1966 Plymouth Belvedere I 426 HEMI`s: let`s track them down!

[TobiasM]

FBBO-fellows,

don`t ask what Ma-MOPAR can do for you, ask what you can do for Ma-MOPAR!

Thus: let`s track down all the 1966 Plymoth Belvedere I HEMI-cars!

Should be a very solvable task, as very few were made: 79 w/4spd + 57 w/auto = 136 in total.

That`s the 2-door post-cars and they show VIN# „RL21H6…“: lightest, stiffest and thus fastest 1966-HEMI-car you could buy.

Anybody here knows one…or two…or three?

l’ll start and throw in 27 cars, that’s ~20%: 11 w/VIN#, 16 without. My chart is attached.

Due to the lack of a 1966 SuperStock RO/WO-car (or were any RO/WO21`s build?), many of the RL21H6`s saw use in Stock and SuperStock-classes: the name of Jere Stahl being the most popular connected to these cars.

But I dug out some more names: Don Grotheer, Arlen Vanke, Ken Heinemann, Sam Pannuty and Evans/Evans&Cleve also campaigned RL21H6`s.

For sure many privates entered them in official events or „just“ street-raced them.

Survival rate might be low...what makes them even more scare today.

Would be awesome if group-power could fill this blank spot in MOPAR-HEMI-history!

Thanks in advance!
___________________________________________
Update 20220930: up to 31 cars, updated list attached.
Update 20221003: up to 36 cars, updated list attached.

 

[Big bill]

Yes I too am a fan of these cars I will post a pic of mine as a reference although not a Hemi car but a two door sedan non the less.

 

[Big bill]

Real one

 

[TobiasM]

Thanks, Bill: that blue one is on my list already (#5).
Your white (non-Hemi-)car looks nice: a Hemi is not necessary to enjoy the RL21-body-style!

 

[TobiasM]

As it is more fun with photos: here you see the most popular of the 1966 2-door-post-HEMI’s.

It is that of Jere STAHL from York, PA who took part in the 3 out of 4 1966-NHRA-Nationals. At event #1 (Winternationals) he did not take part with this car, as it was not ready yet or he did not had even bought it.

Because to the information I found, STAHL had just changed over to a Chrysler-product, after he had performed a test of a 66 Hemi-Satellite for a motor-magazine...and was very pleased with the drivetrain.

 

[Big bill]

Here are a few .

 

[Big bill]

Sorry the one is a67.

 

[Big bill]

.

 

[TobiasM]

Thanks, @Big bill for your post #6.

@The "FEVER"-car: that one is new to me, great find!!!

Just added it to my list and already did some investigation on it.

Unfortunately no VIN found, but here is some infos:

Car is dark-blue met. (EE1) with blue interiour (L1B), 4-speed, was owned and campaigned by Bumper DEWITT, in 66 in Class A/Stock, did run a lot on Dover dragstrip.

Was offered in JUN 2011 on ebay and then in AUG 2011 again for 28,500$ (auction ended early, so most probably found a new owner then) and showed up a 3rd time on ebay in JAN-2016, now for 56,000$.

I have the ebay-item#`s of those 2 ebay-auctions, but they are too old that ebay now finds sth. or that the web would find them. If somebody has a own list of ebay-auctions or another idea, PM me and I`ll send you the item#`s.


@the black and red car: is already known to me, including VIN, it`s number #4 on my list. For me the most beautiful car/color-combo for a "as orderd from factory" car.


@the "ABOMINABLE SLOWMAN"-car: unfortunately a 67 not a 66, but I gues thats what you realized alrede (post#7). Anyways, a great car. BTW: original owner/driver: Charlie HALE.

Here are a few .

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[TobiasM]

Also many thanks for your posting #8!

It even contains SEVERAL cars new to me...but let`s start from top to bottom:

@ "REQUIN"-car:
New to me and added to my list!!! This car is of a French Canadian from the Quebec-area named Christian FORTIN. Found 2 links at quick google-search, one to a facebook-group, one to a Canadian message board.

I don`t have accounts to either, so if somebody is more involved in one or the other, here are the links:



Connexion


@ "BRAND X ELIMONATOR"-car:
That`s the car of Ken HEINEMANN and had been on my list already (#15). Unfortunately I do not know the VIN. Anybody here knows?

