Approximately 10 years ago, I photographed this Starlight Black 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty near Detroit. The Catalina had just undergone a systematic restoration to return it to its factory-original condition after its owner had acquired it.

I met Jim Crawford back in 2008 while scouting a local car show and noticed his stunning green 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne in the distance. The hood was open and as I approached it, the massive engine with its “409” valve cover decals instantly caught my eye.

After introducing myself to Jim, he told me the Biscayne’s restoration had just been finished. I asked if he would be interested in having me photograph the show-stopper for a magazine feature and he agreed. Jim also shared that since the Biscayne was finished, he turned his attention toward restoring the featured 1963 Pontiac Catalina Ventura 421 Super Duty. He was working with the same local restorer who had helped with the Biscayne. The Catalina was only as far as the primer stage, but I asked if I could see it and he shared with me the address where the work was being done.

Later in the week, I met Jim at the restoration shop, which was located in an old warehouse just west of Detroit. After seeing the Catalina in person, we decided I would document the restoration process. For all practical purposes, this was the start to my journey of documenting and photographing automobile restorations.

For nearly two years, I followed the Catalina’s restoration, capturing each stage from primer application to block sanding, guide coat, paint application, wet sanding and then buffing. These steps were followed by the final assembly and detailing. What you see in the pictures within this article is the culmination of a process that took more than two years. The finished product is an award-winning, best-in-class restoration that possibly makes this Catalina the finest example on the planet. It has received top honors and awards at the Pontiac Nationals and concours events throughout the Midwest. Like every world-class restoration project, the attention to detail sets this 1963 Pontiac Catalina Ventura 421 Super Duty apart from many of the automobiles it has gone head to head with at judged events. 

For me, this Catalina started a new chapter in my journey of capturing classic automobiles and sharing them with the motoring world. Much was learned from this endeavor. Many of the techniques remain in my memory bank and the approach and process that I have successfully used for 17 years started here with Jim Crawford and this 1963 Pontiac Catalina. 

The Super Duty is born

In the early 1960s, Detroit was waking up to a new kind of horsepower war. Long before the term “muscle car” had officially entered the lexicon, Pontiac was already staking its claim as a performance leader. At the center of that revolution stood a beast draped in full-size steel: the 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty—a factory-built dragstrip warrior that helped redefine the guts of American performance.

More than just a stoplight brawler, the Catalina Super Duty was the physical embodiment of Pontiac’s growing performance image. Born from a combination of corporate rebellion, engineering brilliance, and a hunger to dominate the quarter-mile, the ’63 Super Duty remains one of the most revered and rare factory-built performance cars of the immediate pre-muscle car era.

Christening the Catalina

The Pontiac Catalina made its debut in 1950 as part of General Motors’ line of new pillarless “hardtop” two-doors that captured the spirit of postwar America. “Catalina” was simply the name of the hardtop derivative of existing Pontiac models until 1959, when it became a stand-alone, mid-line Pontiac model available in hardtop, sedan or even a convertible body types. That year, Pontiac also began its split-grille front-end motif and its “Wide-Track” handling theme, adding more pizzazz to the Pontiac brand as it blazed head-on into its performance marketing strategy under the industry’s brightest minds of the period: General Manager Bunkie Knudsen, marketing whiz Jim Wangers and engineers John DeLorean and Pete Estes.

In 1961, all GM products received a significant restyling and the Catalina model returned, but was now at the bottom of the Pontiac hierarchy as it sat on the make’s shortest full-size car chassis with the least amount of trim. In 1963, the Catalina remained Pontiac’s least-expensive full-size two-door model — and its lightest.

The 1963 Catalina was an integral part of Pontiac’s ambitious performance plans for the ’60s. The American muscle car was beginning to take shape, and Pontiac was right at the forefront of that movement. In fact, the Catalina of this era can be seen as the precursor to Pontiac’s famous GTO, which would arrive a year later in 1964. But before all of that, there was the Catalina — a car that offered great looks consistent with the rest of the Pontiac line, and the perfect full-size lightweight for getting the most out of Pontiac’s hottest engines.

Enter the Super Duty Program

Almost immediately after finally getting a modern overhead-valve, over-square V-8 engine in 1955, Pontiac began experimenting with it to get more horsepower. In 1956, some Pontiac V-8s were fitted with dual four-barrel carburetor setups, and 1957 brought the introduction of the novel fuel-injection system on Bonneville convertibles, as well as the Tri-Power (three two-barrel) option available on all Pontiacs. In 1960, Pontiac developed its first Super Duty (SD) engine packages designed specifically for competition use. These weren’t warmed-over production engines only fit with additional carburetors — they were hand-assembled, heavy-duty, high-compression monsters built for serious racing.

The Pontiac 421-cid V-8, introduced in 1961, was the centerpiece of the Super Duty program that year. Rated at 405 hp by 1963 (though the real number was likely closer to 450), the Super Duty engine featured forged internal components, a high-lift cam, dual Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors, and factory long-tube headers. It was a street-legal powerhouse that could humiliate nearly anything that dared to line up next to it.

Catalina + 421 Super Duty = Fast

While later muscle cars would prioritize lightweight midsize platforms, the 1963 Catalina Super Duty was unapologetically big, bad and brutal. Despite weighing in at more 3,700 pounds, Pontiac engineers found creative ways to shave off weight and increase speed on the most serious lightweight race versions.

Buyers could option their Super Duty Catalina as lightweights with aluminum front-end panels, including the hood, fenders, bumper, and radiator support. Inside, a no-frills interior, sans radio, and optional lightweight bucket seats helped further reduce mass. The “Swiss Cheese” Super Duty Catalinas even had giant holes drilled in their chassis to lighten them up further for drag racing.

Every component of the car—from the heavy-duty suspension and Borg-Warner four-speed manual transmission to the beefed-up rear end—was designed with one purpose in mind: to win. Only about 88 of these lightweightss were built before General Motors, under pressure to downplay its performance image, officially ended factory racing support in early 1963. That makes the ’63 Catalina 421 SD not only rare, but one of the last true expressions of unrestricted factory racing engineering from Pontiac.

Quarter-Mile Royalty

The 1963 Super Duty Catalina found its natural habitat at NHRA-sanctioned dragstrips across the country. In the hands of legendary drivers such as Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick, the Catalina Super Duty quickly built a reputation for devastating performance and unmatched durability. In the early 1960s, his car consistently ran mid-12-second quarter-mile times at more than 110 mph—astonishing numbers for the period and especially impressive considering the big car’s full-frame construction.

The Catalina’s sheer speed helped Pontiac further stake its claim as a performance brand, paving the way for the GTO and the rest of the muscle car revolution. While the Catalina Super Duty wasn’t a muscle car in the classic sense (a midsize car with a big engine), it laid much of the groundwork for what was to come. Perhaps more importantly, it gave engineers like DeLorean the confidence to plant the 389-cid V-8 into the midsize 1964 Tempest — creating the Pontiac GTO and igniting the muscle car era.

The ’63 SD Catalina is now one of the most sought-after collector cars in American muscle history. Survivors trade hands for six-figure prices, and rightly so — each one represents a brief but glorious chapter where engineers were allowed to build unfiltered performance machines with full factory support.

Love Ponchos? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.

