1967 ss/ea

Steve Stasko · 06-29-2021, 10:23 AM

Ronnie seldom drove the R0 car. It was usually piloted by a hired driver. Ronnie drove the Hemi Belvedere that was updated to R0 specs after the parts became available. That was the car they kept through '68 at the direction of Chrysler. It ran SS/B in '67, and was moved to D in '68 with rule changes/new car releases. The cars were lettered as "GTX" early on, as Chrysler wanted to advertise the upscale model as opposed to the base Belvedere II. You can tell the difference between the II and the R0, as the II had a rectangular "Hemi" emblem where the "Belvedere" emblem was at the front of the fender after they converted the II to R0 specs. The R0 had the Belvedere emblem there. The II is with John Mahoney in Kansas, and has a vin tag from a '65 car with the car that S&M installed as NHRA was only looking for the R0 prefix on the VIN to make the car legal. Remember at this time, clones and bodies in white were a no go...the cars had to have a VIN tag stating the car was what it was supposed to be.

In '68, GTX trim was added when the car was moved to D...the R0 trim would have put the car in C, as the new Hemi A-Bodies were in B. The Street Hemi combination (which was essentially the same as the R0/W0) faired a lot better in D, than in C, where it had to go against '64/65 Hemi cars, for example.

06-29-2021, 10:23 AM	#1
Steve Stasko Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Western PA Posts: 455 Likes: 13 Liked 274 Times in 143 Posts	Re: 1967 ss/ea Ronnie seldom drove the R0 car. It was usually piloted by a hired driver. Ronnie drove the Hemi Belvedere that was updated to R0 specs after the parts became available. That was the car they kept through '68 at the direction of Chrysler. It ran SS/B in '67, and was moved to D in '68 with rule changes/new car releases. The cars were lettered as "GTX" early on, as Chrysler wanted to advertise the upscale model as opposed to the base Belvedere II. You can tell the difference between the II and the R0, as the II had a rectangular "Hemi" emblem where the "Belvedere" emblem was at the front of the fender after they converted the II to R0 specs. The R0 had the Belvedere emblem there. The II is with John Mahoney in Kansas, and has a vin tag from a '65 car with the car that S&M installed as NHRA was only looking for the R0 prefix on the VIN to make the car legal. Remember at this time, clones and bodies in white were a no go...the cars had to have a VIN tag stating the car was what it was supposed to be. In '68, GTX trim was added when the car was moved to D...the R0 trim would have put the car in C, as the new Hemi A-Bodies were in B. The Street Hemi combination (which was essentially the same as the R0/W0) faired a lot better in D, than in C, where it had to go against '64/65 Hemi cars, for example.