Turning back the clock

[Old Man Mopar]

HemiDenny and I just got home from Iowa where we jointly purchased our next project car.
This one will leapfrog the brown Duster on the priority list because it is important. I'll let you
guys guess what it is and it will very soon be reduced to a bare shell as it begins it's
journey back to 1975. Nothing will remain untouched until it's ready to be "rolled into a
museum". I will divulge that it will be powered by a 16 plug Hemi that we will be building
as the original one is long gone.

 

[fratzog lover]

Nice!

 

[Ol'forest]

Umm is that the California Flash Mod Prod? Wasn't it a wedge? If it is I'm jumping up and down......keep us posted!!!!

 

[Old Man Mopar]

Umm is that the California Flash Mod Prod? Wasn't it a wedge? If it is I'm jumping up and down......keep us posted!!!!

Very good. Butch Leal's 1975 Plymouth Duster NHRA B/MP with the 16-plug Hemi and 4-speed trans.

It's 40 years old and it will take a ground-up effort to accurately restore it to it's 1975 personage.
When we are done it will look just like it did on the covers of Car Craft and the Direct Connection catalog.

We are going exactly by the 1975 NHRA rulebook and many things that were changed or added over
the years will have to go.....all of the fiberglass parts for instance.

It's going to be stripped to it's bare shell and started over to restore it faithfully to it's original 1975 configuration. The hood, deck lid, doors, window glass (lexan), seats, front core support, fuel cell, seat belts, steering column, wiring harness and the wheels and tires will be completely replaced. there will be major changes made to the engine compartment tin and tunnel, the rear (tailight) panel, roll cage and rear suspension, I have the correct transmission and have purchased a bell housing. The engine will be built from scratch. I am looking for a set of Hooker Super Comp Headers for this application (no longer made). A lot of stuff can happen to a car in 40 years. We will be offering for sale all of the parts removed and one of those doors is going to look awfully good on somebody’s wall!

 

[TF360]

Awsome!

 

[Old Man Mopar]

Pictured as received. It was most recently raced in Super Pro with a 440 and a Powerglide. The car had
been completely repainted at least once. We are going to make every effort to make sure that every bracket, tab
and component is 100% faithful to the original car. Note that no small amount of money was paid to Mr.
Leal by the previous owner to purchase transferable rights to the name and paint scheme which we now
have in our possession. When we picked it up it was sharing garage space with Jack Werst's original 1965 A990 Plymouth Mr. 5 and 50 car which was in perfect and immaculate condition.

 

[rmchrgr]

That's awesome! Congrats! Can't wait to see the progress on this, it's gonna be epic!

Was his a Buttera-built car? Lotta 'trick' parts on it? Altered wheelbase?

Will you guys be taking it to Carlisle as-is before tear down?

Seller has some pretty cool iron in his garage....

 

[Old Man Mopar]

Was his a Buttera-built car?

Ron Butler car

 

[HemiDenny]

as a B/MP race car, there was not a lot of "trick" allowed....other than Butch Leal and one of his former Pro Stock Hemis. The Butler chassis is complete as originally built other than rear coil overs were added somewhere along the way. Everything to return the suspension to the as built leaf springs / ladder bars is intact....right down to the original pads on the original Dana and ladder bars. The trickest pieces I see are the rear forward strut bars that tie the chassis to the front of the ladder bar mounts. The way the rear frame rails are sectioned / narrowed along with the mounting of the front spring hangers are a work of art.

Our original thought was to bring it with my HDK mock-up Hemi to the Nats, but I have since decided to get to work on the re-hab instead.....and once I tear into it, I do want to half way re-build it for a car show.

 

[baracus]

That's awesome

 

[Ol'forest]

So it did originally have a steel hood? I wondered why the lack of hood pins in the direct connection photo shoot. And didn't know it was a hemi, I always wished they did a model/diecast of that car. Whats your ETA for the project? It's going to be a hard road finding those period parts, can't wait makes me feel a lot more interested in my 75 duster!

 

[HemiDenny]

Yes it did, all factory steel .....no fiberglass allowed in Modified Production (1975) except a hood scoop, unless it originally came with it from the factory. Most period parts I need , I already have from my 1975 brown Duster.....exceptional clean, rust free (originally Calif car).....already in primer, ready for final block and paint. About the only challenge will be the std finish super tricks. Currently it has polished on the front.....and the rears (also polished) are too wide for the original build.
From the roll bar rearward....it is almost pristine as built....very small stuff. I will have to find a set of factory 75 buckets, but sear covers, door panels all available from Legendary, etc. Compared to what I had to do to construct my silver HEMI Duser (or others)...this will be is easy-peasy.

Maybe we can do some supertrick (horse) trading on the wheels......just to put that out there.

I bought a (pristine) NHRA 1975 rulebook on e-bay, just to refresh and keep things correct. I never like to put an ETA on a project. Just keep moving forward...... Steady Eddie. , Do it right the first time, regardless of time and money. Otherwise, it costs more of both in the end.

 

[HemiDenny]

We could have easily built a clone car (body only) with the brown Duster I have for half the money. ..........but it wouldn't be THIS race car.

