Original hemi dart information

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Charlie A

Here's another shot of "The Good Guys" L023...and a few other '68 Hemi Darts.

[Hemi Moose]

Here's some pics of some B029 '68 Hemi Barracuda's...

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Jared Jordan

Got ahold of my grandfather's scrapbooks today. They've been squirreled away inside a closet at his house for 30+ years. This clipping is from National Dragster and there's a copy of it in one of the scrapbooks I've got here. I'll post more pictures of the Dart when I get a chance to scan them. I've got a bunch.

Is there an "original hemi barracuda information" thread somewhere? Compared to the Dart I've got WAY more pictures of the two Barracudas he owned. I feel like I stumbled on buried treasure. Pictures of all 5 of the original Hemi cars he owned over the years (2 Belvederes, 2 Barracudas, 1 Dart).

Jared, no there isn't any others but any old pics of '68 Hemi Dart or Barracuda's that you might have should work in here...unless you want to start another thread for some of the current stuff.

[Charlie A]

1600+ posts and we have not yet defined Liteweight's Dart.

Wish I had something more than pictures to add to this topic.

Great history lesson and memory lane but still.......

[Hemi Moose]

Charlie,
Here ya go...if you can figure out who's '68 Hemi Dart this was you will win the free dinner that Liteweight's offered to anyone that can identify this car...maybe you can spot something that everyone else here has missed.

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by Charlie A

1600+ posts and we have not yet defined Liteweight's Dart.

Wish I had something more than pictures to add to this topic.

Great history lesson and memory lane but still.......

Maybe a quick refresher is needed again

-Earliest known owner circa 1982 was Lou Vignonia
-Sold to Tim Hennessey circa 1985
-1985 to present, ownership & history is known

-Lou told me he purchased the car from some dude in Mt. Cisco NY. It was sitting in an apartment complex parking lot.
-Car is reported to have been Red & Silver at the time Lou purchased it, so probably campaigned in the late 70's in this color combo. There was a NHRA Division 1 bracket nationals decal on one of the quarter glasses, so it's last races were there somewhere.



-It has always been a auto car, never had a stick in it.
-It has been mini tubbed, with the leaf springs installed inside the frame rails,





The above photos were taken by Tim Hennessey in 1985. Lou had the car stripped & painted in this white paint by Paul Pitman. It was never raced in this color.

liteweight

[Jared Jordan]

Two for the collection -- more to follow when I scan the pile I've got.

The car that says "Hemi" on the door was bought from Jim Clark and, we believe, was the first SS/AA in the 9's on 3/24/74 @ Sacramento Raceway. Ran 9.99 @ 134 and 9.96 @ 135 that day. Clark had called his cars the "Hemi Express." When Grandpa got it, rather than repaint the car, he had a mural painted over the "Express" portion. This is the only car of my grandpa's of which the whereabouts are unknown to us. I seriously doubt this car survived. According to my grandfather it was acid-dipped so much you could almost literally put your foot through the floorboard...

The other car we affectionately refer to as the "Circus Car" because of the paint. Grandpa bought it from Jim DeFrank in the late 70's. Originally, he kept the DeFrank & Cohen paint scheme and changed it to his name in lieu of D&C. Car was parked around 1981 and sat for a year or two. When it came back, it looked like this. It was subsequently sold to Dave Wren, then to Mike Booker. It ended in in Minnesota (spoke with the owners at Indy in '05) and now has resurfaced in Washington State. This is the car that was all white on eBay a while back.

[Hemi Moose]

Great shots & story on some old factory B029 '68 Hemi Cuda's...

[a990hemi]

Liteweight,

I spent some time thumbing through my library of 80s and 90s Mopar and Musclecar magzines last weekend. I came across a couple of feature articles of your red Dart when Tim Hennesy still owned it and then came to reallize that your car was featured on the 1991 Mopar Nationals show trophies. My F8 green '69 Cuda 340 was awarded 1st place in A Body - Modified that year in Columbus and your red Dart with plain steel wheels has been on my trophy all of this time.

[Liteweight]

thanx A990hemi
I still have those same black steel wheels that the car was shown with back in the 80's & early 90's. Hey, throw a picture up here if you wouldn't mind sometime. I've heard of those trophies, but never saw one.

One of the frustrating things bout trying to find out my cars history, is that SO MANY people know of, heard about, or have seen my car either in print, online or in person, but yet I can't get it's history previous to about 1982.
It's probably one of the first original Hurst cars to be restored (1985)
This thing probably has the most print and is known by more people than probably any other Hurst car built, but yet it's still what I call the "unknown soldier".
--------- Hopefully, one day---------
All it's going to take is one person who has the right info to be able to connect some dots. This thread has about 240,000 views, & I truly believe one of them knows my cars origin.


liteweight