January 2004 Mopar of the Month
1965 Plymouth Belvedere I
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Hot Rod Bill writes: My Belvedere is the reincarnation of a car that I owned in 1965.
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You see, I watched the Plymouth and Dodge super stockers race in the mid 1960s and always wanted one.
I was young, just out of the military, and raising two kids back then, so couldn't afford a race car.
Obviously, they wouldn't have sold me one anyway, since I wasn't a big name racer.
So I bought a Plymouth Belvedere with a 383 V-8 and automatic transmission in 1965.
That was as close as I could afford to a super stocker!
Fast forward to now:
I found a solid, mostly rust-free, 318 powered Plymouth Belvedere I in Las Vegas.
The Belvedere I was originally white, but had been painted red.
I thought seriously about going back to the original color, especially since the Plymouth that I owned in 1965 was white.
But I always thought that the dark blue was the best color that Plymouth had in 1965, so I went with that choice.
The result was a match as close as the Finish Line body shop (in Monrovia, CA) could get, based on original color chips.
The Belvedere I has a lightweight (fiberglass) front end (hood, front fenders and bumper),
and all of the glass except the windshield is plexiglass.
The Plymouth was built by Bob Mosher, who did a fantastic job on everything.
The engine in this car is based on a new Chrysler
Hemi block and crank (547 cubic inches),
with Stage-V aluminum heads, a Crower roller
cam, roller rockers, & two original 1965 race Hemi
carburetors (flowing over 800 cfm each). |
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The Plymouth features Doug's headers,
a jet-coated exhaust system,
Dynamic 4,800 stall converter,
Dana 60 with 3.73 gears
and a Detroit Locker. |
The Hemi was just started for the first time in early December 2003 and sounds great!
In short, this Plymouth is the culmination of a life-long dream,
and is very likely the fastest car to ever come out of Mosher's shop.
