2

Wellborn Museum Awarded for Barn Find HEMI Roadrunner

1970 Plymouth Roadrunner HEMI – Barn Fresh

Muscle Car Review Editor (MCR), Drew Hardin awarded Tim Wellborn the Editor's Choice award at Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) 2012 for his barn-found '70Hemi Roadrunner.  Keep an eye out for a full MCR feature coming soon!

About This Car

This 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner HEMI was sold new and lived its entire life in the same locality until joining the collection of the Wellborn Musclecar Museum. Bought in Wichita Falls, Texas it had the same owner since 1973 until being pulled from the open lean-to style barn in July of 2012. Cars like these, though not cosmetically perfect, do lend testimony to how they were enjoyed by the people who were the first to owned, them as well as to the era they hail from. This example as never before been recorded by any registry or 3^rd party inspector before being unearthed by Wellborn. It is also believed to be the only '70 Hemi Roadrunner optioned in Limelight, White Vinyl top, and White Interior. I suppose if you can't have air conditioning, the white top and white interior kept the Texas sun from cooking the cabin and burning your thighs.



Showing 46,273 clicks on the odometer, we know a fair number of those miles were spent shuttling to and form the drag strip, then hurtling itself down the 1320. An original 4speed car, it is currently fitted with a 727 Torque-Flight and ratchet style shifter. The original A-833 4speed manual transmission was in the trunk, stored in an old beer box. Other curious details abound, like the GM radio for instance. “Thrush” and “Hays” stickers protect the rear side panel paint on each side. The tell tale spatter pattern etched into the paint around the battery box, makes us grateful for gel-cell batteries today. Found in the glove box was the original owner's fishing license from 1969. Not only do we know his name was N.L. Hamilton, but he was 29, 5 foot 10 inches, weighed 185 pounds, had blue eyes and brown hair. I guess it is true, you can tell a lot about a man by the car he drives.

About 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner HEMI

Chrysler had proven to the world that the HEMI was the king of the drag strip, but stodgy designs left them struggling to translate that to sales success on the street. In 1968 Plymouth was looking to capture more market share with a completely redesigned mid sized car, wrapped in a youth oriented package to rival Pontiac's “Judge”. $50,000 paid to Warner Brothers and the Plymouth Roadrunner was born, complete with the “Voice of the Roadrunner” Meep! Meep! horn sound.

1970 was an interesting year because the entirely new 1971 mid-sized body styles were already in their final phases by the time the '70 model year refresh was due. The problem was that the 1969 model front grill was drastically different than the upcoming '71. The solution? Style the 1970 front end to more closely resemble that of the all new car coming down the pipeline. The result? The 1970 Roadunner styling is the most popular amongst all 1970 Mopar B-Bodies. 1971 Plymouth? Ironically, the among the least.



Vehicle Specifications
Production: 1970
Class: Muscle Car
Body Style: 2-door Coupe
Curb Weight: 3,475
Wheelbase: 116 inches
Length: 204 inches
Transmission: 4-speed Manual
Engine: 426 Cubic Inches
Power: 425 Horsepower
Top Speed: 140 miles per hour
Exterior Color: Limelight Green, White Vinyl Top
Interior Color: White

0

1969 Dodge HEMI Daytona flies into 2012 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN)

The Wellborn Musclecar Museum is sponsoring the 2012 Aero Warriors display as this year's Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, November 17th and 18th, 2012 in Rosemont, IL.  The Museum will host the "Aero Lounge" at the center of the display.  This will be an oasis of leather couches and padded carpeting in the sea of over 550 cars on display for the two day event.  The Aero Lounge will be flanked on either side by significant winged cars from the prime of the Aerocar Era of NASCAR.   Most significant will be the only 1969 Hemi 4spd Daytona left known to exist still equipped with its original motor.

