Original hemi dart information

[Paul Ceasrine]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Ron,

The LO23 list starting from the northeast and following.
'13' of the LO23 Hemi Darts went through Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago.

1) Bill Flynn,,,,,,,,'Chorches Motors', Manchester, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
SS/B (4-Speed)

2) Bob Ramstrom
Worcester, Massachusetts
SS/B (4-Speed)

3) Gene O'Neill
Worcester, Massachusetts
SS/B (4-Speed)

4) Chick Brignolo
Norton, Massachusetts
SS/BA (Automatic)

5) Joseph Petrelle
Springfield, Massachusetts
SS/BA (Automatic)

6) Chuck McJury
Schenectady, New York
SS/B (4-Speed)

7) Charlie Lendrum
Westerlo, New York
SS/BA (Automatic)

8) Dick Oldfield
Kenmore, New York
SS/BA (Automatic)

9) Charlie Castaldo
Scarsdale, New York
SS/B (4-Speed)

10) S & K Speed Shop
West Babylon, L.I., New York
SS/B (4-Speed)

11) Joe Jill
Happauge, L.I., New York
SS/BA (Automatic)

12) Manhattan Speed Shop
New York City, New York
SS/B (4-Speed)

13) Charles Singer Dodge
Kearney, New Jersey
SS/B (4-Speed)

14) Bob Banning Dodge
Hyattsville, Maryland
SS/B (4-Speed)

15) John DeRosa
Hyattsville, Maryland
SS/BA (Automatic)

16) Richard Shipley
Baltimore, Maryland
SS/B (4-Speed)

17) Pete and Jack Toms,,,'That Dart,,,'Capitol Motors Dodge'
Fort Dietrich, Maryland
SS/BA (Automatic)

18) Bob Hodge,,,,,'Beach Brothers Dodge'
Salem, Virginia
SS/B (4-Speed)

19) Melvin Yow
Lillington, North Carolina
SS/BA (Automatic)

20) Max Hurley
West Jefferson, North Carolina
SS/B (4-Speed)

21) Clyde Curtis
Hudson, North Carolina
SS/BA (Automatic)

22) Reid Whisnant
Stockbridge, Georgia
SS/B (4-Speed)

23) Wyman Barnett
Thomaston, Georgia
SS/BA (Automatic)

24) Bill Tanner
Norcross, Georgia
SS/BA (Automatic)

25) Bill Tanner (2nd car)
Norcross, Georgia
SS/B (4-Speed)

26) Biscayne Dodge
Miami, Florida
SS/BA (Automatic)

27) Alan Carroli
Daytona Beach, Florida
SS/B (4-Speed)

28) Mary Ann Foss
Bellville, Ohio
SS/BA (Automatic)

29) Jerome Williams
Cleveland, Ohio
SS/B (4-Speed)

30) Denny Kilbane
Strongsville, Ohio
SS/BA (Automatic)

31) Miami Valley Dodge
Dayton, Ohio
SS/BA (Automatic)

32) Ken Holwick
Salem, Ohio
SS/BA (Automatic)

33) Ed Knesevitch
Columbus, Ohio
SS/B (4-Speed)

34) Northland Dodge
Columbu, Ohio
SS/B (4-Speed)

35) Herb Mcandless
Memphis, Tennessee
SS/B (4-Speed)

36) Bill Welker
Clarksville, Tennessee
SS/BA (Automatic)

37) Thurman Callaham,,,,'Rumble Bee'
Knoxville, Tennessee,,,,,,Cogdill Motor Co.
SS/B (4-Speed)

38) Kenny Salter
Mobile, Alabama
SS/BA (Automatic)

39) Cecil South
Birmingham, Alabama
SS/BA (Automatic)

40) Joe Ralph Thompson
Rison, Arkansas
SS/B (4-Speed)

41) Larry Cooper,,,,'DeLoach Dodge'
West Monroe, Louisiana
SS/BA (Automatic)

42) Tom Crutchfield
Kokomo, Indiana
SS/BA (Automatic)

43) Larry Griffith
Livonia, Michigan
SS/B (4-Speed)

44) Richard Smith
Farmington, Michigan
SS/BA (Automatic)

