Inhaltsverzeichnis für August 2019 in Mopar Action

HEART-BRAKING RichardWhat I am asking is simple: Can 1973-’75 Dart disc brakes be used on a ’66 New Yorker? Gary Mendelow Via e-mail Gary–In a word: No. Expanded: Not even close! The best junkyard stuff that will bolt on is a complete setup from a 1973, or late ‘72 C-body. The 1969 through early ’72 C stuff will also fit and is viable now that inexpensive one-piece rotors are available (rockauto.com p/n 12163021). Pre ’69 C-body stuff also works, but the Budd (4-piston) parts are pure unobtainium. The low-buck way out is a bracket kit from scarebird.com, see above photos for details. METRICKS Richard–I have been working on a 1982 Diplomat, 318. I noticed that the power steering pump has some metric hardware. Is the engine still inches? When did the…

KENT “DOC” MORRIS’ WIFE, BETTY, IS VERY UNDERSTANDING of his automotive endeavors, but when he dragged home this 1965 Dodge Coronet coupe racecar, she had a bit of sticker shock. It wasn’t the candy candy-striped car’s price that set her back, but it’s appearance. “It had race stickers all over it. The guy who bought it before me, bless his heart, he was just infatuated with stickers,” Mr. Morris says, “so when we got it, she said, ‘That is the ugliest car I have ever seen. We have to get those off of it!’” Betty named the car “Stickers” and the name has stuck. That was back in 2007. But Kent must credit Betty for more than his Coronet’s nickname—he can also thank her for getting him back into racing…

ALEX PALERMO LIKES HIS PASTA with presto sauce, presto as in Ferraris McLarens and other European supercars. Alex, who owns Divine Pasta in LA can have any sauce he likes unlike the drones at Mopar Action who have to stretch their meager pay packets by settling for “Tomato Sauce Helper.” Along with his presto pasta, Alex enjoys a generous side helping of American muscle. His brothers had Mopars (Daytonas, Chargers) during Chrysler’s heyday, and those cars made a lasting impression. In fact, Alex was one of the first in line to snap up a 2018 Demon. Rather than just tool around blowing everyone’s doors off, Alex decided to have some fun. Real fun. His style of having fun was to drop by SpeedKore Performance Group—custom car builder, designer and manufacturer…

THE YEAR 1955 WAS A BIG ONE for the Chrysler brand. Marketed as “the truly superb car…for you who treasure finer things,” these were the first models now benefitting from the Virgil Exner design cues that would define the final half of the 1950s for the firm. Always considered the top package in the Chrysler marketing program, the impressive Imperial followed the lead of Lincoln and Cadillac in 1955 by becoming its own stand-alone luxury brand. Fit for a king? Perhaps, and President Eisenhower used a 25-foot long Imperial limousine, as did his wife Mamie. Both cars were reportedly a custom-built presentation from K.T. Keller, who was both a family friend and president of the Chrysler Corporation at the time. Keller himself also had a custom-built Imperial convertible, which was…

THE LAND OF THE DELTA RIVER and Mardi Gras, New Orleans would probably be not be considered the first place for a car show. After all, there is a lot of distractions down here where the Mississippi ends its trek to the Gulf of Mexico. For almost 20 years, however, the Big Easy Mopar Association, aka BEMA, has been hosting a fabulous one-day Mopar event now located up in the north suburb of Kenner, in a public park containing a peninsula that stretches out over the vast waters of Lake Pontchartrain (the bridge is the world’s longest over water - 24 mi.). BEMA was formed in 2001 with the purpose to do what clubs do—find enjoyment and friendship with other like-minded Mope people. This show has become one of the…

“WELL, WE HAD GOTTEN SOME BAD NEWS at the doctor, and stopped by just to see it. Before that was over, we were going to leave with this car.” Documented as 1 of 5 released from the factory’s approved vendor and 1 of 1 as constructed now, Ken McNeely’s 2017 392 Scat Pak Challenger convertible came off the dealership floor just as you see here. The conversion, done by Drop Top Customs, is actually a warrantied part of the sale, while the dealer also added the cool graphics as well. Ken had already become aware of the car in his local dealer listings, and since his scooter fits into the trunk even with the top down, it really worked. His wife gave up her plans for a new kitchen to…

EVERYTHING HAS A STORY. Take Mark Mazzer’s SICK69 license plate. “I originally wanted 1BAD69 for my plate,” explains Mark. “But the Mass. DMV thought it had sexual overtones that were a no-no. So they gave me my second choice, go figure.” Then there’s the term “Arrogant Bastard” that’s plastered on his decklid. When Mark and his bud, Dave Bixby were putting his Pro Street ’69 Dart together and enjoying a few Arrogant Bastard ales, they got to the point where they needed a coolant overflow bottle. Well, one brew led to another and after several of those, you sorta make life easy, so Mark grabbed the nearest empty to fill the bill. As far as the lettering on the decklid, maybe it’s a sponsorship deal. We don’t really know. All…

