Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Did Don Carlton drive a 1967 GTX somewhere along the line? A friend has a line on such an animal. I'm thinking it must have been a Sox & Martin car, perhaps after the 1968 Cuda was ready for Ronnie. Or did Carlton have one of his own?

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Carlton had his own 68 cuda and in addition drove a 68 for Sox&Martin. may have also drove a 67 but I have never seen any pics.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Only info I can find says he drove one for Sox&Martin and turned that oppurtunity into a factory deal later.
Maybe someone has a pic of the S&M GTX with his name as driver somewhere.
Just reporting what google told me.

Whose name is on the door here? Dave Strickler? Doesn't appear to say Ronnie Sox.

http://inlinethumb33.webshots.com/30...600x600Q85.jpg

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Yes it is Strick's name on the door. He had an agreement with S&M to drive for them several times in '67.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

If Don Carlton ever drove for them and the name was on the door, as popular as the S&M cars were, there is a picture somewhere......just where?

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Wow, didn't know that!

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Here is a quote from a May, 1977 Car Craft article by Al Kirschenbaum:

"Years later, when Don's flat-towed '68 Hemi 'Cuda plowed into a tree in a highway mishap, Buddy Martin bought the car and gave him a job driving it. Don's talent at the tree (Christmas, not wood) and reputation as a match racer didn't go unnoticed by Buddy, and Don subsequently did a lot of testing for the S&M team in the year and a half that he was with them."

It doesn't specify a time-line/date, but goes on to say that he went to work for Tom Hoover and Ted Spehar after a 6-week job driving a Billy Stepp car.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

I was at Bradenton Fla. testing with Bill Stiles, the day they put Carlton in the Missel. Watched his name go on the car and make his first run in it.
He was a super shoe!

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

S&M were running alot of cars (as was Landy) and they often had other drivers racing them - S&M -Don Carlton, Herb McCandless, Dave Strickler, Joe Fisher, ect... - Landy - Bob Lambeck, Mike Landy, Mary Ann Foss, Butch Leal, ect... Leal even drove Grotheer's 71 RR while he was waiting for Butler to finish his 71 P/S Duster. If Carlton started at S&M in 69 - they were still running the 67 cars - so possibly. Carlton was running a 68 Barracuda at the 70 Winternationals and was the original driver of their 70 P/S Duster before Herb McCandless. From what I understand Don left S&M and built his own P/S 70 Barracuda and then drove the winter 70-71races for Billy Stepp in his P/S Challenger before landing in the Missile in 71.
Mark J

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/FL/Bradenton.html

This says Bradenton opened in mid-1973. That sounds about right to me as I graduated from HS in St. Petersburg in 1975 and the track was built just before then. Some of the guys from our auto shop class went down there to see the Division 2 races. That would have been late 1974 or early 1975. I seem to recall Carlton in the Challenger Missile in 1971.

Thanks guys for the info. It's looking like it must be an S&M car if it proves out. Anyone have more info on the RO GTX? Was it just one of them, or were there two?

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Don Carlton was driving the Sox & Martin 69.5 Six Pack Road Runner for a match races at Atco in MAY -June 1969

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

That car is this one. Definately had some front repair done to it.

liteweight

http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/...MartinBO29.jpg

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

I believe they had a '67 440 GTX, a '67 Hemi GTX and '67 Hemi RO Belvedere, but don't ask me about any specifics about them...Paul C had a topic several months back which we discussed some options on some various old photos of the '67 Sox & Martin cars...

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Just a note: the Sox and Martin GTX was actually their RO Belvedere, they added the GTX liverery to make it stand out.

JimR

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Jack, What year was this? I was at the Bradenton test session the week before Gainsville in 76 with a Super Stocker. Same rig that is in my pic.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Finding all the information you want about Don Carlton, Sox and those guys is pretty easy if you go to the people who built the cars, traveled with them and was involved in the design and construction. Go to Moparts site and search. I sent Stewart Pomroy, Ted, Dick Oldfield all an email and told them about your questions an they may come one the thread with answers and photos, if available.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

I e-mailed Stewart, Dick, Ted Spehar, Hoover and several others of the Missile gang before I started this thread and only Stewart and Steve Reasbeck have replied. I got some replies from Reed and Mark J on the subject as well. Maybe you will have better luck with them? I occassionally get e-mail from Dick, so I guess there was no info or interest in a "might be Carlton's" car. My friend still hasn't looked at it, but promised some photos when he gets to look at it. I'm not holding my breath that it's a S&M car. I've looked at dozens of cars over the years that rarely were as advertised.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

As of this post I have heard from Stewart and Joe Pappas, who is a long time friend of Carlton and still in close contact with his family. Over the years that I knew Carlton I do not recall that he had a GTX. As all of my contacts and others on this post know Sox & Martin had an army of cars out on the tracks in those days. It is a possibility that Don could have driven a Sox & Martin GTX. If you have photos or have the car, there are always people who can look at the car and give you an honest opinion as to it being a Sox & Martin built car. Almost every year there is an old race car at the East Coast Drag Time Hall of Fame Reunion in Henderson, NC which we, the old racers and crew members, are asked to try to verify that a car is a "Historic Race Car." By the way there are ways to look at the construction of a car and be able to determine who, more than likely built it.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Joe was on my list. I only know those guys through Stewart. I can't remember how I met him. It must have been through Moparts, but that must have been about ten years ago. I had no idea there was so many Hemi guys in the Tampa Bay area. I grew up there and didn't know any of them from 35 years ago. I wished I would have known Stewart back when the Missile was testing at Bradenton. That might have changed my career path hanging out with those guys.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Frito, I was working on Bill's 70 Duster P/S. We (Bill&I) had just installed a Franklin quick change in the car . That was the first year for the Duster,so it must have been 1970. Don't think it was any later.
Rear was Chry's idea and didn't work came out soon as we returned home .

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

James, curious but did you or your friend happen to get any photos of this thing yet or figure out whose car it was originally...

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

I got an update from my friend. It turns out the guy that knows where the car is, now doesn't want to let anyone else know where the car is located. It might be a case of someone smelling some money and now wants it for himself. I'm guessing the car is still around NC somewhere. Hopefully it will be restored or surface so people can see it again if it's the real deal. Thanks for all the responses for what ended up being a dead end.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

This the car in question?

http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/...GTXProfile.jpg

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

James, it is possible that Don Carlton might have drove one of the '67 Plymouth GTX's for Sox & Martin, but I doubt that he had his own '67 S&M car...maybe he had another '67 Plymouth at the time. But since he is not here anymore, maybe someone can ask these questions at the Nostalgia Reunion coming up shortly.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Many of Carlton's close friends and family will be in Henderson, NC this week-end. I will pursue the question and post any information I get on Monday.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Has anyone here ever heard of any of these '66 Plymouth Belvedere models being built or sold...in all my years of reading about the Sox & Martin cars, I've never heard of any of these models being raced by the team...is there any truth to this article or it just someones wild imagination.

http://www.cruisenewsonline.com/66Pl...lvedereII.html

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

Someone took one too many hits from the crack pipe. That web page is full of non-sense. Hopefully nobody takes that info seriously.

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

1 of 13 and I'm going to spend a bunch of money to make it look like any street 67 by putting back all the stuff the factory took out to make it 1 of 13.

Yep. True collector car now! :rolleyes:

Re: Don Carlton 1967 GTX?
 

But it ran nines, man, NINES!

It reads like a load of malarky to me too.