My '63 Max Wedge Aluminum Frt End Car

[Mike Gaines]

Here is an old picture from 1963. I was 21 years old. I bought my Max Wedge Aluminum Front End Car that spring.
It was a Beleveder 2 Door HARDTOP. Almost all of them were Savoy Sedans. Galen Govier told me that there were only 3 MAX WEDGE ALUMINUM LIGHT WEIGHTS 2 door hardtops made in 1963...all 3 of them were produced at the St Louis Plant.

 

[cbcborm]

great memories thanks for the photo and info.

Here is an old picture from 1963. I was 21 years old. I bought my Max Wedge Aluminum Front End Car that spring.
It was a Beleveder 2 Door HARDTOP. Almost all of them were Savoy Sedans. Galen Govier told me that there were only 3 MAX WEDGE ALUMINUM LIGHT WEIGHTS 2 door hardtops made in 1963...all 3 of them were produced at the St Louis Plant.
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[383man]

Thats an awesome looking 63 Maxie as I love that pic ! Acording to my Darrell Davis book on the 63 Max Wedge cars Plymouth built 40 Aluminum front end Max Wedge Plymouths in 1963 but I dont remember if it says how many were hardtops. Now I gotta get the book out and see. But wow what a nice 63 you had. How fast did it run and was it basically all stock or did you modify it much ?? Thanks for the cool pic. Ron

 

[Mike Gaines]

Ron, The only thing I did was replace the stock Max Wedge Camshaft with an ISKENDERIAN 1012B...virtually everyone who was racing the max wedges back then switched to that Isky Cam.
I had 1 of the 2 sets of RAMCHARGER MARK II HEADERS ever built. They were originally on Al Ekstrands LAWMAN car and I bought them off of him starting for the 1964 season.
I ran Goodyear BlueStreak 7" wrinkle wall slicks screwed to 15x6 black steel wheels at about 7lbs of air. I originally ran
10" Inglewood Recaps but found out real quick that the much lighter and stickier BlueStreaks were for lower et's.
I ran the motor virtually stock. I had a pair of Stewart Warner Electric Fuel Pumps mounted on the rear frame member pushing gas to the front. (everyone ran the same pumps) I had 760x15 front tires. 1800 stall speed converter...that was the max available. Trunk Mounted Battery and Heater and Defroster Delete was standard for the Max Wedge Liteweight cars. It was a STAGE III with 13.5-1 pistons. I had a SUN TACH and that was about it. We flat towed it everywhere with a Tow-Bar as very few guys had trailers back then.
We experimented with all kinds of traction devices...We once had a 62" long single bar that was bolted to a welded bracket on the axle housing that stretched from the passenger side of the rear axle all the up to the front of the frame member right behind the driver side tire. The theory was that it would "lift" the driver side of the car "up" to put weight to the passenger side rear for traction. With that we had a pair of traction bars going from the shock plates towards the rear of the car. It looked cool but didnt really help. We ended up with clamping the springs and running a pinion snubber.
I ran A/FX in 1963, SS/A in 1964 and AA/SA in 1965. My best time was at the US Nationals in 1963 where I went 12.13 and 115.08. I qualified 17th (had to be in the top 16 for Super Stock Eliminator Run Offs where if I woulda qualified 16th I would have run Dave Stricker in his SS/AA Hemi Dodge...) Strangely enuf (and it is hard to believe) that a guy named Mike Schmidt (Ridgecrest Ford, Ridgecrest, CA) held the AA/SA automatic record in 1965...with all the Mopar Max Wedges running he ran a 1964 Ford Lightweight (fiberglass hood and frt fenders) with a 427 Ford 425HP with a FORD-O-MATIC auto trans. He was a Ford factory supported racer. He held the record most all the time between 12.05 and 12.10.
It was hard for us Mopars guys to swallow that....lol

 

[dave dodge]

63 max wedge..

Thanks Mike for sharing , great read. Boy, what a beautiful car!!!

 

[ozymaxwedge]

Mike that is amazing !! I have seen your 65 altered wheel base pictures and was like WOW !! Now you come out with a factory 63 HT Bel Max ali SS car !!! You have been there and done it mate, fantastic.
Here is my 63 HT Bel Ali SS, You would remember the name MILNE BRO'S ? this car is in Australia and just a few foot from me, my father raced it in the early 70's.



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Bill Hanyon was the driver in this shot

 

[Sonny Black]

Sonny thinks it's an awesome sight!:icon_eyes:


I pretend my '63 is as cool...but not even close...

 

[ozymaxwedge]

A total of 7 Belvedere Hard Tops with aluminum font package, 5 auto and 2 man.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Great car. Thanks for sharing.

 

[furyus63]

Not sure how many Belvedere aluminum nose hardtops were made but one of them was from my dealership, Coppola Chrysler Plymouth, Westport, CT., Dover Dragstrip, Wingdale, NY.

 

[georgep3689]

second car on trailor

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bottom left corner article drag news 11-7-64

 

[dvw]

That was an expensive venue back then for a 21 year old kid. How did you do it?
Doug

 

[Budnicks]

very cool vintage drag car photos

 

[Mike Gaines]

Well, The max wedge lite weight was about $4000 if I remember right. I got a "balloon loan" from the local loan company. I paid $100 per month for 24 months, then at the end of 24 months I still owed them about $2500. I was in the speed shop business and earned all my money selling Speed Equipment to the area drag and street racers.
The 1968 Hemi Road Runner (shown in a different post) I got from the local Plymouth Dealer as a fully sponsored ride.
Back then the Plymouth Dealers were really into selling cars by promoting drag racing....all my buddies bought 1968 Road Runners and GTX's that year. They were all 440 Cubic Inch, 375 HP.

 

[67coronetman]

I had a friend in California that had a real one very cool & rare car.