45) Robert Alton & Tim Wing,,, 'Wild Fire'
Farmington, Michigan,,,,,,,'Town & Country Dodge'
SS/BA (Automatic)

46) John Rivers,,,,,,Van Dyke Dodge
Warren, Michigan
SS/BA (Automatic)

47) Jack Thomas
Hinsdale, Illinois
SS/B (4-Speed)

48) Ed Halsey,,,'Watson's Auto Sales'
Bethalto, Illinois
SS/BA (Automatic)

49) Lloyd McVey
East Peoria, Illinois
SS/BA (Automatic)

50) White Bear Dodge
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
SS/B (4-speed)

51) Jim Miller
St. Louis, Missouri
SS/BA (Automatic)

52) Preston Honea 'Ray Rixman Dodge'
St. Louis, Missouri
SS/BA (Automatic)

53) Harold Tomlinson
Garland, Texas
SS/B (4-Speed)

54) Gene Snow,,,,,,,(LO23M8B297857),,,,#02 car
Fort Worth, Texas
SS/BA (Automatic)

55) Dallas Hemi
Dallas, Texas
SS/B (4-Speed)

56) McKeon Dodge
El Paso, Texas
SS/BA (Automatic)

57) Vera's Automotive,,,'Creveling Dodge'
Corpus Cristi, Texas
SS/B (4-Speed)

58) Jon Hooper
Tulsa, Oklahoma
SS/B (4-Speed)

59) Dick Landy
Sherman Oaks, California
SS/BA (Automatic)

60) Dick Landy (2nd car)
Sherman Oaks, California
SS/B (4-Speed)

61) Bill Bagshaw
Hollywood, California
SS/B (4-Speed)

62) Shirley Shahan
Tulare, California
SS/BA (Automatic)

63) Butch Leal,,,,'Delano Dodge'
Delano, California
SS/B (4-Speed)

64) Harry Holton / Mickey Weise,,,,,#LO23M8B32385
Patterson, California (Glendora Dodge)
SS/BA (Automatic)

65) Ruel Nichol
Arcadia, California
SS/BA (automatic)

66) Jim Clark
Covina, California
SS/B (4-speed)

67) Gil Clark,,,,,,,(LO23M8B297862),,,,
Toronto, Canada
SS/BA (automatic)

68) Chinook Dart
Calgary, Canada
SS/BA (Automatic)

69) Cam Noseworthy,,,,'Demented Dart'
Edmonton, Canada
SS/BA (Automatic)

* 14 more to be listed

Current update

[jimi]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Current update

here is a pic i found of the lendrum car dont know if it has been posted before.

daryl and i agree that his car is not the the castaldo car ,i do rember daryl's car being in our shop as well. i did have a dart in our barn that said charlie castaldo on the side and had no trans tunnel with beat to death quarter panels, i wonder what car that was? i know my dad had quite a few hemi cars over the years although dad and uncle george only ever raced the 64 and 65 belvedere's, what dart did he have?

[Liteweight]

I feel guilty bout abandoning my thread here for about 4 months so I fiqure I'Ill make up for it some by sharing a little info on a lil LO car I used to own before my current car.
In 96 I was looking for an original LO Dart & came across a 2 line ad in National Dragster advertising . As it turns out, the owner was Steve O'Neil from MA area. Went down to check it out, & verified it was an original LO.It looked like a beat up ol race car & it was just plain ugly, but it had the potential to be a good car. So I had it shipped up to Canada & started on it. I started sanding the car down to find a base color of silver with an orange inlay on the sides, and blue stripes across the top. Needless to say, what I had stumbled into. So I contacted Mr. Landy hisself, & after over a year of monthly conversations with him, sending him pics of my car, I was finally able to convince him enough to come up here to Canada to look at it. Picked him & his wife Jeanne up at the airport in my 70 4 spd.Hemicuda & brought him out to my place. I'll tell ya, there was nothing cooler than driving Dick around town in the passenger seat of that cuda, with him chompin on a cigar, telling me about the ol days of racing. Something I'll never forget.Long story, short, he documented my beater LO car as his original 4 spd Hemi Dart.
But there was something I didn't understand about my car. It was tagged as an auto. not a 4 speed. His response went something like this. He ordered 2 cars at the same time, he wanted one as an auto, the other as a stick, & he wanted them right now. Dick was informed that there were only automatics available at that time. So he told Hurst to ship one auto by truck to his shop, BUT, for the other car, take one off the line as a completed body only, sans engine & trans, throw the clutch pedals etc, in the trunk, & ship it by 747 to his shop. So, it arrived at his shop where he converted it to a stick car before it ever turned a wheel under it's own power. This car to this day has never had an auto in it, even tho it was tagged as one from day one.
Interesting little fact, is, this car is the #5 car, 2 serial numbers earlier than the car I'm now trying to find the history on for the last 7 years with no luck yet.

