This is a picture of the Bobby Allison 1969 Dodge Charger 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. This car was owned and built by Rossi Automotive Engineering. You can see Bobby putting the bumble bee stripe himself on the back of the car–imagine a current NASCAR driver putting his own decals on the car!
Want to see what a Championship NASCAR garage looked like in 1967? Well here you go. This is from early 1967 just after the COG had won the 1966 Grand National Championship. Owens was one of the main factory sponsored Chrysler teams at the time and he had a lot of cars to work with compared to other teams in 1967. You can see two 1966 Dodge Charger’s here and you can see what a NASCAR cage looked like in 1967. The cage was still pretty primitive at this point in Grand National history. Full door bars were not mandatory until 1968.
We at Rocket Restorations keep our own Mopar registry. Galen isn’t the only one who keeps track of these cars. When you start to look at the numbers of these cars, whether it is the VIN number or the fender tag codes or other interesting things, you can find out a lot of information about them you wouldn’t normally see. Patterns start to emerge and you can learn a lot. This week we are going to break down a 1965 Dodge Coronet that just came through our shop. Continue reading after the jump!
This photo of the #3 Dodge Charger driven by Buddy Baker and built by Ray Fox was taken at the 1969 Bristol Race. It is interesting because it shows the stock version of the car alongside the race version. The white Charger 500 is still around today and was probably given to Baker by Chrysler.
Just attended the Fall Fling Mopar Show in Van Nuys, California this weekend, so here are some shots from the show. This event is one of the best kept secrets in the nation, so many good parts show up at this swap meet. More pics after the jump!
We at Rocket Restorations are heading down to the Fall Fling Mopar show in Van Nuys, California this weekend and hit some wrecking yards heading south.
In Northern California we found this real 340 Auto FY1 Yellow 1971 Plymouth Duster just sitting in a wrecking yard. We tried to buy the car but they said the paperwork had already been turned into the DMV and they would not sell the car whole. So many good parts on this one, it is still complete with the 340 motor and small block 727 transmission. They are selling parts off of it, but the car will have to be crushed, so sad. See more pictures after the jump.
This photo of the #6 Cotton Owens Dodge Charger at speed was taken at the 1967 Daytona Firecracker 400. The #21 Ford in front is the Wood Brothers car driven by Cale Yarborough who went on to win the race.
Did you know that this was the car used in the Elvis movie Speedway? It is a terrible movie but very 60s. They did all the racing shots on the East Coast and all the close ups were in Hollywood using West Coast racer Jack McCoy’s Charger painted up like the Owens car.
In addition to the excellent restorations we do here at Rocket Restorations, we also keep our own Mopar registry. When you start to look at the numbers of these cars, by which we mean the VIN number or the fender tag codes or other interesting things, you can find out a lot of information about them you wouldn’t normally see. Patterns start to emerge and you can learn a lot. Need help decoding your Mopar? Send us an e-mail
Did you realize Chrysler still has all the build records for all pre-1967 cars? All you have to do it fill out this form and send it in to Chrysler, just that easy. They will tell you all the options it came with as well as the original selling dealer. Get all the details and forms you need after the jump!
This shot of James Hylton’s 1965 Dodge Coronet is from the 1967 Daytona Firecracker 400. James was an independent back in the day and was amazingly successful considering his resources. He finished second in points that year, losing only to Richard Petty who won 27 races that year. James didn’t win a single race and still finished second in the points standings. James Hylton is now 79 years old and is still racing!
Also, isn’t it amazing how stock these cars were? Compare it to what you see now.
We have another great vintage Richard Petty photo this week. The picture is from the 1967 Bristol race, most likely the spring one. The car is up on jack stands and even in the B&W picture you can tell it has chrome rims. The car is also pretty naked of stickers so you can tell this is from practice a day or two before the actual race.