Not just a multi-Nationals winning Hemi Duster........ THIS car played a part in the NHRA / Mopar story. As OMM explained to me, this car crushed the MP records and was done as payback to NHRA for weight factoring the Hemi and Chrysler out of Pro Stock.

 

[rmchrgr]

That front bumper is so ugly, it's really unfortunate about the '73-up cars.

Not to beat a dead horse but the wheelbase appears altered to me, even if only slightly but I could be wrong. The Missile was altered wheelbase, I don't think this car was anywhere near that level.... not sure if they were into this thing as deep. At least the wheel openings appear to be stretched.

I also noticed the air inlet on the scoop is angled upwards.

Or is this a totally different car?

 

[replicaracer43]

Very, very cool! looks like a great project!

 

[Old Man Mopar]

That front bumper is so ugly, it's really unfortunate about the '73-up cars.

Not to beat a dead horse but the wheelbase appears altered to me, even if only slightly but I could be wrong. The Missile was altered wheelbase, I don't think this car was anywhere near that level.... not sure if they were into this thing as deep. At least the wheel openings appear to be stretched.

I also noticed the air inlet on the scoop is angled upwards.

Or is this a totally different car?

That is his 1973 Pro-Stock car; not our 1975 B/MP car (below).

 

[rmchrgr]

That is his 1973 Pro-Stock car; not our 1975 B/MP car.

Yep! Perhaps my mistake serves to highlight the differences though. So no altered wheelbase. Guess it was not as 'trick' as I had conjured up in my head but I'm sure it is really scienced out.

 

[Dartnut]

Awesome car and a great piece of Mopar history, congrats!
Did it start out as a body in white or a production car?

 

[RustyRatRod]

Butch Leal is perhaps my alt time favorite driver. This is really cool.

 

[HemiDenny]

Awesome car and a great piece of Mopar history, congrats!
Did it start out as a body in white or a production car?

We have great pics and documentation......it was a production car The rear chassis is pretty trick (to me) and I see why is hooked and booked.

 

[HemiDenny]

That is his 1973 Pro-Stock car; not our 1975 B/MP car (below).

when we arrived back home, our younger brother started measuring things......I told him not bother, NHRA M/P was all about pounds per cubic in in a factory body....with as much tire as the rear wheel well would allow....within the body. The way the frame was sectioned and the springs moved inboard is very creative. I / HDK will use the concept elsewhere.

 

[Old Man Mopar]

The factory rear unit body frame rails sectioned to about 30% of their original width
(NHRA legal). 40 years of dust and dirt but no road use.

The ladder bars can stay but the coil-overs have to go per the 1975 NHRA B/MP rule book.
Note that the all of the original mountings for the leaf springs are still there. How convenient!

 

[hemisedan]

HemiDenny and I just got home from Iowa where we jointly purchased our next project car.
This one will leapfrog the brown Duster on the priority list because it is important. I'll let you
guys guess what it is and it will very soon be reduced to a bare shell as it begins it's
journey back to 1975. Nothing will remain untouched until it's ready to be "rolled into a
museum". I will divulge that it will be powered by a 16 plug Hemi that we will be building
as the original one is long gone.



Denny, it's just amazing that this car was hidden in Central Iowa for all those years. Lynn Balek, lives in Mason City about 100 miles from Huxley, didn't even know about it and he still is involved in SS racing with Rick's Super Stock/A 68 Barracuda (a legitimate SS car) wasn't aware of it. Talking about the coil over rear suspension, Lynn said that in about 1985 that NHRA started allowing coil over rear suspensions on account of it being a safety issue. Don't know about that, but I watched Lynn convert both their SS/A and SS/B 64 Dodge cars to coil overs.

Funny talking about the 73 up rather ugly grille and bumpers. Especially with those rubber 5 mph mandated bumpers. My favorite Duster has always been the 71-72 Dustser 340 grille/bumper combination. Always looks so nice. But, in 1971, I almost bought a Demon 340 that year, just that the Dodge dealer in Moline wouldn't give me crap for my 69 Dodge 500 with a 440 six pack. Said that he wouldn't be able to sell it on account of the Hooker headers and such low miles. It had 13,500 or so miles on it. He didn't believe the miles. Oh well another story.

HemiDenny and I just got home from Iowa where we jointly purchased our next project car.
This one will leapfrog the brown Duster on the priority list because it is important. I'll let you
guys guess what it is and it will very soon be reduced to a bare shell as it begins it's
journey back to 1975. Nothing will remain untouched until it's ready to be "rolled into a
museum". I will divulge that it will be powered by a 16 plug Hemi that we will be building
as the original one is long gone.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Awesome find! I'm surprised it's stayed as intact as it has for all these years.

 

[Ol'forest]

That front bumper is so ugly, it's really unfortunate about the '73-up cars.

I think They look great for bumper standard cars, I've always like the 73-75 drag dusters, Mopar Missile, S&M, Judy Lilly, Hamburger, I think for me they were the only shining light carrying on the muscle era. There wasn't much else to get excited about, street wise, I always thought Mustang II's and Camaros were a bit gay.