You can do whatever you want, but this sort of car is a killer.

Positraction was a killer back in my day of many hot rodders. We used to look at the trees they hit on the quicks.

Cars full of teenagers hit trees on fast joyrides and died in my neck of the woods in such cars.

Interior appointments of such cars are right lousy stock. The things back then were out of Plymouth and Dodge nothing more than big engined crates.

I drove the hell out of a Plymouth Belvedere with a 273, and looked over Mr. Petty's 440 Hemi when I was a kid.

I've actually been to Mr. Petty's garage.

I'd never ever give anyone I cared about a car with a positraction drivetrain and a hot engine.

Check with AH for his opinion. He's the car expert around here.

Personally I'd call the car a piece of junk from a bygone era.

...440 Hemi? or 426 Hemi?

...the 440 is/was a wedge-head raised-block (RB) engine, the 426 Hemi basically the same block but with totally different heads.

thought the 426 was a GM, chevy engine, and the 440 a Chrysler. Either way some of these cars were made for a world we don't live in anymore.

To restore to stock perfection either sorts, may be of course a labor of love, but not particularly profitable, since such cars were only fast, didn't even have good radios, and if you wanted a way to get killed along with all your closest friends, driven through the neighborhood they were sure to help accomplish bloody death.

Least ways that's what was done with such cars in my world of NC, when such cars were new.

426 = Chrysler

427 = GM/Chevrolet

428/429 = Ford

Chrysler also had a 440 wedge head. And over the space of a few years, I am pretty sure that Ford had a 426, 427, 428 (based on the Y-block), and a 429.

Yes, the FE series Ford big-block was similar to the older 292 and 312 Y-blocks, in that it had a skirted block, which extended considerably below the plane of the main-caps. This block was considerably stiffer than later engines without the skirting. It also allowed the middle three main bearing caps to be cross-bolted, with two bolts going up into the block and two coming in from the skirt, which made for a fantastically rigid bottom end and had a lot to do with why the 427 cubic inch wedge and SOHC Fords could produce 600 and 700 hp right out of the box back in the early 60s.

Interestingly enough, many makers are now casting main bearing caps as part of a single casting which bolts to both the main bearing saddles and to the block rails. This obviously allows for a more rigid bottom end similar to the old FE series.

It would have been very simple to build a 440 cubic inch Hemi, either by over-boring the cylinders by .071" or increasing the stroke by .127". I imagine it's quite possible that King Richard had just such a machine. Though it is traditional to refer to such engines by their original nomenclature, and he was a traditionalist in that regard.

Oh! Richard Petty, one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history, was often known as "King Richard the Quick".

I'd restore it if I had access to a gas station lift,and lots of money in parts.-I thought those cars bring in big bucks these days.

if you want to sell it, send me an email

mudbilly@yahoo.com

thanks

Well if it were me to really say.... I'd say rebuild it if only you promise to do the following items first off:

1. Have deep pockets to restore it correctly off the frame....full restore please!

2. Keep it a "matching numbers" car.

3. Document the entire rebuild with a Godzillion pics.

4. Rebuild it as a labor of love, not as way to make $$$ eventually at the big auto auction houses like Barrett-Jackson.

5. Don't crash the car once you finish the rehab.

6. Pamper it with TLC, much like the first virgin lady that you encountered at the beginning of your manhood.

7. Only drive it on bright sunny days and never in the rain or snow!

8. Use original Dodge color paint please and nothing gaudy either!

9. Buy a gas station to fuel it...better yet buy an oil company that has refineries!

This brings back nice memories.....wishing I have never sold my '69 Pontiac Trans-Am for college money!!!!!! I want it back!!!!!

High powered cars with quirky handling that are desirable to inexperienced, and poorly trained drivers are killers.

High powered cars with good handling, can be killers.

High powered cars that handle predictably in the hands of trained drivers are more desirable than cars that are high powered and quirky.

Training does matter.

