I was at several of Don’s front engine Swamp Rat performances and where ever he went in the pits, crowds followed him. He won over and over again. A great driver and quite a man.
I was one of the first 2000 thru Don museum. Pat said he was out back tuning a neighbors Oldmobile. He showed me around his shop. Met him again a few years later at a diner in Carson City He was working on someone's AA/FC. Always a gentleman.
I was one of the first 2000 thru Don museum. Pat said he was out back tuning a neighbors Oldmobile. He showed me around his shop. Met him again a few years later at a diner in Carson City He was working on someone's AA/FC. Always a gentleman.
I’ve had the pleasure of going to The Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum. Actually was approached by Big Daddy Don Garlits himself! As nice a man as you will ever meet, humble an honest and full of wonderful stories! I hope he sits down some time with a biographer, to tell the story of his life!
For any racer to match Don Garlits' legacy they would have to design the car, build the car, build the engine, tune it, drive it, and own and operate the whole operation. That will never happen again. In addition, that person would have to build one of the best museums in all of motorsports. And in addition to that, he did it all while based in Florida and not having the advantage of living among the Southern California speed culture at the time. He is absolutely drag racing's GOAT. How fortunate we are to have him still around and promoting the sport.
@@SquirminHermanthe1eyedGerman H3LL YEAH Growing up in the 70's my dad & his Pal's had Hot Rods around all the time! Must be where I got love for the smell of BURNT RUBBER!
Didn't every one of us have a friend where we all met up to wrench on our cars that would always get b¡tchy an say "don't smoke the tires or leave any skid marks on the dam road!
I flew from the UK in 1990 to see this car at DG museum, I still have the pics sat here today of it.....that "Tom Thumb" rocket go kart that was there was a hoot., a nice Lady gave us 4 Yorkshire Lads a tour, loved it.
I met Don Garlits as a kid at the mopar nationals in Columbus Ohio in the 80's. The next year we went and met him again and he remembered me. Said I got a little bit bigger. Very nice guy, let me sit in his dragster and stuff.
Here's another one. In Austin, TX., in 1968 my friend and me looked at a 1966 steel blue 4 door Coronet 426 badged Hemi engine 727 auto transmission car owned by a lady that said she never raced it. She let us pop the hood and it had the dark orange color big block Hemi engine with the orange air cleaner assembly with 426 HEMI 425 HP logo on it. There were two small metal 426 Hemi badges on the cars 2 lower front quarter panel areas.This was during the summer of 1968 right behind Twin Oaks Shopping Center on S. Congress Avenue. There were more out there for some reason.
I wonder how rare our 1966 Coronet station wagon was? 426 hemi, 4speed trans, power steering but regular brakes. We had it for two years to tow a camper trailer with. It got wrecked in January of 1969, hit by a snow plow. I pulled the engine and trans to put in a 1964 Dodge that I was turning into a drag car.
I remember reading an article in a muscle car rag in around 1990 about a guy had either a coronet or belvedere, don’t remember which, was red, four door hemi, original owner still had it, bought it to tow his holiday trailer.
THERE WAS A GOLD WITH RED INTERIOR 4 DOOR CORONET HEMI BOUGHT NEW IN CANADA BY A VETERINARIAN . I EVEN SPOKE WITH HIS SON . IN 2005 A FELLOW FROM VEGAS I BELIEVE OWNED 2 OF THEM I MET HIM AT MOPRS AT THE STRIP IN 2005 . A RED ONE AND THE GOLD ONE . THE RED ONE WENT THROUGH BARRET JACKSON AND BID TO $600K HE HAD TO BID TO BUY HIS OWN CAR BACK BECAUSE HE WANTED 1 MILLION . HE PUT IT N EBAY A MONTH LATER AND IT BID TO $100K . SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE $580K ( HE BID 600K ). IT COST HIM A BUNDLE TO BUY HIS OWN CAR BACK. BUYERS FEE, SELLERS FEE AND THE ENTRY FEE.
