| Notable Hemi Vehicles
Standard Wheelbase Altered Wheelbase 
Chrysler was dominating with their Hemi powered lightweights, and they carried this over into 1965 (see the A990 Hemi). The NHRA had a Factory Experimental class with less restrictive rules, so Chrysler took the opportunity to build a really outrageous factory race car. Unfortunately, the NHRA found these cars to be unacceptable for this class, so the cars actually debuted in the AHRA in Phoenix, Arizona. They were an instant success with the fans!
(12) factory A/FX cars were built; (6) Dodge and (6) Plymouth. * Other racers made an unknown number of copies. Dodge Bobby Harrop, The Flying Carpet Bub Faubel, Hemi Honker Dave Strickler Dick Landy Jim Thornton and Mike Buckel, Ramchargers Roger Lindamood, Color Me Gone Plymouth A/FX Test Mule (for Plymouth) Al Eckstrang and Forest Pitcock, Colden Commando Club Car Butch Leal, California Flash Lee Smith Ronnie Sox, Sox and Martin Tom Grove and Cecil Yother, Melrose Missile The bare bodies were constructed at Chrysler's Los Angeles assembly plant, and shipped to an outside vendor for acid dripping. This process allowed the body weight to be reduced by 200 pounds. The A/FX mods were pretty extensive, so they could not be done on the regular assembly line. The bodies were then shipped to Amblewagon -- a Troy, MI contractor specializing in ambulance conversions. Obviously the forward relocation of the front and rear axles caused considerable sheetmetal work (unibody construction). The front wheels were moved forward by installing special lower subframe rails and sectioning the inner fender panels. The upper control arm pivot and shock mount were moved 10" forward. A lightweight stainless steel K-member also bolts on the new frame rails 10" farther forward. The steering linkage was extended and longer torsion bars installed to compensate for the relocation. To move the rear axle forward, the floorpan was sectioned and a 15" section removed. The floorpan "kick pan" was moved forward to the area formerly housing the rear seat. The quarter panels were sectioned and the stock wheel openings moved forward the appropriate amount. Sheetmetal filler panels were added to th sectioned areas and everything was welded back together. A cross braced four point roll bar was installed for chassis stiffening. Finally, fiberglass doors on lightweight hinges were added to the already light body. A fiberglass deck lid with an OEM latch and fiberglass hood with a slightly taller version of the A990 tyep scoop were installed. The fixed windows were thin Chemcor Plexiglas. The front bumper was also fiberglass, wich molded in mounting brackets. The rear bumper remained steel to maintain rear end weight. Inside the car was the roll cage, a fiberglass dashboard replica, lightweight Bostrom bucket seats on aluminum mounts and carpeting. The radio, heater, arm rests, sun visors, dome light, rear seat, carpet padding and sound deadeners were all removed. The cars weighed 2800 pounds when delivered. Weight distro was excellent, with 56% on the rear. The power for these A/FX cars was the same engine as the 1965 A990 Super Stockers (the A990 426 Hemi). Actually, an atual A990 S/S car was cannibalized for the engine, driveline and interior for each A/FX car. The A990 426 Hemi cranked out over 500 horsepower. During the 1965 season, Chrysler engineered a fuel injection system using Hillborn injectors with reworked mid-range and high-speed circuits. The velocity stacks varied depending on the transmission type. 13-1/4" stacks on TorqueFlite cars and 7-1/4" stacks on 4-speed cars. Performance was increased with this system over the dual Holley carbs. High 9s at 140-mph were not uncommon near the end of 1965
Copyright © 1996-2001 Scott Moseman. All rights reserved.
Profound statements of the History of... Race Hemi Back to Stock
In 1965, when we got the first cars we called Funny Cars, we were allowed to do pretty much whatever we wanted to with them. NHRA would not let them race at their national events, so we did a lot of match racing. By the end of that year, we had picked up about 40 miles an hour and were a full second quicker. In 1966, we had a Dart, but it wasn’t very different from the ’65 car in terms of the way it was built. By the end of that season, the cars were going almost 200 mph, and it wasn’t very safe. The technology for the engine and making power was way ahead of the safety technology.
The factory decided they wanted to get back to more stock vehicles and create a program that would benefit the corporation. Bob Cahill, who was in charge, was concerned about the Funny Car thing; there were a lot of accidents and a lot of inexperienced drivers in the cars those days. Since NHRA didn’t recognize the cars, there were no real standards to go by; some of them were very rough. I talked with Cahill and told him we needed to step up if we were going to keep running them. We had to make a decision to really step up our program, with new flip-top cars, tube chassis, and blowers, but the final decision was to go in a new direction for 1967. That’s how the clinics first began. They wanted to get the dealerships more involved. This would allow us to bring people into the showrooms. —Dick Landy, factory Super Stock racer and Mopar Muscle columnist The Beginning and End of Pro Stock
The final year we ran the ’68 cars, in 1969, we had already switched them over to lightweight front ends and tunnel rams. We were match racing against guys like Nicholson and Jenkins, and the cars were very popular. They would wheelstand and go fast, and that was how the whole Pro Stock thing really started. They went over what we were already doing, and that’s how the rules got set up for 1970. We did a lot of testing work for Chrysler and we were pretty dominant there for a while. Once they started adding weight to us, though, it became harder and harder and finally we stopped altogether. If Warren Johnson or the Jegs guys had to go through what we went through, they wouldn’t have believed it. We would find something, go a little faster and they would add another hundred pounds to us. A few years ago, Wally Parks came up to me at Indy and admitted they had realized what a big mistake it had been to penalize us like that, to “86” us on the rules, as he put it. I laughed out loud and said, “A lot of good that does me now!” —Ronnie Sox, factory Super Stock driver  
 
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