The HOLY GRAIL - 1963 Dodge 330 Max Wedge "Lightweight"
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- Very few things in drag racing history are cooler than a factory drag car and this 1963 Dodge 330 lightweight is the holy grail. Detroit poured a lot of effort into drag racing during the 1960's, when NHRA Super Stock was at its peak. Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Chrysler had various factory prepared race cars, but Dodge dominated the Super Stock ranks with its Max Wedge cars, especially those with lightweight body panels. Only 34 Dodges were built with aluminum front fenders, bumper, hood and hood scoop, and this is the first one built.
This Dodge lightweight was ordered by Wain Pearce from King Dodge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It ran locally at Minnesota Dragways, and also competed at the 1963 NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana. The car was listed for sale in 1965 for only $1700, and raced for many years after that. It once had a roll bar in it, but has now been restored to the 1963 configuration.
The car has an original 426ci Max Wedge engine with 13.5:1 compression ratio and dual four barrel carburetors. The transmission is a push button Torqueflite and the rear end is a 8-3/4. Stock steel wheels are wrapped in Goodyear front tires and piecrust slicks out back. The car has been sold several times since its restoration and now lives in Ohio. I had the chance to see it up close and personal at the 2023 Chattanooga Motorcar Festival.
#mopar #dragracing #hotrodhoarder
That was one of the greatest era of Drag Racing
There were others?
Name one.
Whoa! I walked with my dad to King Dodge in north Minneapolis in 1967 so he could get his new car. I thought we were going to get the 67 R/T that was on the showroom floor. But, we went out back and there was a 67 Coronet wagon, with a 273 in it. Ha ha...yet, that later became my first car...and despite it being a wagon, it is one of my favorite cars I ever owned. Thanks for the video.
Being a mopar man i really loved this one , great job friend 👍👍👍👍👍✅✅✅✅✅
Love to see these amazing cars in the hands of those who appreciate them and can afford to restore them correctly and also willing to share them with others and not hide them away for ever.
Wow! Growing up I was heavily into Chevys. Now that I'm older I really love all older cars. Thank you for this contribution, and helping keeping this sport alive!
Amazing original drag wars car. Hard to believe how nice and straight the front bumper is after all those years of hard drag racing. Very cool👍👍
Yeah, front bumpers really take a beating on drag cars ...
That is gorgeous. A lot of people think compression is all about horsepower but it is really about torque. That is one reason why diesel engines are so torquey. That compression ratio is guaranteed to produce loads of tire smoke!!! I have to disagree about having a Ford and a Chevy next to it though. I think in '63 Pontiac was the main competitor with the 421 S.D. If I remember correctly, and I'm old so I may be wrong, most of the races in 1963 were between Mopar and Pontiac. So a nice Catalina Super Duty would be a nice side kick for this car!!!
That's what I said!
Cool Mopar. *Don't forget that approx. the same number of factory Plymouth Max Wedge lightweight drag cars were produced.
What a super sweet nostalgic drag car from the past. Love it. Thanks champion. 👍🇦🇺
One sweet looking Mopar
Our business was right across the street from King Dodge. I should have remembered this car at MN Dragways, but I don't. We couldn't afford to race SS. Ran in F/G.
Wow - exceptional !!!
hhhh thank you hoarder for getting this beautiful car on video I should say yeah it awesome looking car I'm from Minnesota and it's nice to see it at Minnesota drag ways and how it earned its keep great job there
I know a guy in my neighborhood in Akron Ohio has one of these cars he’s had it for years. I don’t think he’s even had it running for over 20 years but it is still usable if you want to spend the weekend getting it roadworthy again.❤
Bad Ass 👍🇺🇸
Outstanding content!!!
That was a time when they were completely fearless....or crazy.....one or the other. With that much aluminum, I imagine if you crashed it would crumple like a piece of paper. Wow! 🏁🏁🏁🏁 Very beautiful car! Thanks for sharing!
1960s Drag cars were so classy and artistic... great vid
What a nice car. I have a 64 Polar with a Max wedge clone.
This was a very fast car in its day and is still dam fast today. The engineers really knew what they were doing
"Little Old Lady From Pasadina " lol
Beautiful car.
I'm a mopar man but you forgot to mention the Pontiac Super Duty Swiss Cheese cars too! Great times in super stock drag racing history! Thanks for the great video!!!
That crackle in the exhaust, you know its got compression!
Wow you learned me something. Thank you so much! 💯👍👊❤️
Race car
Maybe you and the gang could make a drag car out of the Gremlin or Pinto .
What made these Mopars so successful was their light weight compared to the lightweight versions of the Pontiacs, Fords and Chevies in ‘63. Curb weight wasn’t mentioned but this car probably came in at around 3300 lbs.
Yep. Helps not having frame rails 🙂
All the factories had their super stock drag cars and in the beginning og 63 the stick cars were limited to 3400 lbs and the autos to 3200 lbs. Later in the year the rules were changed to 3200 lbs for all transmissions. An original 63 Dodge stick shift factory drag car came with a steel frontend to make the 3400 lb weight limit but later in the year the rules were changed and aluminum frontends replaced the steel. There is one factory steel front end still in existence that I know of and is still in near original unrestored condition; rare bird indeed.