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Photos by Al Rogers

Currently tucked among the varied treasures inside the National Auto and Truck Museum in Auburn, Ind., is a 1970 Buick GS 455 that’s a little more grand than others of its ilk. Not that there isn’t anything already grand about the 1970 Buick Gran Sport, a brutish performance car that bucked Buick’s rep for building conservative “doctors cars.” Available with a 315-hp, four-barrel 350-cid V-8 as the GS 350 or either the 350-hp or Stage 1 360-hp 455-cid V-8 as the GS 455, the midsize 1970 Gran Sports showed Buick’s wild side amidst a showroom of earth-tone Electra 225 and LeSabre behemoths. By installing the 350- and 455-cid V-8s from these full-size Buicks into the midsize Skylark, Buick created a tire roaster that could make an Electra 225 or LeSabre blush.

The Buick GS 455 inside NATMUS isn’t just out of character for a Buick, but also for a Gran Sport. It’s hard not to notice its unique Fireglow Red Pearl exterior paint, and then its likewise one-of-a-kind pearl white interior. Indeed, this Buick GS 455 Stage 1 was specially built for go and show.

Buick swings from mild to wild

When Buick brought back the Special name in 1961, it was on a new compact with a small, cast-aluminum-block V-8 good for 155 hp. By 1964 — the year General Motors launched a new midsize A-body line for its Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick divisions — the Special successfully graduated to the new and bigger body. It was the start of even bigger things to come.

During the middle of the Special’s comeback year, Buick added a plusher Skylark Sport Coupe to the compact car line to complement the base Special and better-trimmed Skylark Deluxe. All three were carried over to GM’s new A-body for 1964.

Despite the midsize A-body being a corporate GM platform, each division’s car cleverly resembled its full-size counterpart more so than its corresponding midsize competitor from the other GM divisions. For the 1964 Skylark and Special, that meant a handsomely square profile with a formal roof and body edges tailored to gentle curves, much like the full-size LeSabre and Wildcat, the latter being Buick’s version of a “Super Sport” LeSabre.

With the new A-body redesign of 1964, GM’s bargain and mid-priced brands brought out performance versions. At Chevrolet, that meant the Malibu SS while over at Pontiac, the GTO made its famous debut. Seeing the value of the GTO hype, and already having a performance reputation of its own, Oldsmobile followed suit mid 1964 with the 4-4-2. With performance heating up across the industry and adding more and more sales potential with each increase in horsepower, even Buick — GM’s brand for those seeking luxury and quality without the ostentatiousness of a Cadillac — joined the melee with performance models.

In mid 1965, the Gran Sport option became available on the Riviera, Skylark and Wildcat. The racing heart of the Skylark GS package was a 325-hp “Wildcat” 401-cid V-8 with a 10.25:1 compression ratio and a single four-barrel Carter AFB carburetor. The athletic engine exhaled through dual exhaust, and to give the package added street cred, GS badges were mounted inside and out.

The GS continued on the updated 1966 A-body with more muscular looks that included blacked-out exterior components and the addition of hood scoops. Obviously seeing more potential with the Gran Sport, Buick split the Gran Sport into two lines for 1967 with the addition of the new GS 340 powered by an engine of that displacement. 1967 also marked the arrival of an all-new, truly 400-cid V-8 in the GS 400 that no longer had to skirt GM’s displacement limit. This new 400-cid V-8 had 340 hp, which compared favorably to the standard 335-hp, 400-cid V-8 in that year’s GTO.

The GS 400 maintained the “fast with class” image of the previous Gran Sports by using much of the bright Skylark trim, but the new GS 340 had an increasingly more typical muscle car image with red body stripes on the sides and atop the hood scoops and a red-accented rear deck molding.

By this time, a few savvy racers had noticed the power of the Buick Gran Sport. Among them was Lennie “Pop” Kennedy, who had been racing Buicks since the mid 1950s. He stayed with Buick on the strip through the 1960s and beyond, driving cars sponsored by Reynolds Buick of West Covina, Calif., and gaining the attention of Buick brass as he and fellow racer Jim Bell worked to improve and develop Buick engine components for better quarter-mile times. The pair eventually formed Kenne-Bell to sell those parts.

When the Gran Sport was born, Pop was there, racing the first 1965 GS 400 delivered to the West Coast, likely obtaining it so early because of his past with Buick and success racing their cars. Once Buick’s new 340-hp 400-cid V-8 came out in 1967, Pop raced that engine, too.

When GM restyled the A-body into more of a fastback for 1968, the Gran Sport returned to the exploding muscle car wars. Again, a new engine became available in a Gran Sport when the 260-hp 340 was replaced with a new Buick four-barrel 350-cid V-8 of 280 hp, but the GS 400 was back with no changes to the one-year-old engine. Again, Pop Kennedy raced the new Buick GS 400, running times as fast as 117 mph in 11.40 seconds. Pop’s GS ran some of his experimental hop-up parts for the Buick 400-cid V-8 (notably, better heads, a more efficient intake manifold and a different carburetor). Using Pop’s input and experience, a factory-installed Stage 1 package was offered for the engine of the GS 400 in 1969, as was a more aggressive Stage 2 package that was available over the counter at Buick dealers.

GM divisions moderately updated their A-bodies for 1970, and again Buick paired the new-looking car with a new engine. After the 455-cid V-8-powered Hurst/Olds cars of 1968 and 1969, GM’s 400-cubic-inch limit for its divisions’ intermediates was in the rearview mirror. Now GM divisions were running their largest engines in their midsize muscle cars. At Buick, that meant using the new 455-cid V-8 in the Gran Sport. The car was logically dubbed the GS 455, while the 315-hp GS 350 continued to be offered alongside it.

Without question, 1970 marked the peak of the muscle car era with bright paint options, wild factory graphic and decal packages, top performance engines and catchy acronyms for names, and Buick ran with the best when it introduced its new GSX. Essentially a slightly dechromed GS 455 with front and rear spoilers, select painted trim and a decal package, the GSX was a decidedly youthful and in-your-face Buick that took the GS 455 to the extreme. Available in Saturn Yellow or Apollo White, it could be had with or without the Stage 1 option of the GS 455 upon which it was based.

The new GS 455 and GSX for 1970 offered 350 hp and another 10 hp with the Stage 1 package (a Stage 2 package was again available over the counter). Those numbers may not appear to be competitive against a 425-hp 426 Hemi or a 450-hp LS6 Chevelle SS 454, but with 510 lb.-ft. of torque, the Buick GS 455 Stage 1 could match — and even beat ­— a Hemi GTX or a SS 454. On lists of the fastest muscle cars of all time, Stage 1-equipped 1970 Buick GS 455 cars always rank at or very near the top.

The GS 455 and GS 350 lasted through the 1970-1972 styling cycle and even slightly beyond when GM’s A-body was completely redesigned for 1973, but as with all muscle cars, the power was never as great as it was in the first year of the disco decade.

Pushing go and show

In early September 1969, shortly after the Buick Division of General Motors began minting its new 1970 models, two identical white 1970 GS Stage 1 two-door hardtops were pulled off the assembly line the same day to be converted into show cars for the auto show circuit. The “top dog” Gran Sports were identically optioned and close together in production sequence (their body numbers were just two digits apart). One of these Stage 1 Gran Sports destined for show duty became a GSX show car sometimes mistakenly referred to as a prototype, and the other was converted into a specially painted and trimmed GS 455 intended to “light your fire,” as advertisements generally claimed for the GS. Both made their debut perched atop circular stands at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show, held at the International Amphitheater from Feb. 21 to March 1.

