New member from SE Michigan

[Hemi Steve]

Hi all:
I'm a long time gear head. My first seriously fast car dates back to 1963 when I dropped a 409 425 hp engine in a '58 Chevy Delray 2 dr sedan. Muncie 4 speed and 4.56 posi. My car interest had to take a back seat for a few years for college and Navy. in 1970 my wife and I bought our first new car: a 1970 Challenger (red over white) with a 318 4 speed. Loved the styling but truthfully not a well built or great handling car. My next interesting car was a Corvette with an L82 and 4 speed. Sold that and got a mid engine Maserati Bora 4.7 liter with Webbers and a ZF 4 speed. Sold that and got a Ferrari 308 GTSi 4 valve. Around the same time I got a 32 Ford Highboy with a blown 350 and a 350 3 speed. Sold the Ferrari and got a Lamborghini Countach which I sold 18 months ago. I decided I wanted to get back into Detroit heavy iron. So I started looking at mid 60's Super Stockers when I came across a 1970 Challenger (white over black) with an Arruzza built 511 Hemi and a Tremec 5 speed (10.90 / 130). Couldn't resist...bought it about this time last year. In the middle of all of the above for a couple of years I got into open wheel Formula Atlantic racing with a Van Diemen winged chassis and a built 2 liter Ford.

On August 1st last year I had a fire in my garage. A lithium polymer battery caught fire and burned through the table it was on and ignited a set of radial T/A's on steelies and my slicks which were stored under the table. The fire itself was relatively small but the tire smoke totally ruined the Challenger, the Highboy,my wife's' car and literally everything in the garage. The insurance paid for everything. Last October I was looking for another E-body Hemi when I came across a 1973 Barracuda (Limelight / white) with a 528 inch Hemi, Viper 6 speed, Dana 60 (4.10) with a Detroit Locker. Bought it. The 528 doesn't make as much power at the 511 in the Challenger but it is plenty for me. The Jury is still out on the locker.

That's about it for car stuff. I'll put some pictures of the Challenger and the Barracuda in the photo garage in a bit

Hemi Steve

 

[js29]

Welcome aboard!! vary interesting automotive past you have there.

 

[DetMatt1]

Sucks about the fire, sorry. The white Challenger was totaled??

 

[Hemi Steve]

Sucks about the fire, sorry. The white Challenger was totaled??

Yup...totaled. The fire never touched it but the highly corrosive tire smoke got on and into every sruare millimeter of the car. Anything that was aluminum or chrome was corroded. Even the metal portions of electrical connectors was corroded by the smoke. I had an "agreed value" insurance policy but that money would not cover the restoration cost. Plenty of money to replace it though. I have a friend in the Chicago area that has a bunch of Hemi cars and is excellent at big projects. He offered to buy it for the salvage value so he has the car now. He and a couple of friends took about 4 months to disassemble the car and clean what could be cleaned (not much beyond the body and major drive line pieces could be saved).

 

[Hemi Steve]

Yup...totaled. The fire never touched it but the highly corrosive tire smoke got on and into every sruare millimeter of the car. Anything that was aluminum or chrome was corroded. Even the metal portions of electrical connectors was corroded by the smoke. I had an "agreed value" insurance policy but that money would not cover the restoration cost. Plenty of money to replace it though. I have a friend in the Chicago area that has a bunch of Hemi cars and is excellent at big projects. He offered to buy it for the salvage value so he has the car now. He and a couple of friends took about 4 months to disassemble the car and clean what could be cleaned (not much beyond the body and major drive line pieces could be saved).

The white paint was badly discolored. It's being stripped and repainted. The Engine is torn down and is being refreshed. Nothing in the interior could be saved. The corrosive material even got in the lug bolt threads and seized them along with a lot of other fasteners. Overall, the damage was far worse than anyone imagined. He thinks it will start going back together this summer.

Steve

 

[DetMatt1]

That's crazy! Was there anything special about that car? Was it an R/T car?

 

[burntorange70]

Welcome to the site.

 

[moparleo]

Welcome aboard. Sad story so far...

 

[Hemi Steve]

That's crazy! Was there anything special about that car? Was it an R/T car?

No, it was a base car to start. Aside from the basic body almost nothing belonged to a base car. Every chassis and suspension part was upgraded above stock. The engine and transmission are not stock of course. The engine had a solid roller cam Stage V heads and intake. For Hemis Only did a lot of porting on the heads and intake and set up a pair of Quick Fuel carbs....The list goes on. As you can see in the picture it had a T/A hood to clear the carbs. I also had a custom built Six Pak style air cleaner for the 2X4bbl setup.

Steve

 

[DetMatt1]

Still a shame, I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if something like that happened in my shop.
Whereabouts are you in SE MI? Woodward much?

 

[Hemi Steve]

Still a shame, I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if something like that happened in my shop.
Whereabouts are you in SE MI? Woodward much?

I'm in Oakland....around 28 mile and Rochester Road. We'really not back in our house yet after the fire. Insurance company has us in a rental house in Rochester Hills until the house restoration is done. Probably late Summer. I've done the cruise a couple of times with my Highboy. 10 mile long traffic jam. The blower motor not so happy idling along at 1/2 mph. Where are you located?

Steve

 

[DetMatt1]

the world just got a little smaller, we live in Rochester and I have a shop in north Royal Oak.

 

[Hemi Steve]

the world just got a little smaller, we live in Rochester and I have a shop in north Royal Oak.

Wow it really is a small world. What kind of shop do you have in Royal Oak?

When the weather gers good enough to get the cars out we'll have to get together. Do you go to any of the local shows or cruise nights?

Steve

 

[DetMatt1]

I build custom furniture.
Home

I'm in the North Oakland Mopar Muscle car club and we have our spring show and swap coming up in a couple of weeks at the Packard Proving Grounds on Van Dyke. This was the one that used to be at the Centerline parts depot for all those years. I also attend the CEMA show at the WPC Museum at the beginning of June, that's the best local show of the season imo, followed closely by Roseville Chrysler Jeep in September. Other than that I do the Mopar Nationals in OH and hit Woodward quite often. I get a lot of enjoyment out of driving either my Imperial or the Challenger on an almost daily basis during the season.
We should definitely get together sometime. Maybe you can make the show and swap at the Proving grounds this month on the 24th, 8am till 3pm.

 

[Mopar Nut]

Welcome aboard!