"Back in the Day"
Page 9
1967 Plymouth RO23 "Super Stock" Belvedere.
Hi,
I am seeking any information about this "Hemi Blues" 67 Super Stock Plymouth Belvedere. Anything such as past ownership, events, pictures, etc. leads, would be usefull and appreciated. This pic was taken at New England Dragway.
I own a 67 RO23 SuperStock Belvedere that I beleive used to be the Hemi Blues. I would like to restore it to its as raced condition, but need more info, especially a color picture before I can proceed.
The car I have is a Hemi 4 speed and was sold new at Fred Cain Motors in Willmington Mass. I can be contacted via email at hemi67gtx@yahoo.com. Be sure to use my name Joel in the email to get past my spam filter. Thanks!
-Joel Nystrom
***UPDATE***
Good news!
After several years of searching, I finally have the history on my RO23 SuperStock Belvedere nailed down! Thanks to every one who helped!
The car was bought new by Mel Parker at Fred F. Cain Motors in Wilmington Mass, for $3550. At first Mel had a hard time getting Cain to sell him the car, he went home without it. Mel was a young man just out of college with a promising new job at a power plant, and he coulndn't get the car out of his mind. He went back to the Dealer and persuaded them to sell it.
Mel planned originally to race the car in SuperStock, but his committment to the Army Reserve combined with the demands of his new job kept getting in the way of those plans. So he had Cain motors put a heater in the car and he drove it on the street. Mel recalls that the car was the ultimate sleeper, and was unbeatable on the street. But with 4.88 gears and a slick shifted 4 speed, the car really belonged on the track. He had it custom painted as the Hemi Blues, (with some groovin' cob-webbing on the light blue areas) and began racing it in Pure Stock at New England Dragway. Later, he radiused the wheelwheels for bigger tires. This involved some paintwork, and the PLYMOUTH lettering was removed from the rear quarters and the hood lip. He raced the car in a variety of classes until he sold it sometime in the early seventies. At one point he raced in a class that required a single 4 barrel, so he installed a tunnel ram and the Grump lump hood scoop.
I am thinking that I will paint it up the way he had it in the first version, and use the Crager SS mags. I am pretty enthused about it now!
There was also a long path to finding out the history of the 'Blues.
When I got the IBM card from Chysler Historical, it told me that the car was delivered to Fred E. Cain Motors on Willmington MA. I called over to Cain motors and was told that they had raced tha car as the "Hurri-Cain". Cool! Now I can restore it as a historic race car with a really cool name! So I started searching for old pictures of it, with no success. Around 2005 Geoff Stunkard was kind enuff to put a little blurb about my search into his column in Mopar Collecors Guide. As a result of that I was contacted by David Cain. After checking with his dad, (Bobby Cain, driver of all the
Hurri-Cains) he determined that my car was not a Hurri-Cain, they never raced a 67 Belvedere. He figures that when I originally talked to Fred Cain, he was confused about which car I had when he told me that my car was a HurriCain. Not what I wanted to hear. He reccomended that I search out Dick Perrault, who was a mechanic at the dealership and also the cheif wrench on the Hurri-Cain race team.
Through the magic of the internet, I found Dick, and he remembered the car. He said that they sold it to some kid, but didn't remember who. He did recall putting a heater in it for the buyer so he could street drive it.
So then I figured that was it, there was no history. I would restore the car to stock.
1967 Superstock 4 speed Mopars have a unique bellhousing and I needed one. I ended up winning one on Ebay, and the seller happened to be Reed Koeppe, a vintage race car collector/restorer. I told him everything I knew about the car, and he wanted to help me with it's history. He ended up sending me the black and white action shot that is posted below, and suggested that maybe this was the car. After comparing as many details as possible, I formed the opinion that this car was the Hemi Blues. It was that picture, posted at draglist.com, that popped up when Mels old pal in Florida decided last December to Google "Hemi Blues". He put Mel in touch with me, and here we are.
-Joel
