My 64 Factory EE1 Max Wedge Light Weight

[hogpowr]

Guys I need help finding information and or old pictures of a car I recently purchased. I just purchased a 1964 Dodge 330 factory light weight car. (I didn't know it was when I bought it, neither did the seller...) Yes I got amazingly lucky!

It has been verified by Darrell Davis and the car is now in his Max Wedge Registry. It is very solid, but has been cut and hacked over the years of drag racing. The car was 1 of 9 H.C. Max Wedge cars in EE1 Dark Blue with L1B light blue interior. 3 of those 9 came with a 4 speed like mine. The car was shipped to Margana Motors in Stone Park, IL on January 9th 1964. I believe it was sold to someone in Wisconsin and would have been raced in the midwest. The VIN on these cars are public knowledge if you know where to look online. So I will share the last 6 digits of the VIN in case anyone knows the car. 161606.

If you know the dark blue dodge in the picture, please let me know. I figure I have a 1 in 9 chance this is my car. If you know anyone who had or drove a dark blue 4 speed two-door sedan let me know. This picture is from US 30 Drag Way

Rumor has it the original owner may have been from Madison, WI. The car may also have been painted at some point when the fenderwells were cut out of it = Red on the quarter panels, silver in the middle and dark blue on the roof

 

[Budnicks]

What a stroke of luck... Congrats on your score.... Very cool car do you have anymore photos ??, recent ones maybe... I'm sure I'm not the only person that would really like to see some.... Maybe that will help to identify, the cars racing history too !!

 

[khryslerkid]

Yes, by all means, more pictures! We could use this picture for some trivia. Color Me Gone, Hemi Honker (far left). Maby Candy Matic (center, back)...

Which US 30 ? York Pa.? Indiana?

 

[64BEL]

Yes - pictures! Sounds like a great find.

 

[Moparsmitty]

WOW! What a score. I would be thrilled to own a car like that once in my lifetime. You are incredibly lucky. Post many pics please.

 

[65 Plymouth Satellite 426]

Hey! I Found The 1964 Max-Wedge We Drag Raced In The 1960's By Asking About It On This Forum. By Luck, The Car Was Owned By Someone On Here! Very Lucky!

 

[2059]

Great score!!! Those usually don't slip through the cracks, right place, right time. It does happen, Congrats!! Would love to see some shots no matter the condition.

 

[hogpowr]

Thanks guys. Yes amazingly lucky. I just wanted a solid 2 door sedan to make into a gasser. Now I have to take a different route. Frankly a more expensive route. Part of me says to sell it and make the Money on the car, but not sure I can get rid of such a rare piece of racing history. I've been able to track the car back to around 1980.. But I can't find any ownership of the car prior. The guy who bought it in 1980 can't remember who he bought it from or what the guys name was. It also didn't have a title at that point, as it was strictly a Drag car. I have confirmed the car has never been stolen. When the guy in 1980 owned it, he bought it in primer and rust.. no drivetrain etc..etc.. he never got it running and actually traded the car to a guy who did house work for him.. I will get a picture or two of the car posted here soon.

The picture is from US 30 in Gary, Indiana. September 1964. It's actually the cover of Auto Sports Magazine. One of the guys who owned the car, seems to think that could be this car. Its funny, the guy who owned it in 1980 knew it was an aluminum front end car, but didn't think he could prove it. He didn't realize the package tray and core support numbers could de code the VIN and thus prove the car.

- - - Updated - - -




Believe it or not guys, I bought the car off Craigslist. The seller told me there were rumors the car was a lightweight car, but he didn't realize he could prove it with the package tray number. I assumed the story was seller BS trying to get more for it. A good story always helps the cars value right.......? I didn't believe it and offered him a fair 2 door sedan price. He took it. As I was tearing the car down I saw the package tray number and said. hmmm.. wonder if I should check this out. I sent an email to Darrell Davis and Greg Lane. Suddenly they got real excited and started asking for a bunch of pictures of firewall and floor.. real weird angles of odd locations. Then they sent me the greatest email of all time. Telling me which car I owned, where it was from..etc.. I've been on cloud nine ever since. It obviously has no drivetrain, all the aluminum parts are long gone.. but the body is there, quite solid actually.

The car as it sits never actually got on the road. The guy I bought it from, painted it as you see it 15 years ago and planned to put it together and race it. He never got around to it and the car sat until I bought it.

