2000, the hope had been to buy a real Hemi Road Runner as a driver. Oh, it was a driver all right, but for all the wrong reasons. “Yeah, that was back in 2000,” he recalls today. “The ad said, ‘Numbers-matching, black-on-black ’69 Hemi Road Runner.’ I should have looked it over closer, but it was sort of like a dog rescue, I wanted it and it…

JIM KANE was having a hard time. It was August 2017 and Jim was looking for a new Challenger Scat Pack. He bounced from Dodge dealer to Dodge dealer in the Poughkeepsie, New York area, but there were none to be found. And the dealers weren’t taking any new orders for ‘18s. You could only buy what was on their lot, and nary a Scat Pack. But fortune was about to smile on ol’ Jim. Right down the road from his house was a Volvo dealer. Jim walked by the used Beemers in the front row of the dealer’s lot. No Krautzwegen for him. Suddenly, there, basking in a shaft of light shining down from the heavens through a hole in the clouds was a 2015 Scat Pack Challenger. The…

WHEN KEN HAWKINS says “Supersize Me,” he ain’t just talkin’ about fries. His penchant for “supersize” extends to his taste in Mopars—like a 1969 Chrysler 300—a C-barge that checks in with a 122-inch wheelbase and a length of 18 feet from bow to stern. Its sheer mass alone is intimidating enough to make lesser B- and puny A-bodies (by comparison), let alone miniscule imports run and hide. If you’re not up on your C-body history, we’ll be happy to bring you up to speed. Chrysler intro’d an all-new design for their big cars in 1969 called the “fuselage” look for the way the sides curved almost like an airplane. Just by coincidence, the engineers who designed the then brand-new Boeing 747 said they took inspiration for the first jumbo jet…

THE DRAMATIC ELECTION YEAR of 1972 was an appropriate backdrop of what was going on with the Motown Missile racing program and Ted Spehar’s Performance Automotive business during that season. The nation’s biggest political battle pitted law-and-order President Richard M. Nixon against former bomber pilot turned flower-power-champion Senator George McGovern. Top 100 Music ranged from Don McLean’s “America Pie” to the thunderous metal of Argent’s “Hold Your Head Up” and Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out For…EVER!” Drama seemed to be part of the moment. With production Hemi cars now cancelled, the era of the American super-car had passed. Chrysler continued to offer a line of full-size cars and sporty mid-size models, utilizing imported Crickets (from their UK divsion, Hillman) and Colts from Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi to meet the growing demand for…

OK, YEAH, Chrysler certainly didn’t invent functional hood scoops, but they were amongst the first to make ’em standard (’62 Plymouth 413 Super Stock and Dodge Ramcharger), as the MaMope mad scientists well understood the physics: For every three degrees Celsius you reduce your intake charge’s temperature, you make one percent more horsepower (then there’s the potential ram air effect, requiring a very tall scoop—and lots of velocity!). MaMopar was also a bit late to the air-cleaner-pokes-though-the-hood party, but they, without a doubt, trumped the competition in styling, function, and reliability. As an E-body option, at approx. $100 back in the day, it was considered extremely desirable. Fast forward to a scant decade ago: Adding one of these to your E-car, be it a ’Cuda or Challenger, could run to…

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a week makes. It is late March as I type this out, and like many readers, I am self-quarantining at the instructions of the feds. The rude awakening of this global pandemic (at least that’s what the news tells us it is) had come for me personally last week at the NHRA Gatornationals. The first day of qualifying, we got a terse message from the tower that following the day’s activities that Thursday, the race was to be immediately postponed directly at the governor’s request. Though Friday would feature some eliminations to allow the Sportsman racers to head home, no spectators were being allowed in, so I drove back to Tennessee. By the middle of this week, NHRA, NMCA, NASCAR and several other outfits like the NCAA…

ONCE AGAIN, we made the trek to W.D. Goad’s one-day car show in mid-September. Goad, who is a Mopar guy that owns some pretty primo iron, hosts this in relation with his body shop in Lexington, VA, and having seen Jim Dorion’s Road Runner here last year, we knew it would be a good place to shoot it. The show happens on the 3rd Saturday of September at Rockbridge County High School right off of the I-64/I-81 interchange. It’s open to all makes and by 6:30 a.m., there were already 100s of cars and people ready to get in. Admission is free; just make a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Oh, and there a huge bunch of raffle prizes, like new stacker-type pro tool boxes and powered lawn equipment,…