Not surprisingly for show cars, the Shows, Displays and Exhibits Division of Buick had each Gran Sport well-equipped. They both featured the Stage 1 package, an automatic transmission, a console, bucket seats, 3.64 Positraction rear differential, Rallye Ride Control Package, G60-15 Goodyear Polyglas GT tires, chromed five-spoke wheels, tilt steering, power windows, power locks, full instrumentation, power steering, disc brakes, Soft Ray-tinted windshield and the Rallye steering wheel. The GSX show car received the parts unique to the model, although some of them differed from production components, while the GS 455 Stage 1 show car underwent its own changes. Its body color was changed to a one-of-a-kind, bright orange Fireglow Red Pearl color, and the pearl white-upholstered interior received a unique white shag-type carpet with non-production, orange-colored experimental front seat belts that complemented the body color. The tinted glass ­— even the windshield ­­— was also removed from the car and replaced with untinted glass.

“The windows were not tinted, because it was felt that any tinting would not properly demonstrate the appeal of that white interior,” said Alan Oldfield of the Buick Heritage Alliance, which now holds title to the car. “It’s quite striking when you see it.”

A photo of the car at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show shows the interior glowing, and without the window tint, the white is pure and oddly bright without a blue tint cast upon it.

It seems Buick had a thing for metallic orange show cars, and the Fireglow Red Pearl 1970 GS 455 Stage 1 was not its first. In 1966, a Wildcat convertible painted a non-production metallic-orange color appeared on the auto show circuit with an exclusive orange front-and-rear bucket seat interior. Two years later, Buick displayed atop its stands an orange 1968 Riviera and a white 1968 Gran Sport, the latter having a one-of-a-kind white interior with a shag-type white carpet.

Like the preceding orange Buick show cars, the white 1970 GSX and Fireglow Red Pearl Gran Sports were supposed to disappear, but Columbus, Ohio, Buick dealer Len Immke, a rabid fan and collector of Buicks ­— and himself a sponsor of a 1970 GS 455 race car ­— stepped in.

“They were retired and supposed to be crushed,” said Oldfield. “Len Immke convinced Buick to sell the cars to him with the promise that he would not sell them, but one time, when he was out of town, the cars got sold and they went into private hands.”

The first owner of the Fireglow Red Pearl GS reportedly raced it into the 1970s, racking up about 13,000 miles on the odometer. However, he ran steep gears for racing so the actual mileage is likely lower. That owner reportedly raced the car hard enough to blow the original engine and transmission,. Today the car has a replacement engine block with many of the important original components, such as the carburetor and cylinder heads. It still shows about 13,000 miles.

Racing kept the Fireglow Red Pearl GS’s body rust-free, and by the time it went into a collector’s hands, the original paint had cracked and the car’s rock-solid sheet metal deserved a re-spray. The car then swung from owner to owner with one of them replacing the white shag carpet with a production-type black rug. However, the rest of the interior remains original.

In 2023, the car went to its forever home when it was donated by Ralph Jenkins Harding III of Odessa, Texas, to the Buick Heritage Alliance, a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of all things Buick, from literature to the cars themselves. The BHA’s literature collection is housed at the AACA Library & Research Center in Hershey, Pa., while it loans its cars to museums across the country. Oldfield said the Fireglow Red Pearl 1970 Buick GS Stage 1 show car will continue its show car duties at NATMUS for the foreseeable future, where it can be seen by all.

MORE INFO

Buick Heritage Alliance
www.buickheritagealliance.org

NATMUS
1000 Gordon M. Buehrig Place
Auburn, IN 46706
260-925-9100
natmus.org

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Lurking in a back-corner stall of Billups Classic Cars’ shop in Colcord, Okla., awaiting its turn for a total makeover, was a Wimbledon White 1970 Shelby GT500 convertible. Its older siblings, the green 1968 Shelby GT500 coupe known as “The Green Hornet” and its older brother, the red 1967 GT500 coupe known as “Little Red,” were both undergoing concours restorations at Billups’ shop. The importance of these two Shelby coupes and the logical efficiency of simultaneously restoring them forced the ’70 GT500 convertible to take a back seat at Billups’ shop, but the ’70 GT500 was no less of an important car in the Shelby story. Having been built on June 20, 1969, for delivery to Wilmington, Mass., this was the very last of the original Shelby GT500 convertibles to roll off the line at Shelby Automotive, Inc. in Southfield, Mich.

Things started getting more interesting at Billups Classic Cars for the 1970 GT500 convertible when, one day, a carrier arrived with the one-of-one Candy Apple Red 1967 Shelby GT500 convertible after making the trip from Florida. The ’67 GT500 convertible found its way to Billups Classic Cars for hood replacement, engine bay detailing and cosmetic enhancements. Billups Classic Cars had restored it prior, but new documentation acquired by its owner indicated the improved vented Shelby hood design had appeared on this GT500 early in its history, so the upgrade was made to install a correct version. This Shelby on the only ’67 GT500 convertible Carroll Shelby and his team produced at Shelby American. With these two cars under the same roof, the first and last Shelby GT500 convertibles were united.

Could it get any better for a Shelby fan? It did. After a long trip from Colorado, the first 1967 Shelby GT500 ever built and sold to the public also found its way into Billups Classic Cars. It joined the other historic Shelbys for performance and cosmetic enhancements. So under its roof at one time, Billups Classic Cars corralled the first three GT500s ever produced by Carroll Shelby and his team at Shelby American, and the very last GT500 convertible.

Unfortunately, the restoration of the last 1970 GT500 convertible was delayed until the work and fanfare on the first GT500 cars had run their course. Yet, the history making didn’t end there. It’s believed this was the first time the 1967 GT500 convertible — the first and only 1967 GT500 convertible — and the last 1970 GT500 convertible ever shared a location.

As you read this, you’re probably shaking your head in disbelief. I would be, too, if it weren’t for the fact that I witnessed this history while at Billups Classic Cars to film and document the restorations of the Green Hornet and Little Red in 2018 and 2019. Arguably, there’s never been a collection of such historic Shelby GT500s in one facility at one time, from so many firsts to the last.

A crowning Super Cobra Jet touch

Owner Clint Falk acquired the last 1970 Shelby GT500 convertible in June 2015 after receiving a lead and doing a rigorous internet search. He found its location was in Houston, Texas, relatively close to his home near Amarillo. When Clint showed up to inspect the car, the seller confirmed it had the highly desirable factory Drag Pack option, and was the last Shelby GT500 convertible produced. To say Clint was excited is an understatement. He, his brother, Kenny, and his father, Dennis, have a soft spot for Ford Cobra Jets, but especially Drag Pack (Super Cobra Jet) cars.

“Kenny and I, our father, Dennis, have an addiction to cars, especially the ones with the Drag Pack close-ratio rear axle option,” Falk said. “When we get one on our radar, we go on the hunt to find it, much like the way I found the 1970 Shelby GT500 convertible sitting there in Houston, right under my nose.”

The Shelby GT500 was in relatively good condition, and Clint and the seller struck a deal. Soon afterward, the GT500 convertible was headed to Colcord for a concours restoration at Billups Classic Cars. The historic GT500 would be brought to showroom condition under the watchful eye of owner Jason Billups and his team of highly skilled technicians.

The end of the line for Shelbys

Clint’s 1970 Shelby GT500 convertible is a well-optioned example with the optional Drag Pack packing a 3.91 gear ratio plus the Tilt-Away steering wheel, AM/FM stereo radio, tinted glass and Goodyear F60x15 tires.

The list of performance and handling items includes the 428-4V Super Cobra Jet V-8 engine, power front disc brakes, power steering, Competition Suspension, tachometer and trip odometer. According to its Marti Report, it is one of ten factory-produced with the close-ratio four-speed manual transmission and the only 1970 GT500 convertible painted Wimbledon White. It’s further equipped with a power convertible top in white and with a glass backlite.

Unbeknownst to many at the time, all 1970 Shelby GT500s were simply re-numbered units from the prior 1969 production year. By this time, much had changed in the world of the Shelby series Mustang. Carroll Shelby had terminated his contract with Ford the prior summer, and production of all Mustang cars that bore his name had ground to a halt.