If anyone knows a dark blue max wedge car from the midwest, please let me know. There were only 9 made and only 3 with a four speed. I would love to find out who bought it and who raced it in the 60s.

 

[dartguy340]

Nice find....I hate you!:hello2:

 

[wedgie]

Great car. Looks like over the years someone converted it to an automatic? The brake pedal looks like from an automatic and the shifter cutout looks like the 4 speed hump is missing. Harder to tell from this angle though. Got any pics from the driver's side?

 

[Budnicks]

here's some 64 Dodges, pretty sure Polara's mostly, I wonder how many of the Polara's or 330's got wrecked or turned into AFX or especially the AWB conversion many were destine for... a couple of them are accounted for too... notice the different roof lines, I wonder if all of the 330's were Post Coupe's ?? with the squared C pillar... or if any were HT's ??...I don't know them well enough to be sure... Where did you get the only 9 made number... I thought I read something like 50 factory lightweight cars total for A990's between Plymouth & Dodge's... Not sure how many were Max Wedge Lightweights... Not sure if that was acid dipped cars or aluminum front end cars combined or what... I used the others just because "maybe" they can lead you to a team, former owners, that had either or... I think they were pretty exclusive & usually only select hand picked "Chrysler Race Team Only sponsored", from what I read, But I could be completely of base/wrong... Wasn't there an early version with different style front fenders too ??... like the Silver Bullet on the 3rd from last photo... Maybe contact the Richard Petty Garage, they were the main suppliers of specialty racing parts for the bulk of Plymouth & Dodges race teams back in the day.... that's about or near the time the Hemi was banned from Nascar & Petty's run in Drag Racing, with the 43Jr. Barracuda... It might be worth a shot

 

[Budnicks]

who knows how many parts were swapped around on these cars too the #'s are so subjective, Chrysler was doing some weird stuff back then to get around many of the NHRA rules... sorry for any confusion, stupid questions or statements, my forte is in not in the early 60's cars or the unattainable Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge Team race cars, because they were always out of my budget, or so rare they weren't sold or put away in some museum, garage or barn, so I just didn't bother to learn as much about them, as I should have... Mine knowledge base is 68-70 for the most part, the rest I just dabbled in or friends owned...

 

[hemidart1]

I think after reading this post I no longer have anything half this cool to add to the site-:headbang:

I envy you!!!!
great score.

 

[hogpowr]

thanks guys. I'm pretty amazed myself. Never would have imagined a real max wedge car would be bought on craigslist. Budnicks.. Darrell Davis keeps the registry and has all the stats on max wedge and race hemi cars. If I counted right... there were 9 dark blue dodge 330 light weight cars made. Which is were I say 1 of 9. 3 of the 9 were 4 speeds. So I guess technically I have a 1 of 3 car. There were 70 HC light weight 2 door sedan max Wedges in 1964 and another 20 hard tops built. total max wedge aluminum front end cars were 90 in 1964. The Race hemi Cars would be in addition to the numbers I just stated.

- - - Updated - - -

As far as the trans tunnel goes. It looks like someone cut out part of the firewall and trans tunnel. The rear fenderwells were cut out and then patched up by someone as well. Perhaps someone moved the engine back and cut the rear fenderwells to fit huge tires. I still haven't found anyone who owned the car or saw the car before 1980, so its hard to figure out all the changes that were made over the years.

 

[64BEL]

thanks guys. I'm pretty amazed myself. Never would have imagined a real max wedge car would be bought on craigslist.

And it was right here in WI? Ugh:gah:

Seriously - congratulations!

 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Wow you've got a great find. I see your 'in town" . Was this thing right here in Mil??? WOW!!!!!

 

[hogpowr]

I found it outside of West Bend.

 

[ply64post]

Max Wedge

Budnick

Quote:

Wasn't there an early version with different style front fenders too ??... like the Silver Bullet on the 3rd from last photo...

The car in question is a 63 Dodge.

 

[Mr4Speed]

dude, congratulations! Enjoy the car!!

cheers from the Netherlands, Marcel

 

[hogpowr]

Thanks guys. As I said, I attached a picture of a group of Mopars at US 30 dragway in Indiana. If anyone knows who owned the dark Blue sedan in the second row I would love to find out if that is my car.