liteweight

[marfen]

Nice pics, Liteweight! I'll never forget the first time I saw the Landy car in your garage and got to sit in it. Hemi Moose, I'm sure Daryl is going by sequential VIN when he refers to #7 car. Isn't the Gene Snow car the lowest VIN known or was it Dan Morgan's (?)...can't remember. I'm pretty sure the first 50 had sequential VINs.

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose

Liteweight cool pic's, and yeah I also recall that Landy story, it was also printed in Car Craft as well...

http://www.carcraft.com/featuredvehi...hra/index.html

Okay now lets get down n' dirty, there seems to be a lot of confusion about this red 68 Hemi Dart's history, so I'm going to try to narrow it down, bit by bit...first off Jimi swears that he saw a 68 Hemi Dart with Charlie Castaldo's name painted on the car at his fathers place back in the early 80's...so lets say that's true, did Lou Vignogna have two 68 Hemi Dart's on the property back then? According to Jimi he did, because he keeps talking about this other hacked up Hemi Dart sitting in a barn over there, but it sounds like he's confusing it with the other one that was sitting there, the one getting painted...So it would seem the question is, did Lou own Charlie Castaldo's second Hemi Dart also after Charlie was finished with it? Jimi keeps talking about this other Hemi Dart that he saw, so was it his second car, not his first one?

Now comes the story about Charlie Castaldo's VIN # to his first car. I have heard several stories over the years about Charlie's first 68 Hemi Dart that he wrecked early on, and what happened to the remaining parts...I can get into some details about it and the stories flying around about it, but that wouldn't solve anything either, it would only cause some more confusion...Also there seems to be two or more lists floating around that people are comparing notes on. I just double checked the VIN # of Hennessey's 68 Hemi Dart, and it doesn't match the VIN # that Paul C thought it was originally, and it doesn't match the VIN # that he also says is the # 07 car either? So it seems everyone is going off of information listed from different VIN lists, and all I know is that when Hennessey restored this red 68 Hemi Dart the VIN # was printed elsewhere...So until everyone agrees to match up the proper VIN # from this car, nothing will be solved...And Liteweight, how did you come to the conclusion that your 68 Hemi Dart was the # 07 car, and which list are you going by?

Also when are you going to finish up that Ed Miller 68 Hemi Barracuda sitting in the background, so what needs to be done to that thing to get it rolling.

.

Hemi Moose
I have a feeling we've met sometime. Have we? It's time you come clean. You know who I am, but I don't know who you are
Thanx for the Car Craft link. It is probably the most acurate article I've read on these cars, but it isn't without some flaws.
To answer your question on my reasoning about the #7 car is because as marfen has wrote. Thanx Dave. I'm not going by serial #s, just sequence of cars built, & up to now the earliest car I know of is Dave Morgans car. Not sure what the #'s are on the Gene Snow car right now.
Since there are so many conflicting lists &numbers floating around about my car, it's time I put it straight. Seems the only way I can continue on it's history.
LO23M8B297XXX fender tag matches the shipping numbers on the rad cradle & trunk rail.
Your right, this car has had alot of controversal info laid on it, & it is for that exact reason, I'm having such a b!tch of a time solving it's back ground. When I purchased it, I was under the impression that all the ground work was done, history wise, but things on it just didn't add up. So, I started digging & at least have confirmed 100% for sure it's not any of Castaldo's cars.
As far as Jimi is concerned, he is now convinced my car is not the car with the Castaldo doors on it. Lou could have owned that auto car for awhile, & it makes sense with the messed up quarters, & cut out trans tunnel. I have pix of his auto car running A/MP@ E town , & the rear wheel wells are cut up & flared. He also ran a four speed in it, thus the trans tunnel work. I have spoke with a crew member for Castaldo, Charlie Licata, on several occasions, & he confirmed the trans. tunnel surgery on that car. They tried running a clutch flite in it for one race, but it was not competitive so the stick went in. They cut the tunnel because it was easier to service the trans & clutch. Licata also told me Castaldo's crashed stick car landed up behind their shop for awhile before it was scrapped.
As far as the Vin & tags on his stick car, I can't comment on whether they stayed on the car when it was scrapped or not, because I don't know. This I do know tho, 100%, is that my car is an original LO car when it left Chrysler. It has it's original VIN tag, fender tag, DS door decal &, shipping numbers on the rad cradle & trunk rail that have NOT BEEN TAMPERED WITH. The fender tag decodes as an auto car, & has never had a clutch pedal or 4 spd. in it, EVER.


