1965 A990 Factory Race Cars ?

[Mike Gaines]

My memory has got the best of me and I need help with a conversation I am having with a friend about the 1965 Hemi offerings by Dodge and Plymouth.

I "think" I recall being at drag races during 1965 and seeing 20-30 1965 Dodge and Plymouths Hemi's running in SS/AA at a typical weekly race.

I know they built very few A990 race cars (a 100 or so, I think) and all these cars at one track in Alton Illinois could not have ALL been A990 cars.

So...I think I remember in 1965 these Hemi cars were merely Dodge or Plymouth 2 door sedans with the Hemi Race engines and TorqueFlites but they had bench front seats, back seats, etc and WERE NOT ALL A990 cars.

One of you guys, I would think, could settle my problem.

 

[Endangered Species]

I've read there were 102 A990 Plymouths and 101 A990 Dodges

Not saying that someone didn't put a Hemi in a 6 cyl car. Look at how many AWB cars that were racing in 65.... more than Chrysler built that's for sure.

 

[4406]

Light weight bucket seats.



Ray

 

[Budnicks]

a few photos from Chysler engineering & a few related cars
AWB factory & A990 Coronet's & Belvederes, some were converted too IIRC

 

[mentor70]

Bob Goss's A-990 Uber tribute, and my POS A-990 basket.

 

[Badvert65]

Hey, does anyone have any pictures of the driver's side of the 65 Melrose Missile?

 

[Endangered Species]

Bob Goss's A-990 Uber tribute, and my POS A-990 basket.

Trust me your POS A990 Tribute is a lot nicer than My A990 Plymouth tribute.

You have a lot to work with there.

 

[rgoss_10]

A990 1965 Hemi Coronet

The car is 100 percent accurate and has undergone 2200 hours of work to create..... All parts are period correct and with light weight parts utilized on the body. Every inch of the car is accurate and utilized the original parts.... It is truly an A990 modernized.....

Trust me your POS A990 Tribute is a lot nicer than My A990 Plymouth tribute.

You have a lot to work with there.

 

[Mike Gaines]

My A990 Tribute

I built and raced this car in 1966-67

 

[FU64RY]

All of these 63's and I have yet to see my old TIME BANDIT, 63 Belvedere Max Wedge.
I sold the car in 1990 for $8,000 and have not seen it since. Sorry no pictures.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

They had van buckets,no back seat and lightt weight nose & doors. Battery was in the trunk.

 

[383man]

You said they were running in SS/AA as I dont remember the 65 Hemi cars running that class. And to see 20 to 30 all at the same track does make you wonder what was going on. Maybe a Mopar test session with a bunch of the racers who bought the A-990 cars. I also remember many of them came with single exh as the cars had to run with the exh on the car but they could run open headers. So Mopar did the single exh for less weight and they had the cutouts to open if the left the stock headers on them. Ron

 

[Mike Gaines]

You said they were running in SS/AA as I dont remember the 65 Hemi cars running that class. And to see 20 to 30 all at the same track does make you wonder what was going on. Maybe a Mopar test session with a bunch of the racers who bought the A-990 cars. I also remember many of them came with single exh as the cars had to run with the exh on the car but they could run open headers. So Mopar did the single exh for less weight and they had the cutouts to open if the left the stock headers on them. Ron

To Ron and the other guys,
My question is this:
1) In addition to the 100 (or so) Dodge and 100 (or so) Plymouth A990 cars did Chrysler produce and sell regular Dodge and Plymouth 2 Door Sedans (complete with bench front seat, back seats, regular steel front fenders, etc) with a "race hemi and torqueflite" ?
I was racing my 1963 Plymouth Max Wedge Aluminum Nose car in AA/SA during the 1965 season and I sure think I remember there being a ton of 1965 Dodge and Plymouth Hemi cars running in Super Stock Eliminator at every track I raced at in 1965 and they all couldn't have been A990 cars (????)

