Factory Built And Backed Racers – Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 367
1968 Dodge Hemi Dart 426 Muscle Car Of The Week Video Episode 308 V8TV – rel=”nofollow”>https://youtu.be/r_InYTvTykQ
2010 Ford Mustang Super Cobra Jet: Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 264 V8TV – https://youtu.be/e8v-A_-H4ZE
Bobby Unser Interview and 1969 Ford Torino Pikes Peak Winner: Muscle Car Of The Week Episode #200
V8TV – https://youtu.be/wmEH4udEBag
Muscle Car Of The Week Episode #89: 1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Stock Video V8TV – https://youtu.be/F4kkp1AU3rE
Muscle Car Of The Week Video #1: 1969 Camaro ZL-1 #1 V8TV –
https://youtu.be/Eze9x2l_wls
Our first race car from The Brother’s Collection is an awesome 1968 Dodge Hemi Dart! There were about “factory built” 80 Dodge Darts stuffed with the 426 Hemi V8 back in 1968. They were pulled from the Hamtramck, Michigan assembly line as unfinished 383 powered Dart GTS cars, then were sent to the Hurst Performance Research Facility for the option code LO23 conversion designed to compete in the white-hot NHRA Super Stock drag class. The fenders and hood were fiberglass, and the doors and bumpers were submerged in Nitric Acid, a process which thins and lightens the steel panels to trim the car down to 3000 lbs. Hemi Darts were powered by the 12.5:1 compression race 426 Hemi V8 engine, complete with dual 4-barrel carbs on a cross-ram style intake manifold. The Dana rear axle was stuffed with 4.86:1 gears when coupled with the 727 Torqueflite automatic transmission. The recipe worked, as this car ran 10.19 at 132 in the quarter mile back in 1972. Learn the whole story in episode 308 of Muscle Car Of The Week!
Next up is a purpose built 2010 Ford Mustang called the FR500CJ, and it’s a modern version of the factory built drag cars of the 1960s. Back in 2008, Ford commemorated the successful 1968 Mustang 428 Super Cobra Jet cars by releasing the 2008 FR500 Cobra Jet racer, and this is the 2010 evolution of that car. Much like the 6 Super Cobra Jet cars prepared by Holman-Moody for NHRA Super Stock Racing in ‘68, the modern versions are track-only racers built from basic Mustang bodies and only equipped with parts needed to go fast. A total of 50 were built in the Ford Racing facility. Under the composite hood lives a supercharged aluminum 5.4L Super Cobra Jet V8, producing over 900 HP thanks to stout internals and a 4 litre Ford Performance Whipple supercharger. A race-prepped C4 automatic transmission and a Strange 9” aluminum housing rear axle equipped with 35 spline axles and 4.88 gears helped these run low 10s in the quarter. Learn all about it in episode 264 of Muscle Car Of The Week.
Our next racer features the car and a special driver interview with 3-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser! The car is a purpose-built stock car built by Bill Stroppe and Holman & Moody and is powered by a Smokey Yunick built Boss 429 that Unser drove to the Pike’s Peak victory in 1969. The legendary cast of characters in the story includes Bunkie Knudsen, Smokey Yunick, Bill Stroppe, Holman & Moody, and many others, and Unser tells the fascinating story as if it happened yesterday. Unser had not seen the car since ‘69, but he was surprised to learn that the car remains in as-raced condition today. The display was a huge hit at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, and the car is a very special piece of racing history in the Brothers Collection. See it in episode 200 of Muscle Car Of The Week!
Our next car was built not just to compete against other racers, but also to beat other automakers in the sales game. This 1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty is a factory-built drag-car designed to win on the track, and also to drive sales at the local Pontiac dealership. Pontiac was not a very exciting brand in the early-mid 1950s, but they decided to change their image and go for younger buyers in the late ‘50s, and cars like this one were the result. These were built right on the factory assembly line, using parts developed by performance companies with Pontiac part numbers assigned to them to make them legal for competition use in the Super Stock class. It’s powered by the race-bred 421 V8 making 405 HP under aluminum front body panels.
Finally, we cap off our look at race cars in The Brothers Collection with the first car we featured on this show, which is also the very first 1969 Camaro ZL1 ever built, complete with it’s all-aluminum 427 V8 poking through the hood. This is the first of 69 ZL-1 Camaros ever built, and was delivered to Fred Gibb Chevrolet on New Year’s Eve in 1968. Gibb and his crew transformed the car into a drag race record setter, and drove the car in races all over the country. Today there are less than 40 original ZL-1 Camaros still in existence, and this was featured in detail in Muscle Car Of The Week episode number 1!
Racers – Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 367
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