Ford Motor Co. had already switched much of its attention toward marketing its Boss lineup of Mustangs, which had been released in 1969, and it appeared that, for Ford, the Shelby GT350 and GT500 had become little more than an afterthought.

In actuality, Ford had little intention of marketing either of the Shelby models for the 1970 model year. However, less-than-impressive sales during the 1969 model year had left Ford with 788 unsold units that needed to be liquidated.

Ford was determined to find some way of differentiating the 1970 GT500 from Shelbys sold in 1969, even though all were essentially 1969s. Its answer came in the form of a newly added chin spoiler, cleverly placed hood stripes and revised VINs.

The front-mounted, under-chin spoiler of the 1970 GT500 was similar to that found on the 1969 Boss 302 Mustang. These spoilers were originally designed by Ford Motor Co. designer Larry Shinoda and were intended to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the Boss 302 and 429 Mustangs.

Twin hood stripes were also implemented when prepping Shelby GT500s that were tagged for sale during 1970. These stripes ran the length of the Shelby’s hood, just to each side of its center margin, encompassing two of the GT500’s three hood scoops.

In order to “officially” differentiate one model year of Shelby GT500 from the next, Ford deleted all VIN numbers associated with the remaining 1969 Shelby GT500s that were prepared for the market in 1970. These VINs were subsequently replaced with distinctive numbers that denoted 1970 year model lineage. This, of course, was done with proper governmental oversight to avoid legal issues.

Outside of the above-mentioned modifications, the 1970 Shelby GT500 was identical to cars sold the year prior, both inside and out. The 1970 GT500 once again used Mustang’s Deluxe interior package and was fitted with a padded two-point roll bar, as well as a wood-rimmed steering wheel. The 1970 GT500 interior was available in black, white or red. Clint’s GT500 was assembled with the Black Clarion Knit/Corinthian Vinyl H-Back Bucket Seats.

Aside from its newly acquired hood stripes and chin spoiler, the GT500’s exterior remained unchanged for the 1970 model year. The GT500’s hood once again featured three forward-facing air scoops, as well as front and rear body-side scoops on the fenders. The GT500 also retained its signature reflective side stripes, which ran the vehicle’s length.

Under the hood, the GT500 was powered by Ford’s Cobra Jet four-venturi 428 V-8 engine, which delivered power through a C6 automatic transmission or optional four-speed transmission to a Traction-Lok limited-slip rear axle.

The 1970 Shelby GT500 was available in Candy Apple Red, Black Jade, Gulfstream Aqua, Acapulco Blue Metallic, Royal Maroon, Silver Jade, Pastel Gray, Wimbledon White or Competition Red. There were also four specialty colors that weren’t given names. They were known as Grabber Orange, Grabber Yellow, Grabber Green and Grabber Blue.

As 1970 ended, so did the Shelby GT500’s legendary run. Though gone from Ford’s sales brochures the following year, Carroll Shelby’s GT series offerings served their intended purpose by lending substantial performance credibility to the Mustang line and to Shelby himself. By 1970, Carroll Shelby and the Shelby Mustang were household names.

Without the Shelby GT350 and GT500, the Mustang name would likely have been unceremoniously associated with commuter cars instead of high-performance machines. Instead, the Mustang name is now indelibly branded with an air of unrelenting bravado.

Today, the last Shelby GT500 convertible wears an award-winning Billups Classic Cars restoration and has joined Falk’s stable of Cobra Jet-powered Fords near Amarillo. It can occasionally be seen galloping on roads around Amarillo.

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Scott Frye was told so many times that his 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee wasn’t legit that he was starting to have some doubts himself.

The Sobieski, Wis., resident had bought his cool MoPar as a fixer-upper when he was still in high school. He was pretty happy with his purchase at the time, but then the naysayers — who didn’t really know what they were talking about — had him questioning whether he had been duped.

“You never heard of the ’71 Super Bees. You always heard of the ’68 through ’70s, but you never heard of the ’71,” says Frye, who showed off his hot Dodge at last summer’s Iola Car Show in Wisconsin. “And I remember the first three years I had it, I can’t tell you how many people said, ‘They never made a Super Bee in ’71! This is a Dodge Charger. They never made a Charger Super Bee!’ But they did, one year.

“And I was a young kid, and I didn’t know. I’d say, ‘Well, where did these Super Bee stickers come from, and all the decals? Why would somebody do all that?’ It wasn’t until I went to the MoPar Nationals and started seeing some other ones that I knew for sure that they made them.”

It was a couple trips to those national meets that actually changed the future for Frye’s ’71. Instead of just looking at the car as some cool, muscular daily transportation, he started hatching bigger plans.

“People were telling me how rare they are, how you never seen ’em. You would never even see them in the magazines,” he adds. “I said, ‘I gotta go through this car. I gotta go through everything and, you know, make it right …And the rest is history.”

The bad news when Frye bought his Super Bee back in 1984 was it had been the victim of neglect and had sat outside for quite a while, wasting away through some hostile Wisconsin winters. The good news is that it was still in remarkably good shape — probably in large part due to the aftermarket rust-proofing it got when it was new. Plus, Frye had already gotten some practice fixing and restoring MoPars by the time he and a friend decided to go check out a group of cars for sale in a barnyard stash that they had heard about.

“My first car was a 1970 Dodge Cornet 500 that my dad bought me for 100 bucks,” he laughs. “I worked on that car for a year, and then my friend called me one day and said, ‘You’ve got to come and check out this barn full of cars!’ So we went there, and it was like something you would see on the Internet, where you see an old barn or a field and all you see is MoPars everywhere! It was unbelievable. We were walking around and I asked the guy, ‘Are you selling anything? Is any of this for sale?’ And he says, ‘Everything is for sale.’ So I saw this car and I talked to my parents. We agreed on a price … He had this one behind one of his sheds or garages, and it was still covered up under the snow. And I remember he had to drag it out of the mud in, like, April or March.”

Bright red 1971 Super Bees are easy cars to take notice of, and Frye was pretty certain he remembered seeing the car in question driving around in Green Bay a few years earlier. Sure enough, the car had been sold originally at a Green Bay Dodge-Chrysler dealership and Frye was the third owner. And fortunately, the first owner apparently had some admirable foresight when he decided to shell out for some rustproofing.

“It had that Ziebart sticker in the rear quarter window on it when I bought the car in 1984,” he says. “Later on I got a chance to talk to the original owner, and he said it was done right out of the factory… It did not need a lot of bodywork. There was some rust in the rear quarters, but it was in good shape.”

The clincher was when the the second owner actually got the car running for Frye before he handed over the key. 

“Yeah, it ran! He did get it running! He had been driving it previously, but for some reason he lost interest in it. I think it was four or five years, sitting in his back yard, outside.”

1971: A BRAND NEW BEE

The Charger was a whole new beast for the 1971 model year. With the Coronet now purely a four-door, Dodge used its only remaining midsize B-body coupe — the Charger — to spawn a whole new Super Bee. It turned out to be a one-year wonder and the only Super Bee based on the Charger.

The 1971 Chargers had a semi-fastback roofline with a flush rear window and an integral rear deck lid spoiler. The Charger Super Bee was manufactured using the same restyled body and was aimed at the same market niche as the old Coronet Super Bee and still represented a value-priced but serious high-performance package.

For a base price of $3,271, Charger Super Bee buyers could get a “base” model that included a standard 383-cid Magnum V-8 that cranked out 300 hp. The engine used a single four-barrel carburetor and came attached to a three-speed manual transmission with a floor-mounted gear shifter. The hood had a “power bulge” with a flat black finish, and on the sides were special tape stripes and bumblebee decals.

