Just wondering , growing up in the muscle car era , do you guys remember the hemi cars in your town , there were a fair amount of hemi cars in ontario , any 1 in ur family have a hemicar , thanx
nope big Chevys and Fords owned by older brothers friends. My family stayed with basic transportation. The first real hemi car ever saw was at Carlisle. I also dont have much interest in muscle cars so I never really looked for them.
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Many years ago I worked in the small town of New Liskeard and a local Shell station let me wash my daily driver in the bays after the station closed for the day. I’d seen a Charger parked beside the station but didn’t pay much attention to it since they weren’t that uncommon back then. One evening an employee told me it was the boss’s car and he’d bought it from a dealer whose salesman said it scared him to drive it, and it had valve covers “this big”. I took another look at it and sure enough, “Hemi” on the fenders. Weird to see it in a such an unlikely place but the Tri-town area had a lot of other neat wheels in it, such as a 427 Vette, a six-pack Super Bee, Citreon SM, Alfa GTV, Buick 455 GS, even a Jensen Interceptor. There were lots of lesser muscle cars around everywhere back then but a Street Hemi in anything was a lot of money for the average buyer who just wanted a fast daily driver. Southern Ontario was a different story I guess.
A couple of guys in town had 440 6packs, they were faster than HEMIs anyways.......There was a guy that used to come into town now and then had a HEMI in a Dart, dont know if it was factory car or a clone....that was about 1972.
all i remember growing up going to school you didn t mention the word hemi...............that was like being weird or out of the crowd.................but my father being a salesman for chrysler i did see some hemi coming in the driveway and got my first real fast ride in a 67 hemi GTX ..........
as a teenager our clan was all mopar except for dad and i and we had gm's. now our neighbour owned a esso station and they were mopar freaks but in a good way. i remember they had sitting in their yard a 67 gtx convertible with a 4 speed, pretty sure a hemi car, a 68 and 69 road runners 440 cars and not sure of the year a satellite with a 383. the son also had a power wagon 4x4 truck with a plow blade and a tow rig on the back it had a 440. nothing was funnier to see that truck spinning all four tires blowing off motorcycles stoplight to stoplight.
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There are 106 miles to Chicago. We have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
In public school a friends dad had a either a satellite or a road runner with a vinyl roof an a hemi his mom drove a 4 dr satellite or cornet with a 440 4 bl car . A former boss bought a brand new hemi cuda in 1970 , lived in toronto an said you couldnt corner with it at all , in 72 he traded it back in an got a 340 cuda , both were 4 spds if i recall . Thinking back I might have the yrs wrong but i know he had the hemi first , mighta been 71 an 73 Theres a hemi car on the left side of the road in a garage on the road into midland from south side ..77.
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I,m as cool as Milner , but axeually a bit more like Beckwith
Used to be a 66 or 67 Belvedere 2dr. post in the east end of Toronto in the late 60's early 70's. Baby blue 426 auto on the column. Base model car & I remember the driver was called "TURK" ??? He & a friend of mine that a 64 Biscayne 2dr. post 327 4 spd. used to have GRUDGE matches in frt. of Harvey's at Warden & Danforth. Whoever lost would make "improvements over the week & they's go at it again. Both cars were 'pretty" close to each other at the end of the 1/4 [maybe a 1/2 fender]
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
Back in the real early 70's i was running a 283 auto in the low stock class at cayuga.
I'd won my class again, so decided just for kicks i'd run also in "Stock Eliminator".
The first car i was up against was a hemi Road Runner it was red and from the toronto area. We both staged, and i got a whole tree handicap on him, and as i was close to 1/2 way down the quarter when his green came on , i was glancing at him in my mirror, hoping he'd red light or miss a shift, But to see that thing launch and come after me, the front end came up and i could see him pulling shifts, (i had my foot almost pushing into the floor boards, Lol), Gaining like crazy on me, and he got me by about a fender!! He went by me at say 115-120mph, and me at 85mph, it was a FUN experience!! Can't remember the guys name, that was ? 40 years ago, but it was a fun time, and next time i stayed out of Stock Eliminator, just ran my class. Lol.
Was the 64 Biscayne an orange colour?...A guy in our neck of the woods bought one from a guy in TO and it was pretty quick
NO, Russ's Chevy was that turquious green, started out as a 250 Hp. "bolt" action 3 spd. Ended up pretty much "Unstreetable" rr. end was in the "High" 4's tunnel ram intake, open headers & beefy slicks. I do remember him "flat towing" it to just north of Stouffville for a Sat. nite street race, & the cops showed up just as he got the d/shaft back in. He got away, & made it back to St.Clair & Warden, b-4 being stopped for "excessive" noise w/ the headers open, & no tread on back tires!! AH the "GOOD OL DAYS"
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
Great posting Pete,, and yes, those were the days for sure!!
Remember vividly out in the country at midnight, on our "Marked out "1/4 mile, and the sound of big block novas with open headers echoing across the fields, (Poor neighbours, no wonder they got Pissed), lol, then the Noise BLAST as the quarter was ran, then the immediate trip back to town before the cops got there. Sneak back into town the back way so as not to meet any cruisers. Great times!!
