1964 426-S 'Street-Wedge'

[Paul Ceasrine]

1964, Chrysler introduced the street-minded 426-S 'Street-Wedge'.
Also known as, the Commando 426.

Rated at 365 Horsepower, the 64' Plymouth Belvedere, Fury and Dodge
Model 330/440 and Polaris cars were supposed to rule the 'street musclecar scene'.

Easier to tune than the 426 Max-Wedge, the 426-S was a more desirable every-day driver.

With both the Plymouth Belvedere & Fury, and Dodge Model 330/440 and Polaris cars weighing in at approximately #3350 lbs., the 426/365 HP car fit into the A/Stock class in 1964
(8.70 - 9.49 wt/hp).

Motor Trend Magazine 1964 Performance Results;
64' Belvedere w/727-automatic and 3.91 gears,,,,15.20 @ 95.5 MPH

anybody have one...

[BlueOval Ralph]

Paul
There a few of them in the Detroit Area. Quite a turd on the Street Race scene. No match for the new GTO's and Ford's. Stanford Bros in Lincoln Park sold a bunch along with West Born in Dearborn for those who don't know it It is the same family that owns Varsity Ford in Ann Arbor and Les Stanford Chevy in Dearborn.

[JRyan]

I didn't have one, but my assistant coach at the Jr. High where we taught did. With Caslers and the exhaust manifolds off of a Max-Wedge, it went a 13.44 at 101 flat at Minnesota Dragway. Back then we could run the slicks on the street here, so it was considered a pretty quick street car, but even though it was lighter, it still wouldn't keep up with my hopped-up '50 Olds.

Jerry

[Paul Ceasrine]

The 365 Horsepower rating was a 'tad' overblown,,,,,,,
Currently the NHRA rates them at 300 HP. More in line...

Evidently, the Carter #3611 AFB carburetor was under-sized
(same carburetor used on the 383 engines).
The AFB was rated at 575 CFM,,,,,,to go along with a poor flowing
low-riser cast iron intake manifold.

Even the 9.17 wt/hp for the light 64' Belvedere (#3347 lbs.) put it at the wrong end of the 8.70 - 9.49 wt/hp (1964 A/S) class break.

In 1964, in A/S, they were really no threat to the;
,,,64' GTO 389/348 HP 'Tri-Power' 4-speeds
,,,64' Impala SS 409/380 HP 4-speeds
,,,64' Galaxie 500 427/410 HP 4-speeds

Their 'best bet',,,,,was in A/SA (automatics), with the famous 'push-button' controls.

[Chris Barnes]

The latest issue of Mopar Action has a cool feature on a street wedge Dodge. They had "oiling issues" presumably due to their 4 quart oil pans. The physical casting of the block is comparatively fragile. The intake sucks and the carb is that infernal 525 cfm AFB that we had to dump ungodly amounts of money into to make work on our 383 H/SA car.

John Winslow runs a good looking '65 Coronet 426 Street Wedge in Super Stock out of Division 7. John isn't a rich guy but he lives in a hot bed for Mopar Stock/Super Stock and was still unable to make the combo work for Stock. It has turned to be pretty good for Super Stock after years of work.

If I was going to run one on the street I would paint a healthy later 440 turquoise and hide a reasonable carb under a big black aircleaner...

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

[Paul Wong]

My 65 belvedere T - U/S car was a 426 street wedge. I think it is faster with the 273 2 barrel carb than it was when I pulled the street wedge. They are defactored enough to be competitive.

[Paul Wong]

I have an original 1964 sport fury street wedge and it is no barn burner either.

[Jim B]

I mostly remember these in '65. On the street, the small exhaust valve cylinder heads, relatively mild cam and the little Carter AFB just didn't cut it against the other manufacturers offerings of the day. They were only about 2 to 3 tenths quicker than the 383 hipo's. You had the disadvantage of less than adequate tires that couldn't hook the bigger inches on the bottom end coupled with a poor breathing top end. NHRA refactor to 300hp makes a stocker another story.

[John Lang]

It seems like you gentelmen know what your talking about, so I have a question to test your knowledge ! What carburators brand, and the carb # number, ( I know 2), did the early 64 Ply or DODGE Race Hemi come with from the factory ?......Thanks .......John !

[Rsmith38]

In 1966 my 64 Dodge 330 2 dr (old Police Car) with 4.56 rear and fender well headers ran B/SA at a best of 13.5 and 99 mph (never could get to 100!)
this was my daily driver at the time. Long time ago.
Now my Jeep 4.0 runs R/SA at 12.90 and 100 MPH - Progress!