1963 Plymouth

June 2005 Mopar of the Month

Nick writes:  When I was in High School in Los Angeles during the early 1980s I was working every day after school at the local gas station saving my money for a V8 equipped car, preferably a big block. A small block would only be considered if it was bolted to a 4 speed gear box. After test driving a Roadrunner and a GTX that were both out of my price range, I saw an advertisement in the Sunday classifieds that would change my life: “1963 Plymouth 440. $1800 OBO.” Checking the car out, the Plymouth's body was straight but needed paint. At that time the Plymouth was a faded red Sport Fury with black spots from the factory paint underneath and a primered hood.

The owner was a weekend drag racer named Ron Neidorf who had bought the car 5 years earlier from another local weekend warrior named Pete(r) Bercuda. Years later Pete told me that the car was an original Max Wedge car which confirmed the numbers I had previously decoded on the 'tin tag' under the hood. After 9 years of driving the car, winning a trophy bracket racing, and another 11 years of storage, it was time to shop for the parts needed to begin the restoration process.

After stripping the car an interesting discovery was made. Beneath the rear finish panels were the factory black paint and big bold red letters that read
“CAN YOU DIG IT”. Bob Mosher of Mosher’s Musclecars Motors said in his 20+ years of restoring cars he had never seen anything as bold as this.

Set of Sport Fury hubcaps that were picked up since these pictures were taken.

Three years later (2005) the car was ready for the Spring Fling show (biggest Mopar show west of the Mississippi) where she won First Place for '62-'65 B-Body Stock. My family was disappointed that I did not win 'Best-of-Show' but how do you compete with Richard Petty's Hemi Roadrunner? The following month was the Mopars in May show in Riverside, CA where she won “Best-of-Show”.

Thanks Nick!

Bob Mosher added that Mosher’s stripped the Plymouth and Cleyon Loonsfoot and C & S Restoration did the full restoration.

All the hard work shows.

A Max Wedge 1963 Sport Fury is a great ride. We can certainly dig it!  

Gary H.