I think i got my real go fast bug when at about 10 yrs old , we moved out to dunnville, without knowing and luck would have it,,,our driveway was the end of 1/4 mile that the big boys used as their dragtrack..... i remember mustangs elcaminos, novas,green nasty 67/68 firebird and the badge on the fender saying 421 , those weekend drags hooked me for life , i knew right then i needed that .
First Hemi car I experienced was John Petrie's Super Bee & GTX Pro Stocks at Deseronto, must have been 1968 or 69. My dad worked at patterson motors in Belleville. I got to attend that Super car clinic there. Next Hemi was at AB Lucas Secondary School in London 1970 there was a guy with a 1966 or 67 Satellite with a 426 Hemi in it. Word was his dad owned Corey Auto Wreckers. Apparently that's were hemi came from. I didn't know any of those guys and the guys I chummed with barely knew what end to put the gas in. One friend of mine apprenticed at McManus Motors (Dodges in London). He told me that somebody there drove a 69 Daytona into the work bench. Misjudged length of nose.
There was another guy, Ken Kerr. his dad was a Chrysler warranty rep and was grabbing up warranteed hemis as they were replaced. Apparently he had a handsome collection of them. Some people have better foresight than others. Kerr was supposed to have put a hemi in a T bucket. I was told it was a little more "Lively" than he thought. It idled and part throttled alot.
Only other hemi story was Barry Cole with the Kennington & Cole B/Altered T bucket. I went to Mechanic school with Barry. It was about the tail end of his racing that combination. He told me about Hemi with clutchflite 727. That sounded like fun.
I know Doug Brinjak ran the Hippy Hemi, out of London, but I didn't know him.
the Kid
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some numbers on rare hemis 1966 charger......... 468 1967 charger........ 117 1968 Charger 500.........67 hemis produce 1969 Daytona ..........70 1971 last year for a hemi in any car ......... Charger 63 1969 Gtx convertible 11 hemis 1970 Cuda convertible 10 ............lollllllllllllll just having fun
when you put all the numbers and you start looking usa and canada the chance to have seen one are small................i seen one of the hemi cuda convertible in a museum in Indiana last year
locally around Sudbury there s one 1967 Gtx original hemi driving around ........a 68 Gtx on the island real low milles and still belongs to the original buyer...........one mopar guy use to own one of the 68 Charger 500 ......but sold it a few years ago at an auction for big $$$
I used to work at a BP just east of Maitland Ave (Ottawa) and Winston Cross had the garage at Maitland and would take his Hemi powered (?) car east down Carling ave for a couple of blocks and then back, not at idle if you know what I mean.
-- Edited by henrys57wagon on Wednesday 26th of December 2012 07:54:20 PM
Dave Riley had a 68 426 4 speed Road Runner white post car it was from Jackson motors in Kitchener...
Motor was rebuilt several times.. They told him not to rev over 5500 after too much beer it would see 6500-7000 until it blew
He was cloaked over 140 on 401 by OPP car ended up over a stump on a dead end street... replaced it with a white 67 427 4 speed Impala
I used to pump gas in the local BP station.. I used to let him wash it in the bay on Sundays..
One morning we went for a ride (he was sober)
Car was running "big F60-15 in the rear car was drifting sideways, and then the thing exploded (both 4 bbls) and it was hard right, and must have squealed tires 800 feet I was never so glad to get out of a car
-- Edited by 427CARL on Thursday 27th of December 2012 09:23:30 AM
Being an "old guy" 65, I saw several new Hemi cars in the day. They were and still are impressive to look at but surprisingly enough they weren't that quick. I had a two four barrel 331 inch small block chev in a 55 chev that beat the two in my town regularly at Sparta Dragway. But I sure wish I had one today.................
John Petrie, boy that name brings it back!! I believe he used to do performance meetings at a few Chyrsler dealers? I was working at Pat Kemp's Chrysler on Eglinton Ave. E in Toronto & we had one one of these "performance get togethers" When it was over My 65 Valient V200 2 dr. post wouldn't start?? Popped the hood, Carter AFB & Formula S chrome air cleaner, "GONE", "wrinkle finish" r/covers "GONE" & int. manifold 1/2 "unbolted" Pushed it in the shop & took the parts truck home that night, & BOY was I "PI$$ED"
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
Will, great pic, i remember seeing that plymouth in one or two magazines,, A pretty wild set of headers, and RAM tube intake!! (notice in the pic the copper brake line running across the front crossmember.) Lol
John Petrie, boy that name brings it back!! I believe he used to do performance meetings at a few Chyrsler dealers? I was working at Pat Kemp's Chrysler on Eglinton Ave. E in Toronto & we had one one of these "performance get togethers" When it was over My 65 Valient V200 2 dr. post wouldn't start?? Popped the hood, Carter AFB & Formula S chrome air cleaner, "GONE", "wrinkle finish" r/covers "GONE" & int. manifold 1/2 "unbolted" Pushed it in the shop & took the parts truck home that night, & BOY was I "PI$$ED"
Sounds like you were haning with some nice dudes... where are they now? lol
Hey Dual, I remember that baby blue hemi, it was a 66. We use to hang around a burger joint on Eglinton near Marvin Starr Pontiac, think it was a Harvey's too. I had a 65 Valiant 200 hardtop 273 4 speed. Bought at Peel Chrysler in Port Credit, then we moved to Scarborough in 67. I attended one of the Petrie sessions on Dundas in Mississauga in 66, think it was Argyle Chrysler?
