Original hemi dart information

[68hemiss]

OK guys, Over the years I have done quite a bit of research trying to find some info on the history of Daryl's Dart. Here is what I have come up with.

Lou - told me that when he went to buy the car it was in an underground parking garage of some apartments in Mt Kisco, NY. A young kid owned it . I asked him where he had heard about the car and he told me that a friend of his (at the time) named Big Al in CT (I am pretty sure that this is the guy who builds blower motors) told him about the car and that they went there together. I called Big Al and he said he doesn'r remember any Hemi Dart - Lou also mentioned that he and Al didn't get along any more.

I thought I would focus my search in Mt Kisco - I called Mt Kisco Auto Parts - a counter guy there told me that he might know someone who knew about the car but after several calls - no luck. I was told to check with Richie Mattoni who originally ran Mt Kisco Auto parts and machine shop. I tracked Richie down in TX - He runs Storm-Vulcan. Ritchie remembered the car - said a guy who ran the gas station across the street (around the corner from the old movie house and down the street from the coffee shop/beer joint that Frank Sinatra owned - feel like I have actually been there - lol) had the car sitting along side the station. He mentioned that the only underground parking garage in Mt Kisco at that time was down the side street from shop/store. He couldn't remember the guys name and told me to call his brother and a few other people. I called his brother and he also couldn't remember the guys name but remembered the car - he said they used to call him rubberface.

I called TonySaracini who ran a Duster/Demon Stocker/SS/Bracket car that was originally Bill Davitt's car (big Mopar guy in the area). Tony remembered the Dart - said it was black with silver or gray on it, he had another scoop attached to the top of the Hemi scoop. He remembers teasing the guy calling him "two scoop Lido" - in reference to the Rasin Bran commercials of the time (two scoops of rasins) He said the guy didn't really race it - it just sat next to the station. He said that him and some friends got the guy to bring the Dart to the track with him and some friends - they all brought their cars. They were bracket racing - he said the car wasn't that fast - 11's and the guy wasn't very serious about it - just having some fun. He said that they went to Englishtown and another track in NY - have to check my notes - might have been New York National (not sure it was open at this time??)

I was finally able to get the names of the guys who ran the gas station after many, many calls to various people in Mt Kisco and people who lived in Mt Kisco. It seems that most of the people who used to live in Mt Kisco do not live there anymore.Brothers Eddie and Ernie Smith ran the station - I belive Eddie owned the Dart. I called the listing for Eddie Smith in Mt Kisco - thinking I had found the missing peice of this puzzle - and I got a 90- year old lady - who was very helpful - she remembered Eddie as worked on her car at the station. She said that when he stopped running the station he was working in Richfield - but she was sure that he didn't move as his family had a nice big house on Ward Ave in Mt Kisco. I tracked down the address and phone number - no luck - he doesn,t live there anymore. Good luck finding an Eddie Smith - this is not the same West Virginia Hemi Eddie Smith.

My, guess is that the car was local in the mid 70's when Eddie bought it - he obviously didn't buy it to race - but it was a rare, neat car. Since he didn't race it and they weren't worth a whole lot at this time I doubt that he traveled far to buy it. The Pomona Speed Dart that Paul has mentioned seems the most promising. It was black, not very fast, local to the area - owned by another repair shop, early 70's?????

This information has taken years to put together with hundereds of dead ends - so if I seem a little skeptical at some of the references - I apolagize - I have a ton of work into this car's history - more than any other Dart/Barracuda that I have researched. Just need a new lead/angle to go any farther.

Mark J
1968 Hemi S/S Registry

[marfen]

Mark, As always your endless hours of research and investigation never fail to impress me.

[ssaahemifan]

Originally Posted by marfen

Mark, As always your endless hours of research and investigation never fail to impress me.

No Doubt .. I can't imagine how frustrating it is, but you gotta have some great stories and huge phone bills.

When's the book coming out ??

[Hemi Moose]

- said it was black with silver or gray on it, he had another scoop attached to the top of the Hemi scoop.

This is the first time I'm hearing that the car was painted 'Black'...as if it wasn't hard enough to track someone down, the previous owners last name was 'Smith'.

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

Well, well well, what do we have here????
and in the years I'm looking for tooo,
Hmmmmm----- wonder how I could convince the owner of these to do some searching.
just thinkin' out loud here M68--heh,heh.heh

liteweight

The entire collection could be yours if you're interested.

M68

[marfen]

Where the LO23 and BO29 engines painted Street Hemi Orange or the lighter Race Hemi Orange originally?

