Dick Landy 'Q & A'

[Paul Ceasrine]

Many stories, mysteries and missing VIN tags.
Going through photos and race results.
If Sox & Martin were at the 1967 Winternationals and running
SS/B, what could they have been driving.
Since the R/O cars weren't built until late February, and Buddy Martin said that he bought the R/O car in May 1967???
Could, at the 67' Winternationals the car been a Street-Hemi GTX
with flat-hood, or maybe another Belvedere II with a Street-Hemi. I know the nice lettering of 'Plymouth GTX' looks good on the quarter.
The lettering doesn't mean anything at all, anyway, just confuses everyone.
I think they just wanted to get as many cars out there as possible, when the going was good. Also, being booked at two different tracks on the same day,,,,,,,,,lots of different drivers too. Went to one Sox & Martin event, two of their cars were there, but "Hey, your not Ronnie Sox!
PC

[hemidup]

Eric Lindberg is the current owner of the Landy's 67 Corronet. He did a beautiful job with the restoration right down to the black electrical tape on the steering wheel. Does anyone know what the tape was for?

[art leong]

Originally Posted by hemidup

Eric Lindberg is the current owner of the Landy's 67 Corronet. He did a beautiful job with the restoration right down to the black electrical tape on the steering wheel. Does anyone know what the tape was for?

Probably a cigar holder

[Paul Ceasrine]

Didn't Dick like the wood grain steering wheels for some reason.
Maybe they got a liitle slick in the heat????
Hopefully he used 3M products.
PC

[Paul Ceasrine]

Matt,
Both Dick Landy and Sox & Martin each had 4 cars at the 68' Winternationals. I guess the factory-teams had a stranglehold on the
NHRA.
The Sox & Martin Cuda was not a Hemi, it was a 68' 340 Barracuda fastback that ran in E/SA. It won class, beating Joe Coletti's 68' 340
Barracuda (12,90's). Jim McFarland of Hot Rod magazine drove it, all the way to Runner-Up in $tock Eliminator.
That book mentions that Sox & Martin had a 440 Road Runner, but that is incorrect, 1968 Road Runners were not equipped with 440's, only 383's or a Street Hemi. The Road Runner out there, which I think was a 383 ran in E/Stock. I found something that says a 13.12 ET, which means it probably got eliminated early in E/Stock class.
Matt,
Jack said, it was a new 383 Road Runner, E/S. Ran 13.10's. Knocked off in class eliminations early.
Engine was stock, not even taken out of car, heads were done, carb rej-jetted, Hooker Headers, Schieffer clutch set-up, Hurst shifter, 4.56 gears, some suspension tricks, and 7" slicks.
They did not expect much, just rushed it in to get in class.
pc

[Paul Ceasrine]

Matt,
R/T said he figured it out.
In 1968, ran the 68' Dodge Charger R/T Hemi in A/MP for the 68' season

In 69' he ran it at the Winternationals in B/MP, and several west-coast events.

At the 1969 Winternationals he won Street/Eliminator in A/MP
with a 68' Hemi Dart (w/converted 69' grille and trim)

In 1969, he ran a 69' Dodge Charger R/T Hemi in SS/F. Again, campaigned it throughout the season. With the new S/S weight breaks, it was more competitive. At the end of the year he converted it into B/MP (added the 'Flyin Wedge' lettering). Won the 70' Winternationals in B/MP (set record 10.74)

In March 1970, he got a new 70' Charger R/T Hemi. This time
with an automatic. He ran SS/EA. He set the record with that car
at 11.29 @ 124mph. This car stayed in SS/EA, until he sold it
after the Worlds Finals.

P


PC

[Paul Ceasrine]

Flyin-Wedge,
Dick Landy won the NHRA B/MP class at the 1969 NHRA Winternationals with a 1968 Charger R/T Hemi.
Class win 11.01 @ 116.88 (on the brakes).
He also won the Street Eliminator Championship their with that car.
I think, the reason he ran the 68' Charger R/T in B/MP in 1969, was because it did not have a favorable weight break for Super/Stock. At #3754 lbs. it fell into the wrong end of SS/D for 1968
(approx. 150 lbs. heavier than the other B-Body Hemi's), and SS/E for 1969.
The 69' Charger R/T Hemi, a little heavier at #3845 lbs., fell into the 1969 SS/F class, giving the 69' car a better chance.
pc
pc

[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