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OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE REGALS MOPAR CAR CLUB INCIssue #2, 2011

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EXCLUSIVE EVENTMERCHANDISE!

Official event DVDAll the action from both days of the Mopar Rumble 2010.Grab yours today!

Keyring

‘If you have to ask’sticker

LIMITED STOCKSAVAILABLE!

T-ShirtAvailable in black and white in avariety of sizes. Top quality shirt

and printing, a great souvenir.

$3

$25 All items available at the Regals Mopar Car Club

monthly meetings, or at www.moparrumble.com.au

$25

$2

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SezThe

PrezEXCLUSIVE EVENTMERCHANDISE!

Official event DVDAll the action from both days of the Mopar Rumble 2010.Grab yours today!

Keyring

‘If you have to ask’sticker

LIMITED STOCKSAVAILABLE!

T-ShirtAvailable in black and white in avariety of sizes. Top quality shirt

and printing, a great souvenir.

$3

$25 All items available at the Regals Mopar Car Club

monthly meetings, or at www.moparrumble.com.au

$25

$2

June 2011 President Report

Hi everyone, I really hope you all enjoyed our special Mopar Rumble 2010 edition Torque magazine. All the feedback we’ve received so far has been great, and I’m confident you’re going to like this latest issue too.

Unfortunately it’s been a turbulent year for me with the sad loss of my father, and my mother-in-law within a span of 3 months. This has delayed this Torque magazine’s production, which is why you’re getting it a little late.

However, the mag is packed with new stuff, including Gordon’s wrap-up of this year’s Chryslers on the Murray. I wasn’t able to make it this year, but it sounds like most people had a great time. I say “most people”, as I have heard some negative reports about an overzealous police presence, and some bothersome freshly mown grass. We know first-hand that when you organise a car event, you’ll never be able to please everyone, but our hats definitely go off to the Albury Wodonga Chrysler Club for doing another smashing job of hosting what has become the biggest Chrysler event in the country.

We’ll be looking at some of the work going on to turn a stock-standard 1968 Barracuda into a 426 hemi-toting mean machine. The project has only just begun, and we are hoping to follow the restoration all the way to completion.

In one of our brand new segments, Blast from the Past, we take a look at a couple of old photos of a Regal 770 VG Valiant, and a VC Valiant. But just wait until you see who else is in the photos…

We also have a small feature on the Regals monthly club meetings. If you haven’t been to a meeting lately, why not? You’re missing out on a great time.

A couple more Regals members have walked down the isle this year (including me) and we have some great photos from the weddings. And of course, they wouldn’t be Regals weddings without awesome Mopars featured front and centre!

I thought I should also mention this month’s cover. It might seem strange to feature a modern Chrysler on the front cover of our club’s magazine, especially when our club is dedicated to pre-1981 vehicles. Well, just because we all love the old Mopars, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a soft spot for the new ones too!

And let’s face it, that SRT-10 “Viper Ram”, sure is a looker!

Please remember that we welcome any feedback you have on the new-look Torque, and we welcome your contributions too.

Thanks for reading!

Bruce Rayne - Editor

FROM THE EDITOR

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE REGALS MOPAR CAR CLUB INCIssue #2, 2011

Well things are starting to get busy in the Regals camp. We can proudly announce that Mopar Rumble 2011 will be going ahead again this year. The date is set for the 12th and 13th of November. We’ve made a few changes to the event schedule for 2011. In short it should add up to a more relaxed vibe on the Saturday, followed by a massive action packed day on the Sunday. The details will be available shortly at www.moparrumble.com.au. We really hope all Regals members will make the effort to come out this year and support their own club’s event, and show the punters what we’ve achieved in a rela-tively short amount of time.

On a personal note, I’ve been keeping busy in the shed working on Regals members’, Steve and Chantal Hawkins’ 1968 Barracuda. Most weekends now involve, my brother Andrew, Steve, and a host of various Regal members getting stuck into what will surely be something very special when finished. I hope you’ll enjoy checking out the article showing the progress of this exciting project in this edition of Torque. We’ll take up the build progress in the next edition of Torque too, but in the meantime

have a look at the “In the build” section of the Regals website for a bunch of pic-tures of the Barracuda build, and many other Regals members’ projects.