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose

This is the first time I'm hearing that the car was painted 'Black'...as if it wasn't hard enough to track someone down, the previous owners last name was 'Smith'.

As Mark has said, he has put an enormus amount of time trying to put the history of my car together. It's like this thing drops off the end of the planet previous to Vignonias ownership. Add in the little controversy of it's colors previous to Vignonias ownership also. Silver & red, compared to black & silver. The 2 scoop theory compared to the beat up original scoop the car was sold to Hennessey with.
Paul Pittman, who painted the car for Lou ,told me he kinda remembers the car being silver & red when he paint stripped it in the early 80's.
All evidence that Mark J. has dug up leads to the black & silver car. I mean how many HemiDarts could there have been in Mt. Kisco in the 70's early 80's???. Did it get painted silver & red after it's black & silver scheme???
Was it even the same car????
If it was this car, what's it's history previous to Eddie Smith's?? ownership???
Who's car was this originally???
Was it an east coast car the whole time, or was it imported from somewhere else in the US. These things as you know traveled across the continent, sometimes weekend after weekend..

All I know FOR CERTAIN, is that this is an original LO car, has never been rebodied, or retagged. It wears all it's original sheetmetal & fiberglass it left Hurst with, sans the trunk lid, & POSSIBLY the hood or hood scoop. It is a early build, first run car. It did have a 3 point bolt in Lakewood rollbar when Vignonias's owned it. It had the inner tubs replaced with sheetmetal tubs, & the springs were moved into the frame rails sometime in the 70's.The forward sections of the wheelwell openings were opened for tire clearance probably at the same time. The hinges were cut out when the aftermarket inner tubs, were installed. Tim Hennessey replaced the aftermarket inner tubs with original ones when he restored it in the 80's.He also replaced the trunk lid because it was pinned instead of using the hinges He also reinstalled the trunk hinges. .
It has NEVER had a stick or a clutch pedal installed in it. The dash was modified for gauges indash with probably?? a column mounted cable drive tach.
I believe it was bracket raced in the mid to late 70's acording to the decal in the quarter window.








I want to say thanx for all the help from Mark J. for all the time he has spent on this thing. It's going on 9 years now I believe.

liteweight

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

HM
It has been a thought, but locating someone who has kept those ND will be a challenge in itself.
When I was trying to document the Landy stick car, I found someone who had a collection from the 60's into the early 70's. it might be worth a try again. Thanx
As far as local tracks in that area, how many were there, what's the names????.
I know just about every track had their own track photographer. Can someone put a list together for me of the NHRA tracks in this division, & of known track photographers durring that era1975-1978????? Post it here & add on as people think of them.
The one thing I have to go on right now, is that it was bracket raced in the NED #1.
Ya, it would be great just to find a little tidbit of info that would point me in the right direction.
thanx guys for keeping this thread alive & making it possibly the most informative LO/BO ones online. It has the best pix for sure!!!!!!!!!!!

liteweight

I still think this is an avenue that needs to be looked into...anyone from the north-east division know some of the tracks located in this area.

[Liteweight]

I believe there are basically 2 ways of doing this. First way is by process of elimination of KNOWN & accounted for cars. There were only 80 of these built. Mark , could you put together an updated list of cars that you do not have accounted for???
The other is to find where this car raced as a bracket car in the 70's, & then work backward from there.
Comeon guys, I live in mid Canada, I do not know the eastern tracks from that era. I don't know for sure but I'm thinking that there has to be a list of them in a National Dragster.
M68 , I'm not a collector of old print such as what you have, as cool as it is. They would be looked through once for the single reason to see IF there's any usefull information.
I'd be willing to purchase them from you, but I'm thinking the shipping from you to me would be a lil on the tall side. PM me, we'll see if we can put something together tho. Below are a few pictures of it when Tim Hennessey restored it in the mid 80's. You can see why there is no possible way of finding ANY previous paint colors. for those that are interested, check out the sledge hammer work done by Hurst to the PS shock tower. Ya, it's crude





liteweight

[Hemi Moose]

Liteweight,
Nice shots of the restoration process on the '68 Hemi Dart...I see lots of sand still located on the floor boards, and also see that they didn't blast the black paint off the side of the firewall bulkhead and door jam by the door striker...and that he also taped off the Chrysler door decal stating this vehicle does not conform to public highways...but I do have one question though, so when you do find out the origins of your Hemi Dart, will you repaint it to it's original race paint colors. - HM.