cv67

Some of you may remember this car not many on the scene back then didnt. If you were into street terrors or Mopars youre familiar with it
Good reading cool story

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/11-b...er-bullit.html

Powershift

Very cool stories.

Living in Chicago, we had MR NORM as our MOPAR guru. Used to watch him and Gary Dyer (driver) race at Rt 30 on the weekends. Also the Ramchargers were always around. But that was on the strip. Neat to see an old street warrior............especially one that could run 10 sec passes.

I can certainly agree that the drum brakes on these cars were all but useless above 60 mph, as I had a few close calls myself "at speed".

Great story and info. Thanks for posting.

Larry

cv67

Read a couple books at the library as youngster of some of these old legendary rides, was a kid back then. Lots of these names sound very familiar (Norm, Dyer etc)

By the time I was of age musclecars were jumping up in price fast (late 80s) and were in general still popular but frowned on by public. 200 hp was a big deal and EFI was voodoo.
Babysitter I had as a kid drove a white/black 69 Chevelle ss, Uncle drove a 68 Z/28 he bought new, neighbors had Challengers, Superbirds, one had about 6 amx. I had a red Stingray....Schwinn lol
Hung around them a every chance I could sneak away, had the bug since.

Powershift

Mr Norm's mechanics built the first 383 HP in Dart/Cuda body. GT/FormulaS 383 I believe. Chrysler Engineers in Detroit said the big block engine would not fit properly into the smaller frame. Mr Norm's guys did the conversion at his dealership and then drove the car to Detroit. The rest is history (big block MOPAR engines in the Dart/Challenger/Cuda frame.

Not folklore. True story. From one of the magazines:

Norm Kraus, a.k.a. "Mr. Norm," owner of Chicago's Grand Spaulding Dodge, one of the nation's biggest Dodge agencies at the time and quite dedicated to performance, decided to take matters into his own hands. In an interview with HMM two years ago, Mr. Norm talked about wanting Dodge to put one of its big engines into the smaller A-body: "'What are you spotting these people a thousand pounds for?' I said, 'Give me a 383 in the Dart.' The first '383' came in and it was a 273. I called up Detroit and said, 'What is with a 273?' and they said, 'Our engineering department said it couldn't be done.' So, I said, 'I'll get back to you.' I called Denny in Parts and said, 'Get a 383 out of the back and throw it in a Dart.' That was on a Friday and on Monday morning he was done. I said, 'Let's go.' It drove absolutely magnificently!" After driving the car from Chicago to Detroit, Mr. Norm says he convinced Dodge to build the car.

Larry

cv67

Believe ya, had many a conversation with Mick (member mseven who had the silver bullitt) and pretty sure his name came up a few times with similar stuff
I missed that era by about 10 yrs.

Used to pedal by Shirley Cha Cha's old shop believe Prudhomme?? had one close by also to try and catch a glimpse of their car if it was out. Place was heavily secured, remember hearing, "Hey kid get outta here" a few times lol

Bob Lambecks shop wasnt too far away either hes still up and running think his kid is racing for him these days, rented some space from him many yrs ago

DansYellow66

That was entertaining - some old street classics there. Thanks.

ricks327

Ted Spehar or Jimmy Addison, (one of them, can't remember) use to own the gas station at Woodward & Taunton in Birmingham where much of the work on Mopars took place late into the night. Then the moved around the corner to the Shell station at 14 Mile and S. Eton.

Vettrocious

Used to race on Woodward a lot. Most memorable experience was pitting my 66 SS396 Chevelle against a seemingly stock Austin Healy 3000. Shouldn't have even been a race (Healys weren't fast) but that car burned rubber through three gears and beat me by about forty car lengths....Amazing what an L84 engine stuffed in the engine bay of a 2500 pound car will do...

wmf62

small block fords were another popular swap because of the narrowness of the engine..

