The Plymouth GTX was quite the sleek performer in 1968. Though overshadowed by its Road Runner sibling, the plusher GTX could hold its own on street or strip with either its standard 440 Magnum or the 426 Hemi. Aided by the restyling of the Belvedere, the factory sold over 17,000 440 Super Commando-powered versions for the year.
Our story begins in October 1967 when rock radio disc jockey Jim Buchanan decided to head over to Travelers Chrysler Plymouth in Erwin, Tennessee, to see the latest Mopar iron. Jim was a Chevy fan at the time, but as the announcer at Larry Carrier's Bristol International Dragway, he saw first-hand Chryslers eating the Bow ties for lunch. Dealership manager Jim Ramsey was a regular racer, and he and Buchanan sat down and put together an order for a new GTX.
The 375-horse 440 would give reliability and not require the maintenance of the Hemi, so Jim ordered that L-series mill coupled to a Torqueflite and a 3.54-cogged Dana rear. in early 1968, he was informed by a factory rep that the options on the GTX line had been tightened considerably, and the car would not be built that way again. The car would not get air conditioning, power steering, or power brakes. The latter is the one thing Jim regrets not getting on the car. in hindsight, power discs would probably have been wiser.
Inside, the car got the upscale bucket seats and console layout in light blue, and Jim also ordered the new Light Group, factory tachometer, and AM radio with deluxe rear speaker. Meanwhile, the outside got all the nice chrome trim, road wheels, and a short-run color that Plymouth called Electric Blue. Jim decided on the blue-on-blue combo when he found out that color was supposedly identical to Richard Petty's color. This particular paint hue was dropped after November 1967 for unknown reasons (B5 Blue was the replacement). One other unique thing about the early build is the speedometer, which reads 0-150 mph, instead of the abbreviated 0-15 numerals that are on cars built after January 1968.
The price for the new GTX was $4,275, which to Jim's budget meant $85 a month for three years. The car arrived on December 18, 1967, and Jim remembers watching it come down off the truck.
Showing its wear after six years and a couple of minor fender benders, the GTX was repainted with the factory acrylic enamel in 1974, but like the factory pigment, that paint faded.
The car was garage-kept from 1975 on, and it wasn't until 1998 that Jim and his wife Madge began looking for someone capable of restoring it. The car was still very solid and showing less than 100,000 miles since leaving the back of the truck. The restoration would be easy because it never ended up as a modified hot rod. The original vinyl roof was intact, the original spare was still in the trunk, and the car had seen very limited use in the previous two decades.
David Addington of Kingsport, Tennessee, was given the job of getting the body ready for paint. After doing a computer match of the old paint to get the proper mix for Electric Blue in basecoat/clearcoat, David took the car apart and began detailing it, shooting it with a perfect replication of the factory color.
Meanwhile, the interior came out and Phillip Frye of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, rebuilt the front buckets, and a Year One reproduction cover replaced the rear seat skin.
The front suspension and brakes were replenished with stock replacement parts, and the engine came out for a full restoration and rebuild by White's Performance of Kingsport. The objective was pure stock, and the car is numbers matching on its accessories and parts.
Jim admits the car is considered part of his family now, and he and Madge have flatly turned down all offers to buy it.
When we saw it at the Hensley Performance Mopar Thunder event in Bristol, the blue bomber was the center of attention on the show field (indeed, it took Best of Show honors). The GTX will always be remembered as an upscale thumper from the musclecar era, and thanks to the efforts of Jim and Madge Buchanan, this one will remain a prime example of the breed.
Tall Tales
Having owned this car for so long, Jim was bound to have some stories to tell. His favorite is about a late-night gas station encounter with a highway patrol man in the early '70s.
Jim had stopped for gas, when the officer walked up, gave the car and its somewhat faded paint the once-over, and said, "Say, boy, how does that ol' Plymouth run?"
"Oh, it's got a 440 in it," Jim replied politely. "It still goes."
"Yeah? Well, let's go out on the highway and see how it matches up to this police car. We'll see if it goes."
Dutifully, Jim hopped in, rolled onto the four lane, and gave it the wood. Soon up in the triple digits, the duo rolled off a couple of miles with the Plymouth adding distance between them as the odometers rolled forward. Pulling off at the next intersection, Jim waited while the black-and-white pulled up. A somewhat distressed tribute to Barney Fife jumped out and quickly came over.
"Hey, what are you, crazy? I could get fired for letting you do that! "
Jim smiled and replied, "You said you wanted to see if it goes. You told me to show you. Well, you just saw it."
With that, he fired up the fat wedge, waved goodbye to the officer, and drove off into the night.