The other day my buddy,Ethan,called me up,and said he had something big cooking,when i ask him what it was,he refused to tell me.He said he did not want to jinx it.So i knowing my buddy thought he found another Harley(he owns 9 of them) and did not really care.Anyway after we spent the day running around taking care of some rental property,i was ready to go home.As we where driving home his cell phone rang,he talked for a few minutes,and said we had something else to do,well me being the one with the truck,said no i was tired and wanted to go home.Than he tells me...426 HEMI....well being the mopar man i am,i turned that big old Dodge truck around and pushed the petal to the metal.Now the sick part of this story,i had drove down this road a 1000 times and never seen a mopar(all car guys know where the good cars are),as we come to the dead end street,we park,get out,walk down a drive way,the first thing i see is a 1969 GTX...WOW....no im excited,than this old man comes outside,and starts to tell the story how he raced old mopars in the 60s and 70s,and he had a few old HEMIs satting around.He opens the garage door,a garage thats stuffed to the raffters with everything you can think of.The old man points to the corner,after we dig are way to it,and uncover it,there it is,covered in 40 years of rust and dirt.I make a couple phone calls to a few mopar gurus,and we break the numbers down to a 1966 426 Hemi...Well my friend haggles with the old guy,they come up with a price...and me and my buddy about have a heart attack loading this dream find up....It just shows you...there still out there...now if i can only talk him into putting it in my 1932 Rockne...
Another sick thing about this is,he rebuilt the short block in the 70s.The moter is 30 over,it also has lots of speed goodies that went with it.
Man. I would love to find one of those. That would be perfect for my OT car, a 68 Chager R/T. I had a lead on one hear in my town, but it turn out to be nothing. Great find!! Congrats?
how many of the 426s did they make? im assuming they made more of the early hemis cause they are on a lot of rides. congrats on finding your dream engine.. rebuild her@ chris.
The old man could not remember what this moter came out of.But he was real cool to talk too,when he told me he could pick these up for $200.00 or $300.00 back in the 60s and 70s,i really become sick.I cant wait to go back and search for more cool shit.
Im going back this weekend,he has this really cool looking duel tac and speedo,thats mounted on the GTX,i never seen nothing like it,its made on a single bracket that mounts to the steering column...i have to get that,plus look around for more hemi parts.
Nice find. Make good friends with the old man, I'm sure he has some more good stories and parts to be had.
The Race Hemi 426 was introduced in the 1964 model year. The Street Hemi 426 came out in the 1966 model year in Mopar "B"-bodies (Coronet/Charger/Belvedere/Satellite). FAR more early Hemis were built over the years 1951 - 1958 over the three Chrysler divisions that produced Hemi engines (Chrysler, Dodge and DeSoto), than the eight model years (1964 - 1971) that the 426 Hemi was built.
Roughly 10K 1966-1971 426 cars were built. Of course, they built a lot more engines back then too, plus they retooled and are making more elephants now.
thats a interesting question.. how dose the new hemi compare to the old one? minus the EFI? will these hemis being built today be desirable in 30 years? chris.
Got the pan,and a brand new pete jackson gear drive in the box,he said he has extra valve covers buried in the garage,i live for the hunt....
He dropped the price on the GTX,i really like to pull it outside,and look in the trunk,there 6 foot of stuff on the car.
I was invited by a friend to a tag sale of industrial parts and equiptment and I purchaced 5 392's and 2 354's for a single lot price! Now what do I do with them?
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