First 1967 383 installed in a Barracuda

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krazykuda said:
My dad had a 67 fastback 383 4 speed car...

Someone cut him off when it was about 6 months old and he had to put it in the ditch to avoid hitting him and ended up totaling his car with only 6500 miles on it..

Luckily he was always a seat belt wearer and walked away from the accident with only bruises around his waist from the seat belt holding him back from going through the windshield... That reinforced him to always wear a seat belt, even before it became mandatory and they passed the law in the 80's...

Dad ended up replacing the Barracuda with a 68 Charger 383 2 bbl car...
Click to expand...


Dad used to go 'GTO Hunting' in his 383 4-speed fastback...

There were a few young guys that had 389 GTO's around town... Dad would go on their route and meet up with them at the stop lights...

The GTO's were used to beating the first generation Barracudas because the biggest engine in them was the 273 4bbl commando... None of the GTO owners would look at the fender on his 67 and notice the 383 badge... The first light dad would be calm and cool and just idle while the GTO would rev his engine... The light would turn green and dad would beat them... (sleeper)...

The next light he would rev his engine back at the GTO... (The cat was out of the bag now)... The light would turn green and he'd beat them again... Third stop light and the rev contest and dad would blow them away again... :steering:

After that dad would turn left at the next light after beating them three out of three times... He proved who was better... :mad:

After about a week, the GTO's found another route and stayed off that one...
 
krazykuda said:
The only 440's in 68 Darts were GSS's done by Mr. Norm... About 50 of them were made, I knew a guy that used to have one of those when I was younger...
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They were sold by Norm and some fluff added but built by Hurst.
 
Not trying to muddy up the discussion, but there was indeed at least ONE 440 Dart built by CHRYSLER in 1968 and there were five more, for a total of six. The one I know about is the one Dick Landy raced. I have his son Robert friended on Facebook and he's posted all about the car. So there was at least ONE. It was built by Chrysler for SS/EA class racing. Here it is.
68 440 DART.jpg

Here is Paul's (RIP) thread detaining the cars.

www.forabodiesonly.com

1968 440 GTS Darts (Only 6 Built)

Anybody ever see one of the '6' 1968 Dart GTS 383 (with a factory built 440) Super Stock 'only' cars. Only '6' were built in late-December 1967, and delivered to 'specific racers' prior to the 1968 NHRA Winternationals, to run legal in the NHRA SS/EA class. * Dick Landy * Ron Mancini...
www.forabodiesonly.com www.forabodiesonly.com

So to say they didn't build them is incorrect. Thank you drive through.
 
krazykuda said:
The only 440's in 68 Darts were GSS's done by Mr. Norm... About 50 of them were made, I knew a guy that used to have one of those when I was younger...
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Nope. Chrysler built six. See post 54.
 
matthon said:
What color was it?
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I don't know, I was just born then... I wasn't even 1 year old when it was totaled, so I don't remember that far back...

My mom had a 67 fastback Formula S 273 4 bbl car... It was white with blue interior...

Mom used to fold the back seat down and put pillows and sleeping bags down for me and my brother to sleep on the way back from great grandma's house every week... We used to visit her every Sunday and stay late... My brother and I would lay in the back and watch the stars and street lights go by until we fell asleep... Great grandma lived an hour north of us... I remember that one... They traded it in for a 71 Satellite... The Satellite was B7 blue with blue interior....
 
Check out the date on this one
RustyRatRod said:
Not trying to muddy up the discussion, but there was indeed at least ONE 440 Dart built by CHRYSLER in 1968 and there were five more, for a total of six. The one I know about is the one Dick Landy raced. I have his son Robert friended on Facebook and he's posted all about the car. So there was at least ONE. It was built by Chrysler for SS/EA class racing. Here it is.
View attachment 1716020812
Here is Paul's (RIP) thread detaining the cars.

www.forabodiesonly.com

1968 440 GTS Darts (Only 6 Built)

Anybody ever see one of the '6' 1968 Dart GTS 383 (with a factory built 440) Super Stock 'only' cars. Only '6' were built in late-December 1967, and delivered to 'specific racers' prior to the 1968 NHRA Winternationals, to run legal in the NHRA SS/EA class. * Dick Landy * Ron Mancini...
www.forabodiesonly.com www.forabodiesonly.com

So to say they didn't build them is incorrect. Thank you drive through.
Click to expand...

see post 40. According to the article posted, Hurst-Campell received 50 '68 Darts from Chrysler for the 440.
 
This may technecelly apply. I don’t think anyone has posted that Mr. Norm put the 383 into 67 Darts b4 Chrysler did. He showed Chrysler that it could be done. Kim
 
RLF Cuda said:
Years ago I got a '67 FB Formula S 383 'Cuda that was MM Copper. The build sheet is attached. The sequence number is 306138, so it is probably a late build. Friends and I restored the car in Benecia, CA in the late 1980's and I had it painted B7 dark blue. It was sold to Bill Barbee in 1993 when my new house CCR's forbade parking a car in the driveway. I had my '68 Cuda that was my first car and my '66 Hemi Belvedere, so I couldn't keep them all. Sold the '67 FB, which I regret. Barbee sold the car some years later to one Rodney Steven in Mississippi, and I lost track of it. I would love to know what happened to that car if anyone has seen it. Probably around the Mississippi area now, but who knows.

