Thriller custom from SEMA360

 

Thriller Custom

 

The 1970 Plymouth Sport Satellite nicknamed “Thriller” was built by Randy Weaver of Weaver Customs in West Jordan, Utah and appeared in the SEMA360 virtual Battle of the Builders showcase.   

The top of the 900-horsepower supercharged SRT Hellcat Gen III Hemi V-8 peeks through the hood.  All that horsepower passes through a T-56 manual six-speed transmission and to the rear wheels through a narrowed Ford 9-inch rear end.

The car rides on a Scotts Hotrods independent front suspension and a triangulated four-link rear suspension with a Watt’s link.  Wilwood disc brakes provide the stopping power tucked inside a set of EVOD Industries three-piece wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber.

JS Custom Interiors in Salt Lake City handled the interior work with Hyde’s leather offset with billet accessories.   The dash is filled with Dakota Digital VHX-1023 instruments and a digital touch screen to run the Kicker audio system. The custom center console houses a Dakota Digital DCC-series controller for the Vintage Air climate package, and custom made billet shifter reminiscent of the Pistol Grip shifter made famous in the nineteen seventies Chrysler Corporation muscle cars.

All photos courtesy of SEMA 

1971 Plymouth Barracuda custom

 1971 Plymouth Barracuda custom 

This beautiful 1971 Plymouth Barracuda custom was built by Andy Leach and his crew at Cal Automotive Creations in Bennington, Nebraska for owner Kent Matranga was entered in the SEMA360 virtual "Battle of the Builders Contest" presented by the Specialty Equipment Market Association and reached the Top 12 finalists.

Underneath the tastefully modified bodywork painted by Charley Hutton with PPG Paints "Bronze Fire metallic" is the 700-horsepower supercharged Hellcat 6.2 liter Hemi engine hooked to a Bowler T56 six-speed transmission.

The ‘Cuda rides on 18-inch diameter x 8-inch wide EVOD wheels up front  and massive 20-inch diameter by 10-inch wide EVOD wheels in the rear with Baer brakes at all four corners.

Photos courtesy of SEMA

The famous "HEMI UNDER GLASS"

"HEMI UNDER GLASS"

Wheelstander

The massive Shell/Pennzoil/Quaker State display at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas offered attendees a rare opportunity for an up-close look at the 1968 version of the famous “Hemi under Glass” exhibition wheel stander.

The supercharged Hemi powered Plymouth Barracuda was conceived in 1965 and according to legend sketched onto a cocktail napkin by Hot Rod magazine editor Ray Brock for George Hurst. Brock intended it to be a competitive racer, but testing uncovered a problem– the mid-engine placement of the supercharged Hemi engine caused the lightened front end of the car to jump into the air at the hit of the accelerator pedal.

Instead of a competitive race car, Hurst, a master promoter, put the wheel standing car on tour and it became a huge hit with spectators and spawned dozens of imitators.   

The “Hemi Under Glass” has only had three drivers through the years – Bob Shrewsberry, Bob Riggle and the current driver, Mike Mantel. 

Shrewsberry left  the "Hemi Under Glass" and Hurst after one season, and developed his own "LA Dart" wheel stander ( a later version featured the supercharged Hemi engine in the car's trunk) sponsored by LA area Dodge dealers.  Later in the late seventies Shrewsberry toured the "Berry Wagon" a fiberglass 1930 Ford Model delivery truck wheelstander sponsored by the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park.     

The original 1965 "Hemi Under Glass" power train was used for the construction of the 1968 Barracuda body style and the 1965 car no longer exists.  Multiple versions of the  second generation "Hemi Under Glass" toured the country for Hurst through 1970, then the company was sold and Hurst just sponsored the cars until Riggle was injured in a crash in 1975.

 

Bob Riggle reintroduced the "Hemi Under Glass" in 1992 and performed with the car until another crash in 2016, after which Mantel became the designated driver.  The author was assured by Shell officials that the car shown at SEMA 2019 was not the same car crashed on the famous episode of "Jay Leno's Garage." 

Mantel planned to introduce a new  modern "Hellephant" supercharged 1,000 hp and 950 lb-ft of torque Hemi powered LX- class Dodge "Hemi under Glass" Challenger for the 2020 season.  