DRIVING. We all love it, or we probably would be reading KNITTING ACTION , or KITING ACTION , or simply INACTION . But I digress. Sometimes that drive is just a quick jaunt down the road, sometimes it’s a day trip, and sometimes it’s a marathon. And it’s on those latter runs when it’s nice to have a buddy along. Years ago, I edited another famous Mopar rag, when it was still located in central Florida. My routine then was to hit the road from here in the mountains of east Tennessee to that joint for two weeks each and every month. Between the driving, then flying to other events, hitting 30-day deadlines, and trying to help my wife with our pre-teen family, well, I got a little sideways. I…

1965 DODGE CORONET Owned by Kent & Betty Morris, Ardmore, OK • RESTORERS: Micah Newell’s Customs, John Love, Healdton, OK–paint and body work. Herb Surber’s Speed Shop, Ardmore, OK–roll cage. Don Dial Race Cars, Seminole, OK–ladder bar setup. Gary Ball Interiors, Syracuse, IN–interior. Boyd’s Racing Engines, Norman, OK–engine. Kent and Betty Morris–assembly work, wiring, etc. Big thanks to friends–Tony Smith, Damon Kuhn and other SHRA NSS racers; car buddies Bob Rickords, Mike James, Rick Armstrong, Chris Frazier, Kelly Burk and Brian Krohn, and others for the undying support and help. Special thanks—Roger Johns for his “part time crew chief duties” and friendship. • ENGINE: 426 Chrysler Hemi design; aftermarket Indy Cylinder Head MAXX block–572 cubic inches. Callies crank, 7.1" Callies rods, Bullet cam, 2.25 Intake valve, 1.94 Exhaust valve, Dailey…

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY about a Mo’guy who bought his first car—a ’68 GTX—When he was 16 years old, he still owns it and recently dropped a Hellcat Hemi into it? He’s also owned a couple of Hellcat Challengers and states he was one of the the first to run in the 9s with one of those Mopes. We’d say, “well, now, there’s a story readers would like to see in Mopar Action!” So now that you’ve seen all the facts, you can skip over to the Cool Stuff page to see what goodies you can spend your own hard-earned cashola on. But, if you’d like to know more of this guy’s story, read on. John Gaddy says he’s always been into cars. His mom bought him a subscription to…

WAYNE DAVIS’ COLLECTOR CARS being auctioned included a number of stock machines, and he had this unrestored 1955 Imperial for sale as well. 1 of the 3,418 Imperials produced in 1955, the car featured a single repaint in correct black and had its original drivetrain and original interior. Power was courtesy the 331-CI FirePower Hemi V8 engine, slightly detuned from the hottest version being installed into the just-introduced Chrysler 300 that year. A deluxe design, this car also has both power steering and power brakes, and a two-tone red-and-black leather interior. There are power windows, a push-button radio, the dash-mounted shift lever for the 2-speed PowerFlite automatic, and factory air conditioning, an option which added over $530.00 in 1955 dollars to the original cost. Featuring literally EVERY option available that…

CHET BIGGERS may not be someone you know, but the seasoned country music professional is OK with that. After a couple of decades in Nashville and success as a songwriter, Chet was tired of the road and gave it up. He went into doing I.T. work, but his dream of being the owner of a ’Cuda AAR from childhood had never left, and finally came true in 2013. “This car came from the second owner,” he notes “For the restoration, I did it all myself, including the paint work, which my dad helped me with.” A real car, this one features an unstamped 1970 warranty block but most of the hard-to-find components were still on it when it was bought. The car was a stunner at the event and took…

BEEPER3 is, as the name implies, the third Mopar Action Road Runner project car. As with the original 1972 Beeper (circa 1999), this will be a very mildly modified restoration, with only a few upgrades as a tip of the hat to modern drivability, handling, and braking levels. Starting with a true V-code (440-6), Pistol Grip (which is now connected to a SST 5-speed), Super Track Pack (4.10:1 Dana axle) driveline, Air Grabber hood, B5 Blue 1970 Road Runner, we’re take it from, as the (ho-hum) saying goes, junker to jewel—but then it’ll get really interesting: We’ll drive it cross-country, NY to San Fran, where we’ll load it onto a steamer to owner Brian Dowell’s home, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, where it will see many more road miles (OK, kilometers).…

LOREN STEELE notes the old B-52’s lyrics: “I bought me a Chrysler as big as a whale, it’s about to set sail.” Loren says that song perfectly describes his car, a 1967 Chrysler Newport convertible survivor nicknamed “the whale,” that has been living in his Wilmington, Delaware garage for years without paying rent. Aside from a new top, new paint and engine rebuild, Loren says the Newport is the same as when it rolled off the Jefferson Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit back on October 1, 1966. All of the original service history paperwork is still in the glovebox. Loren goes on to explain that the Newports were built on a restyled Chrysler C-platform, shared with the 300 and New Yorker. The styling mimicked the stylish classic lines of the…