The interior was similar to that of the Charger 500, but featured bucket seats. The Rallye suspension package included heavy-duty front torsion bars, heavy-duty rear springs, a front anti-sway bar, heavy-duty shock absorbers all around and heavy-duty brakes (11 x 3 inches up front and 11 x 2.5 inches in the rear). The standard tires were fat F70-14 black walls with white lettering. There was also a lengthy list of goodies on the options list.

All Charger Super Bees carried a big-block V-8. For guys who wanted to go up the ladder from the 383, there was a 440 with “Six-Pack” carburetion or the 426-cid Street Hemi. Unlike the 8.7:1 compression base engine, these muscle car mills had high-test hardware and offered 385 or 425 hp, respectively. The optional goodies list also included: a functional Ramcharger hood scoop, color-keyed bumpers, a Super Trak-Pack performance axle (with up to 4.10:1 gearing), a four-speed gear box with Hurst “pistol grip” shifter, a dual-point distributor and heavy-duty cooling aids.

The 440 Six-Pack Charger Super Bee was now advertised at 385 hp. It did 0-to-60 mph in 6.9 seconds and the quarter-mile took 14.7 seconds. With a Hemi V-8, this 3,640-lb. machine moved into the same bracket as the original Charger 500, needing only 5.7 seconds to get up to 60 mph and a mere 13.7 to reach the traps at a drag strip!

Only 22 1971 Charger Hemi Super Bees were built, nine of which had four-speeds. The rest had had TorqueFlite automatics.

Only about 5,054 Super Bees were built for 1971 (4,325 for the U.S. market), making the ’71s the rarest of the four-year run. The majority of them — 2,889 — carried a 383 Magnum with an automatic transmission, like Frye’s car.

LIFE-LONG BEE KEEPER

Frye was too young and poor to think too much about restoring his Super Bee the first few years he had it. He still shakes his head in disbelief at the idea that he’s had the car for 40 years now.

“Ha! I was just a young kid working at McDonald’s! I eventually became a mechanic and started working at the airport, and then I started going to the MoPar Nationals and started seeing more of these cars,” he recalls. “But I drove it the way it was for the first 3, 4, 5 years. The original tail lamps were all cracked and stuff, but when I got it everything was there, it just needed some work.”

It wasn’t long, though, before Frye faced his first major crisis with the car, and a big decision to make.

“Back then, us kids, we didn’t know anything about numbers matching or VIN numbers or matching blocks and transmissions,” he says. “And I had blown up the motor probably within the first year I got it! And I took the motor out and I just bought another one, I think I bought a 440 … And I remember talking to someone and they said, ‘You gotta check your block.’ So he showed me how to match up the VIN on the block to the VIN on the dash, and sure enough it was the original motor. And back then we were moving from apartment to apartment, and duplex to duplex, and I carried that thing all over! At one time that block was being used as a table in my living room! I put a 4×8 piece of plywood over it!”

It took a few years, but Frye eventually restored the Super Bee from bumper to bumper. He did all the parts chasing, handled all the paint and bodywork himself, and even tackled the upholstery work. His wife Julie helped him fit the new vinyl top.

 “Really, about the only thing I didn’t do myself was the machining on the block,” he says. “This is the way it would have left the factory. Factory FE5 Bright Red, factory white interior, factory spoiler … concealed headlamps. The only thing we really changed was the white vinyl top, and on ’71 Super Bees that hood insert, the louvered section that I have on this car is from a 71 Charger R/T. The Super Bee unit was fiberglass and was a little different, but the hoods are the same. You could change the center pieces. I just like the louvered section better.”

Oh, and there’s the little change in the bottom end that nobody can see, either, but shows up when Frye really flattens the gas pedal. 

“I did put a 440 crank in it. It’s kind of a stroker now! It pulls about 500 horse [laughs]. But the engine compartment looks almost like it left the factory. Original air cleaner, original exhaust manifolds.”

These days, the bright red ’71 certainly sounds and runs as good as it looks thanks, in part, to the regular exercise it has gotten for the past 30-plus years. The odometer says just 47,000 miles, but Frye has never been sure how accurate the total has been. 

“The title from 1984, they put on there ‘cannot verify mileage,’” he notes. “I really don’t think it was turned over, but somebody might have replaced a dash bezel at some point. I can’t verify it.

“But I’ve always driven it. Back in the ’90s and early 2000s, we’d go to car shows it seemed like almost every weekend. There’s a few stone chips, but I can’t worry about that stuff anymore, because then you won’t enjoy it. Buying a restored car like this today would cost you so much money, and then the first stone chip you get ….”

One thing is certain: the car is never going to wind up neglected or put out to pasture again while Frye is around. And it’s not going to have any other owners, either.

“I can’t imagine ever not having it after all these years,” he admits. “Not after all it’s been through. I can’t tell you how many apartment buildings, how many garages, it’s been in! … Now I’ll probably die in it.”

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We love seeing a choice MoPar. Such was the case when we ran into this nice 1971 Dodge Super Bee at the 2024 Iola Car Show. 

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The infamous crash of the 1971 Dodge Challenger pace car into the photographer’s stand at that year’s Indianapolis 500 race didn’t sway Indiana native Mark Winzenread from wanting one of the matching Hemi Orange Challenger convertibles for himself.

“None of the ‘Big Three’ would step up to pace the race that year, and [Dodge dealer Eldon Palmer] organized the area Dodge dealers and they ordered 50 of these Challengers,” Winzenread says. “The truth was Eldon had been practicing where he had to stop the pace car all week and somebody moved the cones (the day of the race) and nobody told him. He came off the track too fast and locked it up. But they were saying the brakes were bad and Chrysler was rebating them $800.”

Winzenread was perfectly content driving his 1966 Plymouth Barracuda in that long ago summer of ’71. But then he spotted at McGinty Dodge of Indianapolis a pair of those Hemi Orange 1971 Challenger convertibles built for use during the Indy 500 and he couldn’t resist.

“I noticed these two pace cars on the showroom floor about a week after the race,” Winzenread says. “I talked my dad into going back there with me. I was 20—you had to be 21 to get a loan.”

The pace car that Palmer had crashed during the race and its backup were the only 383-cid V-8-powered Challengers built for use during the Indy 500, the rest being 318- or 340-cid V-8 cars. McGinty Dodge had one of each on its showroom floor.

“I wanted the 340, of course, and finally my dad said, ‘It’s the 318 or we’re going home,’ and I needed to go along with it, because I needed him for the financing,” Winzenread says.

“That loan surprised me. My two older brothers could destroy cars and it just broke his heart,” Winzenread says. “I didn’t think I would have a chance.”

The 318-powered Challenger at McGinty Dodge was well-optioned with power steering and a power top, radio, heater, the Torqueflite automatic with the Slap Stick gear selector and Rallye wheels. The Hemi Orange Challenger was built with a contrasting white interior and top like the actual pace car and the other cars built for race day.

The agreement that Winzenread made with his father was that he’d pay off the car in two years. Its sticker price was $4,257, and after the $800 rebate and his Barracuda trade-in, his loan came to $111 a month. It was a lot of money for a 20-year-old working at a grocery store, yet being single, Winzenread was comfortable with making the payments.

“I said, ‘I know I won’t be getting married for at least two years,’ and almost a year to the day, Linda and I got married.”

Despite being newlyweds, Winzenread and his wife were able to continue making the hefty payments each month, even through college. They never sold the car and today, they’re probably the only original owners of a Hemi Orange 1971 Challenger convertible built for support duty at the 1971 Indy 500 race.