View attachment 1716020473

View attachment 1716020482
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Bob, that had an April 4, 1967 SPD (from the broadcast sheet).
 
So it was scheduled for 3/1 and shipped 3/10.

If indeed all 67 383 cars were scheduled to begin production on 3/1 the only way to determine what car was the first built would be to look at all the IBM cards, which Chrysler has, but they're not letting anyone sift through all of them.

On another note, the engine pad stamp tells when the engine was assembled, obviously, but could give some immediate info if 2 383 cars were parked next to each other and both had 301 on the fender tag.

Ordered car built to spec for Canada

I see 2 Accessory Group 36s, 360 Decor Group (G0 on tag) and 367 Formula S (F7 on tag).

Also, it appears there is 1 Accessory Group 35 of 358, buckets/console, body sill mouldings, as well as outside RH mirror and mag type wheel covers.
358 does not show up on fender tag, although I've seen a6 and b4, and sometimes just one, on the fender tag when 358 is selected.

Your car has the base hubcaps and no RH mirror.
I don't see the 529, iirc a 9 under the 1, for wheel lip moulding.
 
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Just saw this thread today and lots of interesting info here. I own the car that has its fender tag shown in post #3 so any info about these cars is great to know.
F8865E20-C44B-4A6B-AA0E-382F0B2C040E.jpeg
 
Another '67 GG1 4 speed 383, nice!
Looks very familiar.

20221218_021235.png
 
Thanks for all the replies, but still no concrete answers to when the first 383 cars were built for the 1967 model year. Many people talk about November, also about the R&T article in August or September of 1966, in which they tested a 383 Formula S.
With all this info indicating early builds, why is the earliest fender tag build date March 01/67?
I've seen one other Canadian Export spec car with the same build date as mine, March 01/67.
All others are later in March, April, May and even June of 1967.
Did all the cars before March 1/67 fall off the planet? Or is the info wrong and they were built much later?? I know there was tooling issues and first builds (slant 6 and small v8's was on or around November 25/66. This is indicated from several reliable sources, including FCA.
Someone asked when my delivery date was, I have included a pic of my delivery date of March 10/67 as indicated on the IBM card.
So if there is someone that can for sure (not what some magazine thinks or their friends think) give info regarding when these were first built (someone worked in Hamtramck etc), I would really appreciate the info.
Thanks in advance to all that are helping.

IBM showing delivery date.jpg
 
The production for the 1967 Barracuda started in November 1966, I suspect that the magazine cars were pre production engineering cars or some sort of pre production test car.

My grandfather purchased his 67 Barracuda the first week of December 1966, he asked about the 383 but when they said no power steering he was out. Was the car available then? I have no idea.


Alan
 
As far as pre-production, somewhere I have a blurb in an old (1966) magazine about a '66 Valiant test mule with a 383. At various times there were problems with production parts. One of the weirdest was the run of 1968 Valiants with Barracuda dashes because they didn't have the Valiant parts available (Tech bulletin)

68-25-2 Valiant with Barracuda dash.jpg
 
To clarify, your car was scheduled for 3/1 and shipped 3/10, not delivered 3/10.

1967 Barracuda was a first year a-body, unavailable until late in the model year, and first year for a big block.

Imo, one could order whatever was on the menu, but on a first run of a new car, you're not getting the big block until they get some product out the door.

Iirc, manufacturers historically have delayed options, convertibles, etc.

All the current evidence shows all known 67 383 cars were scheduled to begin production on 3/1.

Find someone who works at Chrysler Historical and ask them to look at all the IBM cards, find all the Barracudas, and all the H code cars.

It would be interesting to see the casting date on your engine as well as the engine pad assembly date stamp.
 
This is mine, I believe it to be original, not a reprint.

20220114_220800.jpg


20220114_220858.jpg
 
I bought my 67 GTS 383 in May 1967 from Carl Price Lincoln Mercury Dodge in Jasper, Al. When it went through F-5 tornado with me in 1998 I had a guy do body work and he replaced core support and inner fenders from 4 door and didn't salvage the fender tag. The VIN is stamped in drivers side door.
 
Not that it applies to your thread, but I have a VIN for a 67 Barracuda that is a 383-2 Barrel.
Not an H, but a G.
So who knows what was going on.
 
A56 said:
From Paul Ceasrine
On the 1967 Dodge Dart 383 GTS / 1967 Barracuda 383 Formula 'S'
controversy with Mr. Norm's.

Chrysler had made a sales and marketing decision to put the 383 in the 67' Barracuda, long before Mr. Norm did his 383 Dart build.

With Ford promoting the 67' Mustang GT with a 390, Chrysler felt that
a 67' 383 Barracuda would compare more favorably with the Mustang than a 67' Dart, with the younger sports car market.

Plymouth had scheduled to introduce the 67' Barracuda in
September 1966, but re-tooiling issues developed on the production line, pushing the release date to November 16, 1966.

According to VIN #'s, several 67' Barracuda 383 Formula 'S' cars were
built in the November production at Plymouth.

Mr. Norm's 383 build project didn't take place until December 1966,
several weeks after the 383 Barracuda was out on the market.
Click to expand...
I'd be curious to see the fender tag build date in November 1966 for a 383 car - no one so far has been able to come up with anything to prove this. I'd love to see that this is true, just too many theories and nothing to back it up.
 
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