I LOVE THE SMELL OF SHEETMETAL in the morning…it’s less painful than napalm unless you buy the wrong part, trust the wrong seller etc. So ya’ heard the old saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? Well here’s a new one from me to you, “his trash may be your treasure, but if you don’t watch your ass, his “junk” may become your problem and make your hard-earned cash his.” So? What are your options? You can build a time machine and go back to the year your ride was made and buy NOS right from the dealership, but when you figure the cost of the time machine, gas, tolls and the price of parts—there really is no cost savings. First off, ya gotta remember this is 50-plus year…

CHA-CHING! Money is one of those things that lets us dream. If you get a nice enough pile, it’s also something that allows you to fulfill them. Noted Mopar drag racer Herb McCandless worked very hard in a motorsports-based career that saw him become a driver for the Sox & Martin team and later a major player in the Direct Connection/Mopar Performance parts business. Among his three sons, the youngest, Mike, was the inventor. He took on the family’s work ethic and developed and marketed a couple of very cool products, products that companies who had deep pockets then wanted to own. So Mike made a deal, and the collection seen here is part of making his dreams come true. Of course, for those of us who know Mopar, the…

IF YOU’VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK , you might have missed the fact that we’ve been into a bit of electro-updating of late, such as the low-buck emergency flasher conversion in the June 2019 issue and the handheld DiabloSport tuner for modern Mopars in the December 2018 issue. In fact, there now exists a slew of electronic goodies, decidedly more high-tech than a 4-way flasher, that can make major improvements in our classic Mopars for minor buck investments. Today, we’ll take a look at the cream o’the crop. What A Drag(y) WAY BACK in the early 1960s, magazine road testers used a “fifth wheel” to capture performance data from road test cars. This was clunky, but it worked, and was a lot more accurate than the previous simple Swiss…

THERE WAS A TIME that we could find them in the local auto trader, but the reality about our beloved Mopars is that some of them have moved into the realm of luxury. I’m not talking about a “white elephant” ‘69 Fury convertible with power windows, ashtray-lamp and factory-installed gold trim, but about muscle. Those Hemi, 440, and 383 monsters that were our daily drivers back when you could pick one up used for a couple grand are far behind us now. It’s a pay-to-play deal when you look at some of the rarities. When it comes to musclecars, nobody sells more than Mecum. Yes, we know that the Arizona outfits are also up and running in the first months of the year, but the crew from Wisconsin shakes the…

IF YOU OWNED A BODEGA (a small grocery store in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood) in the New York City metro area, and your ice cream freezer went on the blink, you probably called Don Wells to fix it. Don grew up in the refrigeration business. As a kid back in the ’60s, he would tag along on service calls in the family’s business -- Windsor Refrigeration -- Dodge A100 vans. Those A100 memories stuck with Don, sort of like when you stick out your tongue on a frozen metal pole. Later in life, Don found himself a’66 A100 van. But it wasn’t enough. Nosiree! So, six years ago, Don was tooling around in eBay and hit upon a dealer in Florida who was selling a 1970 Dodge A100 pickup (last year…

J.W. HAMES HAS A GREAT WIFE. She found this 1969 M-code survivor Dodge Super Bee for him as a Valentine’s Day gift back in 2015, after seeing the car up for sale on Craigslist. Showing just under 60,000 real miles with impeccable year-to-year paperwork, this rare Dodge is truly unrestored with numbers-matching everything, right down to the voltage regulator. J.W says he did spend a couple of hours going over it before the money first changed hands, calling friends to make sure it was correct. The car had been sold new in California and had been brought to Oklahoma by its original owner. Raced in AHRA for a time, the result was that factory exhaust system had been removed and has now been reinstalled on the car. We were asked…

LET’S GET ONE THING STRAIGHT: Barton Hamilton’s ’70 Challenger is not a racecar. Sure, it looks like a racecar, what with a ’chute packed up in the back, and a racing type scoop over a Race Hemi in the front. It’s built like a race car and it smells like a racecar what with spent race gas hydrocarbons spewing from the exhaust. But it isn’t. Bart runs the Dodge 100% on the street, and he runs the wheels off this thing. “I raced for years with an alky drag car. I’m done,” he says. “I’ve got a 15 gallon tank in the Challenger and at the Ocean City (Maryland) Hot Rod Show, I went through 55 gallons of 116 octane race gas—at $12/gallon (whew!)—in three days. Having fun on the…

Year One Stops Your Problems with New Disc Rotors for 66-69 B-Body Mopes THE FOLKS AT YEAR ONE have now made replacement 11-inch front disc brake rotors for models with 4-piston brake calipers available. These B-body application units are sold in pairs under part number BN144P, and will work on your Belvedere/Satellite/Road Runner/GTX/Charger/Coronet/Super Bee. This is an improved 1-piece design, as the original 2-piece rotors commonly pulsate from the hub and rotor expanding at different rate from the heat caused by normal driving. Need more? For brake pads use BG6669, and for 4-piston caliper use NG669. Contact them at 1-800-932-7663 or yearone.com. ABC Pads Your ’62 B-Body ABC MOPARTS now has the passenger side dash pads for 1962 Dodge Dart, Polara, and Plymouth Bel, Savoy, and Fury B-Bodies. This is…