“A guy was pestering me to buy it, and it was in pretty bad shape, and my wife is the one that told me, ‘You don’t want to sell that.’ I said, ‘I don’t know what I am going to do with it.’

By this time, the Challenger had become a spare car. Winzenread had used it as a daily driver until 1980, when he had finally tired of trying to drive the car during Indiana winters.

“I didn’t really plan to keep it, it was more of an accident that I did,” he says. “When I graduated from college to get my license to be a licensed CPA, I was running around to see clients. One day, I stopped at this four-way stop in this Challenger and I couldn’t get it going. It was like a pig on ice. Then this little old lady goes around me in a Plymouth Horizon and I thought, ‘Well, if I got to be out here fighting ice and snow, I got to get one. So I got a Plymouth Horizon 2+2, a great little car, and just parked the Challenger and it sat that way for several years.”

By 1988, Winzenread figured it was time to restore the now-forlorn Challenger and pulled it out of his garage for some restoration work.

“When the kids came along, I decided I had to have something to do when they were playing in the yard, so I took it apart and took it to a little body shop in the town I live,” Winzenread says. “The guy gave me an estimate for $2,700 to do the body work and repaint it. I already had the replacement rear quarters, and he said it would take about two weeks. Well, two weeks became six months and I got nervous. I drove by the body shop and they had it up on sawhorses and this kid, he couldn’t have been more that 20 years old, he’s drilling these little holes (where he found rust holes) and he’s soldering them with lead and I am thinking, ‘I didn’t pay for this level of restoration.’”

Winzenread had planned to reassemble the Challenger after the body shop painted it, and one bright, sunny day the following April, he received the call that the car was done. When he arrived to pick up the Challenger, he braced himself for a hefty bill.

“They are all standing around it, and I can see these guys are proud of their work,” Winzenread recalled. “[The owner] said, ‘You happened to come along when the guys were tired of insurance work and they wanted something to sink their teeth into. We’ll stick to that $2,700 estimate, but see that Mustang? The owner is going to pay $7,600 for what we did to your car for $2,700.”

After he had the Challenger home, Winzenread began reassembling it and then slowly tackled other aspects of its restoration.

“Every year I would do something to it,” Winzenread says. “One year, it was an all-new Legendary interior. Another year, I sent the dash and door panels to Just Dashes. The hardest part was replacing the dash in July. There are 11 bolts in there, and it’s hot and I am trying to get these 11 bolts out. I think that was the toughest thing.”

About three years ago, Winzenread finally had the original two-barrel 318-cid V-8 rebuilt, and in the process, he had a four-barrel intake and carburetor installed, as well as dual exhaust. The original 318 also received a high-lift cam and electronic ignition.

“The guy that did it, he had been wanting to get his hands on that car for a long time,” Winzenread says. “He builds race engines and said, ‘Do you want it to rumble or roar?’ I said, ‘A rumble would be nice. My wife won’t want it to roar—she’d kill me.’”

The Challenger currently has about 115,000 miles on the odometer, and Winzenread says he’s still not rebuilt its original Torqueflite automatic transmission. Despite the abuses to it with a young driver behind the wheel, Winzenread says the transmission shows no signs of its miles or its age.

“Shortly after I had that car, about a month later, you could go along and drop the transmission into first and punch it and it would stand up on all four wheels and take off. Well, I hadn’t read the owner’s manual on the Slap Stick and I [accidentally] put that thing into ‘Park’ going 70 mph and the thing started rabbit-hopping down the road. I pulled it out [of ‘Park’] and very carefully drove it home. That car has 115,000 miles on it and I finally had the transmission oil changed, but I had never had it changed. That transmission looked as good on the inside as it did when it was new. It was spotless.”

These days, Winzenread goes a little easier on the Challenger than he did in his youth. It’s no longer charged with trips to the office, but rather jaunts to local car shows where Winzenread has to continue fending off hopeful buyers.

“I had taken the car to the Goodyear store to get new tires that I had special ordered,” Winzenread says. “The day before, I had my wife follow me down to drop it off, and I told the tire dealer, ‘As soon as this car is ready, call me—I don’t want it sitting out. When I picked it up, he said, ‘Get that damn thing out of here. Ever since it has shown up, all the guys want to do is talk muscle cars, and I have a guy coming by with a purchase offer.”

Winzenread turned down that offer, of course, and instead, he now throws out a price that he figures is ridiculous enough to scare away all comers. His hope for his Challenger Indy 500 festival car is that it ultimately stays in the Indianapolis area, and in the family. His son currently owns a 2022 Dodge Challenger R/T, and the first-generation Challenger convertible stands tall with the younger-generation coupe.

“What I will probably end up doing is willing it to my son,” Winzenread says. “He keeps assuming he’s going to get it anyway!”

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On Jan. 14, 1974, Dick Harvey walked into Len Derin Dodge in North Olmstead, Ohio, and placed an order for a new 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye after seeing an advertisement for the Dodge model in the November 1973 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. Just 21 years old, Harvey eagerly anticipated getting behind the wheel of the Dart Sport Rallye, which would be his first new car.

The yellow-and-black car Harvey ordered was a visual match to the car advertised in Hot Rod Magazine with the headline: “Dart Sport Rallye—If you understand what happens when you couple a 2.94 rear end to a wide ratio 4-speed…you’re the one we’re after.”

Verbiage in the ad further sold the car by saying, “Dart Sport Rallye wasn’t made for those who buy on cubes alone. A super car with a super price, it is not. But boring, dull, or commonplace, it isn’t either. The power-to-weight-ratio works out to a shade over 20 pounds per horsepower. The 318 V8 is still the same tractable mill even your maiden aunt could learn to love, but coupled to a new wide ratio 4-speed, it shows a rather refreshing tendency to quickness. The low numeric rear end ratio offers a bonus in quieter super highway travel. Everything you need is here, the things you don’t, aren’t. If the list of what you get stirs your interest, hustle down to your nearby Dodoge Dealer’s. The car’s even a little better than it reads.”

The Dart Sport Rallye features listed in the ad included the 318-cid V-8 with a “special ratio Hurst-operated 4-speed;” a 2.94 rear end; power steering; Rallye suspension; Rallye wheels; E70 x14 raised-white-letter tires; Deluxe vinyl seat; “Tuff” steering wheel; and “special Dodge lettering on the rear quarter panels.”

When his Dart Sport Rallye arrived on April 12, 1974, Harvey made a beeline for Len Derin Dodge. Upon driving onto the dealership’s lot, Harvey caught sight of this Yellow Blaze ’74 Dodge Dart and said his initial thought was, Those skinny tires and hub caps must go. When he and the salesperson walked around the Dart for the first time, Harvey was stunned by the skinny factory tire and wheel combination and asked, “Are those 14-inch wheels, tires and hubcaps the ones we ordered?” After reviewing the dealer’s order form for his car, Harvey and the salesperson confirmed that, indeed, the Dart was built to his order. Harvey said his next thought was, Tomorrow they’re getting replaced with something that gives the car a meaner look and stance.

The following morning, Harvey made the trip to Conrads, a local tire shop. There, Conrads installed a pair of narrow 14-inch chrome Keystone Classic wheels with Goodyear radial tires on the front. On the rear went a pair of 15-inch, deep-dish chrome Keystone Classic wheels with wide Goodyear radial tires extending beyond the rear quarter panel wheel openings. This wheel-and-tire setup now gave the Dart the look and stance that Harvey desired, which was all the rage during the ’70s. The car now took on an aggressive look and go-fast stance.