I knew a guy that had a 641/2 Charger with a mechanical camshaft Hemi with 4 speed. So I wish he had sold it to me LOL. Ofc he refused to let it go. Don't know what happened to it but I hope he still has it.
1965 there were 6 426 Hemi station wagons produced. Also offered in MOPAR station wagons for a few more years until 1971. Guaranteed that "Big Daddy" Don Garlits knows all that. For several years, he ran the 392 hemi engines instead of the 426 hemi.
I remember reading about a '66 Plymouth Satellite convertible that wound up in a salvage yard. It had a hemi/4-speed engine & was a prototype. It was the ride of someone in the Plymouth division. It had prototype on a lot of the pieces that were found when it was being restored. I'd say that car beats 'em all.
Scored a 68 Chevy Two, badge on fender 307 , pulled out the engine, gave it to my father, he rebuild turns out to be a 327, 375 HP, he put it in a 66, 4 door impala.
Housewives were going to Kmart in muscle cars back in my day..my mom had a 63 Bonnieville with a 389 V8, four barrel carburetor, badass mom with a badass car..
I was the second owner of a hemi roadrunner 1968 with four-speed not completely stock but it ran very well the way we got it equipped it after it been stored during the oil crisis in the 1970s I wonder where it is now? I still remember it rather vividly..
FYI, the rarest 426 Hemi is the Ball Stud Hemi built in late 1960's using a standard big block engine, not the RB block, but the "383" style block or the 9.980 deck height and originally built on 426 cu in displacement. There were several built, but all were destroyed by Dodge except one and it is in private hands on a blue 68" Barracuda. It is seen on various car shows.
Yes, I was extremely disappointed when the video suddenly ended. I was expecting the features to be examined at least, because this one really is fascinating.
I've been to the museum. It'll take someone who's very skinny to squeeze between those cars. He has so many, there's barely a foot between them. so he can display them all. He had to build a second building.
There was a 66 white 4 door in Tulsa in 66, it was ordered of Oklahoma Highway Patrol, but they wouldn't touch it....the Hemi emblem was down on the fender, it was a 4 speed bench seat, rubber floor mats...it wS at New Dodge City at 11th and Harvard....I was 16 when I saw it...
Big daddy is the man! I remember seeing a Satellite early 70's that was Butterscotch, black interior with orange piping on the seat, with a Hemi. Think it was the last one off the line.
Met Big Daddy at Bandimere Raceway in Morrison Colorado 2017 3 lucky people got to race him with 3 new Dodge Challengers. Got my 1970 Dodge Challenger hood scoops signed by Don Garlits.
My grandfather was a MOPAR salesman from 1946 to 1977 so I grew up on them & I have never even heard that a 426 came in a Coronet let alone a 4 door! I would take that baby in a heartbeat! MOPAR OR NO CAR!
I used to drool over a 66 Coronet 500 Hemi car in the very first Northern Wheels car magazine, it was called Knecht Moves(the owners last name pronounced "night") and was 1 of about 100 made. The car was in the Calgary area.
I ran in to Big Daddy several years ago in my hometown at ZMax dragway. He was running one of the Dodge Challenger dragpak cars in Super Stock then. I approached him in the staging lanes where he was waiting and spoke to him for several minutes in addition to taking some pics. As others have said, he was so down home cordial and friendly it made it a real thrill to meet one of my life long drag racing heros!
We had one here in Bethesda MD. Supposedly it was going to Arizona to be a highway patrol car. My mother had it for 2 day's. No a/c. Black on black I was only 14 however I remember the Goodyear's. Automatic. I also remember the coin (police suspension) Coronet!!
Seen him run one time in Jackson , Mississippi his crew pulled the engine apart after a run ,all the way to naked block , 45 minutes later they fired it up to check everything , scared the crap out me when they busted it off , I was about 100 yards away , needless to say he put on a show an smoked the guy that came to race him , never forget that day , that big methanol himi was something else
Don’t know the exact number produced, another rare hemi is the see through cut away ones . The vocational center I attended had one in our automotive class.I heard that Chrysler tried to buy it back a few years ago, and they refused to sell it.
