New horse in the bard - 71 Roadrunner 426 Hemi numbers matching
- Thread starter Rusty
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Car Nut
Well-Known Member
Wow, very nice!
flypaper
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b7,grabber,hemi,numbers
whats not to like?
the only thing i would of changed on the order form
would be the vinyl roof to a white strobe but that would
be no reason to kick it from the garage!
nice ride...
whats not to like?
the only thing i would of changed on the order form
would be the vinyl roof to a white strobe but that would
be no reason to kick it from the garage!
nice ride...
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wowzers! now THAT is a score!!
Congrats!!
Congrats!!
Tempest 455
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Awesome. How many were made?
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Very cool you lucky dawg. Next to the 71 Cuda that's my favorite Hemi car.
4-spd or auto?
- - - Updated - - -
Only 55 of those bad boys came down the line.
4-spd or auto?
- - - Updated - - -
Only 55 of those bad boys came down the line.
flypaper
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D21 = 4 spd
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Duh, I just could have looked at the tag. My head hurts.
moparker
Well-Known Member
What's the back story?
dieseldazzle
Well-Known Member
Why would anyone have ever yanked the Hemi out of that beautiful car!! Wowsa....
Rusty
Well-Known Member
Where to start…..
In March of 2007 a local ebay listing was posted for a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II 426 Hemi car and being a true Mopar fan I jumped on the sale and went to drive the car – purchased it on the spot and CNX’d the ebay listing.
The seller (Bill) was very honest that the engine was not the original engine but the price was right and she ran liked a raped ape…
My friends call me the car detective, I will never rest until I know the entire history of a car my Superbird took me 9 years to find the original owner and the original dealership so to say I am tenacious is an understatement.
The Belvedere only took 2 years to find all the names back to the original owner A Deputy Sherriff in Billings Montana that used the car as an undercover car while on duty.
In 2009 I had the engine out on the stand while I was working the restoration of the body and paint; I decided to research the engine since it had a VIN and determined it was a 1971 Hemi engine which really got my interest up, I pulled the ownership history and started to call previous owners. When I contacted Bob Carlson (also in Montana) and asked him if he ever changed the engine he said he swapped engines all the time to try and get better times on the strip and during this time in 77-79 Hemi engines and Hemi cars were still very cheap – when I mentioned the 71 Hemi engine his response was “I always wondered where my engine was”.
Bob proceeded to tell me the engine was from a 71 Roadrunner 4 speed car with an air grabber hood and I asked what happened to the car, Bob’s response “I think it’s still under the tarp in the garage where I put it when I pulled the engine…….”
That day I told Bob there were two choices that needed to be made but the engine and the car had to be reunited.
1. Sell me the car
2. Buy my engine
Bob decided he wanted the engine, he also told me he sold the original engine for my 66 to a guy whose name had something to do with cars (Fuel or something) and he lived in a strange named town in North Dakota. Not a lot to go on and it was sold 30 years prior so I went to the internet and listed out all the towns in ND and on the top of weird names was Beulah ND. I went to the Beulah town website and right there on the front page was town council member Roger Gazur (Gazur – Fuel??) I called Roger and sure enough I hit pay dirt on the first try.
I asked Roger if he remembered buying the engine and where it may be these days and he said “Yes I do and it’s on the same shipping pallet I brought it home on 30 years ago”, Roger was working a 67 GTX Hemi project and said If I could find him another standard bore block closer to his month/year I could have my engine back. It took many months and at least one rip off seller in PA but the deal was made and the engines were exchanged.
Al lot of work but two Hemi cars reunited with their original engines…….
I kept in touch with Bob since 2009 and to make a longer story shorter he decided to sell the Roadrunner after 5 years.
Bob was really close to being the first owner, he was in the Air Force on the east coast when another airman bought the car and owned it for 6 months before he couldn’t make payments any longer, Bob took over the car at that point and until I purchased it was the sole owner.
Now I own 2 Hemi cars that Bob use to race and they are both sweet rides….
That’s the short story – hope you all enjoyed it.
In March of 2007 a local ebay listing was posted for a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II 426 Hemi car and being a true Mopar fan I jumped on the sale and went to drive the car – purchased it on the spot and CNX’d the ebay listing.
The seller (Bill) was very honest that the engine was not the original engine but the price was right and she ran liked a raped ape…
My friends call me the car detective, I will never rest until I know the entire history of a car my Superbird took me 9 years to find the original owner and the original dealership so to say I am tenacious is an understatement.
The Belvedere only took 2 years to find all the names back to the original owner A Deputy Sherriff in Billings Montana that used the car as an undercover car while on duty.
In 2009 I had the engine out on the stand while I was working the restoration of the body and paint; I decided to research the engine since it had a VIN and determined it was a 1971 Hemi engine which really got my interest up, I pulled the ownership history and started to call previous owners. When I contacted Bob Carlson (also in Montana) and asked him if he ever changed the engine he said he swapped engines all the time to try and get better times on the strip and during this time in 77-79 Hemi engines and Hemi cars were still very cheap – when I mentioned the 71 Hemi engine his response was “I always wondered where my engine was”.
Bob proceeded to tell me the engine was from a 71 Roadrunner 4 speed car with an air grabber hood and I asked what happened to the car, Bob’s response “I think it’s still under the tarp in the garage where I put it when I pulled the engine…….”
That day I told Bob there were two choices that needed to be made but the engine and the car had to be reunited.
1. Sell me the car
2. Buy my engine
Bob decided he wanted the engine, he also told me he sold the original engine for my 66 to a guy whose name had something to do with cars (Fuel or something) and he lived in a strange named town in North Dakota. Not a lot to go on and it was sold 30 years prior so I went to the internet and listed out all the towns in ND and on the top of weird names was Beulah ND. I went to the Beulah town website and right there on the front page was town council member Roger Gazur (Gazur – Fuel??) I called Roger and sure enough I hit pay dirt on the first try.
I asked Roger if he remembered buying the engine and where it may be these days and he said “Yes I do and it’s on the same shipping pallet I brought it home on 30 years ago”, Roger was working a 67 GTX Hemi project and said If I could find him another standard bore block closer to his month/year I could have my engine back. It took many months and at least one rip off seller in PA but the deal was made and the engines were exchanged.
Al lot of work but two Hemi cars reunited with their original engines…….
I kept in touch with Bob since 2009 and to make a longer story shorter he decided to sell the Roadrunner after 5 years.
Bob was really close to being the first owner, he was in the Air Force on the east coast when another airman bought the car and owned it for 6 months before he couldn’t make payments any longer, Bob took over the car at that point and until I purchased it was the sole owner.
Now I own 2 Hemi cars that Bob use to race and they are both sweet rides….
That’s the short story – hope you all enjoyed it.
HT413
Semi Pro Bowler
Great story. This just makes me think, who on earth would bother doing that for a Camaro or mustang?
dangina
Well-Known Member
no one. thats who. maybe for the rare gt500 cars, but to go to that extant, i doubt it. lol
great writeup on all three cars!
butterscotch71
Well-Known Member
Nice! That car had me drooling when it came up on ebay.
Great write up and great story! I would love to have ONE Hemi car - you are a lucky man!
steved033
Well-Known Member
Can I have you detective work on my car??? DANG!!!!
I had a fury with a weird story like that...but that's for another day...
sjd
I had a fury with a weird story like that...but that's for another day...
sjd
moparker
Well-Known Member
Hey Columbo are you for hire? Awesome story!!!!
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