He was runner-up with this car to Shirley Shahan with her A990 in the Super Stock Eliminator-class @1966 Winter-Nationals in Pomona! He surrendered to the Drag-on-Lady. But what an accomplishment, that he was able to place a Street-Hemi in a final next-lane to a A990 - respect!!!


@ "AUSTIN COIL"-car:
EDIT says: sorry, not new to me, already listed as #28. Any more infos on this one, especially its VIN#?


@ "EVANS, EVANS & CLEVE"-car:
already known car to me, it`s #11 in my list. Meanwhile found out what the VIN is and updated my list. So one more that is clearly identified.

A very good looking car / design. Picture of it is in the "Maximum Perfomance: Mopar Super Stock Drag Racing"-book by Jim Schild. Other than that, I hardly found any info online.


@ the red unmarked car:
Must be a private individual running his own car, maybe even his sole/daily-driver car. So due to no sponsor or name on the car, I cannot clearly identify it. Does anybody have more info on this specific car?

The class its running in seems to me like "A/SA", so we can conclude it is an automatic-car.

I will add this as another unknown car to my list (red ext./red int./auto, #31 "unknown).

.

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[TobiasM]

For the statistics:

- I could tie down 1 more of the already KNOWN/LISTED cars by its VIN# (car #11)

- meanwhile I also found 2 more new UNKNOWN cars:

=> car#28, owned&driven by Mr. Austin COIL,, briefly mentioned on page 109 in Jim Schild`s book. Anybody any more infos?
=> And car #29, owned by Howard COLBY. By Jim Schild`s book, page 110 Colby lost A/S-class-final in 1966 event to Arlen Vanke (Arlen`s car is #23 in my list).


And last but not least thanks to @Big bill we have

- 2 more new and UNKNOWN cars added (cars #30 & #31), see my posting #10.

So we`re up plus 4 cars to now 31 cars. That equals to nearly 23%. Not bad for 5 days since this topic started - thanks!

I attached my updated list to my initial opening-post #1!

 

[chooch]

This car is more than likely Don grotheer.

 

[TobiasM]

Thanks for chiming in, @chooch !

To my knowledge Don Grotheer`s car was a manual car, thus class "A/S" and racing by "#862". I attached 3 photos of this particular car of Don Grotheer at the end of this post!

The unmarked red car instead, that @Big bill supplied, is an automatic-car, as class "A/SA" indicates.

At least, this is my understanding, please educate me, if I am wrong.

Also, if you are "Don Grotheer", you have no need to run an unmarked car. So I guess we have two red on red cars here, but different ones: at least by transmission.

Thanks!

This car is more than likely Don grotheer.

View attachment 1350401

 

[TobiasM]

Update on the statistics:

- we´re up plus 5 car`s to now 36 of the 136 cars (a good 1/4)
- 1 new car came by moparts-member "IROC78" (#32),
- 1 other new car by moparts-member "6bblgt" (#36)
- 3 more new cars found be me (#`s 33, 34 & 35).
- 15 cars now identified by VIN# (plus 3 thanks to "6bblgt") / 21 cars VIN# unknown
- updated list attached to my intitial posting #1
- I have good reason to hope fpr VIN#`s for at least one more car: Mr. Bob Mazzolini is willing to support my quest and promised to look up his VIN# (car #19). I approached moparts-member "sixpacksteve" with the same request for "his" car (#35).

So let`s start to hunt down the remaining "TOP 100" ;-)

 

[TobiasM]

Here are pics of the “new” cars #33 “CANDY MAN” of Jim OWENS & #34 “OX-CART” of Trevor TURNER.

Maybe this helps to get their VIN# at least.

@#33 “CANDY-MAN”: cannot clearly read the class on the windscreen, but it seems like an “automatic”-class (x/xA). Any thoughts on that?

@#34 “OX-CART”: pic taken 1981 at Calgary International Raceway (CIR) in CANADA.

 

[Big bill]

That a really cool pic of candy man .

 

[Big bill]

.

 

[TobiasM]

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View attachment 1352412

Thanks for the pic.

Is that the former „CANDY MAN“-car?

If not: which car is it, please?

 

[TobiasM]

@Big bill : To answer my own question: your posting #17 shows the “FEVER”-car.

Thanks to your posting #6, it had already been added to my list, so unfortunately no “new” car.

Meanwhile I also found out the VIN# ;-)

 

[Big bill]

This car is more than likely Don grotheer.

View attachment 1350401

What give's you that impression ?