v8dave
Wizard
In 1994 I bought a 1932 Ford Coupe from a guy in the California Central Valley, Stockton. His place was about 70 miles from where I lived, but it was all freeway. I was prepared to drive it home but he didn't want me to drive the freeway. He said he had arranged for his boat engine guy to trailer the '32 to San Jose for me. We'd both pay the guy $100 for the trip.
Huh, boat engine guy? "What kind of engine and what kind of boat" I ask? Turns out this guy's house backed up to a canal off the Sacramento River Delta. The neighborhood was kind of non-descript and you couldn't see the canal banks from the front. He replies. "Here I'll show you while we're waiting for the trailer to show up." Off we go to this covered dock in his backyard. Where sitting in a sling, lifted out of the water, is a cigarette boat with a pair of new GM 572 cubic inch engines that have been hopped up even further by his "engine guy."
I asked where and what he did with it. He casually replies. "Oh, me and my buddies like to run down to San Francisco once in a while." Chit man, I can't believe it, a 100+ mile run at speeds above 60 MPH on the water! After what I'm looking at sinks in, all I can think about is the cost to make a run like that. Like they say, if you have to ask, you can't afford it.
After drooling over this a while his engine guy shows up. We load up the '32 Ford and I ride with him whle my wife drives our truck back home. Turns out he is a hot rodder turned to fast boats. After some chit chat about motors and then cars. He turns to me and asks. "Know anybody that wants a Hemi?" "Maybe me." I replied. I get one of his business cards and write down the pariculars.
Fast forward, three years--yes, I waited three years to call up and ask about the cars! He still had them, more than one in a storage unit in Lodi.
I meet him at the storage yard and he opens the door. Inside is a cabin cruiser boat and three cars. All of 'em Dodges. In the front is a whale of a yellow '70s 440 Charger with Nitrous. On the side was a '73 Challenger with a 440 six pack hood on it. In the back was a 1967 Dodge Coronet with a yuck green paint job. All of 'em are for sale.
The '67 Dodge was a WO23 426 Hemi factory built drag race car. Like this car:
http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?DocID=1014&cat=Muscle%20Cars%3A%20Power%20to%20the%20People&ExhibitID=361
He had been a street racer and the factory white color was a dead give away as to the car type. He couldn't find enough people willing to take him on with the white paint job, so he painted it green. This car had under 1,500 miles on it, the serial number checked out as a the genuine article.
Now for the sad part. There was no motor in the car! All the accessories were in the trunk, including the cylinder heads. He lost the block! He blew the motor at a drag strip and had taken the block to a machine shop for repairing and then forgot about it. When he remembered several years later the shop had sold the block for the repair cost.
1960s Hemi motors did not have a serial number that matched the car. A "numbers matching" Hemi was matched only by the date code on the engine, which had to be no more that six months prior to the car build date. So, I could theoretically get a correct engine.
I was heart broken. I would be using all my spare money for this and then to not be able to have a "correct" car was more than I could take. I wasn't interested in the whale Charger.
The Challenger with the 440 Six Pack hood was another sleeper. It had an engine that couldn't pass smog and allow the car to be registered on the street. It had a 1968 426 Hemi with a 4-speed in it. One of the cylinder heads was loose sitting on the engine. Challengers didn't have a Hemi option in 1973, so I couldn't register it. To make matters worse, the Hemi in the Challenger was too new to make the '67 Coronet "correct". Besides the Coronet was coded as an automatic transmission, which was still in it.
Stupid me, I didn't even ask what he take for the Coronet and Challenger as they sat there. I walked out the door on riches and fame. I've long regretted not calling back and asking about the cars. 12 years later, I now see that Hemi cars are now going for nearly $100 grand. I could had both cars for under $20 grand maybe even all three.
Oh well, such is life.
Dave
Huh, boat engine guy? "What kind of engine and what kind of boat" I ask? Turns out this guy's house backed up to a canal off the Sacramento River Delta. The neighborhood was kind of non-descript and you couldn't see the canal banks from the front. He replies. "Here I'll show you while we're waiting for the trailer to show up." Off we go to this covered dock in his backyard. Where sitting in a sling, lifted out of the water, is a cigarette boat with a pair of new GM 572 cubic inch engines that have been hopped up even further by his "engine guy."
I asked where and what he did with it. He casually replies. "Oh, me and my buddies like to run down to San Francisco once in a while." Chit man, I can't believe it, a 100+ mile run at speeds above 60 MPH on the water! After what I'm looking at sinks in, all I can think about is the cost to make a run like that. Like they say, if you have to ask, you can't afford it.
After drooling over this a while his engine guy shows up. We load up the '32 Ford and I ride with him whle my wife drives our truck back home. Turns out he is a hot rodder turned to fast boats. After some chit chat about motors and then cars. He turns to me and asks. "Know anybody that wants a Hemi?" "Maybe me." I replied. I get one of his business cards and write down the pariculars.
Fast forward, three years--yes, I waited three years to call up and ask about the cars! He still had them, more than one in a storage unit in Lodi.
I meet him at the storage yard and he opens the door. Inside is a cabin cruiser boat and three cars. All of 'em Dodges. In the front is a whale of a yellow '70s 440 Charger with Nitrous. On the side was a '73 Challenger with a 440 six pack hood on it. In the back was a 1967 Dodge Coronet with a yuck green paint job. All of 'em are for sale.
The '67 Dodge was a WO23 426 Hemi factory built drag race car. Like this car:
http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?DocID=1014&cat=Muscle%20Cars%3A%20Power%20to%20the%20People&ExhibitID=361
He had been a street racer and the factory white color was a dead give away as to the car type. He couldn't find enough people willing to take him on with the white paint job, so he painted it green. This car had under 1,500 miles on it, the serial number checked out as a the genuine article.
Now for the sad part. There was no motor in the car! All the accessories were in the trunk, including the cylinder heads. He lost the block! He blew the motor at a drag strip and had taken the block to a machine shop for repairing and then forgot about it. When he remembered several years later the shop had sold the block for the repair cost.
1960s Hemi motors did not have a serial number that matched the car. A "numbers matching" Hemi was matched only by the date code on the engine, which had to be no more that six months prior to the car build date. So, I could theoretically get a correct engine.
I was heart broken. I would be using all my spare money for this and then to not be able to have a "correct" car was more than I could take. I wasn't interested in the whale Charger.
The Challenger with the 440 Six Pack hood was another sleeper. It had an engine that couldn't pass smog and allow the car to be registered on the street. It had a 1968 426 Hemi with a 4-speed in it. One of the cylinder heads was loose sitting on the engine. Challengers didn't have a Hemi option in 1973, so I couldn't register it. To make matters worse, the Hemi in the Challenger was too new to make the '67 Coronet "correct". Besides the Coronet was coded as an automatic transmission, which was still in it.
Stupid me, I didn't even ask what he take for the Coronet and Challenger as they sat there. I walked out the door on riches and fame. I've long regretted not calling back and asking about the cars. 12 years later, I now see that Hemi cars are now going for nearly $100 grand. I could had both cars for under $20 grand maybe even all three.
Oh well, such is life.
Dave
