Re: For Sale: 1968 Dodge Polara show winner, must see photos / rare classic

Steve added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

> I'm scratching my head as to when the 383 went
>> into the A-Body cars like the Dart, may have been 1968. 
> 
> IIRC it was '68 for the 383 and non-factory 440s (Mr. Norm, I
> think). The factory did 440s for '69 based on Mr. Norm's
> installations. 

I cannot recall nor does Gunnell show a 440 Magnum in any A-Body, 
but there may have been some that were special order cars. 
Something akin to the difference between what GM used to call RPO 
vs. LPO. And, the Hemi cars were built on the standard Hamtramck 
assembly line same as any other Dart or Barracuda, then ****pped 
to Hurst for installation of the engine, beefed up axle, and the 
light-weight front end parts. I'd have to dig around some to get 
a decent "production" number, but I'm pretty certain that 
"ordinary" customers couldn't order one, it had to be one of the 
known racing teams being silently sponsored by "the factory".

I believe you are right about 1968 for the 383. I did a fast 
Gunnell search earlier and say that it wasn't available in 1967 
and looked a couple of other places. Ditto. Now, with the fast 
and furious ala carte method of production in those days, a 
couple decades before "plant complexity" had been coined, it does 
at least sound logical to me that supposedly non-standard engines 
were installed, but only for racing. I cannot prove that 40 years 
later, but 1968 was the year that both the stronger EPA and the 
first MVSS rules hit the industry and it seems unlikely that 
Chrysler would've tried to certify these alternative engine 
choices when it was all they could do was turn the cars around to 
meet the 1968 challenge.

And, it was still going strong in early 1969, when I was hired 
after an interview on-campus and a couple of interviews in 
Highland Park. Chrysler, like Ford and GM, were desperately 
trying to add engineers of all the major disciplines just to try 
to meet the load. My first assignment was the bench and C/A/R 
seats for the B-Body cars. By the time I got there the end of 
April, the design was well along and the guy who became my senior 
engineer, i.e., first level supervisor, was carrying the load 
himself until I got there. Ditto for a fellow member of my 
colleges engineering school class of 1969. 

-- 
HP, aka Jerry