The 1969 Daytona was a Chrysler Engineering marvel designed to better compete in NASCAR against Ford who held the top speed record of 189 mph.  Dodge already having the dominant HEMI, decided that the aero group had the best change of taking the top speed and overall win crown in NASCAR.  They proposed a rear "Y" airfoil to keep the car planted, the front nose cone balanced out the aero package, resulting in one the most stable race cars ever produced.  The goal was a 5mph increase over the top lap speeds recorded at Daytona Motor Speedway.  The result was the first NASCAR race car to eclipse the 200 mph barrier.

To homologate the Dodge Daytona for 1969 race season, they had to be build quickly, each '69 Dodge Charger hand converted by Creative Industries.  Excitement over the car by the public was palpable.  Dodge dealers had committed sales orders for over 1500 copies of the Dodge Charger Daytona.   Of the 503 made, only 70 were HEMI Daytonas and of those only 20 were 4 speed, manual shift cars.

Currently, only 11 four-speed HEMI Daytonas are known to exist.   The Wellborn Musclecar Museum is home to XX29J93412548, the ONLY ONE that retains it's original, numbers matching drivetrain.  Documented by two broadcast sheets, this is a 6,000 original mile car and still retains all of her original interior and aside from the hood, she also has all of her original body panels.  She spent most of her early life as an IHRA show car, note the "before" photo of the show car paint scheme before the car was restored back to stock original.

Just prior to restoration, the car was procured by Otis Chandler's Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife.   Mr. Chandler had the car restored by the legendary Roger Gibson to stock specifications.   The car has also been featured in many hardbound books including "American Muscle, Muscle Cars from the Otis Chandler Collection" by Randy Leffingwell.   The vehicle is currently part of the Wellborn Musclecar Museum, owned by Tim and Pam Wellborn and featured in the hardcover book "The Art of the Musclecar" by David Newhardt.  Tim will be available during the MCACN show to autograph copies of this book which includes a total of 22 cars in the museum collection.

Considering the performance driven design, hand built limited run, and the revolutionary impact Daytona had on racing, it is certainly an iconic car.  Given that only 20 HEMI 4 speeds were ever made and this is the only one that remains with its original engine, it is most certainly rare.  And of course, also retaining her original interior and body panels, makes her a highly original example.  These are the reasons that this car has been the centerpiece for other significant collections like Otis Chandler's and Tim and Pam Wellborn.  So, make plans to join the Wellborn Musclecar Museum at the 2012 MCACN show, the relax amongst this and many other iconic Aero Warriors.

0

DATE CHANGE: Inaugural Wellborn Muscle Cars at the Museum Event moves to Spring 2013!

The Inaugural Wellborn Muscle Cars at the Museum Event has been moved to May 9-11th 2013.  Making this a Spring event will allow us to draw on a higher caliber of cars, better availability of celebrity guests, and better weather for the outdoor elements of the show.   The event was originally scheduled for October 11-13th of 2012.  Can't wait to see you in May 2013!

0

Wellborn Unrestored Boss 429 visits Town & Country Ford for Mustang's Birthday

Mustang turned 48 April 17, 2012.  The Wellborn Musclecar Museum's benchmark quality unrestored 1970 Boss 429 is headed to its birthday party; the Big Show '12 Mustang and All Ford Show held at Town and Country Ford in Bessemer, Alabama. KK2097 is the lowest mile unrestored 1970 Boss 429 known to exist, showing only 4,770 actual miles.   For those who aren't familiar with the car, it was out Featured Car of the Month in July of 2010.  Join in the fun Saturday, April 21st, 2012 and catch a FREE glimspe of the history on display everyday at the Wellborn Musclecar Museum.

1

One of the Many "star cars" Expected at the '71 Charger Anniversary Event

This 1971 white Dodge Charger 440 4-barrel is heavily laden with options--sunroof (only 33 Charger R/Ts were equipped with sunroofs that year and only three of those were white), 727, power windows, buckets, console, hideaway headlights and, get this--headlight washers. The car was ordered with 14-inch steelies, Goodyear Polyglas G70-14s and no wheel covers (as per the build sheet). Oddly enough, first owner did not opt for air conditioning. To the second owner, Steve, who bought at age 17 in 1971, this Charger was just a car and it became a daily driver. He kept the car stock with the exception of adding an aftermarket A/C system, Keystone mags (but he saved the original rims) and a Bonsonic 8-Track player Oh yeah, he did add louder mufflers but they came off after a couple of year when he finally had enough of those. Steve registered the car in his dad’s name until he was 25 for a break on insurance. After driving it daily until 1978 and logging more than 105,000 miles, Steve parked the car.

