Original hemi dart information

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by a990hemi

Daryl,

Might you be able to refresh our memories about the black Dart being spotted at a gas station that one of the Lietos worked at?

Thanks

Unfortunately, I don't have much more usefull information at this point. I initially heard about it from Mark Janaky many years ago. His information came from a few locals from Mt. Kisco, but no one was able to provide much more info other than remembering seeing it there.. Mark tried many avenues in getting more info, but every one came up as a dead end. He even went as far as talking with the local librarian who was an aquatence of the person who supposidly owned that garage. He searched out the local sherriff etc, etc,etc.
The closest I've been so far is with Paul C. who was from that area, & remembers seeing it himself.

now as far as the possibilities of this black Dart being mine, there are some things that are adding up. Mostly that when Tim Hennessey purchased this car from Lou Vignona, the original hood scoop was "screwed up" as he put it,& needed to be replaced. The hood itself remains original as far as I know. Jimi has confirmed when his dad got it, it had a scoop moulded onto the original one. I'm thinking it was probably covering a tunnel ram at one time. Maybe Jimi can comment on what the car had on it, induction wise, when Lou purchased it, but I don't remember if someone told me. Both Jimi & his father did say it was a complete Hemi car when they got it. The drivetrain was removed & Lou was going to either use the engine in one of his cars or have it as a spare, again, I don't remember which.
I do know that when I ran the numbers on the trans. it decodes to a 1968 Super Stock ONLY transmission. Is it the original to this car?? More than likely, but no way of proving it at this point. The engine itself is still around, & Jimi has told me where it may be located, but, again at this point there is no way of proving it's THE original one to this car.
So I'm leaving that piece of the puzzle completely alone for now until we get this puzzle fiqured out.
Sure would be cool if it was tho wouldn't it.

liteweight

[jimi]

lightweight it had a tunnel ram and two dominators the old style one with the velocity tubes cast in.

[Charlie A]

I don't remember seeing this one yet. Not Daryl's but hey, we have to keep posting the pics :

[Paul Ceasrine]

March 1977 'Super Stock & Drag Illustrated'

Coverage of the 'First NHRA Bracket Nationals' @ York US 30 Dragway.

September 1976

[Charlie A]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

March 1977 'Super Stock & Drag Illustrated'

Coverage of the 'First NHRA Bracket Nationals' @ York US 30 Dragway.

September 1976

Any relevant pictures or info in the article?

[Liteweight]

This is the one that has the 1977 Bracket Nationals from York in it. I just found, & purchased it on ebay. Hoping this might have some usefull information
Thanx for the idea Paul.

liteweight

[Paul Ceasrine]

Daryl,

You might also want to try and dig up newspaper articles from
'The Gettysburg Times'.

They covered the major races at 'York US 30 Dragway'.

[hemid68]

Charlie,
The "Canned Heat" car is explained in my post on page 226. It was not an original car. It was owned by Lou Biggs, out of the Belleville, IL area (St. Louis, MO area). I ended up with some of his left over parts in the early '80's. The color picture is probably at the "old" Gateway International Raceway in Madison/ East St. Louis, / Fairmont City, IL., or whatever town they were claiming at the time. You can see the spectator cars setting up on top of the canal. The track has been totally rebuilt, and runs the opposite way, and is called Gateway Motorsports Park, and hosts an NHRA National event.
An interesting thing about the parts I got from Lou Biggs, was that some of them came from Lou Brock Dodge in East St. Louis, IL. Lou Brock is the Hall of Fame baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals, and also owned a Dodge dealership in East St Louis.
I have not seen the 2nd picture of his car, but the color pictures are on page 205 and 206, in this thread.
This is probably just some "worthless knowledge", which I specialize in!
Dan

[Wayne Kerr]

Liteweight,
I talked to Dave Koffel at PRI, he said he had a guy that had a good history of all the cars, probably worth making a call to him in Ohio next week.
He also said his wife Susie has a scrapbook with all of the cars and their original owners.

Hope this helps,
Wayne Kerr

[Paul Ceasrine]

Just In,

The 1968 Dodge Dart {Lieto car} was 'not' an LO23 Hemi Dart.

It was an original 1968 GTS 383 Dart.

It was all black, with no lettering.

Someone put in a tricked up 426 Max-Wedge in the car, and it had steel fenders with Fenderwell Headers.

It had a Cross-Ram on it, with a 68' Fiberglass Hemi Hood.

Lieto or ? switched it over to a Tunnel Ram, and changed the
hood to accommodate the Tunnel Ram.

It had a 'full' Roll Bar in the car.

The Dart also had a narrowed 8 3/4" Rear in it, with the rear inner
fenderwell's tubbed.

It ran 11.40's in the Pro Eliminator Bracket.