 

[383man]

To Ron and the other guys,
My question is this:
1) In addition to the 100 (or so) Dodge and 100 (or so) Plymouth A990 cars did Chrysler produce and sell regular Dodge and Plymouth 2 Door Sedans (complete with bench front seat, back seats, regular steel front fenders, etc) with a "race hemi and torqueflite" ?
I was racing my 1963 Plymouth Max Wedge Aluminum Nose car in AA/SA during the 1965 season and I sure think I remember there being a ton of 1965 Dodge and Plymouth Hemi cars running in Super Stock Eliminator at every track I raced at in 1965 and they all couldn't have been A990 cars (????)

Mike I think AA/SA may have been a stock class back then or the Superstock classes were different back then as I do remember when the 68 Hemi A-bodies came out they went in SS /BA and SS/B and then were to fast for the class and were reclassified to SS/AA and SS/A. And I have heard the only other Mopar to fit that class was some of the lightweight aluminum front end 64 Hemi cars but not the 65 Cars I guess since they did not have aluminum front ends in 65. So I think the classes were a little different in 65 then in 1968. And as far as I know Mopar never built any other 65 Hemi cars for regular or race other then the 200 or so A-990 cars. I really cant explain what you saw back then as I wish I could ? Ron


Course some of them built a few alt wheelbase cars but I know you know more about them then I do.

 

[64 Post]

So...I think I remember in 1965 these Hemi cars were merely Dodge or Plymouth 2 door sedans with the Hemi Race engines and TorqueFlites but they had bench front seats, back seats, etc and WERE NOT ALL A990 cars.


One of you guys, I would think, could settle my problem.

What you may have seen is converted street wedge, 383 cars, etc. That would explain the full interior with bench seats.

 

[Mike Gaines]

Ron...I ran at the NHRA US NATIONALS at Indy in 1965. My Max Wedge aluminum nose car ran in the AA/SA class. We qualified and ran with the SS/AA and SS/A Hemi Cars (and Thunderbolts), all of us, in the Super Stock Eliminator Group. A/SA, and lower classes ran in the Stock Eliminator Group.

 

[383man]

Ron...I ran at the NHRA US NATIONALS at Indy in 1965. My Max Wedge aluminum nose car ran in the AA/SA class. We qualified and ran with the SS/AA and SS/A Hemi Cars (and Thunderbolts), all of us, in the Super Stock Eliminator Group. A/SA, and lower classes ran in the Stock Eliminator Group.

That tells me the classes must have been a bit different back then as I know in later years the only cars in SS/A and SS/AA were the 68 Hemi cars. Course they were not even around in 65 so I guess things changed some in the later 60's and 70's in the stock and superstock classes. Ron

 

[Mike Gaines]

Ron, although none of us Dodge and Plymouth guys couldn't believe it a guy named Mike Schmidt out of Ridgecrest California who ran a 1964 Ford Galaxy with the fiberglass hood and fenders and the 427 dual quad 425 HP motor with a automatic transmission actually held the AA/SA record for most of the year with the lap times around 12.1 seconds. He had heavy Ford backing. Us Dodge and Plymouth guys couldn't believe it a darn Ford with a Fordomatic transmission could outrun a Max wedge but it did it all summer.

 

[383man]

Ron, although none of us Dodge and Plymouth guys couldn't believe it a guy named Mike Schmidt out of Ridgecrest California who ran a 1964 Ford Galaxy with the fiberglass hood and fenders and the 427 dual quad 425 HP motor with a automatic transmission actually held the AA/SA record for most of the year with the lap times around 12.1 seconds. He had heavy Ford backing. Us Dodge and Plymouth guys couldn't believe it a darn Ford with a Fordomatic transmission could outrun a Max wedge but it did it all summer.

I always heard Ford built some lightweight 63 Galaxy's. Ron

 

[Mike Gaines]

It was a 64...Bobby Spears campaigned one also mainly on the west coast....1964 Galaxies, not 1963.