“OK, SO YOU WENT TO CHICAGO. So what…” Ah, the jaded souls that make up the car hobby. We hear it all, like, “yeah, it’ll easily run in the 8s on a good day” or, “naw, I went ahead and bought an entire ’68 Charger just to get that grille.” or, “of course, if it’d been me an’ my brother, we’d have bought that Hemi convertible from the widow for $85.00.” Some guys just don’t know when to shut up. Except here, at the annual Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals, held the weekend before Thanksgiving in the Stephens Convention Center just 5 minutes from O’Hare Airport. This is one place that invariably leaves most attendees speechless. In its tenth running as the decade closed out, MCACN seems to just get…

OK, WE’RE IN THE HOMESTRETCH! We’re going to finish here with a virtually stock ignition system (Mopar-style electronic) slammed home, a lowbuck diaphragm clutch and flywheel (a bit of a trick involved, as you’ll see), and a well-used D-truck/B-van A833OD gearbox, all slipped and slid under Sal’s E-body. Exhaust is handled nicely with a 2.5" complete TTi X-pipe system, and a 26" aluminum radiator from AutoCity Classics. Natch, we broke it in around town, and made a few pulls on a chassis dyno. Want all the details? Sure ’nuf, just read the snaps nearby with my usual word-laden captions. As this is written, there’s already a foot of that white stuff on the ground, and a solid coat of NaCl (sodium chloride) is on New York’s rust-belt roads. So our…

WE’VE HEARD ALL THE STATEMENTS about how we are back in the best of times. We’ve even made a few such comments ourselves. The truth be told, 50 years ago, if somebody had written a mag story looking into the future seeing 700+ HP factory supercharged engines that the now-internationally-owned Chrysler company would release on the public, we’d have said, “sure, pal,” and then smacked their head before smacking our own. Plymouth gone as a brand? 335 MPH funny cars? 4-cylinder Hemi K-cars? (That’s an oldie.) Surely you jest!?! Ah, well, wonders never cease. So, a couple of years ago, we caught word of a shop named Above & Beyond Customs in Sheridan, Indiana. They had completed not one but three Hellcat-repowered modifieds all using classic muscle bodies. Four years…

I AM SITTING BACKSTAGE at the Silver Spurs Arena on Saturday evening in late January. If we wanted to get a picture of where market trends are at, being here at Mecum Kissimmee is the right place. Truly great original cars from the collections of Tim and Pam Wellborn and Tony D’Agostino have just crossed the block, while numerous other Mopars were sold and offered during this 10-day event. We’ll have an overview story in the next issue on this spring event in the next issue on the spring events, but this is what we saw in Florida at the start of 2020. GENERAL PRICE TRENDS REMAIN STABLE There is an overall softening of all areas of collecting from the last 5 years, so we are not seeing the monster…

CRANKIN’ SUMMIT RACING PROTORQUE STARTER FOR SMALL AND BIG BLOCK MOPAR SUMMIT RACING’S PROTORQUE STARTER is what you need, as it has a powerful 1.9 horsepower electric motor and 4.0:1 gear-reduction ratio. That means it makes 222 ft.-lbs. of cranking power, which can turn over engines up to 502 cubic inches with compression ratios up to 18:1! The mini-Denso style starter is smaller and lighter than OEM, is made with all-new components, and comes with a non-adjustable billet aluminum mounting block. You want one? Contact Summit Racing Equipment at www.summitracing.com or call 1-800-230-3030. SHOW & SHINE MIST DETAILER KIT FROM LUCAS OIL SHINE, CLEAN AND PROTECT YOUR VEHICLE with Lucas Oil’s Slick Mist Detailing Kit. Designed as a complete car detailing package, each kit contains Lucas’ Interior Detailer (24 oz),…

MOPAR ACTION SCOOPS ’EM ALL AGAIN! That was the line we already had typeset in anticipation of our doorbuster story—the first sneak peek at the Viper replacement. Mopar Action’s stringer in Italy, Benito Benzino, was able to get a line on a secret prototype developed to give Dodge sports car supremacy in the U.S. Unlike American manufacturers that try to disguise body panels on their prototypes when proving them on public roads, the Italians came up with a much cleverer plan. They dressed their prototype 2-seater in police (Polizia) car trim. Pretty sneaky, if you ask us. Benzino had a contact inside the police motor pool, and there was a very short window of opportunity to have access to this one-of-a-kind prototype for a quick drive report when it was…

