Bring on the STREET FREAKS!!!

I fully agree with my HAMB brothers, this thread is AWESOME!

 

I’ve seen this one in person, beautiful setup.

 

Im giving this a like+ just because some kid drove that to high school nowadays!

 

Me too. I really like the “recall” wheels and know a guy that runs a set of original recall wheels. Great look on a 69 Road Runner convertible.

 

Graduated HS in 74. I was working at one of the best auto repair and highest gas volume gas stations in town.
Those days were some of the best, and some of the worst times of my life. Some of these mile high Street Freak cars with the wild paint jobs were rolling around our town back then. But they were way above my pay grade, I did have a chance work on many of them in our town. I was the young guy at the station, the boss, the main mechanic, and the old guy that did the wheel alignments and front end work sure didn't like that era. When those cars showed up at the station for service work, I ended working on most of them. As a late teen, and early 20s year old guy, that was a motorhead, and deep into high performance tuning, I was on cloud nine most of the time. I saw, worked on, and had a chance to drive a bunch of those rides.
The bad side was I saw, worked on, and drove a bunch of these cars! It didn't take long to figure out how poorly those jacked up rides really did drive, if you used them for more then going in straight lines. It also didn't take very long to find out how hard on the cars that cool sky high jacking was either. I also saw a bunch of them wrecked, many of which it was hard to understand how the people in the cars even survived, and a few that didn't have survivors. Also being deeply involved with dirt track racing (I was a multi year car owner by then), I also knew that nothing I built for myself to use on the street was going to look like most of those cars looked. Low to the ground, quick responding, well handling, and well tuned cars that actually could get traction, was my style. But by golly, if you wanted that Street Freak ride, I was willing to help you spend your money, and help you get everything you wanted, short of the wild paint. I knew how to hook you up with that too, but that wasn't my thing. If your car choice was Mopar, I really had you covered. Didn't have much Hemi or 440 stuff, too expensive to get into, but I could make the smaller motors and drivetrains work, to give the big boys a run for their money at 1/2 of their cost. It was a fun gig through most of the 80s. I had some really fun cars and trucks.

 

Someone enlighten a tri fiver about these ''recall wheels''. The unusual is appealing to me.

 

The wheels had an aluminum alloy center and was at risk for cracking around the lug nut area if not properly torqued. Specialty Wheels made a nice reproduction of the them several years ago, the originals are worth big money if you have them. Here are photos of originals and the Chrysler letters about the issue.

 

The recall wheels were early 69 Daytonas only if I remember right.

 

They were available on all Dodge/Plymouth B-Body cars and there was also a small bolt pattern version for A-Body cars. The most common application seemed to be the higher optioned/more expensive cars.
Interestingly, a lot of the recall wheels were shipped to Mexico and were seen on daily drivers and taxi cabs for years. A lot of MoPar guys have bought originals down there to restore and use on their cars. Some were the originals from the first run or from the second run Kelsey Hayes did in the early 70s.

 

Hell yea, split bumper Camaro. I had one when I was 16 years old. Sadley I totaled it, Took off a telephone poll.

 

I saw this car in Bowling Green a couple of years ago. It is awesome in person. I was parked next to it at one point.

 

@enloe, did you get your car running yet? It'd be a shame to miss out on a summer of cruising. I might have missed the update...

 

The engine is almost done. I ordered a piece yesterday. I probably won’t get to cruise it because I have to have shoulder surgery the 19th or the 20th of June.

 

That sux about the shoulder surgery.
Glad the engine is almost done, though!
Hope you heal up quickly!!!

 

Its nice to hear stories about how difficult these cars were to drive and the downfalls of these Freaks without totally blasting how impractical and dangerous they were.

It was definitely an interesting time and crazy fad. But they sure did have a look!

 

From the "way back" file.
Paris Fish.






https://www.motortrend.com/features/builders-choice-june-1971-982-672-90-1/