I'm not really a muscle car guy, but I like Mopar muscle. Stupid power and quirky looks. A great combination
Yes, my best friend and nextdoor neighbor, Wes, got a '63 tudor post former Kansas Highway Patrol cruiser with a 383 four-barrel and 2.87 rear end. I sat shotgun when he took it up to 160 mph on recently constructed I-435 in south Kansas City. Three things happened almost simultaneously: the glove compartment door popped open on my knees, the roof began to flutter and the hood pulled up only to be held by the safety latch. Scared the **** out of both of us. He eventually changed out the cast iron intake to an aluminum one, put a 750 Holley on it and a NASCAR style exhaust complete with the stock Stage III cast-iron banana headers and dumps, and a set of ET mags. The thing still had the KHP spotlight, which we employed while cruising Winstead's restaurant parking lot. At one point he tried the factory two 4-barrel setup. Waaaay too much carburetion. Rebuilt the engine, bored .030 over but still a pretty mild cam. Never changed the rear gears so it was a dog off the line
Must've never seen the back of the 64 altered wheelbase car:. Wonder whats up with the sport fury trim between the taillights. Nice touch. That black 64 hardtop was gorgeous before they chopped it up.
Danny @Gotgas Vandergriff - Very CL !!! . . . I'm very jealous !!! About a dozen or so years ago, I got a chance to purchase a (very rough) '63 Dodge 330 sedan . . . with a (very tired & incomplete) 426 MAX Wedge . . . I had visions of building it as a bit of a DODGE CHARGERS S/FX "tribute": . . . but even in its poor condition (& the absence of ANY aluminum body panels), it was still way out of my price range . . . so I had to p*** - Todd @HEMI32 Olson
I put some 15x8 steel wheels on it with 29.5x10.5 slicks, and painted them a "medium gold" I bought sight unseen. The actual color is bronze... or maybe even brown. Meh. That, and the wheels are a little too close to the wheel openings - especially since I want to lower the back of the car some. Gonna have to do a do-over on the rear wheels. Also did this stuff: made the driver's door plexigl*** removable; replaced the '80s tach with an old chrome VDO one; removed the Wilwood logo from the dust covers; got the brake lights working; wired on the header collectors (I blew one off, lol); cleaned up the interior; and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. It's really starting to look and sound like an old super stocker. Much more to come...
I like the look of the offset on those rear wheels. Can you gain any clearance for them by rolling the fender well lips?
Id lose the scoop and the cage, or chop a couple inches out of it. But i like low key ****. Sounds killer. Is it an original automatic car? Cause with a 4gear it'd b a hell of a hotrod. Nice work so far.
The fender lips are already cut and rolled quite a bit, and pulled out a little. I want to tuck the top of the tire and it will still touch. My '57 Chrysler has a stick, I'm building my '29 RPU with a stick, and my OT driver is a stick. I guess I'm switching it up. I'd say a mid-60s super stock Mopar gets a p*** for being an auto since they dominated with them.
Nice score. I have seen a lot of '63 '64 and '65 Dodge and Plymouths still on the dragstrip racing. They make a great car to race without breaking your budget. Although the price for the cars have gone up.
I love everything about this car! Have you considered adding a period correct sticker or two? Not too much, maybe just an STP sticker to each quarter window?
Time for a little update on the Plymouth. The fibergl*** front bumper looked okay in pictures, but it was pretty beat. Someone had tightened up the factory steel bumper bolts against that soft fibergl*** and it was cracking all around the bolt holes. The bottom edge was breaking and looking pretty gnarly, too. Dad and I pulled the bumper off and did some repairs, then Dyna-Gl***'d some big fender washers in behind the bolt holes. A little paint and it's good as new. Like I said in an earlier post, the "medium gold" paint on those rear wheels was darker than I had in mind and the offset just wasn't going to work. I got another pair with 1" less offset and we painted them up in plain "gold." Much better. We pulled the scoop and painted that gold too, to see how it might look with the red.
In the mid '60s, it seemed a lot of Plymouth race cars (and other makes, too) had stripes running over the hood, roof, and trunk. So after a little persuasion, I got my dad to help me run a stripe over this thing! We laid it out and scuffed it up. We were taking a chance with all that tape and paint over an unknown "race car" paint job, but fortunately it held up. It may not be for everyone, but I think the stripe turned out GREAT. Thanks, dad!
Here are a few more. It is starting to look exactly like a mid '60s S/S car. Might be time for some lettering? I still need to lower the rear a little and get two seats in it. But I'm really happy with how it's turning out.
I am probably in the minority... But if it were mine, I would not lower it in the rear. It just looks "right" the way it is sitting right now.
Man, that’s looking great. I’m going to have to agree with Thor1 though. If you do lower the rear, I think the front should come down accordingly. I like the rake as is.
Nice job! It'd look right at home in the staging lanes with the other beasts of the era! FWIW, here's my vote for the $Money$ Shot, bad-***ery abounds!
The Jalopy Journal