Those never grew on trees. Well done.
Tach it up, tachit up, baby going to you down.
Thanks, I remember: & seeing SAT + SUN RETURNEES from US30, AVILLA, FT WAYNE, BUNKER HILL, ETC : starting in Summer 1962 …….esp. around Wolf Lake( my High School, 1965/GRAD), & WARSAW areas
Good video, thanks for posting.
Seen one in UK at the Mopar Euronats. Love the decals on the cars
Awesome !
Awesome ride ❤❤❤❤❤
In 1988 working speed shop All Pro Automotive in Chicago,The then owner had 60 something model 300 that had the lightweight body parts,push button trans and was on nitrous, Was a weekend attraction at the Grove dragstrip. During the week we were either swapping motors or trannies. Car name was Spartucs and paint dark candy apple red. Lots fond memories
What I did notice was the back seat is in the car. There was no back seat from the factory in the True Lightweights.
The rear seat came out in 65, 63’s had the rear seat.
I did not know that. I know the 65 didn't have rear seats. Now I know. Thank you.
beautiful!
Holy Grail ? These cars were Holy Terrors. These cars were beating other cars with no problem.
Awesome Dodge. Heater Delete in Minnesota? That's a good one.
also the front valance and bumper filler was alloy parts i was 1 of the car takers of this car and tracked down the orignail owner . wish i could post some photos of it when i owned it
Oh wow, that's awesome...I'd love to be a caretaker for a car like this someday. Tracking down the history is always exciting.
I Know a guy with 2 of these alum front clips that are mint , i couldn't believe my eyrs when i seen them .
Very cool.
Cool 330 🏁 🤜🤛
This is Beautiful thing 😍
Factory Lightweights... Pushbutton Shift... I dream...
'Good video, it would be nice if you interviewed the owner a bit and he told us some history.
That is bad to the bone. Idc if you're a Ford or Gm guy or anything esle, but you can't not like this.
Mopars SUCK….the front bumpers off the Fords and Chevys they blow by on their way to victory.
@@richardtibbetts574 lol!
I had 4 younger sisters. The one a year younger than me owned 13 vehicles in one 19 month period. 4 of those were ones that I wanted if she decided to sell. The first one of those cars was a '51 Studebaker, 4 door, mint condition. I came home one day and there sat a '63 Polara in the drive. She was washing it, cleaning the glass, something like that and yelled for me to come over. We discussed why I hadn't had the chance to buy the Stude then she asked me to look at the exhaust because it was to loud. Within 10 seconds of her starting it I had the hood up looking at a 426 Max Wedge. By the time I closed the hood I was already trying to figure if it would fit in my '64 Barracuda instead of the 340/410 6 bbl in it. Yeah, she sold/traded that one out from under me too, for a damn white over yellow Bronco.
It's good the big 3 are doing some factory stuff these days, but why pick-em-ups and SUVs?
Pretty special.
Man in Morganton NC has A 64 .
MOPAR for life 👍🏻🇦🇺💯⛽️
The aluminum packages were add at the dealership, not the factory.
Mopar or Nothing!!
The dawn of crumple zones...alum front end. Lean on it and they crumple!
From pushbuttons in the dash to buttons on a steering wheel
Nothing like the sound of high compression theres no mistaking it...and no thumpr cam will fake it
I dont think so one of one. A guy back in the day by the name of jack schafer from honesdale pa had one he use drive on the street. He teamed up with bud fable they raced a dodge named the honesdale honker
If I remember correctly, SS Dodges had Holley carburetors, not Carters. Plymouths had Carters.
Had whatever you ordered it with. Carters were just as good as holley carbs and easier to tune
@@jts9120 Sorry, pal, but you're wrong. I ran Super Stock MoPars. I know what I'm talking about. And if you think Carters are easier to tune than Holleys, you haven't "tuned" many race engines.
@daryllect6659 Oh man! Tune a Carter and it lasts a long time. Get a holley tuned 5 minutes later running like shit.
@@jts9120 You're the kinda guy who adjusts the idle mixture screws and thinks he's "tuned" the carburetor.
@daryllect6659 Sure! I just got through re jetting a Carter to run 600 horsepower small block mopar. You must be one of those guys who think holley carburetors are the best.
Agree 👍🏻🇦🇺💯⛽️
sounds like dodge took a page from pontiac super dutys with the aluminum front clip....
Not 1 of 1, I know where there’s another one with less than 4,000 miles on that is 100% original and unmolested, in North Carolina. Been owned by the same person since 1964.
It has a back seat tho...
Don't forget Pontiac!
I need to find a Swiss Cheese car to do a video on. Those things were so cool.
Chevy guys know this cars taillights well. So do Ford guys!
It's not one of one it's one of 6 the factory made 6 of them
My buddy has one here up in Chicago