I’ll see you on the road.

Chris Mede - President

2011

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The Regals Mopar Car Club has recently turned two years old. At this time, the club has over one hundred members, and is also the organiser of one of the biggest Mopar events in the country. But by far, one of the club’s biggest achievements is its monthly meetings.We all love our Mopars (that’s why we joined the club in the first place), but we also love talking to other Mopar fanatics, and one of the best forums for mingling with other Pentastar partisans is at the Regals monthly meeting at St Marys. Held on the premises of Onsite equipment rentals, amongst a huge range of boom and scissor lifts,

The Regals congregate on the first Wednesday of every month.We’ve come a long way from the small handful of friends that used to meet at Vallance Street. These days, the head count regularly gets over 50, and the car park is usually full to the brim with magnificent Mopars—sometimes as many as 30 cars. It’s like a mini car show every month!

The Regals committee have worked hard to make the meetings fun for everyone, and the attendance numbers are proof that it’s paid off. And having the cars parked in full view, makes them

the main feature of every meeting. But there’s more than just cars and socialising; if you’re a little peckish, there’s always some lovingly cooked sausage and onion sandwiches (and we’re talking about fancy sausages from the butcher—not those plastic ones from the supermarket). And there’s a lucky door-prize given out at every meeting too. All you have to do to be in the draw is turn up on the night!So for those of you who haven’t been to a Regals meeting in a while (or ever), come on out see what you’ve been missing!The Regals Mopar Car Club meets at 7pm on the first Wednesday of every month at 33 Vallance St, St Marys.

Have you been to a club meeting lately?

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Some Regals tie the knot

Congratulations Bruce and Bederina Rayne

© 2011 Gemma Clarke Photography

© 2011 Gemma Clarke Photography

Congratulations Mark and Toula Carey

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The Charger, PoliCe and Good Times!Chryslers on the Murray, 18th to 20th March 2011, AlburyWords and pics by Gordon Kyd

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This year’s Chryslers on the Murray broke another record in attendance with a massive 703 Mopars of all shapes and sizes making their way through the gates for the Sunday Show ‘n’ Shine. The sheer numbers of Chryslers that made the pilgrim-age from all over Australia was stag-gering—it is more apparent than ever that the brand’s popularity is on a very healthy rise. Yet again, the towns of Albury/Wodonga were inundated with Valiants and Chryslers for the week-end making it a Mopar heaven for the Pentastar faithful.

With the spotlight this year being the 40th anniversary of the Aussie Charger, it’s no surprise that Chrysler Australia’s most recognised and possibly most sort after coupe helped attract huge crowds and make COTM 2011 a massive event. With the Charger’s racing history and memorable advertisement campaigns back on the early 1970s, most people with any interest in the Australian mus-cle car movement have some sort of af-fection for this sporty, short wheel-base Mopar. To make it all the more inviting to attend, the resourceful folk from the Al-bury Wodonga Chrysler Club managed

to rally some of the most well known names associated with the design and engineering of the Charger along with some of the legends who raced the cars back in their golden era such as Leo Geoghegan and Brian Reed.

Depending on who you ask, COTM 2011 was received with mixed reviews. For those who have been regulars to the event over the years, it appears that the nature of COTM has changed, namely in the activities of Friday and Saturday nights. The night time shenanigans on the main strip of Albury used to be about

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The Charger, PoliCe and Good Times!Chryslers on the Murray, 18th to 20th March 2011, AlburyWords and pics by Gordon Kyd

