Projects Ramchargers High & Mighty III build project

Hi guy's!

Hard to believe its been over 4 years since I first found the HAMB!

Back on christmas day 2007 my Mom gave me the current Hot Rod magazine stuffed inside a box with a bunch of clothes (Mom knows better then to give me clothes for Christmas! lol) Well inside the mag was a list of the top (50 or 100) Hotrod's of all time. I had a good look through the book while digesting turkey, Then my Dad enjoyed reading it as well, After closing the book he told me there was one car in that list that he would love to re-create, I replied with the "i bet it was on page such and such" (can't remember right off now) He replied with a matter of fact it was! Thats right the Ramchargers High and Mighty!

You see Dad restored two cars in our basement when I was a kid, The first was a 48 Desoto when I was 1 or 2, The second was a 51 Dodge Wayfarer Sportabout convertible that he purchased when I was 6. He also let me come down to the shop and sit and watch, pass tools, and just in general inhale all of the car knowledge and passion that he and his buddies had when they where all down there drinking there cokes and fiddling away at the car.
Well after a few hours I bet Dad that I could find an old school hemi by new years day, He laughed and said if you can find one we'll find a car and buy it to build! On new years day we jumped in the truck and went to pick up a 392 AND a 354 that I had found for get this..... $100!!!!!!! LOL

Needless to say the search was on to find a good body which didn't come our way till July of 2008, When I found my baby, It was in North Dakota and listed on Ebay for $4500 starting bid. But no one bid at all, I had contacted the seller for a phone number and as soon as the auction I called the guy and hashed out a deal, Sent him the money, arranged shipping to Bangor Maine and waited till late october before the car finally arrived! That weekend we ]jumped in a truck with trailer in tow to pick it up, The car was far better then I had originally expected so all was good. I drove the car for a couple of summers but its just been sitting now since 2009.

Well my son is turning 10 this July so it's time to get my ass in gear and get to work on the project, Enough dreaming and procrastinating its time to do some work, So yesterday he and I started by removing the rear fenders, wheels and tires, and a few pieces under the hood prepping to remove the front clip and the drive line. It's going to be a slow process building the car as monies tight as it always is but we mad a vow yesterday that we're going to do as much as possible our selves, Including all body work, chopping, shortening the frame as well as building the motor and transmission, basicaly everything other then machine work and probably the glass cutting!

Here's a few pictures,
1st sight!

Rear fenders removed with NOS M&H Racemasters set in place





1st Photoshop attempt 4"chop, 8"s removed from the body between the door and rear fender

 

Looks like a good start to a very interesting car!

 

Cool project. You planning to replicate that big high-rise intake?

 

Thanks man!!

Thanks man! Thats the plan! But seeing as I want it to be a street driven car I'm tossing around the idea of doing it with non functional carbs with the linkage functional while hiding some sort of multi port fuel injection inside the box... lots of work to do before I need to get that figured out! lol

PS. aftet this ones done I want to build a 66 coronet 440 with a 426, steelies, column shift and a bench seat

 

Cool start to a great project!

 

Thanks Farmer!!! Peeking in on your build has definitely helped to inspire me to get at this one!

Slow process this past week and for the next few weeks actually, I'm cramming now for a provincial insurance exam... I did how ever do a trial fit with the hemi to give me some ideas of how much I have to cut out of where to get it sitting the way I want it to. Hope to be back at it heavy towards the end of May!

 

So its been a lonnnggggg time since I had a chance to update this! Life and work are always crazy busy and there's never enough time in a day it seems. Despite not updating I have been very busy with the project, not nearly as far along as i'd like to be but there's been huge changes since my last update!

Back in July during the Atlantic Nationals car show in Moncton NB. Canada www.atlanticnationals.com with the help of Voodoo Larry, and a few close friends we chopped the car 4 1/2"s... We were even able to tempt the Master of car customization himself, Gene Winfield to come check out the car and give some guidance.

The car is now back at home in my attached garage, i've been working on getting the chop completed and getting the top and door frames welded in place. The body is now slid back 10"s on the stock frame, the rear quarters have been split and slid ahead 10"s.

