"Mopar Missile" Duster Surprise Find

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ocdart

ocdart

Inland Mopars Car Club
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A relatively new restoration/hot rod shop near my home has a monthly open house/mini car show event. I took a short motorcycle ride down there yesterday just to see what was there and what they do. Sorry, no pics because I didn't want to take my camera with me on the bike.
Not a lot of cars being shown yesterday, maybe about 20. One very nice Willys with a Hemi - a new 6.1 rather than the traditional gen2 hemi with the blower through the hood. Really nice clean execution. Hopefully I'll see it again when I have my camera with me.
Anyway, I walk into the shop area and the first thing I see is the old "Mopar Missile" 1972/73 Duster Pro Stocker up on jack stands still with the original paint and all. The only thing different is it now says "Don Carlton" where it used to say "Mopar Missile", so it's as it was after Mopar ended their factory sponsorship. I know Don Carlton was killed in a racing accident back in the '70s so this car has been sitting somewhere for quite awhile.
Expecting to find a Hemi up front, I was surprised to find a W2-headed, twin-Holley, tunnel-rammed small block. Judging by the aging and patina on the engine matching the aging on the body panels, I'm thinking this engine is original to the car.
I asked one of the shop owners about it and he told me the current car owner also has the "Missile" Barracuda and wants the Duster restored to a museum-quality race car complete with the small block engine. He said the owner told him the small block was originally built by Don Glidden just before he moved over to Ford products.
I did a little internet research yesterday and found Mopar was trying to develop small block Mopar powerplants back then to get around the NHRA cubic-inch weight break that penalized the elephant Hemi's so much. The trouble with the factory small block back then was you couldn't run it to 9000 rpm in Pro Stock trim without the block splitting through the cam journals.
I'll get down there again and shoot some pics to share. This will be a fun pro resto project to follow.
You never know where you're going to find that famous old Mopar race car!
 
There is a small block Duster known as the "wire car" that was built but never driven by Carlton. But that car was restored years ago and has been in several magazine articles.

http://www.allpar.com/racing/missile/wire-car.html

(Lots of related links/info at the bottom of this link.)


Don Carlton did run a Dart Sport with his name on it. But it was a Hemi run in Comp Eliminator. I do remember something about 2 black Dusters running each other in Rockingham, NC. It looked like Carlton was racing himself. Perhaps it may be one of those.

You gotta get pics!!!

I'll email this link to a friend who may know more on this car.

Exactly what year is it? The '72 car was actually reskinned to a '73. But they are different in the grille and taillights.
 
Locomotion said:
There is a small block Duster known as the "wire car" that was built but never driven by Carlton.
Click to expand...

Myron, what I originally posted was the information as relayed by the shop owner, not the car owner.
I just talked with the owner of the resto shop after reading your recent PM's. From talking with him over the phone about the structural components and how the body is mounted, this car is indeed the "wire car". He also said he has all the magnesium floor plates for the car.
The shop owner is going to email me photos he's already taken of the car and I arranged to stop by the shop after work tomorrow and take more pics. I'll post them on FABO tomorrow evening (SoCal time). I also received permission to post the shop name and info and will do that tomorrow as well (I didn't think he'd mind some free advertising and more exposure but thought it best to ask first rather than apologize later).
 
Sounds like a cool story to follow. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics.
 
In my vast array of old car books, there is one with an article on the 'wire' car.
I will try to find it and copy it to my Photobucket album for all to read.

It was narrowed and has an altered wheelbase and all sorts of devious weight savings.
 
ocdart said:
Myron, what I originally posted was the information as relayed by the shop owner, not the car owner.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks. It makes sense that some of the details may have been a bit off.

Glad you found it. I've been a big Don Carlton-Motown/Mopar Missile fan for a long time. Despite the earlier restoration, it's cool to learn it is being re-done more accurately and we find out about it here from the start instead of in a magazine article sometime in the future.
 
If you read some of the other links it tells you about the Mopar Missile is currently residing in Melbourne, Fl. and is currently owned by Ben Donhoff. It also has a good article about the "wire car" as well.
 
Ben's is the original '72/'73 Duster.
The Cuda is rotting away in Canada.
 
it's awesome...he has brought it to the Mopar swap meet in Melbourne the last 2 or 3 years. Probably will be there this coming January.
 
Sorry guys, SoCal freeway traffic was too heavy coming home tonight to let me get there before they closed. The owner is going to stay late for me tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's the pics the owner emailed to me yesterday. I'll shoot more detailed stuff tomorrow.
In fact, let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like a shot of and I'll do my best to get it.


 
Way cool OC. If it has lexan windown I would like some pics of how they have them mounted. Especialy the side glass. Mabby some pics of the cage and seat mounting. and some pics of the trunk and full cell mounting.

Thanks!
 
OK! More pics, finally!
I only received one request for specific pics but can't help with the request because the side glass is still just that, safety glass, not Lexan (Burntorange70, I'll send you a PM about how I did the Lexan side windows in my old '69 Dart race car).
No 'wires' left in the 'wire car' but you can still see the tabs by the tail panel and on the top of the rollbar X-brace where the wires connected. All of the floor panels and some of the tin under the hood are magnesium - you can tell the difference between the magnesium and the aluminum by the different colors as it's aged. The small block used to have a belt-driven distributor that mounted to the front motor plate but it's not currently with the car. The rearend isn't with the car yet either. The resto shop owner said the original rearend used a magnesium center section and titanium axle tubes, but the tubes were changed to steel sometime in the past. The resto is going to replace the steel axle tubes with titanium as original. I was hoping to get a pic of the magnesium center section with the 'Ramchargers' embossed cast rear cover but 'no joy'.
You can see the hood under the back of the car. It's got to be the flimsiest hood I've seen on a race car. You can pick up one corner of the hood and it rolls up like a rubber floor mat, not at all like a current fairly stiff fiberglass race car hood.
Oh yeah, the 'wire car' is being restored at The 401K Club in Anaheim, CA. Check out their website at www.the401kclub.com.
Anyway, on to the 'Before' pics. Enjoy the dust, rust, and patina.


 
Just a little more info on the 'wire car' Duster - the ultimate goal for this car was light weight. I saw documentation today that this car, race ready without driver, weighed 1880 pounds! That's one heck of a diet from a stock Duster.
 
I really need to get over there and check them out.
You going to the Cruise for the Cure next week?
 
1970duster440 said:
If you read some of the other links it tells you about the Mopar Missile is currently residing in Melbourne, Fl. and is currently owned by Ben Donhoff. It also has a good article about the "wire car" as well.
Click to expand...

And that my friends is who is building my Hot Rod slant 6 for me !!Got both my motor and 8.75 rear end to make ready for my '69 Dart !!!Helluva nice guy !!!Been doing Mopars for many many years !!:prayer::prayer::prayer::prayer::prayer:
 
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