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the odd burnout and drag race between lights with hundreds of punters coming out and grabbing a position to watch the action. At its prime, the street was lined with Mopars and the atmosphere was electric yet still extremely laid back. This was a big draw card for many who attended COTM and many of The Regals members who have visited over the years would recall how it was a highlight of the weekend for them. At COTM 2010, the Police no longer turned a blind eye to the on-street “improvisation” which resulted in bookings and an odd car im-

poundment. Among other hooning in-cidents that occurred in 2010 that made mainstream media, we all knew that the Police were going to crack down this year and to be honest, you couldn’t re-ally blame them. The outcome was that this year’s Friday and Saturday night was a shadow of its former self with only the incredibly daring (or incredibly stupid) having a blat. The police presence was astounding and anyone who remotely gunned their car was pulled over. This didn’t stop huge numbers of people from coming out, cruising and parking-

up their Chryslers, but there was zero on-street entertainment. Thus ends one aspect of Chryslers On The Murray that many loved, and rightly or wrongly “the good old days” of street racing have be-come all but a memory.

From my perspective, this had little bear-ing on my weekend as more than any-thing, Chryslers on the Murray is about having a relaxing long weekend, catch-ing up with other Mopar nuts, spending quality time with friends and enjoying the beautiful range of Valiants, Dodges, Plymouth and Chryslers on offer.

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Friday 18th March

Those who like to make the most out of the COTM weekend arrive in Albury/Wodogna on either the Thursday or Fri-day to unwind from the hours of driving it takes to get there. It is during this time when the majority of event goers chill out before the action of the big weekend and catch up over a few cold beverages. Just like last year, The Regals organised a cruise on the Friday to the beautiful open country of the Rutherglen wine region just over the border in Victoria. Meeting at The Three Monkeys tavern, a convoy of nine Chryslers set out to the ‘All Saint Winery’ under the glorious sunny skies of a per-fect March day. Anthony Raschella and his lovely wife from South Australia joined the cruise in their super-tough black VJ hard-top. This coupe was all class and a stun-ning example of Australian muscle, with huge rear rubber, Convo Pros under each corner and a red-hot stroked 360 pushing out a dual Demon carby set up through a neatly cut hole in the bonnet. Interestingly this explosive and very neat creature was

for sale to fund Anthony’s Mopar dream of a 1968 Dodge Charger.

The drive to the Rutherglen region began on the Hume Freeway which made for smooth cruising. After exiting the open road, our small collection of Chryslers en-joyed the scenery that wound through the rural farmlands of this beautiful area. Our first stop was ‘All Saints Winery’ which has to be seen to be believed. From its gor-geous, long tree-lined driveway entrance to lush green lawns and rose gardens that would make a royal family proud, one could be mistaken that they had stumbled into Utopia. A number of large red-brick castle-like buildings were where the wine and food sampling took place. The wine tasting building was ingeniously designed to feel and look like an old fashioned tavern, making it warm and welcoming, with a few oak barrels for good aesthetic measure. Many a sample was had and a few purchases were made, while exercis-ing caution regarding the old “cellar door euphoria”. As is often the case with cellar door tastings, if you’re not careful, you

can blow a hole in your wallet and walk away with a dozen bottles, only to find that when you get home it doesn’t taste anywhere near as good as it did at the cel-lar door.

In another building not far from the wine tasting, ‘All Saints’ ran a cheese, sauce and confectionary tasting room which seemed to do great business with The Regals. Si-mon and Michelle left with bags full of de-licious cheeses and savory treats.

After a relaxing chat in the beautiful court-yard, everyone made their way back to the cars and we drove to ‘Valhalla Wines’ which was only a few kilometres down the road. ‘Valhalla Wines’ was a more “salt of the earth” type of vineyard with-out the beautifully manicured garden estate of the previous winery. However, Chris, Andrew and Steve seemed to en-joy the wine sampling just as much, and the owner’s blue grey cattle dog was a hit with the kids, enjoying the constant back scratching as it lazed on the grass outside the main building. Unfortunately some of the convoy had to leave early as Chris had

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to meet with Rod Taylor (President of Al-bury Wodonga Chrysler Club) at the Gate-way Lakes site to be briefed on where to set up our club display and assemble the club’s large gazebos for the weekend. A handful of Regals accompanied Chris and in no time the club’s “stronghold” was set up with everyone there having a chance to admire a beautiful and freshly restored burgundy 1967 Barracuda fastback pow-ered by a 354ci Hemi.

