Dick Landy 'Q & A'

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Danny,
Thank you,,,but you must add a car to the 'muslcecar' thread.......
Even if its a 1965 Dodge Polara with a 225 6-cylinder Hyper-Pak!!
On Dick Landy, yes lots of hidden stuff.
Kind of the bridesmaid to Sox & Martin, on the Mopar factory stuff.
His general complaint, the B-Body Dodge's were about a 100lbs. heavier than the Plymouth's, cost him about .15 in ET.
There's a video of him at New York National Speedway, I think the
68' Super/Stock Magazine Nationals (July 68) in SS/B, with the Hemi Dart. It might be on BEEONVIDEO.
I'll check.
Paul

Dick Landy himself was heavier compared to Ronnie Sox and that was significant as the NHRA didnt count the drivers wt. when weighing the cars after each round. Before his passing he was a big healthy robust guy.

[Paul Ceasrine]

X-Tech,
I forgot about mass-weight.
Your right, Dick an easy 60-75lbs. heavier than the svelte Ronnie Sox.
Looks like Nutri-System and low-fat Yogurt were a little late for D.L.
Too many hot dogs and burgers with fries, on the road trips.
Bet Dick never said, more 'romaine lettuce'.
PC

[Paul Ceasrine]

Tim,
On the article, he got the first 68' Hemi Dart at the end of February 68'.
Supposedly via railroad box-freight.
The first one was set-up as an automatic, in match-race trim.
The second one, as a legal SS/B 4-speed.
NHRA didn't approve them for S/S class, until just before the 68'
Springnationals at Englishtown. But several cars were out their
running in S/S in May.
Paul

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Tim,
On the article, he got the first 68' Hemi Dart at the end of February 68'.
Supposedly via railroad box-freight.
The first one was set-up as an automatic, in match-race trim.
The second one, as a legal SS/B 4-speed.
NHRA didn't approve them for S/S class, until just before the 68'
Springnationals at Englishtown. But several cars were out their
running in S/S in May.
Paul

Hi Paul
Thought I would put my 2 cents worth in here since I was the guy that found & documented the Landy 4-spd. 68 Hemi Dart. I actually purchased it from Steve O'Neil from a National Dragster 2 line ad back in 1996. Both of us did not know this was Dick's car at the time. It looked like just another wore out, beat up old race car, but it was a real LO car, so I dragged it home.I started scratching down the paint on this thing to find Landy's colors. Needless to say, this was a very cool find, & after about a year of convincing Dick I had his car, he & his wife Jean came up to Canada. I picked them up at the airport in my original 70 hemicuda. Dick thought this was very cool, but not as cool as I thought it was driving the Landy's around town in this thing. By the end of the day, he had documented it as his original 4 speed Hemi Dart
Anyway, one of the many stories he told me, he said that the 4 spd. Dart left the Hurst facility with no drive train what's so ever. When he placed his order for two of the Hemi Darts, they only had Autos available, no 4 spds. Dick wanted the cars NOW, so he instructed Hurst to send one Dart ,as an automatic,complete., & then send a second one to him minus engine & trans. so he could convert it to a 4 speed. This one got shipped in the belly of a 747 due to time constraints to complete this car for competion. Once in California, Dick built it as a 4 speed & it never got an auto installed while he owned it.
When I decoded the original fender tag, sure enough, it was tagged as an Automatic car.
Thought I'd share this with you.
Liteweight
Daryl

[Paul Ceasrine]

Daryl,
After 42 years, still more information coming in.
Was that car the one that won A/MP at the 70' Winternationals.
With the 69' grille.
Another story. Heard D.L, refused to run a 67' Hemi Charger 4-speed in
Super/Stock in 1967. Too heavy at #3907 lbs. Despite being classed in SS/D, (8.70-9.48 wt/hp)
Didn't want to spend his free time rebuilding the drive-train every week.
Would run the Hemi Charger, but only as an automatic, in SS/DA
Was told no, the Charger had to be run as a 4-speed for Sales/Marketing purposes.
pc

[Liteweight]

Paul
Yes this is the same car. Pepsi came on board as a sponsor for a short time also. He put all 69 trim on it to appease Dodge ,to stay current with the latest model year.He filled in the 68 round quarter panel side lites but never cut the quarters for the rectangular ones. Dick liked a little extra glitter on his race cars, so he even installed the full sized trunk filler plate, put wheel well trim on it, Hemi emblems from a Charger on the doors, & the famous spinners on the Cragars. He even installed a woodgrain steering in it. When I sold this car, I needed to have a keepsake from it, so I kept the steering wheel. It's now installed in the Hemi Dart I own now. I even put spinners on the Cragars on this car, because they looked soooo good on the Landy car.
Liteweight
Daryl

[Paul Ceasrine]

Daryl,
Interesting history.
Wonder how much time was on his hands.
Winning Modified Eliminator at the 70' Winternationals with the
A/MP Hemi Dart.
Putting together a Pro/Stock car, running his shop, Match Race events and car clinics.
Also, won SS/E (8.00-8.49 wt/hp) at the 70' Winternationals with his
69' Charger R/T Hemi, 11.15 @ 120.00.
Then ran it in B/MP (NHRA) and S/S in (AHRA)
And in March 70, got a new 70' Charger R/T Hemi (automatic) for SS/EA.

[hemidup]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

Paul
Yes this is the same car. Pepsi came on board as a sponsor for a short time also. He put all 69 trim on it to appease Dodge ,to stay current with the latest model year.He filled in the 68 round quarter panel side lites but never cut the quarters for the rectangular ones. Dick liked a little extra glitter on his race cars, so he even installed the full sized trunk filler plate, put wheel well trim on it, Hemi emblems from a Charger on the doors, & the famous spinners on the Cragars. He even installed a woodgrain steering in it. When I sold this car, I needed to have a keepsake from it, so I kept the steering wheel. It's now installed in the Hemi Dart I own now. I even put spinners on the Cragars on this car, because they looked soooo good on the Landy car.
Liteweight
Daryl

We drilled out the filled 68 side light holes back in to the rear quarters during the restoration.

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

X-Tech,
I forgot about mass-weight.
Your right, Dick an easy 60-75lbs. heavier than the svelte Ronnie Sox.
Looks like Nutri-System and low-fat Yogurt were a little late for D.L.
Too many hot dogs and burgers with fries, on the road trips.
Bet Dick never said, more 'romaine lettuce'.
PC

Dick liked his Tyrolia Wine to.
I believe he car we bought was his 5th Dodge. I financed it through a bank, and he had Mike put a number (vin) on it. Paid $4500 (I think) for the roller no motor or trans. Rented a trailer in New York a towed it to California to pick up the car. With a slant six plymouth fury.

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by art leong

Dick liked his Tyrolia Wine to.
I believe he car we bought was his 5th Dodge. I financed it through a bank, and he had Mike put a number (vin) on it. Paid $4500 (I think) for the roller no motor or trans. Rented a trailer in New York a towed it to California to pick up the car. With a slant six plymouth fury.

Long live the leaning tower of power!

JimR