liteweight
ps you have keen eyes, you weren't supposed to pick that car up in the background. I didn't think anyone would. Not working or playing with nothing right now due to a work place injury. Not sure when I'll be able to get back at it.

Here is a pic of the last pass Castaldo's 4 spd car made.
I will post more pix. shortly on some stuff I have. Sorry for the size, can't fiqure out how to make em larger.

[jimi]

"LO23M8B297861" wouldn't this be # 61 ?

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by jimi

"LO23M8B297XXX" wouldn't this be #XX ?

See this is where some of the #'s are controversal.This is where some of the problems arise from.
Chrysler did not SERIAL OR SEQUENCE NUMBER these cars in to be specific SS cars. All the SS cars were LO23M8B, but the SEQUENCE NUMBERS started after the last regular production car. IE: the car before the SS run, 297852 could have been a slant six 4 door car.
The first SS car did not have a serial number of 297800. They made a run of 50 cars for the first batch & started with the last regular regular production car which could have been 297852,3 or 4. My guestimation on calling my car the #7 car is derived from the earliest SS car known to exist. My car could be the #8 car, depending on the numbers of Gene Snows car.All the LO23M8B2978_ _ cars are sequential in serial numbers starting after THAT first car,whatever it is .
Here is another couple of shots of Castaldo's stick car. As you can see, it's twisted up pretty good. Doors are not salvageable, even by todays market.

liteweight

[Liteweight]

Here is a shot of Castaldo's auto car when it was converted to MP. You can see the new paint scheme, & lettering on the doors. Also note the flared wheel wells.

liteweight

[Liteweight]

These pixs are of Castaldo's auto car also. Note the color change. He sold the car to Ralph Costello who campaigned the car breifly & changed the color scheme again. The last picture is of the same car in it's present state. Note the quarters have been changed to standard Dart openings. I have seen this car & spoke with the current owner & verified some of the mods that were on the car previous to his ownership that match the Castaldo Auto car. Mark J. has also verified this as the same car.
So, as far as the Vignonia ownership of THIS car, with the change of colors etc, I highly doubt it was in his barn.
Also, again when I spoke with Charlie Licata, Castaldo's crew member verified that he only owned 2 Hemi Darts. On was crashed, the other converted & is on the right coast today. I can't explain why he remembers a car with red & silver, & Castaldo's name on the doors, but my car is not any of Castaldo's cars.

liteweight

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

Here is a pic of the last pass Castaldo's 4 spd car made.
I will post more pix. shortly on some stuff I have. Sorry for the size, can't fiqure out how to make em larger.

Dude, you've got to make 'em larger! Go here to upload your pix:

http://imageshack.us/

After you've located the files you want to upload, make sure you select from the drop down menu (located just to the right of Image resize text) "Do not resize" before you click on the UPLOAD NOW button.

After the pix are uploaded, a new web page will appear; on that page you will see on the bottom right of your screen just below "Get links and Codes for All Images" your links to your photos. Using your mouse, left-click the box once to highlight the links, then right-click and choose copy from the menu that opens; then paste into your message. After that, highlight, copy and paste each individual URL each photo into yellow "Insert Image" icon in the toolbar and it'll appear in your message.

Believe me, the process is a lot easier than it sounds. If you know how to powershift a four-speed, you can do this. You do know how to powershift, don't ya?

If you need more help with this process just ask.

M68