One of the best fast cars I was trained to drive was the Sunbeam Tiger.

Such training in a fast assed car about as small as you could get a V8 into, has served me well.

First time I ever passed another car on a nighttime two lane was in a Tiger.

Got to drive a Tubo Spyder too.

Smooth and fast is what I like.

Of the old stuff, I did like a big old Pontiac.

Aint had or driven anything of high performance in good shape enough to put up with the abuse in years and years now.

We did drive around a lot together in whatever car we could get ahold of when I was a kid.

And I do remember driving around and looking at crash scenes.

If this was a car magazine and I was getting paid to write and photograph, I'd pitch the editor on pictures of trees hit by fast old cars, and stories of the fatalities, and why.

Top speed of the Plymouth Belvedere with a 273 was 110 mph.

Most of the hot fun time I drove it around at 95.

So perfectly balanced it was, rough, I survived and never killed anyone.

If I had the time I'd work at getting Richard Petty to answer the question.

He is the only guy I've met whose opinion I would really go with, as far as these sorts of cars are concerned.

My first car was a 1965 Mustang GT with the 271 hp 289 cubic inch engine, 4speed manual transmission and a locking differential. Yes, it handled a little differently in the corners than later cars, and it was capable of doing more than 135mph, but it was one of the cars that saved my life. That "quirky" turning behavior was capable of far higher cornering performance than any lesser machine.

Furthermore, my 1967 Mercury Cougar, in a brilliant canary yellow, powered by an extensively modified 289, was capable of doing 145mph plus with similar "quirky" handling, and is another car that saved my life by virtue of it's incredible performance. Residents of the island of Oahu in the mid-eighties may remember that car.

I suppose I should also mention that I had equipped both of these cars with brakes that could have stopped a Titan missile, and lap and shoulder belts. I was young, but I wasn't stupid.

To call such cars killers is like blaming a baseball bat because someone uses it to bludgeon someone to death. This is the sort of reasoning used by those who seek to disarm the American public.

It is true that adolescent males tended to get themselves killed driving such cars with disturbing frequency. However, if you examine history, young men have always found ways to get themselves killed. This is why there are born slightly more boys than girls, but by the time we reach middle age, there are more women than men.

It may be quite reasonably argued that doing stupid and dangerous things is a large part of how we develop the boldness and courage needed to become men. And I have known far too many "males" that I would not call "men". Timidity such as you express is more appropriate for small rodents.

Rule is: If you can't be clever, be crude.

Perhaps your indignation exceeded your eloquence?

I found Transcendian's expression of indignation quite eloquent.

What's your beef with small rodents?

Packrat

Actually, I have a certain respect for rats. And I've met some pretty darn big ones.

As for Transcendian's expression of indignation, it's a simple matter of how I was raised. You see, my mother was a school teacher, who taught me to respect my native tongue. The English language is a very rich language, far too capable of expression to be economized in this fashion. Furthermore, I was under the impression that we stove for a certain degree of civility in this forum. Please understand also that the insult direct is, at it's best, a fine art, and I found his response to be somewhat artistically... lacking.

Now don't get me wrong, I have heard and used worse. The truth is that I enjoy a good diatribe. And, I have a rather thick skin, though there are a very few things that will cause me to invite a man to meet me at sunrise. Though this was hardly one of them.

Dr. Moose ,

Even though I have never been at the pointy end of anything, nor have I ever shot the ears off a mule at 800 yards while holding my dear manhood and whizzing bullets, I still stand by my original assertion that Trans' reply was eloquent and succinct . As opposed to verbose . Also,it contained no miss-spellings.

Packrat

I have occasionally been called verbose. I contend that there are times when a hundred words simply will not express an idea where a thousand will. And I actually do enjoy writing, almost as much as I enjoy good conversation.

I admit I am faintly insulted by your characterization of my military service. Well done.

As for any miss-spellings, they do sometimes get past me.