It has become apparent since last year’s COTM that The Regals have their accom-modation scattered all over the Albury/Wodonga region which makes a complete Regals gathering near impossible. With the exception of some time spent at the club’s gazebo at Gateway Lakes, many of the club’s members would not have spo-ken a word to each other over the whole weekend otherwise. With George, Chez, Pana and Harry located 35 minutes from Albury’s town centre and the other half of the club (such as Trent, Rod and Dale to name but a few) staying in various accom-modation in Albury, the ability to freely

socialise as a complete club was difficult. This did not stop small sections of the club who were staying in walking distance from catching up, grabbing dinner together and just hanging out. The Roberts family, Raf, Mark, Daren and his mate Rick, Jeff, Le-anne, Simon, Michelle, and a majority of The Hunter Valley Chrysler Club were all staying in The Motel Wellington in Wodon-ga which is just down the road from The Sanctuary Park Motel where Chris, Andy, Steve, Chantal and I were staying. A well trodden path was worn between the two motels over the weekend.

Saturday 19th March

Saturday morning marked the official be-ginning of the Chryslers on the Murray event with a mass of entrants and specta-tors flooding into Gateway Lakes from as early as 8am. From sunrise, it was evident that the weather Gods were smiling and the perfect, bright, warm, sun-filled day was the fortunate trend set for the rest of the weekend. It really couldn’t have been better weather, especially from a photog-rapher’s perspective. With such fine skies,

it was next to impossible for anything to ruin the great mood I was in, although a few little things did superficially spoil the opening hour of my time once through the gate — and I wasn’t the only one who noted some things that would make a massive difference if corrected. While it is trivial in the grand scheme of how well the event was organised, the means of entering the grounds was somewhat dis-appointing. A dirt road leading to the Gate-way Lakes entrance is the indicated point of arrival for all Mopar owners displaying their vehicles for the weekend. This side road is designed to prevent a long queue of cars from building up and spilling out onto Lincoln Causeway (the main road which joins Albury and Wodonga) when they are waiting to be marshalled into the grounds. Being unsealed and in the case of the weekend, dry and dusty, the simple act of travelling along it meant that the time spent washing and detailing your car was for nothing. A layer of dust and dirt coated every Chrysler that entered the event on both Saturday and Sunday. The second gripe with many attendees

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this year was the grass clippings that weren’t removed prior to the event. This meant that by the time everyone parked their cars to put on show, not only were the cars covered in dust but the wheels were coated in a mess of grass cuttings. It didn’t make for pretty pho-tography I can tell you. I think most people would have preferred to drive on unmown grass rather than carry the dew-drenched cut-tings with them. As mentioned before, they are small things yet significant for a car show of this scale: the largest Chrysler event in the Southern Hemisphere

It is apparent that Saturday’s Show ‘n’ Shine has become nearly as big and as significant as the Sunday, which has always been the main day for car displaying at COTM. Hundreds of Mopars turned up and the atmosphere was festive with Chryslers of all eras, shapes, sizes, Aussie and Yankee being admired. One main drawcard of the day was a seminar which in-cluded a collection of race drivers, engineers and designers involved in the development of the Charger during the late 1960s and early 70s. These legends were brought together for a laid-back Q&A. While seated on the back of a truck, passing a microphone between them, they reminisced and retold stories relating to the Charger, specifically how they all thought it was “the duck’s guts”. Large crowds swarmed the area around the truck with all of the seats in front being taken. To add to the at-mosphere around the immediate area (which was standing room only by 11am) a number of famous Chargers (original and replicas) that raced back in the day were on display, such as Norm Beechy and Jim McKeown’s E38 that competed in the Hardie Ferodo 500 and the heavily modified 550hp Charger sports sedan of Clem Smith. The most well known name in racing circles back in the late 60’s, Chrys-ler or otherwise, attended the group and it was Leo Geoghegan that I’m sure most peo-ple were waiting to hear from. Leo Leonard was also there as was John Ellis who led the Chrysler race program and Bill Chinnick who was a Charger body design engineer. With the Charger being celebrated at this year’s COTM, there was no better opportunity to hear from those who made them what they are and get a good look at this famous and much loved two door.