Despite several offers to purchase the car, Steve happily kept it in storage. In 2010, Steve wanted to put the car back on the road. A friend of Steve’s told him about a Mopar restoration shop--Creations by Gemza—located about 3 miles from his house. They had heard about this Charger and were anxious to see it. Steve drove the car over and talked about a possible restoration.

Upon inspection, the Gemzas realized that the Charger was a piece of Mopar history and essentially an unmolested survivor. Steve learned that this was one of two identical '71 Chargers purchased by the owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Richard Howard, to promote national NASCAR cup races. Howard bought the cars in February ‘71, lettered them and he and some of his employees drove them thither and yon as rolling billboards to promote the races. The World 600 ran on May 30th (the National 500 ran on October 10th) with Bobby Allison taking the checkered, followed by Donnie Allison, Pete Hamilton, Richard Petty, Fred Lorenzen and Buddy Baker in that order.

The Gemzas bolted back on the original rims and wanted to re-letter the car back to its pace car trim, but there was no reference material to go by. Tim Wellborn, noted collector of 1971 Hemi and 6-pack Chargers, among other cars, plus a ton of memorabilia, saved the day. He had an original program for the 1971 World 600 race, plus a sales brochure with several color photo of the pace car lettered, and he sent copies to the Gemza shop.

Steve will be showing this amazing Charger at Mopar events including the Charger reunion at Tim Wellborne’s Musclecar Museum in Alexander City, AL this October. The car should be quite a hit!

3

Jim Rockford's Firebird pulls a "J" turn into the Wellborn Museum

Strictly speaking, most muscle car hard-liners don't believe the Big Three produced cars after the 1972 model year.  And for the most part they are right.   One brand in particular held the candle out longer than most any other- Pontiac.  Their most desired Pony Car didn't even debut until 1973 when the 455 Super Duty hit the scene.  In TVland, Dodge was resting on the laurels of their 1969 Charger ten years later, with the premier of the Dukes of Hazzard in 1979.  Pontiac kept Jim Rockford in a fresh set of wheels.  As a Private Investigator, James Garner's character couldn't pull off the Hemi Orange and welded doors look.  I am guessing the giant "01" on the doors and Stars and Bars emblazoned on the roof would be easy to make when he was attempting to tail a bad guy. Jim Rockford drove a street sleeper, this very 1978 Firebird Esprit for the majority of the series AND in the made for TV movies 1994-1999.  Un-adorned by a screaming chicken on the hood and white walls, the bad guys would never suspect the performance driving Rockford was capable of.

Tim Wellborn wanted this car for the museum for its contribution to muscle car culture.  "The Rockford" or the J-turn has left a mark on popular culture as much as the General Lee jumping over a dirt pile while Bo and Luke screamed YEE-HAW!   When trying to evade someone tailing him or when otherwise cornered, Rockford would shift into reverse, speed up backwards in a straight line and sharply turn his wheels.  This maneuver would spin his car around 180 degrees and he would then quickly shift back into forward gear, speeding off to escape while maintaining a straight course the whole time.  The most recent episode of Top Gear USA, "Hollywood" as Tanner Faust and the boys as they put their TV star stand-ins to the test to see who can do "The Rockford" the best.  Check the embedded video as the man himself evades a C5 Corvette in the 1994 television movie.  And yes, Mr. Garner does all his own stunt driving.

Top Gear 2: Hollywood Cars. [Internet]. 2011. The History Channel website. Available from: http://www.history.com/videos/top-gear-2-hollywood-cars [Accessed 21 Sep 2011].

0

Wellborn Proudly Welcomes Unrestored, 10k mile, FM3 Dart to Collection