1970 Convertible

[guidematic]

Real Hemi cars had additional bracing in the unibody. The dead giveaway are the extra bracees on the front spring supports on the rear sprrings, also they have a specific K-frame.

As any of the really desireable muscle cars, there are likely more now than ever produced. I have no issues with that so long as they are presented as clones, not the real deal.

I have seen far too many of the big cars scrapped for the driveline. It's not so bad if they were rusted out hulks, but I've seen far too many really nice cars scrapped for the engines. I have always preferred the big luxury cars over the smaller performance oriented cars, so it always hurt me to see a big Chrysler, Ninety Eight, Kingswood Estate and so forth destroyed in such a manner.

Mike

[EZ]

The K-members are available and so are the 426 Hemi engines.  For about $20,000
you can turn an otherwise plain Jane mopar into a $100,000 clone.  People today
don't care if it has matching numbers or original color paint.  They could care less.

[guidematic]

Yes they are. But you can't execute the mods to the body. The engines have changes to the casting so you can tell the differance.

The Muscle Car crowd is pretty anal about correct everything. But if you want to make a clone, most all of the stuff is available to do so. Just don't try to pass it off as an original. Make a clone, make a phantom. Do whatever you want. That's the luxury you have when building such a vehicle.

But what was done to that Broughm was just wrong.

Mike

[EZ]

I agree with what you're saying.  But I'm telling you these people don't care if it's correct as long as it has a Hemi.  Some of these guys that couldn't afford a Hemi car back when they were young are willing to pay big bucks to have one now that they have big salaries and disposable income.  A good friend of mine took a 383 Roadrunner and put a Hemi in it and painted the car and did some interior work.  They didn't take the body off or do anything like that.  They have turned down $100,000 more than once.  His brother also has a '65 Sport Fury with a bad ass Hemi and it's the same deal, people are always trying to buy that car too for BIG MONEY.  I could drop a 500 inch Cadillac motor in my '66 Coupe DeVille and nobody would look twice.  But a Mopar?  Different story!!!

[guidematic]

That's just stupid to offer as much or more money for an incorrect car tha basically started out as a run of the mill Road Runner. You can buy a real bonafide Hemi car for that sort of change.

Mind you clones are a good choice for those that want to have or drive a car they desire but without all the caché of the original. They are getting up there in price simply because assembling one is getting pricey. You can buy most all of the correct pieces to assemble the car you want, but they are not cheap.

If you find a real Hemi bodyshell, that will command a real premium even though little else is there. However any of the other shells will not really differ from a six cylinder powered car to a 383 or 440 powered car. But I will admit that people just get stupid over Mopar stuff. I have seen many examples of cars that were little more than junk going for insane prices. Like the 318 powered Scamp I saw at Moparfest a few years ago. The car was a wreck, mismatched and damaged body panels, rampant rust, trashed interior. The guy was asking $7,100 for it.

Mike

[EZ]

Yeah, I'd love to have a '67-'69 Dart.  I wouldn't care if it came with a slant 6.  I could swap the motor.
But I ain't paying $10 Grand to get one.  If you find one for much less than that the bottom 6" of the body is
missing from all the rust!!!

[guidematic]

Back in the 80's I had a nice little '67 dart 270 hardtop. Nice little car, and reasonably solid. I paid $100 for it, and by the time I had it where I wanteed, I had less than a G note into it. It had a 170 auto in it. Good on gas, but no power. I drove it for years.

Mike

[EZ]

I had a '65 Barracuda.  Came with a Commando 273.  I built a 340 and put it in.  280/480 purple shaft cam, 727 trans with 3000 converter, manual valve body, narrowed GTX 8.75 rear end with brand new posi unit and 3.91 gears.  I stripped the car and painted it, redid the upholstery.  I drove it for years to work and raced it on the weekends.
I loved that car.

[guidematic]

With that old Dart, you put your foot to the floor and left it there.

I was going to drop a 440 in it, but it wasn't quite solid enough, so I aquired a 273 for it, but the circumstances at the time prevented that from happening. The 273 would have made it a really nice driver.

Mike

[EXCRUISERGUY]

I remember driving that car. It took forever to get it up to speed and even longer to stop it, but it did corner real nice.

GJ

[guidematic]

Ueah, 9" drum brakes all around really weren't terribly effective at top speed which approached 80 mph.

Mike

[EXCRUISERGUY]

I had no idea it would go that fast!
I had it up to 65. I drove it two hours at HWY speed without a fan belt and it just kept on going.
I remember looking under the hood the next day and thinking "Ahh, that's where that ting ting noise was coming from". A glove box full of ballast resistors and you were good to go.

GJ

[guidematic]

A blazing top end, and it took a good couple of miles of slightly downhill road to reach that velocity. Then when you let you foot off the gas, the worn valve seals made themselves well known.

Mike

[Tailfin Joe]

 I had a 74 Plymouth Satellite 2 Dr. slant six and auto good beater bag in the day .

[trvlr480]

I had a '66 Dodge dart as my first car with the slant six.  I doubt a more bullet proof engine has ever been built.