Original hemi dart information

[hemitime]

Could Charlie Castaldo have had his name on the doors as a sponsor? He did have a business and Al Mossarino was his cousin ,,so this could be possible later after his racing career for Castaldo to stay on the scene through sponsoring his cousins dart,he obviously had a love of hemi darts as he bought a second one after crashing his first one.The car also had trunk pins,so did hennesey take the time to fill in those holes drilled for the studs on the trunk opening,?They had to mount them somewhere ,is there any signs of that repair?After all,Hennesey did an all out resto taking out tubs,sectioning factory ones to look stock,smoothing them to look factory,filling roll bar mounting holes,replacing the trunk lid or fixing holes from pins ,so after all that do you really think he would have left a hole in the firewall with no pin or just stuck a needless stud in after doing all the other detail work perfectly,the wildfire dart is on you tube videos racing at atco at some point in its career as documented on film which puts the car in the right area ,so if this car is not the wildfire dart then who the heck has it?Or CLAIMS they have it ,and is it documented beyond any doubt,after all this Castaldo connection story was fact years ago too!!!

[hemidart3]

according to an article he wrote for mopar action kirschenbaum owned the speedwin automotive car while working at the dodge dealer in new york. it's an interesting read, he ordered the car in and when the owner pressured him about it he started making payments but never got the title. joe jill then came in and took ownership of the car. now as the saying goes "don't shoot the messenger" lol. dave

[HEMIDARTDAVE]

Lightweight,
A good friend knew Joe Patel well and almost bought his car. I'll ask if he knows where it went. I talked to Bob Banning a while ago and he gave me the name of the guy who bought his stick Dart. I couldn't get his #, but the lady who has something to do with the East Coast Drag Meet down south knows who owns the car now, but couln't divulge the name. The other Dart Bob Banning sold was the AT car John DeRosa owned and I almost bought from Fred E. I'll go through my notes this weekend.
Dave

[rhinodaert]

Still looking for more pics of my Dart. It was bought from Mr. Norms by Richard Shipley from Baltimore, MD then went to Joe DeSantis, then to Ohio. I really need some color pics of the car when it was in this paint scheme. Thanks in advance.

[rhinodaert]

Another black and white pic.

[Stewart Way]

I know it has been on this thread more than once that the first Castaldo dart was wrecked, stripped and crushed but I was looking at a magazine article titled "Not just another pretty face" by Cliff Gromer on Frank Spittles dart and the article says"A very original piece, the dart had suffered a crash early in its career, but had been repaired with the correct fiberglass body panels that were still available from the factory at the time. After it was fixed, the Dart was socked away in storage and never raced again. Goes on to say Frank bought the car in 86. Cant tell you what magazine the article was in because the pages are loose but it does say they also did an article 12/89 featuring a Hemi Dart originally owned by Charlie Castaldo. That would make one think both his cars are still around.
But, like the internet, just because you read it doesn't mean its true.
Sorry if this has already been discussed but I don't remember it.

I just reread the article and nowhere does it say Franks car was ever one of Charlies. Its late. Guess I better go to bed.

[Liteweight]

Castaldo's stick car



Charlie's auto

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by Stewart Way

But, like the internet, just because you read it doesn't mean its true.

I can say that about the mass media and what they broadcast on TV and radio and print in newspapers and magazines even more so.

M68

[HEMIDARTDAVE]

Daryl,
I went through some of my notes. Joe Patels Dart supposedly went to Michigan in the early '70s.
The Bob Banning stick Dart was sold to Dave Lewis, a New Port News, VA racer. His son may own it now. I talked to Nancy Wilson of the East Coast Drag Racing Reunuion, and she could not give me the owners # because of privacy issues.
I got a call from a guy in Chicago who has owned one of the Grand Spaulding stick Darts since '85, but does not want to sell it.
BTW, I'm still looking to buy one.
Dave

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by jimi

Kirschenbaum was from Long Island? And he has a brother as well if I remember correctly. Don't they have a very large collection of mopar parts and s

Jimi, Al Kirschenbaum wrote articles & road tests for various magazines back in the day...and I believe I read the story that the L023 ended up being the Speedwin Hemi Dart now that my memory has kicked in.

On another note, you seem to keep bringing up the Charlie Castaldo '68 Hemi Dart that you saw in your dads shop back then, and I don't disagree with what you saw back then, but I do have few questions if you don't mind...do you remember what year this was roughly, and it was more that likely Charlie's second Hemi Dart, the one he bought off of Tom Crutchfield...you have said in some previous posts that the floor was cut out for access to the 4 speed...also do you recall if this car also had radiused wheel wells, that were normally larger that the factory Hemi Darts came with because it sure sounds like it was Charlies second car that you saw back then...unless you can remember any other details about it?

.