The sheer volume of Aussie Chargers in at-tendance was mind-blowing (over 200) and in some ways over saturating. After half an hour of perusing and photographing the sea of duck-tailed coupes (hours could have been spend surveying them all) they all started to blend into each other. Rusty “povo pack” Chargers are fetching record prices today, not to mention the ridiculous money people are asking for R/T E38, E48, and E49 optioned Chargers. This has seen “investors” throw some serious coin into full restorations, faith-ful to factory specs, which meant there were

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no shortage of stunning examples on show. Many looking as good, if not better than the day they rolled out of the factory at Tonsley Park circa 1971 to 1978.

While the Charger was out in force and ex-tremely well represented, there were so many other magnificent and varied types of Chryslers in immaculate condition that it made this year’s spotlight vehicle almost repetitive to observe. One car that springs to mind as being a standout on the Saturday was a stun-ning metallic red/burgundy 1959 Desoto Fire-dome which featured in issue #12 of Chrysler Action. Inside and out, this classic gem was a testament to the opulence of the time with its superb dash console heavy in chrome and gorgeous two-toned mother of pearl steering wheel. The beautiful large chrome horn ring reminded me of a set of angel wings. The Desoto’s large sweeping white side-feature kicking up at the back onto the tasteful tail fins. The over abundance of chrome bumpers front and back advertised its decade of production, while giving a further example of how sterile and generic the modern automobile is in com-parison.

For the fan of the later model hardtop coupes, there was no shortage of VH, VJ and Chrysler by Chrysler hippos basking in the sunshine. While many were toughened up with worked engines, performance mods, mini tubs and shod with generous rubber, there were a few restored to factory specs which was quite re-freshing to see. It’s obvious their rarity in fac-tory condition is now a major attraction, as one meticulous and superbly restored white VJ Regal coupe with a factory 318 was con-stantly surrounded by admirers. As for Yankee muscle, the prize of the day for me went to a gorgeous Blue Fire Metallic 1970 Plymouth GTX, sporting a 4BBL 440 with T Bar 3 speed auto and optioned with factory power steer-ing, disc brakes, air con, rear “Go Wing”, white vinyl roof, matching white interior, white stripe decal package and widened Rallye rims. It was the perfect balance of class and automo-tive muscle, all in the most faultless condition. Thanks to Simon’s recommendation, I didn’t miss out on seeing a lovely black 1947 Chrys-ler Windsor Business Man’s coupe with white walls and a whole lot of cool. I could imagine a tommy gun in the boot and a box of Cubans in the glovebox.

On the Regals front, the club’s gazebo and dis-play was its usual sun refuge and social hub for members and the like. While the Mopar Rumble 2010 DVD made its debut at COTM, there were also t-shirts, caps and other mer-chandise available for purchase, giving a cer-tain retail feel about the club display this year. Parked nearby where most of the usual mem-bers’ Mopars but there was a new toy in town this year which sparked much interest. One of the major talking points of the weekend was

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George’s (James Anthony’s dad) VG 770 sedan fresh from a respray, tidy up and to-tally upgraded power plant. This neat little bronze sleeper looks like an unsuspecting “Grand Pa” jigger with original 770 hub caps and dress rims over widened steelies continuing the theme of a stock Valiant. Lift the bonnet and you see an original 318 Fireball style air cleaner (complete with de-cal) sitting over a block that’s finished and coloured to the correct factory specs. Then it hits you: since when has a 318 been that big? Housed in the engine bay of this very tidy stock looking rig is a 440 big block stroked up to a massive 543ci, ready to get you to lawn bowls and bingo in record time. Once the engine is started, the sleep-er loses its innocence with intimidating menace, declaring its potential. But apart from the widened steelies, externally it’s as an original VG 770 would have looked back in the day. For both Saturday and Sunday, this VG was a major focal point of the Mopar faithful with a constant crowd mingling around it every time the bonnet was opened.