All photos by the author 

2019 Dodge HEMI® Challenge Champion

2019 Dodge HEMI® Challenge Champion

On August 30 2019 second-generation racer Jimmy Daniels won his fourth straight Dodge Hemi Challenge at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis in this vintage 1968 Dodge Dart equipped with a HEMI® engine from Ray Barton Racing Engines.  Dodge displayed the winning car, the specially designed Dodge trophy, which is a cylinder head from a Mopar HEMI® Engine, and the $15,000 winner’s check from Dodge at the 2019 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For the past nineteen years the Challenge has featured heads-up competition between HEMI®-powered Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda factory race cars built specifically for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Super Stock competition in 1968. The factory-built lightweight, purpose-built package cars dominated Super Stock class competition over five decades ago with their high-compression 426-cubic inch  HEMI® engines equipped with a pair of Holley carburetors.

Dodge Production code L023 denoted the model designed specifically for competition in Super Stock racing. Only 80 HEMI® Darts were built, and they differed substantially from regular production models- it was more than an engine swap. Partially assembled Dart chassis were shipped to the Hurst Performance facility in Madison Heights, Michigan, to complete the transformation. Hurst technicians had to literally hammer out the shock tower sheet metal to create clearance for the valve covers.

1968 factory photo courtesy FCA US LLC

Other modifications included metal work on the rear fenders to accommodate the big rear slick tires, fiberglass hoods and front fenders, light weight front and rear bumpers and Plexiglas™ windows for secured by seat belt straps rather than window cranks. Although the cars in theory were street legal, the vehicles were delivered in primer sans warranty with a sticker that stated the car’s    “intended only for use in supervised acceleration trials.”

The 23-year old Daniels is unbeaten in the special event since his debut in 2016 and now has an unblemished 19-0 record in elimination rounds.  Daniels  the number one qualifier for the Challenge with an run with an elapsed time of 8.473 seconds, defeated first-time finalist Rich Locker’s 1968 SS/AH Plymouth Barracuda with an ¼-mile elapsed time run of 8.576 seconds to Locker’s 8.629 seconds in the finale.  

All color photos by the author  

Fourth-generation 2020 Dodge Drag Pak Challenger debuts at SEMA 2019

It might be hard for enthusiasts to believe, but the current Dodge Challenger is more than 11 years old, and the featured vehicle in the MoPar Performance area at the 2019 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas is the fourth generation of the Drag Pak package, with previous versions in 2008, 2010 and 2015.

The 2020 Dodge Drag Pak which made its debut at SEMA is built as a track-only machine to compete in NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and NMCA (National Muscle Car Association) drag racing events against the COPO Camaro and the Mustang Cobra Jet.

The Drag Pak starts with a Body-in-White from the Brampton Ontario assembly plant, with an SFI Foundation Inc.-certified 7.50-second 25.5D roll cage added. The Strange Inc. rear axle assembly features 4-link suspension with adjustable coil over shocks and adjustable anti-roll bar.   Up front, the front Bilstein struts are double adjustable, and the car rolls on special lightweight Weld wheels and Mickey Thompson tires.

The heart of the beast is the 354-cubic inch supercharged HEMI® engine that develops over 1000 horsepower coupled to a T400 3-speed transmission with a Quickshift shifter. The body features a hood and front and rear fascia from the Challenger SRT Hellcat, and the car shown at SEMA was covered with a red white and blue nostalgic scheme that harkens back to Dodge Pro Stock cars of the nineteen seventies.

MoPar will only build and sell 50 of these potent machines, which means it is rarer than a McLaren Senna sports car so we can expect lots of collector car auction sales of these cars in the coming years.   

Photos by the author

Chrysler Hemi-powered Volkswagen  

On Saturday June 16 Pelican Parts hosted a Coffee & Cars show on the top deck of the parking garage at the Promenade on the Peninsula in Rolling Hills Estates, California.   This Chrysler "Hemi" powered Volkswagen Type 1 "beetle" was far and away the most unusual car at the show and attracted lots of attention from the spectators.  The car exhibited very high build standards although the graphics package is a bit outdated.

Photos by the author