| Larry writes: I remember well the Plymouths I watched race in the early 1960’s. So in the late 1990’s I decided to look for a 1964 Plymouth 2 door sedan. I found very few sedans over a couple year’s search time and eventually ended up buying: 1) a 340 powered Pro Street 1964 Savoy 2 door post I found on the 1962 to 1965 Mopar Swap Meet and 2) a Pro Street Hemi Belvedere I found on E-bay, bought after only seeing the E-bay photographs. | |
The Pro Street Hemi Belvedere was not as good in person as it looked in the E-bay photos. I contacted my friend Galen Frick to make the needed repairs. When I was driving the Plymouth to Galen’s a roller lifter broke and broke the oil pump shaft. The motor lost all oil pressure.
You get the rest of the picture.
So over the next three years a lot happened.
Dale Henderson in St Francis, Kansas completely took apart the body and interior, repaired all damage and replaced any rust with new panels. He also put in a NOS Hemi shock tower I had located. A Joey Cole reproduction aluminum Hemi hood scoop was added. Then he painted the Belvedere the original 1964 Plymouth white.
When the body work was scheduled, the Hemi motor was pulled and sent to Duane Saum at Saum Engineering in Wichita KS for a total rebuild.
The result: an all new engine except for the block and heads.
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The specs: * 1968 block punched out to 485 cubic inches with a 4.150 stroker crank * Joe Hunt distributor * MSD 6AL * Modified M1 dual plane intake * 1050 Dominator * Bullet cam * Crane hydraulic roller lifters * Manley stainless valves * Front aluminum motor plates * TTI headers and 3 inch Flowmasters. |
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When Dale was finished, the Belvedere was returned to Galen for assembly.
| Meanwhile, Ed Strzelecki in Rochester, MI fabricated a super stock grill assembly by using two mint grills to form the single head light super stock grill. |
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The Belvedere now has:
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I had the 727 Torqueflite transmission reworked by Tim Parks at Neal Chance Racing Transmissions; it features a Griner valve body, a tranny brake and a 3500 A.T.I. converter, controlled by a reverse pattern manual-automatic B& M Pro ratchet shifter.
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Rick Fisher in Augusta, Kansas did the interior, using reproduction door panels from Gary Ball and stitching up the rest. The reconditioned instrument cluster and a NOS steering wheel were also installed. |
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The Hemi Belvedere sounds as mean as the Super Stock Mopars I remember in the early 1960’s! I will drive the Belvedere down the quarter mile at International Raceway soon!
Oh! By the way, now that the Belvedere Hemi is finished I have the 1964 Savoy for sale.
And Mopar Muscle Magazine will feature the Belvedere in an issue of their magazine in the future.