Close to the midday mark, George and Chez arrived in the GTS Dart with Harry in his orange VG hardtop. To my surprise The Dart was no longer shod with the Ral-lye rims it has had since it was imported to Oz. Now it was rolling on stock black rims with Dodge hubcaps. It looked fan-tastic but was even more impressive when RedVan applied the quarter inch red walls later that day, giving the Dart an authentic period look.

I joined a group of Regals who left Gate-way Lakes to grab lunch in Albury, which led to a drawn-out and confused cruise around the streets of the town centre in search of parking, with a six-Mopar con-voy trying to stay together. Once parking was found and the painstaking decision on where to eat was made, it was settled that the ‘Commercial Club’ smorgasbord was where the appetite would be satisfied. As the eating was gluttonous and conversa-

tions flowed freely, time slipped away. Some of us realised that we would miss the Charger showcase at The Ettamogah Pub if we were to stay any longer so we left and hit the Hume Freeway heading North to the iconic pub. The afternoon cruise was very relaxing with the sun ever present, and the half hour journey being the perfect cruising distance.

The Ettamogah Pub was its usual impres-sive self with the car park brimming with countless Chryslers and scant few brand Xs, as it always does come the COTM weekend in March. The display going on in the paddock behind the pub was obvi-ously well and truly underway but unfortu-nately, arriving late meant I didn’t get the chance to take a good group photo of all the Chargers parked in rows without spec-tators getting in the shots. By the time I started taking photos, some of the Char-gers were leaving, but thankfully there were many that stayed for a little longer that enabled me to capture some abso-lutely beautiful and unique cars. While walking among the remaining Chuggs, I ended up chatting to the proud owner of an unmolested russet coloured VH 770 Charger who had purchased it new. It was very satisfying speaking to someone in their late 60’s whose love for the one car after all those years remained undimin-ished. He said he had left it as he bought it because “it was made right, so why mess with it?”. When you are surrounded by so many fine examples, it is almost impos-sible to remember any solid standouts, but there was a “Go Green” VJ 770 Char-ger that caught my eye because of its per-fect finish, rare colour and white over red stripe package that made for a beautiful combination.

Surprisingly, there were a few contenders willing to tempt fate and give the tar a bit of rubber as they exited the pub’s car park. This was much to the joy of the “great un-washed” (a fitting label Daniel Morato gave the bogans who heckle everyone exiting

the Ettamogah, encouraging them to pull a burnout or “do a skid” as they say in Ad-elaide). The Police didn’t seem to be book-ing anyone at The Ettamogah but on the freeway back to town, a number of cars were pulled over by the ‘Boys in Blue’ with some Mopars reputedly impounded.

Sunday 20th March

The Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday just with more cars, more spec-tators and more sunshine (if that was pos-sible). The dyno was fed with a constant lineup of Mopar muscle pushing out a loud and dynamic soundtrack through-out the day, with the crowds swarming around it until early in the afternoon when the boys from ‘Webster’s Dyno and Per-formance’ packed up. The ever passionate and devout Mopar enthusiast Les Bink-horst (who called the drag racing at Mopar Rumble 2010) was MC for the dyno on the day. It was quite funny listening to him sometimes throw in his improvised com-mentary, even if the facts weren’t always substantiated. For live entertainment, the energetic rockabilly band ‘No Brakes’ played an inspired set on the back of the same truck Mr Geoghegan and those old Charger geezers held their seminar the day before. My camera was running hot as I meandered up and down the dozens of rows of cars, the whole time running into people I had met from previous Chrysler events and enjoying catching up. I was warmly greeted by a collection of very friendly folk from The Queensland Chrys-ler Association that had travelled in their Mopars all the way from Brisbane.

