1968 Dodge Darts (Factory SS/EA 440's)

[Paul Ceasrine]

Alex,

What is Code #L68 1703 (Hurst Conversion)

Now I do have a photo of a 440 engine being dropped into a
68' Dart, utilizing an engine crane.

Was this at Hurst or Grand-Spaulding or the Factory.

And Alex,
I didn't laugh at you when you made an error in posting that the 66' A-Body cars didn't come through
with an 8 3/4 rear-end housing.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,remember the D-Dart thread.

[Paul Ceasrine]

T-N-T,

I think the SS/EA record was 12.20, entering the 1968 NHRA
Winternationals.

That Super Stock class was attacked by Dick Landy's GTS 440 Dart
(not a Mr. Norms GSS 440) and some 68' Ford 428 Cobra-Jet Mustangs.

Some posted times by Dick Landy;
11.91
12.01 @ 118.73
11.81

[Geerhead55]

FYI,,,in the new issue of Muscle Car Review theres a nice 2 page black and white of Dandy Dick Landy and brother Mike taken in late '67 with their brand new '68s. Dick with his Charger (no hood scoop) and Mike with his Coronet,,, about 18/19 pages in.
Check it out if you see the mag. Danny Durham

[Paul Ceasrine]

Ted,

Dick Landy's 68' GTS 440 Dart (SS/EA) made it to the Semi-Finals
at the 68' Winternationals.

I think he had 4 or 5 cars at the 68' NHRA Winternationals.

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

From what I have found on the '6' factory prepped 1968 SS/EA Darts GTS cars.

They came with Hooker Headers, 1 7/8" primary with 42" length tubes and 3 1/2" collectors. Fenderwell units.

A special exhaust connector pipe was attached to each side-outlet on the header collector (2 1/8" diamter),
and connected to the stock 383 mufflers, tail-pipes and chrome-tip exhausts.

No warranty on the factory race cars, but the factory did back them with free replacement parts.

The Mr. Norm's GSS 440 Darts (different version), did come through with a factory warranty.

It would be very interesting to find out exactly how many races each of these six 440 Darts actually won, anyone here have any info on this.

[rhinodaert]

I personally know where there are 14 original Mr. Norms Dart GSS's, my boss owns three of them and there is a fourth in storage owned by someone else. I currently work for Mr. Norm and there is plenty of misinformation about these cars out there. The first few came out with 67 383 exhaust manifolds, and there is plenty more info that has been verified. Norm himself is not a car guy, he saw what was happening with high-performance cars and realized how many "units" he could sell. He recalls that there were 48 GSS' built. I have heard that the Landy car, which was not a GSS is in Minnesota, but I have not been able to narrow down where!

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by Alex Denysenko

More erroneous information.
Dennis Hirschbach, the former parts manager of GSD from 66 through 76 is still alive and a friend of mine.
We both laugh at many of your GSS references Paul.
The engines were not installed by Hurst, they were factory built.
Another ubran legend created by the Hurst marketing arm of the time.
Probably the same group who said Hurst installed the 455's the Oldsmobiles as well.

C'mon Alex, no need to belittle Paul while making your point; he's a class act. If Paul's in error, I'm sure he's humble enough to admit it and update his info.

Anyway....



M68

[bill dedman]

And, if you REALLY want a laugh, persuade Alex to relate (here on ClassRacer) his fantasy about how the O.E.M. FE/C4 bell housing came to be... a Canadian/Ford pickup truck fairytale to end all fairytales!!! LOL!

It is a masterpiece!!!

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

And, if you REALLY want a laugh, persuade Alex to relate (here on ClassRacer) his fantasy about how the O.E.M. FE/C4 bell housing came to be... a Canadian/Ford pickup truck farytale to end all fairytales!!! LOL!

It is a masterpiece!!!

I know the story very well.....I was going to the races with Bill Hawk, Dale Shannon, and Jim Morgan (SS/GA) back in my 428 CJ and 351Cleveland days as I did the cylinder heads for each of them back then. Joe Threatt (sp?) from Calif. had a C4 in his Mustang at the Sports Nationals in Bowling Green Ky. when we were there and we found out about it when his driver out ran Bill for class. Yhis was before NHRA allowed the lighter wt. transmissions but the win allowed. The C4 was worth a little over a tenth back in the day. The C6 had a lot of drag and it was even hard to push the car in the staging lanes with a C6 in it.

[BlueOval Ralph]

C-6 ALWAYS had a lot of case flexing enough that they would split case.

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

I know the story very well.....I was going to the races with Bill Hawk, Dale Shannon, and Jim Morgan (SS/GA) back in my 428 CJ and 351Cleveland days as I did the cylinder heads for each of them back then. Joe Threatt (sp?) from Calif. had a C4 in his Mustang at the Sports Nationals in Bowling Green Ky. when we were there and we found out about it when his driver out ran Bill for class. Yhis was before NHRA allowed the lighter wt. transmissions but the win allowed. The C4 was worth a little over a tenth back in the day. The C6 had a lot of drag and it was even hard to push the car in the staging lanes with a C6 in it.