Harvey said his wheel change was inspired by the Sox and Martin race team’s pro-stock race cars, which ran Keystone Classics. He said he somewhat idolized Ronnie Sox and the Sox and Martin MoPars and decided his new ’74 Dodge Dart should be similarly fitted with a set of Keystone Classics. After all, if the wheels and tires and the stance they provided were good enough for the red, white and blue Sox and Martin cars, they were good enough for his new Yellow Blaze Dart Sport Rallye.

The 1974 Dart Sport Rallye as-built

Chrysler Corp.’s Dodge Division produced Harvey’s Yellow Blaze 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye with a black interior at the Dodge Main Assembly Plant in Hamtramck, Mich. During the ordering process, Harvey checked off just about every box on the dealer order form. Within the MoPar community, it’s now regarded as one of the most-optioned ’74 Dart Sports ever produced. The list of options is extensive but among the most notable options that Harvey checked is that Rallye Package. The car was additionally optioned with functional hood scoops and power disc brakes, but the list doesn’t end there. Harvey also selected the black split-back bench seat; sunroof; canopy vinyl roof; light package; tinted glass; day-night mirror; dual remote painted racing mirrors; rear window defogger; and three-speed windshield wipers with electric washers. The ’74 Dart Sport Rallye was further optioned with bumper guards; a radio; and the rear deck panel stripe and “Up & Over” stripe, as seen in the Hot Rod Magazine ad.

‘Day Two-ing’ a Dart Sport Rallye

From 1974 through 1978, Harvey drove his ’74 Dart, then parked it in his father’s garage when he moved to Cincinnati. Then, in 1975, Harvey’s younger brother, Don, came across a ’69 340-cid V-8 engine and convinced his older brother to let him build the engine, then the two of them could install it into Harvey’s Dart. About a week later, the engine was ready. The two brothers loaded it into the trunk of Harvey’s 1964 Chrysler Newport, then hauled it to their father’s garage in Westlake.

Harvey went all in with the 340 engine build. He’d previously rebuilt a 225-cid straight-six engine and a 383-cid big-block V-8 and was excited to get his hands on a small-block MoPar V-8 and seeing what it could do in his Dart Sport Rallye.

In June 1975, Harvey’s friend, Ron, owned a 1964-1/2 Barracuda with a tired 273-cid V-8 engine. The Harvey brothers decided to replace the 273 with the original 318 engine from Dick’s ’74 Dart Sport Rallye. They completed the installation at their grandpa’s barn in Westlake. A week later, the 340 engine built by the Harveys was ready. The brothers installed it into the ’74 Dart at their dad’s garage, also in Westlake. As Harvey explains it, their grandfather’s barn and father’s garage were located back-to-back and within walking distance of each other. Both engine swaps were completed using a come-along strap attached to the building rafters.

Harvey drove the Dart until 1978, then parked it in his father’s garage when he and his bride, Lynn, were married and relocated to Cincinnati. The couple had dated in the ’74 Dart Sport Rallye and Harvey’s prior 1968 Dodge Super Bee. Being newlyweds with new careers and plans to start a family, the ’74 Dart took a backseat due to its smaller size and not being what they considered a family car. And, in June 1984, they welcomed a son, Phillip.

However, the ’74 Dart Sport Rallye wasn’t parked for long. It only sat idle until 1979, when Harvey’s younger brother convinced him to turn it into a drag car. The ’74 Dart was raced locally from 1979-1990 with the younger Harvey doing most of the driving. However, Harvey got behind the wheel a time or two just to see what his Dart would do.

The Dart was raced hard and the 340 engine blew up in 1990. It was then replaced by a 440-cid V-8 that Harvey built. During the later part of the 1990 race season, it, too, succumbed to hard quarter-mile passes and blew. Harvey pulled the 440 and the transmission and brought the rolling body and chassis home where it sat for nearly 10 years. In 1999, Harvey and his wife relocated to West Chester, Ohio, and the now engine- and transmission-less ’74 Dart ended up in yet another garage.

From shop to shop

In 2003, the Dart was transported to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula when a friend there offered to restore it. Not long after its arrival, the friend realized he was in over his head and the car sat. A year later, the restorer relocated to Milwaukee and the ’74 Dart was trailered to his new location where it was parked again. Harvey remained intent on seeing the Dart restored. However, another six years passed with no restoration work done to the car, so Harvey had it transported to his home in Ohio. There, it sat in the family garage for another decade or so.

During 2017, at an Indianapolis swap meet, Harvey approached The Finer Details booth where he met owner Ken Mosier. Harvey proceeded to share the story of his 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye with Mosier. After hearing the story, Mosier agreed to pick up the car so that he could complete a rotisserie restoration of it, but he wouldn’t be ready for it for another year.

In the spring of 2018, Harvey and his wife purchased a new home and needed to move the Dart Sport Rallye once again. Acting on a hunch, Harvey called Mosier to see if he was ready for it. Mosier was now ready and made arrangements for someone to pick up the car. About a week later, the car was transported to Mosier’s shop for the complete restoration that Harvey had hoped for many years would finally happen. Mosier called Harvey to say that he found the Dart Sport Rallye to be extremely rough, “But I’m going to restore it,” he told Harvey.

In early 2019, Mosier called Harvey to say he had become ill. After receiving this news, Harvey wondered if this would alter Mosier’s ability to complete the restoration. Sadly, on Nov. 8, 2021, Mosier passed away.

Mosier’s wife, Allie, reached out to Jake and Sandy Poffenberger, current owners of The Finer Details in Danville, Ind., to see if they were interested in completing the 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye restoration. It and two other automobiles were left unfinished in Mosier’s shop upon his passing.

The Poffenbergers agreed to take on the task of finishing the three automobiles. With Allie Mosier’s assistance, the Dart Sport Rallye was turned over to General Manager Justin Bliss and the rest of the Finer Details team. With help from Allie’s father, Keith Miner, as well as Bobbi Miner, the ’74 Dart Sport Rallye and all of its components were retrieved from the Miners’ building and transported to The Finer Details, where the restoration immediately resumed.

Among The Finer Details’ work was the installation of a specially prepared small-block 360-cid V-8 engine rated at 400 hp. The engine was backed with a Brewers Performance four-speed manual transmission, a 3.55 rear axle in the 8-3/4-inch housing and Wilwood four-piston power disc brakes to enhance performance, safety and overall handling characteristics.

Factory air conditioning was not checked off on the dealer order by Dick Harvey back in 1974. At his request, a Classic Auto Air air conditioning system specially designed for the ’74 Dodge Dart was added.

When studying the exterior of a factory-stock 1974 Dodge Dart, the first thing that usually catches the eye is the large plastic panel that fills the gap between the federally mandated safety bumpers and body of the car at both front and rear. The team at The Finer Details created custom bumper mounts and fabricated the bumpers to fit into the body curvatures with the goal of enhancing the overall appearance of the ’74 Dart. The finished look is clean and flows into the body. Gone is the gaudy factory “push-bar guardrail” look that was the norm during the period.

An end to the long resto road

With Bliss overseeing the restoration, the eye-catching Yellow Blaze 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye’s seemingly improbable restoration journey was completed. The finally restored MoPar “day-viewed” on Nov. 18 at the 2023 Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals (MCACN) where it was one of three MoPars showcased in The Finer Details’ display. At MCACN, the car earned a prestigious Blue Ribbon Award in the Super Street/Modified class on Sunday during the awards ceremony.

About a month after getting his 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye back from the restoration shop, I checked in with Harvey to see how the bonding process was going with his old car. He said after the car was delivered to his home, he and his wife took it out for a 35-mile cruise and planned to hit the local back roads later that day.