Wildest ride I had was in a buddy's 62 Biscayne post 409/409 from Alderwood. He had a gold one and his brother had a white one, forget their names just now though. You could never reach the dash when he was "in it".
Doug
-- Edited by Youngoldguy on Thursday 27th of December 2012 06:39:19 PM
some numbers on rare hemis 1966 charger......... 468 1967 charger........ 117 1968 Charger 500.........67 hemis produce 1969 Daytona ..........70 1971 last year for a hemi in any car ......... Charger 63 1969 Gtx convertible 11 hemis 1970 Cuda convertible 10 ............lollllllllllllll just having fun
Also forgot the 1971 Hemi GTX ... family in my area (when I was growing up) had one with 6,000 original miles on it. Also had a Challenger rag that was supposedly an original Hemi car. They owned some kind of auto related business on Parliament st in Toronto ... the son drove a 427 tri-power, 4 spd Vette rag.
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If at first you don't succeed you do have options ... lower your standards or just plain quit are the two I usually choose from :)
Carl, you amaze me with what you come up with!!!! I couldn't remember the "Super car Clinic' name. Thinking back at the "factory" cars that were sold when I was at that dealer, 340 Challangers, 440 "6Pak" Road Runners etc. I also remember a few "Thefts" that occured too!!! Came in one morning to find the Blk. fibreglass hood, 6Pak carbs & manifold GONE from Road Runner sitting out frt. of showroom, on pad with about 6 spotlights on the car[ guess that gave them the light they needed] & later in the day a salesman drove a 340 Challenger out from compound for customer to test drive, & all four wheels came off in the drive way!!! both fenders & both 1/4's were damaged & customer took a "walk" Wheels don't stay on when "lug" nuts are gone, they must have been "disturbed" from getting those off but we found 3 other cars sitting on the ground that day!!!!
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
I enjoyed this thread, inspired me to join. I haven't done an intro yet but some here "know" me including Harry. I've NEVER seen a real HEMI in person though I know of a few. I remember as a kid a '66 Charger for $500 at Wilson and Dufferin area in the 80's with a Hemi. Catch was, it was an older Hemi, 392?
My first real "exposure" was a Car Craft article in the 80s they did on "criusing" in T.O. and I believe an article in Popular Hot Rodding (?) on Russ Baxter's '66 Hemi Belvedere. He was at the time the manager of the Performance Improvements in Etobicoke and as a Hemistruck kid I actually looked up and phoned him when his car was featured and he was a great influence on me as he was a most gracious host to a young guy in love with cars!!
As for the comment about them being expensive and rare, yeah. In Harry's area there lurked in Durham a 440 6 pak equipped Superbird many a year back referred to by the locals as "oh yeah, he had that car with that BIG WING!" owned by John Grey who has pics of it and many a great war story!!
-- Edited by PetrolheadDen on Friday 28th of December 2012 09:56:24 PM
Also forgot the 1971 Hemi GTX ... family in my area (when I was growing up) had one with 6,000 original miles on it. Also had a Challenger rag that was supposedly an original Hemi car. They owned some kind of auto related business on Parliament st in Toronto ... the son drove a 427 tri-power, 4 spd Vette rag.
That was a real hemi challenger ragtop , it was orange , very optioned up ,,,sat there for long time summer and winters , a friend has(had) a pic of kids snow sledding off the roof and down the hood of it , , i heard being restored finally ..
Other hemi cars ive seen or owned 71 hemi cuda friend bought and sold from P E I , white car 68 runner i owned 4 sd bare bones car , from nova scotia- guy i bought it from also owned the only limegreen hemi challenger ragtop built ,, he later sold it ,had he only known what it would be worth... 66 charger 70 hemi cuda , restored ,solid full of bullet holes , restored in burlington traded for pantara
theres more , have to look through some old note books i kept back then.. take care.
There was a guy in Toronto many years ago running around with a white '68 Runner with the Hemi plates in the hood vents. He used to hang around with another person who owned a grey primer '69 GTO with a smallblock chev in it (GTO lived on Van Horne) ... the Runner had a 383 in it at the time I ran across it, owner told me it was a real Hemi car.
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If at first you don't succeed you do have options ... lower your standards or just plain quit are the two I usually choose from :)
car was drifting sideways, and then the thing exploded (both 4 bbls) and it was hard right, and must have squealed tires 800 feet I was never so glad to get out of a car 
