I stand/sit corrected. Bryan and others are right - there WAS a
383 CID 280 BHP engine in both 1967 A-Body cars, the Plymouth
Barracuda and the Dodge Dart.
I found this in a more obscure reference book, where I should
have looked first, as I've apparently found yet another glaring
error in John Gunnell's seminal work, "The Standard Catalog of V-
8 Engines".
The book was published in late 1973 by the group then known as
the Chrysler Archives, and was titled the improbable name "A
Pictorial History of Chrysler Corporation Cars." Yes, there are
pictures, but they are small, poor quality B & W and only one to
cover an entire model of car in a given model year. And, it does
go back all the way to the 1924 Chrysler B-70. What is far more
valuable than a thumbnail photo and a little text, though, is a
very, very detailed set of specifications on each and every car,
including Chrysler's internal body (platform) code and its code
for both body style and price class, model names, WB and the full
range of specifications for all engines available.
Unlike Gunnell and other sources I first looked at, this book is
much more explicit as to what engine(s), body styles, WB(s), etc.
were available individually rather than lumping them all
together, which makes it hard to discern what engine went into
what car(s).
So, Bryan and anyone else I pissed off with my stubbor refusal to
admit my brain was soft and I mis-remembered, my sincerest
apologies. You may or may not believe it, but this isn't like me.
When there's a question that I'm not 100.000% sure on, I check in
multiple reference and picture books, but this time, my ego got
ahead of my brain and I goofed.
What I did NOT find, though, was anything on the Slant Six Hyper-
Pak engines I talked about, the fact that a 440 Six Pack was
released for 1972 but never built, nor any mention of the D-Dart.
For that matter, the approximately 70 Darts and 70 Barracudas
that Hurst installed drag race engines into in 1968 are not
mentioned. That's really not a suprise, though, as these examples
are pretty obscure and not the usual factory builds.
So, please forgive a tottering old fool.
--
HP, aka Jerry
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