Who: Dean Oellig
Where: Grantville, Pennsylvania
What: '64 Plymouth Barracuda
Forever Fish
Dean's daughter Christine saw Randy's column and thought of her father, a Mopar owner/builder and collector since his teenage years, and a longtime Mopar Muscle reader.
Per Christine, Dean's favorite is this '64 Barracuda, his first car. When he bought it, it was primer gray with a drag racing history, a 340 under the hood, the OEM pushbutton 904 Torqueflite, and a set of fenderwell headers. Dean's replaced the original transmission with a console-shifted 727, plus he swapped in an 8 3/4-inch rear end from the same '71 Duster that yielded the 727.
Dean loves doing bodywork and painting (so says Christine), so the early 'Cuda got a coat of yellow paint with an orange "up and over" stripe on the C-pillars and roof. He also rounded out the rear wheelwells and slightly flared the quarters around them.
Other addiditions/changes include a set of 273 exhaust manifolds replacing the fenderwell headers (to get the car legal in PA), Cragar S/S wheels, a pair of Gabriel "HighJacker" shocks in back (and the sticker that came with them to the dash), padding and shag carpet on the back of the flip-down rear seat-and Dean's graduation tassel, in place on the rearview mirror since the day he graduated.
Christine adds, "Nothing can replace the car shows, car meets, and long rides as a family this car has given us. I can only hope this car will be passed on to my sister and I, who would love to also 'Keep it Forever.'"
Who: Jason Skerratt
Where: Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada
What: '69 Dodge Coronet 440 hardtop
Conduct Bee-Coming
What do you do if you don't have an original '69 Dodge Super Bee? You go the route Jason did, and convert this barn-found '69 Coronet 440 that he's had since 1990 (bought for $600 when he was 16) into a Bee. It had to be a Bee, because his Dad had a '68 Super Bee when he was a young man, and whose 12.50-second 1/4-mile times are the stuff of family legend.
When he got it, Jason added a four-barrel to the 318 under the hood, but the major work on the car ended up taking 18 years.
Under the Six Pack-style hood is a 1977 truck 440 that's been bored .030-inch over, and built by Terry Flebbe with a forged steel crank, Eagle H-beam rods, JE pistons, Edelbrock heads, a hydraulic roller camshaft, and a 3x2-barrel carburetor setup like the late-'69 A12-equipped Bees had. Transmission's a 5-speed Tremec, with a 4.10-geared Dana 60 out back. Wheels are Billet Specialties five-spokes wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber, and the restored body wears root beer orange paint.
This '69 isn't Jason's only Mopar, as he also has a '68 GTX, '67 Coronet 500 and a '73 Duster...and his one-time-Bee-owning Dad now has a '70 Charger 500.
Who: James Howerton
Where: Escondido, California
What: '65 Dodge Dart two-door sedan
Howerton's Hemi
When you see the words "Hemi" and ''65 Dart" in the same sentence, you automatically think of something inspired by "Dandy" Dick Landy, with a 426 Hemi in it. Not this time.
James found his one-owner-original Dart about eight years ago, and the first engine that he swapped in was a 360, replacing the OEM Leaning Tower of Power. But that wasn't enough for James, who's since swapped the 360 for a 5.7L Hemi (and a modern overdrive automatic) from an '05 Magnum. The go forward/go backward switch--sometimes called an "automatic transmission shifter"--on a '66 Barracuda console was adapted to work with the modern gearbox, and that same old Barracuda also yielded the console and its front bucket seats. A narrowed rear end, rear leaf springs moved inboard three inches, mini-tubs, and a Cap Auto Products tubular rack-and-pinion steering system are just a few of the chassis highlights.
Except for the hood stripes (which run across a '70 Road Runner hood center that James added on), the paint on this '65 is the original acrylic enamel.