Original hemi dart information

[wv_bob]

Originally Posted by a990hemi

I believe there was a story featured in Mopar Collector's Guide about 5 years ago documenting the black Hurst HEMI Dart that was rolled and destroyed during an Alabama street race back in the late 70s / early 80s.

I've got that issue here somewhere in case you don't find your copy.

[mopar68]

"Tim, who lives in Canandaigua, New York, is the fourth owner of the Dart pictured here, and he is the first to street-license the car. The original owner, Charlie Castaldo, raced the Dart and in 1968 won a York, Pennsylvania event sponsored by Super Stock magazine. With the help of friends Al Vespucci, Norm Delooza, Lester Manche, Mike Wirt and Mike Guenther, Tim painstakingly restored the Dodge Red Dart inside and out over a 3 1/2-year period. 'I wanted all areas of the car to be of equal quality,' he said."--MOPAR MUSCLE October/November 1991



M68

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by mopar68

"Tim, who lives in Canandaigua, New York, is the fourth owner of the Dart pictured here, and he is the first to street-license the car. The original owner, Charlie Castaldo, raced the Dart and in 1968 won a York, Pennsylvania event sponsored by Super Stock magazine. With the help of friends Al Vespucci, Norm Delooza, Lester Manche, Mike Wirt and Mike Guenther, Tim painstakingly restored the Dodge Red Dart inside and out over a 3 1/2-year period. 'I wanted all areas of the car to be of equal quality,' he said."--MOPAR MUSCLE October/November 1991



M68

When I got this car, I thought, "hey great!!!!! this one I don't have to do any searching or, documenting. It's all done."
WOW!!!!!! was I ever wrong . 10 years & still nothing.
There were alot of magazine articles done of this car in the late 80's early 90's shortly after Tim finished it. All with the same background stories of it.This thing saw ALOT of print. Unfortunately tho, alot of that information was incorrect.
The good thing tho, is that it is a great original car that survived fates others didn't. I am just it's current caretaker trying to find it's true history for future generations.

liteweight

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

When I got this car, I thought, "hey great!!!!! this one I don't have to do any searching or, documenting. It's all done."
WOW!!!!!! was I ever wrong . 10 years & still nothing.

What was the first thing about the car that caused you to suspect it wasn't Castaldo's old car?

M68

[Liteweight]

I wanted to get more info & pictures for my new ride (2001). I started searching for Charlie Castaldo, only to find he had passed a few years previous.
At a car show in Carlisle, I met a guy who knew one of Castaldo's crew members, Charlie Licata. So, I contacted Licata & he started telling me about some of the mods they did to Castaldo's auto car including cutting out the trans tunnel & installing a 4 speed. They modified the rear wheel well openings by flaring them, cut out the trunk floor for a different fuel tank, & installed fiberglass,titanium & nylon bolts onto everything that wasn't structure related to run A/MP.
My car hasn't had any of these mods done to it. Never had a stick in it. The biggest mod on my car is the mini tubs.
So, basically, a 1/2 hour telephone conversation crushed many years of hear say & rumours.

liteweight

[Hemi Moose]

Liteweight, have you tried that fellow who writes those Super Stock authenticity books, (Darrel Davis) because he used to work for Chrysler apparently and has a ton of documentation from them...he also has access to the IBM cards that verifies all of the factory race cars they built...maybe give him a shot, it can't hurt.

[Liteweight]

Haven't tried that yet, Great idea. Will get back with results. Thanx HM
Hey, any idea where Paul C. is hiding???

liteweight

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose

Liteweight, have you tried that fellow who writes those Super Stock authenticity books, (Darrel Davis) because he used to work for Chrysler apparently and has a ton of documentation from them...he also has access to the IBM cards that verifies all of the factory race cars they built...maybe give him a shot, it can't hurt.

Time for an update I suppose.
contacted Darrel Davis, Jim Schild, & David Hakim in the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, no new information available. I am currently awaiting a response from Bob Frey again now that the NHRA season is coming to a close. He is checking on info to the 1977 Bracket Nationals that were held in York that year.
I am currently trying to find a Tony DeVito who apparently looked at my car while in Vignonia's ownership. I believe he was on Castaldo's crew for a time.

Here's something, I found kind of neat. A guy asked if he could do a scale model of my car, so I said sure why not. Well it turns out this thing wins some big modeling show & gets put into print. Below is a link where you can open the magazine & page through the article.
He showed me the car. Absolutely amazing the detail he has gone through to recreate my car.

http://www.scaleautomag.com/en/The%2...0Magazine.aspx

liteweight