Original hemi dart information

[6t5frlane]

PM sent with info...........Good Luck

[Paul Ceasrine]

Daryl,
Whether Olori Crane Co. had a car or not, I never saw it at Dover Drag Strip (Wingdale, NY), which was only about an hour away from the
Nyack, NY area.
Maybe the car hit Island and/or Englishtown in New Jersey, as both Jersey tracks are closer to Nyack (Rockland County).
PC

[68hemiss]

The Suppa Cuda is the Test Mule. Arlen Vanke bought the mule and sold it to Tony. I heard that Tony had some problems running the car in class because it had different seats, ect... from the Hurst built cars.

[68hemiss]

6T5, you may have been the guy who emailed me about the Orlani Crane Dart (possibly from the old hotrodder.com site)? I called them some time back and spoke with one brother - he really didn't know - said his brother ran cars mostly Fords. Might be more to the story if someone can talk with the other brother??

[6t5frlane]

I did speak to an " older " Hot Rodder from the Rockland area about the Dart. Said he thought John Olori owned it but could not remember much more. I'm guessing John would be in his early 60's by now......FYI

[davezinn]

i just joined the site yesterday specifically for this thread which i'm greatly interested in. i'm very into the Hemi Darts and Barracuda's and i've gotten alot out of reading this thread and have enjoyed every second of it. like Matt Conte i am a model car builder and am looking forward to the upcoming Revell kit. i'm very interested in any books or pictures and history on the 1:1 cars. i have a pile of magazine references as well as the authenticity guide by Jim Schild.

there are a few cars that i have an interest in finding more information about if anyone can help or has anything. does anyone know anything about the Dart that belonged to Brooklyn Heavy? i have just a picture or two from a magazine article but no other information on it. i also have some pictures of a Dart named "That Dart" that i took at Mason-Dixon in Maryland. i talked to the owner at length many years ago but it was mostly about details of the car, not it's history unfortunately. does anyone know anything about this car as well?

i'm very interested in the history on Daryl's car too as well as the "Pomona" car and the Manhattan Speed car.

i've misplaced it but i had an issue of Mopar Collectors Guide that did a feature on a black clone that was built to replicate a Hemi Dart that was totalled street racing in the 70's. does anyone have that issue or remember that car?

really wish i had found this thread much earlier as it looks like alot of good pictures are no longer here that were posted.

Dave

[Paul Ceasrine]

Dave,
Good luck finding info on the 'Manhattan Speed Shop' car.
Guys were out of lower Manhattan. New York
Only photo I ever saw of it, was at the line at Englishtown,
versus Charlie Castaldo, 1969?
PC

[davezinn]

Paul, you seem to be one of the leading knowledgeable people in regards to these cars in this thread. i found some information over in the Connecting Highway thread that filled in a little information on the S&K/Mutt bros. car and that it was sold to or went to Brooklyn Heavy.

the Hot Rod magazine Mopar special issue has a picture of the Manhattan Speed Parts Dart racing Ed Miller at the Super Stock Nationals in '68. the picture is in black and white so i'm guessing that the car could be grey. it also has what appears to be some deep offset rear wheels on it.


Dave

[Paul Ceasrine]

Dave,
Good pick-up on the 'Manhattan Speed Shop' car.
Only (12) S/S Hemi Darts or Cuda's were at the 1968
Super/Stock Magazine Nationals, New York National Speedway August 1968.
The one photo that I saw, had 'Manhattan Speed Shop" lettered on the front fender. It may have also been affiliated with R & R Construction.

Not to throw another cog in the wheel, but a Chrsyler Fleet Service
Technician, out of the NYC, West 51st Street Service Center says that a 68' Hemi Dart was brought to the New York service center at the end of March, 1968.
It was prepped and painted white with a red 'Dodge' emblem placed on the rear quarters, trunk deck-lid and front hood, and 'Hemi" on the sides of the scoop.
Cragar S/S wheels were put on in place of the steel wheels.
He was not sure if it was a 4-speed or automatic. Many moons ago!
It was supposed to be brought to the New York International Car Show, at New York Coliseum (West 72nd Street) for April 7, 1968.
It was to be brought in as Dodge's performance car, to be in direct competition with Motion Performance, who had a performance booth their.
The car never made it to the show. Some Dodge Rep or a Dodge dealership got wind of the car at the service center, and got it out of their before it went to the
Auto show.
PC
I'll post some more information on that one.

[GarysZ24]

Wow, 422 messages in this thread to skim through to get caught up with all the info shared within, but of all the Darts spoken of, one hasn't been mentioned...John Friel's (former?) SS/AA Hemi Dart, that ran a 9.14 @ 144mph at a national event in Rockingham, NC., back in '92 following a nearly 200 ft long wheelstand!!!

I haven't heard anything about John...is he still alive and well with us? If yes, did he sell his car, or has he just parked it over the years? If he no longer owns it, who does and what are they doing with it? I have the "Turbo Action" video of Div. 2 racing action that has the footage of his awesome run (above), where "Bullit" Bob Reed's Cuda broke at the start, thus allowing the video footage of their qualifying race to show the splendor of John's Dart from staging to crossing the finishing line (with the above mentioned et., and speed displayed on the scoreboard), and it was great to see that his car was the only one during that taping that had the pleasure of showing the full run...must've been due to the "HEMI", and the AWESOME WHEELSTAND TOO!!!