I was at a Kruse auction many, many years ago, and two of the 4-dr Coronets were up for auction. The story at the auction was that the FBI ordered them for pursuit work, it was a special order, but there were indeed 4 of them on the loose.
There were 5 early 2000, perhaps 2003 Mercury Marauders or Marquis built for the FBI. I saw one in the alley in Coral Gables, FL, and asked the driver why their were cobra snake emblems on the lower front fenders. He said he had to of them, and his other one has bullet holes in it. The car had government plates, but the snake emblem is what got my attention. He said only 5 were made.
Absolutely. While he didn't invent the rear engine dragster, he worked long & hard to perfect it, because until that point, the very few rear engine dragsters that existed, were un-driveable on the track. Don Garlits changed all that & probably saved at least dozens of racer's lives because the front engine dragsters were killing drivers practically every year. Of course he did many other great things for the sport as well. Cheers.
I was at the "WORLD OF WHEELS" in Tampa Fl late 80's and I was taking a picture of a car and this man stepped in front of me (three feet away) just as I snapped the picture, I didn't even realize who it was until I showed my friend the photos after getting the film developed, he saw the pic. and said "do you know who this is?", and pointed at the man, I looked at the pic and then just realized it was "BIG DADDY" himself, Don Garlits! Thanks for the memorable pic DON!!!!!
The rarest hemi made is actually the 1970 dodge coronet R/T hemi convertible. They only made 2. Otis Chandler had one in his car collection and the other was lost in a fire some year back.
ONE WAS SOLD NEWW IN BRACEBRIDGE A GOLD WITH RED INTERIOR. I BOUGHT A 427 BISCAYNE IN 1985 OFF THE 2ND OWNER. HE BOUGHT IT WHEN IT WAS TURNED IN AFTER 3 WEEKS ( A VET BOUGHT IT NEW WHEN AN IDIOT SALESMEN SOLD HIM A CAR TO TOW A TRAILER AND BOAT ). THE GUY EVEN SHOWED ME 5 OR 6 ALBUMS OF PICTURES OF HIM RACING IT .
@@HEMI66US2000 story I got from 2nd owners brother. His brother was a mechanic who bought it when the original owner a dentist returned car to dealer. the car was bought new in Huntsville by a dentist. The mechanic sold again but he did not know where it went. I saw the car when it was for sale at the Barrie Auto Flea market when it was held in Barrie at Formosa Springs Brewery. Last I heard it was in Owen Sound area. Was the guys last name Holinshead?
The RAREST Hemi would be an A-925 - the famous Doomsday Machine. 426 DOHC 4v Hemi. 750hp..... NONE ever ran under their own power (unfortunately), but at least one survives. OR the Ball-Stud Hemi - the A279. Up to 12 were built - only ONE Survives!
If you havent been you need to go to Big Daddy's museum down in Ocala Fla. It is one of the most unique places in the world...! See you again soon Bigs....!
$6000 even 15 years ago for a shell with a hemi code would have been a good price, but a shell with the numbers matching engine still in it , would have been the deal of a lifetime. let alone one of four !
Veterinary Dr. Les Pensvalto of Bracebridge Muskoka, Ontario, Canada...had an ugly sand brown '66 4dr ( taxi bench seats) 426 hemi , dual quad ,auto , on polyglass rubber, c/w bullet holed dog dish hubcaps!!!!! We used to drool as young teens just looking and listening to what to this day is on my all time sleeper list...the early 70's Manitoba St. muscle car Friday drive by...!
I worked on that car. Served my apprenticeship at Ecclestone.motors in Toronto. Watched it come off the truck. New it went to a vet in Bracebridge. Not sure what happened to it but I hear its being restored. Everything I get to florida have to stop in Ocala. Garlits was my hero when young. Still is
I can tell you what happened to one of the 2 in Canada. It was written off in an accident on Albion Rd west end of Toronto in 1975 by it's owner, My best friend's dad. Who had been a Mopar gearhead since the early 60's & worked at Roadsport Chrysler dealership until he retired 20 years ago.