“It’s like stepping back to the mid ’70s, when Lynn and I used to date in the Dart,” Harvey said. “We retraced some of our favorite drives. The excitement and joy this car brought me when new has been superseded due, in part, to the efforts of Allie Mosier, Justin Bliss and The Finer Details team. I’d like to express my gratitude and appreciation for allowing Lynn and I the opportunity to experience the youthful joy of driving this MoPar once again, feeling its new-found power while cruising for miles with the windows down, sunroof open and engine roaring.”

The Harveys look forward to the spring when their son, Phillip, and grandson, Miles, join them for their very first ride in the family’s Yellow Blaze 1974 Dodge Dart Sport.

Kindred Spirits

Occasionally, I come across something extra-special that takes me down memory lane and allows me to step back in time when I, too, was settling into my first car, a 1971 Dodge Charger. Much like the Harveys, I also replaced my Dodge’s factory wheel, tire and wheel cover combination with a set of aftermarket wheels (polished-aluminum Ansen wheels and Mickey Thompson wide-oval tires). This wheel-and-tire combo made my Charger resemble a Hot Wheels car from my youth with its skinny tires on the front and wide ovals on the back. Paired up, it gave the car attitude, and even though it only had a 318-cid small-block V-8 under the hood, the addition of the replacement wheels and tires made the car look fast. The “small front wheels and tires and big rear wheels and tires” combo was all the rage back in the ’70s and is likely derived from our youthful days of racing Hot Wheels cars and admiring their “go fast” drag racing stance, as well as watching drag racing during the Wide World of Sports’ weekly televised coverage of NHRA racing events from around the country. Al Rogers

Love Dodge muscle? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.

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“My wife and I had bought a used 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner for $650.00 in 1975. It needed a automatic choke, the correct four barrel carburetor, backup light housing and some of body work on the rear quarter panel where it was hit. It had a 4-speed Pistol grip stick shift, AM radio, Hi back front bucket seats, 383 cid and a vinyl top. The color was dark green with a black vinyl top. We had it till my brother-in-law purchased it a few years later. From that time until now my wife and I have raised a family with three children started three business and since sold two of them. During the 48 years that have transpired, I’ve been looking for another Roadrunner.”

“We moved to Florida from New Jersey 15 years ago and in 2021 found this restored GTX of all places back in New Jersey. It was in an auction. The photos and videos showed us it was the car for us. 1970 Blue Plymouth GTX with a 440 automatic three- speed Torqueflight transmission, AM-8 track radio with 4-speaker system, Hi back front bucket seats, center console, wood steering wheel, chrome tip exhaust, Magnum 500 wheels and simulated wood dash. After winning the auction, I flew to New Jersey and drove the car back to Florida. Every time I stopped to get gas, people would ask if they could take a photos of it. I spent more time at the gas stations speaking with old car enthusiasts than I did filling the GTX with gas. It was great!”

“Since driving to florida I’ve added factory cruise control and a factory 6-way driver seat adjusters. Also, installed an electric trunk latch. It is from a 1973 dart but matches up and works good on the GTX.”

“We are having a great time with the GTX and our 9 grand kids. They love it too.”

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However, I have to say, thanks to Mecum Auctions, I am reliving the massive girl crush I had on muscle cars during my high school years. The moment I walked onto the convention floor, my senses were assaulted with vehicle visuals. I have never seen so many gorgeous cars gathered in one (large) area. As I wandered through the convention center, I was sure that I had dropped my jaw somewhere close to the entry. There was automotive eye candy in every direction. It was actually quite heady.

When I was a teen, many of my friends had muscle cars (although I don’t remember that we called them such). Here I was, surrounded by the vehicles of my youth, and it was fabulous. 

When the auction started, I found a spectacular seat, where I watched the cars crossing the auction block for some time. One of the early cars to cross the block was a breathtakingly colorful Chevy Camaro Z28. My high school crush drove a Camaro Z28. Well, obviously, I had to get a photo (and post it).

It didn’t take long for me to acquire some friendly seatmates. They gave me a bit of auction-schooling (the meaning of “the bid goes on,” etc.) and told me about some of the cars they’d seen on their initial walkabout. They told me a tale about a particular car (and the gentlemen who had restored it). It seems that there was a beautifully restored 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with an interesting background story, so I decided to go see it myself.

I wandered down the rows of cars, continuously reminding myself that I was on a mission and that I couldn’t dawdle. I found Weylan McAnally and Lucio Gonzales standing next to their immaculately restored Dodge Charger. I gave them the short version of my seatmates’ story and asked if they’d mind elaborating on how they came to find the car.

According to Lucio Gonzales, he had found the car a few years ago, sitting in a field next to a creek. Apparently, the person who owned the car had quite a few vehicles sitting in this particular pasture. During the rainy season, the creek would fill up and overflow its banks a good ten feet. As the creek flooded almost yearly, the car slowly made its way closer and closer to the creek bottom. The car would be partially underwater until the creek receded and then dry for most of the summer months. The only thing that stopped the car from total immersion in the creek was a lone tree. The driver’s side front quarter panel was wedged against the tree, preventing it from moving into the creek completely.

The car had experienced quite the life before it ended up in a waterlogged pasture. In one incarnation, it was used for drag racing. The seats and console had been removed. It had been haphazardly sprayed with B7 Blue, and the rear racing stripe had been painted on (rather than decal application). At some point, it ended up in the pasture until the owner passed away. Gonzales and McAnally then purchased the car. It was securely jammed into its spot and surrounded by more trees. McAnally told me, “It took us an hour on a tractor, not rolling it out, but dragging it out. Dragging it through this woman’s lawn—destroying her backyard.” I doubt she was terribly happy with that turn of events.

According to Gonzales, they’d rebuilt nearly the entire car. The interior was destroyed, and the exterior didn’t fare much better. Rust was prevalent, and the car was rife with dents and dings. McAnally told me that he nearly drove Gonzales crazy. Every time Gonzales pronounced the car finished, McAnally found something else that needed to be done.

Gonzales owns a shop where he does this sort of work for a living. According to him, he is the big project guy. He did the bodywork, installed AC and anything computer-related, and got the car running. McAnally is good with smaller jobs, like building the grill and dash. The two friends routinely restore vintage cars and told me that they have a ‘Cuda and a Chevelle that will be out at the Texas Motor Speedway from September 29^th – October 1^st, 2023.

I’m sure that there are many fascinating vintage car acquisition stories out there to be heard. Guess I’ll have to drag myself out to another auction or car show so that I can hear them. Oh, the pain…

– Kele Johnson is the Digital Content Editor of the Collectibles Group at AIM Media. She has a fondness for mid-century ceramics, glass, and atomic design, walking a thin line between collector and hoarder. She has never met a swung vase, Tiki mug, or Shag print she didn’t want to add to her cache. She is also, apparently, a closet muscle car fanatic. Who knew? Kele has been researching, writing, and editing in the collectibles field for several years. Reach her at kelejohnson@aimmedia.com.

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John Robinson’s Chevelle is beyond clean and impressive. Truth be told, we are kind of envious. John get’s extra points for getting on it regularly! This is what John had to add about his stunning SS…

“The Chevelle has a numbers matching motor and drive train, original sheet metal and build sheet with a concours restoration. It sports a 396 V-8, L34, M21 and a 3:31 12-bolt. It is dressed in triple Tuxedo black and has a bench seat. It was a 2021 Philadelphia Concourse d ‘elegance invitee and 2021 Chattanooga Concourse d ‘elegance invitee. Many local and East Coast show wins. It’s driven (and driven hard!) regularly.”

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