When we hear the words "used car salesmen," visions of tackily clad, oily swindlers, with greased-back hair, and million-dollar smiles come to mind. The stereotype is a tough one to shake, even for Steven Reichard of Alsip, Illinois who exactly just the opposite. Stricken with a deep appreciation of American musclecars, Steve is blessed to see these machines cross his path nearly every day. Steve, an adamant car enthusiast, loves what he does as he helps to sit his clientele behind the wheels of their dream cars.
Having owned a gorgeous black '67 Plymouth GTX 440, automatic for over twenty years, Steve was beside himself when a contrasting fire-red '67 Hemi 4-speed GTX crossed his path a decade ago. Picking up the rare B-Body in '95, Steve realized that this car's monetary value would be just a portion of its ultimate value. Having fallen in love with his black '67 over the last two decades, he couldn't imagine anything more appropriate than to park this 426 Hemi Plymouth right next to it. The car had been restored where it hadn't been kept original, which wasn't much. The car retained the original Hemi upgrades such as the larger power brakes and leaf springs, along with the fanciful interior upgrades specific to the opulent musclecar the GTX was known for.
Ma Mopar had heard the call and stepped up to the plate in 1967. With the design of the B-Body platform taking off, the '67 year offered new innovations and monikers of the production year with the introduction of the R/T option for Dodge and the GTX for Plymouth. Much like the Oldsmobile niche, or businessman's musclecar, the GTX was meant for the professional who wanted the same (if not more) power as the kids racing their street rods and musclecars, but didn't want to sluff on the niceties that Detroit could incorporate into the same car. Aside from the Hemis, which couldn't allow for the space, GTX's came with air conditioning, power brakes and steering, and a bevy of optional interior packages which ranged from power windows, light packages, consoles, and seat arrangements to leather and faux wood-insert upgrades.
The Plymouth GTX became the ultimate "image" car for that year, thanks in part to the venerable "Silver Bullet" factory stock racecar, which would go down in the annals of musclecar lore as the corporate bomber of Woodward Avenue. Though, the Dodge side of the product line was nearly identical in options, the Plymouth still retained a greater portion of more affluent buyers over the Dodge counterpart. The GTX would continue in the product line until the ultimate demise of the musclecar, usually canonized as being around 1971 through 1973 as insurance rates and government regulations stamped out the practicality of these machines.
Steve's GTX is one of those few original Hemi GTX's that debuted that year. The hefty A833 four-speed is backed up by the massive Dana 60 with some mean street gears. The exhaust has been restored to stock specs as well as the black vinyl interior sporting the Hurst shifter protruding out of the factory console with a mounted tachometer. Topping off the rare interior dressings is the wood grain steering wheel special to that year.
Steve takes the every opportunity to jump behind the wheel and drive it as much as weather permits. How brave would you be to climb aboard a super-rare 4-speed Hemi GTX?