YES AND 1 WAS SOLD NEW IN CANADA AND WAS RESCUED FROM A JUNK YARD IN QUEBEC AND RESTORED . OTIS CHANDLER ENDED UP WITH IT THEN BRENT TORINO WHO HAD GRAVEYARD CARZ DO A COSMETICE SPRUCE UP ON THEIR SHOW .
I got the opportunity to watch Big Daddy Don Garlit race in Columbus Ohio in the late 80s and it blew my mind how those car's sounds. They sounded like thunder going down the track and rooster tails of rubber higher than a telephone pole when doin a burnout lol. In today's world it's called a power pole lol...If you don't jerk your head back to the starting line you missed the next race lol
I get it….the 4 door Hemi Coronets shown = rare (Qty 4)……..But let’s get down to brass tacks here >>>. 1970 Coronet R/T Convertible Hemi (Qty 2, + 1 European export not yet found), 1970 Road Runner Convertible Hemi (Qty 3), 1967 Coronet R/T Convertible (Qty 3), 1970 Super Bee Coupe Hemi (Qty 4)…….it is also rumored that 1 Hemi and 1 440+6 Charger R/T’s snuck out of the factory in 1972, but these have not been proven or found to date……Sources = Hagerty, Allpar, Galen Govier, etc.
This is the first time I have even heard of a Hemi Coronet. I knew they made them with 318s, but I doubted if anyone had put one of the power house motors in one.
I've been to Don Garlets Museum several times. I've seen the car in person myself. Don doesn't like me much. My 3rd cousin Jerry Brown was his crew chief. They fought all the time
In 1969 Dodge made a Charger that was one of their main photograph/PR cars. It was bronze with a cream colored top and a tan interior and it had a Hemi. What makes it rare? It was an XP car which means it wasn't an R/T. R/T's were all XS cars, the first two letters of the VIN. That makes that Charger 1 of 1. It was found in the woods of Georgia I think about 15 years ago and restored but resto modded. It was on an episode of "Chop, Cut, Rebuild".
Not sure, but I believe that one had the gas filler in the bumper, and made problems under the obvious acceleration of the Hemi, the filler on following models was moved to the top of the left fender for that reason more so than to mimic nascar. BTW, I had a 68 427 vette with the gas hole in the middle of the top rear deck but never even gave the acceleration or sideways g-forces a thought as to why it was where it was.
Not all things are as they appear. In 1966 I worked for my fathers business. A Dodge dealer in Perrysburg, Ohio. I sold a light blue Coronet 440 to a client. We had to order the car. It was powered by a 426 hemi 4 speed. In a 4 door Coronet. Now this changes the story. I guess there were 5 made.
A 4 speed HEMI 4-door? Was it a center console shift car, or was it column shift? Although I've heard an explanation for the discrepancy between official Chrysler build numbers and actual model production - I believe it had to do with the dealers doing more 'under the book' kind of deals with clients, I've heard that you could get dealer-installed A/C on a HEMI car, although it was incredibly expensive (around 10 to 12k then). It would explain your experience.
Murray ran across this today , life long resident of Toledo . Racking my brain trying to remember that dealership , I was 17 in 1966 . Refresh my memory !
The dealership was Gingrich Brothers on Front st. We were a small dealership but carried more inventory of Hemi's than most huge dealers. The car in question was a 66 or 67. I don't remember excatly. It was a special order. We also sold Hemi Darts. Fifty made. At car shows there are fake Hemi Darts. They came with one seat not heater or ac.
I owned a 71 coronet when i bought it it had a 426dropped in it. But I had the guy put the.383 comando back in her. My coronet came withgreen matelic paint factory green tint windows a cool can for the fluids it had pro trac 50s inside the fender wells with a cut and narrowed dana rear with 411 gears 3quater cam racer browd purple shaft cam to muchbto list. This car ran low 11s in the quater mile. Not bad for an almost 4000 pound car. I miss her shemade me a lot of money and won me a 340 duster demon
I encourage you to watch this video of Big Daddy Don Garlits explain why he went with the 46 Hemi. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AOdxyrg8kSk.html
