Original hemi dart information

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by TheDane

Hi All, I'm the new guy here.

WOW! This thread must be a world record, if not by the number of posts, then by the time it has been alive - and it certainly IS alive, and will probably be, until the whole world know everything about the full history of Daryl's car.

I was inspired by reading the HotRod article (http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ccrp-...ight-side-view) about the Landy car, and wanted to know more details about LO23's, so I googled myself right into this thread, where I have been trapped for the last 2 weeks of great, great history lessons.

It is not much I can add to the research, from my position in Denmark, except from coming up with a few ideas, so here is my first:

As far as I can see, there is only one known color picture of car, namely the on with the unique dent on the quarter panel, which by 99.99% certainty links the identy to Daryl's car.



As I rebember (after reading 4.000+ posts ... can have missed a few ), it has always been described as "the silver Dart" with "Manhattan Speed Parts (or Shop)" lettering on the front fenders.

1) I'm not convinced that the car was actually silver, when that photo was taken. The reflections indicate that it is most likely a metallic, but the color is actullay light purple or light blue on the pic, rather than plain silver.

Every color picture has it's level of mis-coloring, especially when the picture is from the 60'es, printed in an almost 50 years old magazine, and eventually scanned and shown on a computer screen - which are all different - so this could easily make a silver car looking light purple or blue.

But if you compare the red/silver Coronet in the foreground, which is almost certainly a plain silver, there is actually a clear color difference between the silver faces of that car and the Dart.

The Dart's color looks much closer to this one, on the picture:


(source: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...5087d27429.jpg)

... wich, when you see it in real, could be a much more destinct purple, like this:


(source: http://blog.consumerguide.com/photo-...hardtop-coupe/)

Not a bad color, if you want some attention to your race car and your sponsors, given the fact at all your competitors already use all the signal colors, for the same purpose, right?

(And maybe it could distinguish Daryl's car from all the other red LO23's too, even in a historically authentic way )

This is not an evidence, that it was actually purpe or blue, but if everybody ask for a silver car, which was actually purple or blue, it could have mislead the whole research.

I'm sure that If sombody ask me if I remember a yellow Nova on our local strip, when I was young, I would'nt have a clue. But if you ask me if I remember an orange one, I could tell you a lot about one particular Nova and its owner.

2) It has been descriped in many posts here, that "Manhattan Speed Parts (or Shop)" was letted on the front fenders, but none of the pictures, here in the thread (color as well as B&W), actually show such lettering. I only see the shop mentioned in the caption.

It seems like there might be some white lettering on the upper part of the doors, but it is far too blurred to read it, if it is a lettering at all.

So this could be another potential mislead, if there never - or only by a single/few occasions - was such a lettering, and never shown in the press.

But if there actually were a white lettering on the doors, or anywhere else, its actually another indication that the car was not silver .... cause who would ever paint white letters on a silver background?

Don't give up!

TheDane

Welcome here TheDane. Glad you made your way over here. Always great to have new blood. With it comes a different perspective of ideas. I am always open to new ideas, thoughts, possibilities, & general shots in the dark..
Agreed with you on the color for sure. This has been mentioned to me several times before as I have been concentrating my efforts on the name of Manhattan Speed and just leaving the color as a generic silver. It is most definite an off silver color with a moave or purple haze to it. ( Hendricks pun intended). I never really took that much notice of it till you mentioned the silver difference between the Landy Coronet right in front of it. couldn't get a better picture showing contrast than that one. Thanks for pointing that out!!!!
That one color photo is actually copied from the original and was never publically shown previous to my posting it as far as I know so I think the colors are pretty accurate considering the accuracy of the colors on Landys car. The oranfge is more of a red tho.

Now, as far as the "Manhattan Speed Parts" name goes, I have been told it was put on this car with White Shoe polish. I have spoke with the owner of that Speed Shop at the time Joe Dotto, and he does not remember sponsoring a Hemi Dart at any time. So, I'm thinking that he has forgot about it because it more then likely was only a one maybe 2 event deal they had.
I had a stored pictured of it that was enlarged and it very clearly shows the name Manhattan Speed Parts written on it in shoe polish on the door.
Unfortunately that one pic. was lost in a computer crash.
If anyone here has the skills or know how how to do it again, I sure would appreciate it!!!!!

liteweight