I'll soon be getting the quarters filled in and welded up and then the body will be coming off the frame so we can cut 10"s out of the frame and weld 10" extensions to the rear of it.

Here's lots of pic's!

 

Progress is progress man . Cool to have Voo Doo Larry helping out . Stay at it . Set a goal 2016 Nationals , under it's own power ! Andy..

 

A lot of the guys on the HAMB are too young to know what the revolutionary Ramchargers "High & Mighty" Plymouth actually was, so here's a vintage photo of the real thing in action back in the very early '60s! Now perhaps your build will make more sense to the younger set, eh?

 

It was a LOT of fun working with Larry, he's a great guy with a lot of talent! Hoping he'll be back again this year to critique my workmanship! haha

Missysdad1...I thought I was one of the young fellas around here! LOL Your right about the car being revolutionary, drag racing changed because of this car! The first tunnel ram in NHRA, first altered wheel base, also believed to be the first four link in NHRA.
Thanks for posting the pic, that was the car as raced in 1959 which has already been cloned by the CEMA club (Chrysler Employee's) I'm building that car as it was raced in 1960 with the rear fenders attached and the body in white paint.

 

One of the original Ramchargers is a member here on the HAMB,,,I'll let him identify himself if he chooses,,,I went to High school with him

 

Wbrw32

It would be great to have your friend on board, I would really appreciate any guidance that he may be able to give. Please invite him to check this out! And thanks for stopping by to check out the project!


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Didn't they initially run a Detroit Free Press newspaper box as a scoop?

 

Not that i'm aware of, even the earliest pictures that i've been able to find have had the home built aluminum scoop, it had that scoop on it the first weekend it went to Detroit Dragway on Labor day weekend 1959

 

Looks like a fantastic project!

Please give the carbs a try before you decide to use efi....just think of the money you'll save

 

Great project
I talked to some of the Ram Chargers at Henderson a few years ago, they had the car there also(not sure if it was the original one). Great bunch of guys, loved talking about all the special home made parts and how they experimented and came up with ideas that morphed into what we use today. You probably have their book "We Were The Ramchargers" its a great read.

 

That is my intention as of right now, maybe down the road I'll try the EFI thing but I have a LOT of work today without adding that to the list right away! LOL

I do have the book, its either on my nightstand, in my hand or on my desk at the office, it has so much information inside of it! I just wish my old noggin would absorb it faster! LOL

I've never had the privilege of meeting any of the Original Ramchargers to date but I hope to very soon, the car that you would have seen them with is not the original car, it does however have the original intake, tach and other pieces!

 

Wow....... I figured your project 'Got-Shelved' after all these years... keep at it and snapping pictures for us to follow along. Don't wait 3 more years

 

Not shelved just not much to report until we did the chop this past summer, I would have posted sooner than this but its taken me awhile to figure out the new HAMB format, I just figured out how to get into my subscribed threads without my phone! lol

 

I will be following this. Nice to see work getting done. Try to keep to at least quarterly reports. LOL.

 

I always loved those guys. Just a bunch of Chrysler engineers throwing parts together on the weekend. No real factory support other then "procured" factory gasoline in the beginning. Awesome efforts then, awesome effort now. Good luck man. It's gonna' be cool indeed.

 

Was this not the beginning of the Funny Car era as we know it? Radical departure from anything prior to it.

 

Ramchargers and High and Mighty were at St Ignace Show a couple years ago! Fired it up. Some burning eyeballs until the air cleared-

 

Wow! This is.....beyond cool! I love those old Mopars! My dream car is a 50 Plymouth DeLuxe like my Grandpa ( and my Dad had). I come from a MoPar family. I had an uncle who believed that not only were Chevies crummy cars, but were death traps! That you actually risked your life by riding in a General Motors car. No kidding!
Truley off the beaten path man! Subscribed!

 

bump

 

Haven't made a whole lot of headway with the car over the past couple of years, it's been sitting idle a lot due to work and family, the young fella just turned 15 and his main interest is snowmobiles and dirt bikes so my shop time usually is doing something with his projects (priceless time!)

I'll try to upload some pictures of its current condition in a separate post!

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Thanks for the kick in the butt! ..... I need a few more to get this project moving along

 

One more kick in the butt!