Woodward Ave was the name of the street I've been trying to think of where the 'big time' street races took place... thanks..
Bill

oldgold49er

I say it again. Great video!!! I also was at Great Lakes Naval training center in 69. Electronics "A" school. Spent a lot of time in Chicago. We went to Nickey Chevy. They were building a "sleeper". A 64 4door Beige Nova..yup..put the 427 in there. I wish I'd taken more pictures back then. I am happy to see that some of you did. I had my SS there after boot camp. Got pulled over for racing on the I. When the cop saw that I was in the Navy, he asked me if I wanted to "meet my maker here on the highway or in the war". He let me go. I never forgot what he said. I also remember going in bars during that time. If you were wearing a uniform, beer was free. by the same token, when you arrived back stateside in uniform, you were called a baby killer by protesters. Times were not so good then. Enjoy the good times we have now.

Powershift

Carroll Shelby thought so too back in 1963................the rest is legend.

Larry

wmf62

times were not good when I came home in 67, even got spit on...

but I digress....

I too wish I had taken more pictures... I often think of my Rochester Fuel Injection 383 B block in my 64 Sport Fury Convertible; but I have no pictures to show, only memories...

they were only 'cars' back then, now they are memories...

Bill

Powershift

Good story............thanks for sharing.

I remember the night I set the record (up to that time) for the maximum recorded speed by radar in South Chicago. Was in my 1965 BB Plymouth. First cop (there were many) to approach my car after I stopped, his first words to me were "Where the he// are you going with that airplane son, Ohara Field?? That's when Ohara Airport was still called a "field" by many of the old timers and locals.

Don't really know if that record still stands.

Larry

Powershift

Bill:

You want Woodward Stories, then this book is probably what you need to buy. Read it while you are recuperating.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Gf...0parts&f=false

I just read a few chapters and it is very good. Even a story about a 57 Corvette with a 421 SD Pontiac engine built by Deloren and owned by the owner/founder of Midwest Speed Parts. Claimed it was quite fast on the street. See page 105 from the previews.

Also the history and car stories from Royal Pontiac. Jim Addison and the Silver Bullet are also mentioned, and Jim is given credit as one of the "founding fathers" of the street racing sport in Detroit.

Pretty cool read.

Larry

DansYellow66

I drove a 383 4bbl 64 Ply Sport Fury in the 60s - how the heck did you adapt a Rochester FI unit to it? Great cars - still miss mine. Won a lot of street races with it - and lost a few too.

W Guy

We might have been there at the same time. I was in "A" school earning my ET rating in '71 and tooling around in a '69 Road Runner.

Verne

wmf62

I made an adapter manifold from tube steel and plate, modified a Chrysler tach drive distributor to fit a injection pump drive cable ( had to have a 6 foot long cable to wrap from the front of the engine to the rear).

as it was a 283 unit it ran out of breath, but it gave the engine tons of low end torque that the 426 stage 3 cam had taken away... I was able to go from a 4.88 rer back to the 3.42 the car came with...

I wonder what I could have done with 2 air meters....

Bill

TCracingCA

At "A" school in 1979/80!

I was all over the place on weekends driving to Chicago and went down south side where I think the racing was! I was up in Wisconsin a lot and made a number of drives to Michigan but I don't think my cousins took me to Woodward! I think it was a smaller local venue that tried to do the street scene! I don't remember even what City they lived in! Only went there about three times total! Plus during that time I was partying a lot! Memory not so good from partying!

DansYellow66

You should have been a member of the Ramchargers with those cobbling skills. Running out of breath and rpm was the nemesis of my 383 also - small ports and valves. But a lot of fun down low.

Powershift

Beautiful car............

My 1965 Plymouth Belvedere II 2-dr hardtop was also a beauty. A beautiful (non-factory) maroon/burgundy metallic paint with factory black interior. Setup a few inches front and back as typical of the day. '57 Plymouth hubcaps (remember them ). All my pics are still on 35MM or hanging on the wall so I can't post them up at this time.

I loved that body style. It was very striking.

Larry