’74 MANIFOLDS Rick–I just bought an unmolested 1974 Newport, 400-2 Bbl, 37,507 miles. Really a mint find! But this is the first Mopar I have ever seen without a heat riser valve in the right exhaust manifold. How does the choke even work without this heat? Thomas Collins ElPaso, TX Tommy–First, as on the majority of ‘70-up Mopars, it has that trick thermostatically-operated warm-air door in the air cleaner snorkel (preheater). This supplies warm air to the carb almost immediately, requiring less choke for no-stumble drivability (and improved fuel economy). Then the real trick: The choke is electrically assisted: There is a thermostatic switch gizmo (mounted on the intake manifold) that supplies high-current to a heating coil placed close to the choke’s bimetallic coil. Depending on the under-hood temperature, this…

YOUR FIRST CAR . Doesn’t it live in a special place in your heart? (Left ventricle). Great memories if you and your first set of wheels enjoyed good times together—like with your first girlfriend, boyfriend, dog. ’Course, the not-so-great memories (breakdowns, wrecks, repos) can summon up a queasy feeling in your stomach. Dan King doesn’t have to reach for the Tums or Zantac when he thinks about his first car—a 1971 Plymouth Duster that he picked up 16 years ago. Matter of fact, he thinks about his Duster all the time. Maybe that’s because he still owns it. At first, Dan just drove his stock 318 Plymouth hither and yon (just a few miles outside his hometown of Shade, Ohio), traveling back and forth to school and collecting groceries. Things…

THE MERCEDES-DESIGNED automatic trans designated NAG1 (New Automatic Gearbox, Gen 1), and/ or W5A580, is a Chrysler-built (and upgraded) version of the original M-B 5G-Tronic tranny, an electronically-shifted 5-speed overdrive automatic transmission with torque converter lockup. It was used behind 5.7L, 6.1L, and 6.4L Hemis in passenger cars (read: 300, Challenger, Charger) through 2014, and is still used, for example, in all cop cars (column-shifted), and some Durangos, the old Dodge-labeled Sprinter vans, etc. At any rate, one thing we learned the first time we power-braked one of these Hemi-powered cars at the drags is this: the stock torque converter is pretty lame. Like, a 2250 RPM stall lame. That isn’t gonna really get this—or any—car down that 60-foot chute in any kind of a hurry. So we began investigating…

THE DISPLAY OF 1970 HEMI ROAD RUNNERS at MCACN was truly unparalleled, with 3 of the 4 known 4-speeds including a fresh resto unveiled as part of the event. Collector Todd Werner brought his automatic ’70 Hemi beeper droptop in as well. The problem with this Mope has frankly been people questioning its authenticity due to some very funky changes. Having the best experts in the Mopar world on hand here and looking it over might have helped clear it up. Indeed, no less than 8 restoration and authentication guys took a hard look as Todd asked for opinions. Moreover, for the first time, the real fender tag was presented with the car, and it is estimated this “bad luck” superstar was probably heavily wrecked not once but twice in…

WHEN WE WENT TO SHOOT Super Cat #2, Dan and his guys were just finishing up the third car, which is a T/A tribute. The shop brought it over to the Indy Fairgrounds as well for a first look. “This one started out using an 1100-mile engine from a wreck that had been looped and totaled in the back end. It is a little stealthier from the convertible, more of a street beast theme.” The engine is again backed by a 6-speed Tremec, and a 3.73 gear, that Dan admits due to the overdrive, was not as fun as the 4.11s. The rest of the car showcases the level of detail that has made the Super Cats standouts, and uses much the same equipment as the convertible did, but this…

A) AMD supplies a flawless repro hood and ring. But what about everything else? Tommy the Chryco was our guy! B) We begin at the bottom. There are two primary components: The adapter, which is the outer component, and is the same for all Shakers, regardless of carburetion, and the retainer, which, oddly enough, does the “adapting” for various carburetor setups. The rest of the world, outside of Highland Park, calls this setup the “baseplate.” The rubber seal contacts the underside of the hood and ring. This is an original 4-Bbl setup, circa 1971. It was apparently apart at least once: This hardware is incorrect (virtually all of it). C) Tommy supplies Hemi retainers for 1970, 1971, and even large-air-horn Edelbrock carbs. D) Also, retainers for all 4-Bbl engines. The…