Okay, I'm game, whatever happened on this? Beep, did you ever get pictures? The Dodge Hemi valve covers are blank - no script embossing. The DeSoto Hemi valve covers are also blank but it says DeSoto Firedome on the spark plug wire covers. The Chrysler versions are embossed with Firepower, Industrial, Imperial on the valve cover. So what you saw was either a DeSoto or Dodge motor. What style of air cleaners were there? Tell us "the rest of the story". I'm a Forward Look guy so I can help here.
Would be great to see some pics. Kinda has me thinkin' that they just put "Super" in front of Belvedere, though. Like if we in the states have "fun time"...they have "SUPER FUN TIME"!!!
So, if there was never a Super Belvedere (as previously stated), but the 'paperwork' for the car says Super Belvedere, then somebody must have pulled a fast one at whichever DMV was convinced to put that on as a model designator. Sure hope this story has an ending...very intriguing - especially with no pictures.
I just had a 1950 Ford Tudor Sedan tranferred over to me and the woman at the DMV insisted on ***ling it as a coupe because it only had 2 doors!!! Sometimes the DMV is faster than you.
Yeah...some of the people at DMV are amazingly ignorant. Most of us with 'unique' vehicles can sit around the campfire for hours swapping stories about the nitwits behind the counter at some of those places. I have met a couple of savvy folks at the DMV here, and they can and will help, but by and large, most are just watching the clock, and they'd rather tell you "can't be done" than help solve the problem. dj
I am old enough to remember when everyone (myself included) was more than happy to tell you there were never any 4dr 426 hemi cars, or '67 Hemi Satellites. We all know how THAT panned out. I am watching and waiting on this one.
I agree with falcongeorge. If I have learned only one thing about MotherMopar, it is to never say never.... BUT, I also expect that the movie guy paid to have it ***embled as a one-off. .
Basically when a chrysler engine was intended to be used in a non-chrysler application (i.e. dodge truck), plain covers were used. The truck engines used hydraulic lifters, so the covers did not have the clearance bumps. Plain covers are not as common as the typical Chysler FirePower covers. A chrysler engine with plain covers that have the bumps for the adjustable rocker arms is extemely rare. Those covers were for the D501 and export engines. Being in Japan, was the car right hand drive?
I grew up in Hawaii in the 50's. Many makes and models delivered there were known as export models, slightly different from what was sold in the United States, as Hawaii was still a territory. In 1959 after Statehood, all cars were then normalized US models. My guess is that it is very possibly an export model. Merry Christmas Jim
never say never! I had this argument in 1956 when a cl*** mate came in with a 56 Fury under the hood was a D-500 we were under the impression that it was dealer installed and he swore that his dad had connections and the dealer Wegge Motors in Pasadena Ca special ordered it that way. we never could disprove him. and there was a green four door plymouth that was special ordered by a Oregon Farmer with a 426 and a trailer package for his Airstream
The KNOWN and PROVEN four-door Hemi cars are ALL 1966 Coronets - One Coronet, and three Coronet Deluxes, all automatics. Two of these cars, the red car and the white car, were both sold new in Wichita, KS, both going to guys that wanted a fast four-door to pull their boats with. Neither man knew each other! The red car is in Garlits' collection in Florida. A blue car was sold in Illinois and went south early in life. The fourth, another blue car, sold new in Canada and not appearing in the "official" count of three '66 Hemi cars, eventually ended up in Sweden in the early '90s and is still there. The 426 Hemi car production was very well-do***ented throughout their production from 1966 through 1971, and the earlier Race Hemi cars from 1964 and 1965. No Plymouth four-door Hemi cars are on the list, nor are any wagons. There are plenty of BS stories about police departments and the FBI allegedly having Hemi four-door cars from the factory - ALL are BS. There MIGHT have been normal police cars with 426 engines in them that their police shops MAY have installed, but there is exactly ZERO evidence of Hemi cop cars. People use the "never say never" line to justify their stories about so-called "factory" Hemi cop cars, C-body cars, wagons, and such. Indeed, 99.9% of them are just that - stories. Same with the supposed early Plymoth Hemi cars in the 1950s. Plymouth NEVER had a factory Hemi engine then. Chrysler, Dodge, and DeSoto DID. Again, you might have a dealer-installed job that a customer wanted, but NO factory jobs.
On trucks, you are correct. On the cars, all said "Dodge Red Ram" and was embossed. My old '53 and '54 Coronets certainly were!
In 1970 I obtained a 426 Hemi that had been removed from a light metallic-blue 1966 Belvedere II 4-door. This nondescript Plymouth had been found sitting in the back row of a local used car dealership, and as Hemi Super-cars were still readily available, no one really thought too much about this one at that time. (other than the fact that while it lasted, it was one of the two fastest cars in that little town) As I recall the new owner only paid about $1500 for it...My how times have changed! Anyway, one day it started blowing smoke, and the owner took it to the local gas station/garage (the only service station at that time in the little Village of Elsie Michigan) where the engine was completely torn down and found to have one broken piston skirt and a small pinkie finger-nail sized chip at the bottom of one cylinder. It was determined that a rebuild was going to cost more than the owner was willing to spend on a 5 year old Plymouth 4-door. My brother in law bought the dis***embled engine from the garage owner for around $100, and I purchased it from him for a few bucks more, and stuck it all back together (no rebuild-I was a poor young family man) and had it on an engine stand for around 3-4 years. The only real use I ever got out of it was running one of its AFBs on my GT-390 Cougar for a couple of years. Ended up selling the Hemi to a friend, and last report was that he resold it to someone who was running a Hemi powered Dragster. Like I said, we never bothered to trace down its history from new, and always ***umed that it was just an old Police or FBI 'sneaky Pete' undercover vehicle. Not saying that it was factory built, I don't know, and cannot know that for a fact, BUT the car was only a few years old at the time, Hemi's were still new and very expensive, so it is hard to imagine a police agency or whatever justifying the spending of enough to buy an entire new pursuit vehicle, to install a new Hemi into a used vehicle. At that time, it likely would have been cheaper for any Law enforcement or Government agency to have simply ordered up a new Hemi powered vehicle, than to purchased all of the parts to have performed this swap.
Chrysler Corp. in the Fifties are know to build one offs for executives, case in point 1960 Chrysler 300 F 4sp 400 hp option was not available to the general public and could not be ordered in a convertible according to dealer inquires was however made for an executive of a steel co. that did business with Chrysler. Would be nice to see photos and history of this car, also the 265 Hp rating on the dual quad 354 sounds a little on the low side since a stock 354 with a single four bbl. made that.
My Dad had a 56 Plymouth wagon that had a Hemi in it. This was in 65 - 67. We were in San Antonio. Dad was stationed at Lackland or Kelly AFB. It could've been a transplant I don't know. All Military bases had a Hobby Shop back then and alot were into cars. My brother got it for his birthday in 67,then we moved here. Can't remember what happened to it after that.
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