Mopar of the Month November 2006

1970 Plymouth Hemi GTX

426 Hemi 4-speed 3:54 dana

Owner: Des Ryan

Location: Newfoundland Canada

Poor, poor, poor car!!! Feast your eyes on what’s left of the Mopar of the Month for November. My first thought when seeing these pictures was how does a very cool Hemi GTX end up in such dire straights??? Well unfortunately I can't fill you in on all the horrific details but I have asked the Des to share what is known of the car's history:

The car was sold new in Florida and in August of 1971 (according to the registration) was imported to the Mopar hotbed that is Puerto Rico by Romeo Gonzalez. It came back into the States when a tourist from Florida spied it on the beach in 2005. Its life in Puerto Rico was full of abuse, but there's still a sticker on the rear window that says "Salinas Dragway Class Winner". The car was stripped of its drivetrain (long gone) and left to die. The salt in the air and water around Puerto Rico is legendary, as it was used by the U.S. Armed Forces to dump old weapons which promptly rusted before they hit the bottom of the ocean. I purchased the car on the wonderful world of Ebay and had it shipped to my home in Newfoundland.

Sadly we cannot turn back father time to change the fate of this poor beast but I can tell you how this one rolled off the Lynch Road Assembly Line on or about December 2nd 1969. Besides being a factory HEMI car, this GTX was first motivated by placing the huge console mounted Hurst Pistol Grip shifter, into 1st gear and spinning the 3:54 gears located in the Dana rearend. Feeding the hungry Hemi was the standard (with the Hemi engine) Air Grabber hood. This Hemi GTX also sported a somewhat unusual colour combo; Deep Burnt Orange Metallic exterior paint and matching Deep Burnt Orange interior with the exception of the eye popping white bucket seat, rear white bench, and white door panels. A standout on any Plymouth's dealer lot when new; this one continues to be a jaw dropper, but for all the wrong reasons. Rounding off the car was the scoop mounted turn signal indicators, power steering and manual 4 way drums.

What is going to become of this car....glad you asked! Des has decided to put the car up for sale! Should the car be crushed, fixed, rebodied, displayed as is or.... at this point you have some say, pony up the $25,000 Canadian asking price and all these decisions will be yours! The car is as mentioned missing the complete drivetrain, but has retained its core support stamped numbers, door sticker and VIN tag. Galen Govier luckily had a copy of the original broadcast sheet which goes with the car along with the Galen supplied Fender Tag. Also included are Galen's Registry Letter and his Decode.

Curiously when you look at the Galen supplied production numbers the car is 1 of 71 1970 Hemi GTX's, but according to my math 43 4-speed cars plus 29 auto's adds up to 72??? Galen says an additional 5 Hemi GTX's were sold new in Canada. Anyway you add the numbers they come back as extremely rare!!!

Thanks to Des for supplying the pictures and story for the Mopar of the Month!!!