With over 700 Chryslers on show and such quality on offer, there was hours of view-ing to get through in order see them all. Indiscriminately, a number of cars remain in my memory, such as a super tough looking ‘British Racing Green’ Chrysler by Chrysler sedan with a shotgun scoop that spent a fair amount of time around the dyno tent. There was an immaculately re-stored deep red VF Pacer that was one of

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the tidiest I have ever seen, a brutal and rough looking grey AP6 gasser powered by a 440 big block, a beautifully modified and ultra low 1970 Dodge Phoenix hearse, a teal green VF ute with a turbo boosted 435hp Slant 6, a lowered yet totally stock sky blue AP6 sedan that was ultra cool, and a perfectly restored VH Ranger that was the result of a father and son rebuild with its 265 Hemi fitted out to E49 specs. While this list of Mopars seems pitifully short, pages could be wasted describing the most impressive vehicles on display so I suggest visiting The Regals web site ‘Events Gallery’ for a more comprehen-sive pictorial of the weekend.

Staying for Sunday night and leaving Mon-day morning is the only way to go. This meant that there was no mad rush to leave the Sunday Show ‘n’ Shine, making the day more enjoyable and the 6 hour drive less fatiguing. COTM 2011 was a huge event and a much more impressive national turnout of Chryslers than previous years, so from my perspective, it was a complete success. Next year will be very interesting with the spotlight being ‘50 Years of the Valiant’, so hopefully as many members of The Regals Mopar Car Club can make it and good times can be had by all.

Until the next rant, see you behind the camera!

Cheers Gordo aka “Lens Cap”

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Transformer

The Indy 426ci Hemi crate motor. It came already built and dyno’d. It made 493hp and 500nm of torque.

This is the last photo taken of the car in one piece. It was originally a 318/auto car with power steering and air conditioning. It was about original as they get, but in need of a resto, or in this case an all-out rebuild.

Here’s the car in its new home for the next few months. The diff and fuel tank came out next. The garage floor will never be that clean again.

After removing a few key nuts and bolts, we dropped the motor out from underneath with the help of Regals members Raf Jelicich and Brett Roberts, who foolishly chose to drop by that day!

Steve and Chantal Hawkins’ 1968 426ci Hemi Plymouth Barracuda Fastback build.

Hemi Barracuda. The combination of those two words evokes a certain emotion in most Mopar fans. They obviously did for Steve and Chantal Hawkins, because that’s what they’ll have once this car hits the streets again. I thought that this particular project would make an interesting article for our club magazine as there will be numerous modifications made to this car. The brief includes fitting an Indy 426ci Hemi with air conditioning and power steering. A Billet Specialties Tru Trac Serpentine system will be used, along with an Alterkation coil over set up. A 727 auto and custom 8 3/4 diff complete the driveline. A custom set of extractors and exhaust system will be fabricated, and 4 wheel disc brakes will be fitted. The car will be mini-tubbed and have chassis connectors fitted. There are many other modifications, but you get the basic idea that this will be an awesome car once completed.

First a little history on the vehicle. This car was sourced from California and bought into the country in April 2010. When it came time to pick it up from Brisbane, Steve Hawkins, Andrew Mede, Simon Griffiths, and myself flew up to collect it, and we had ourselves an old fashion road trip, but that’s another story. At any rate, it was a cracking way to get to know the car, and it performed flawlessly all the way home. The owners drove it around for a year before it was taken off the road at the end of April 2011 for a massive transformation. Here’s a bit of a pictorial essay of the build so far...

Words and pics byChris Mede

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Transformer Moving to the front of the car, we decided to fit the Alterkation K-frame, so we could mock up the steering assembly. The original shaft was modified by removing the column shift levers and link-ages. We also cut back the outer section flush to the firewall to free up space. The double D shaft was cut to length to finish it off.

The false floor bracing and boot hinge supports have been drilled and cut out. The next step is to split the wheel wells by cutting them down the centre, and drilling out the spot welds underneath.

Gordon gets into the unenviable task of scraping the tar off using a heat gun.

A neat cut to split the tubs will help once everything is welded back together.

Here’s what the rear looks like with all of the interior trim and panels removed. Note the mount where the rear seat hinges on to fold down flat at the front of the wheel tub. Once the tub is split and moved inboard, we will have to modify the seat by narrowing the base so it will bolt back in.

Now the inner tub is removed, we cut the floor back to the rail effectively giving us around 65mm of extra room for some decent rubber.

Next we pulled out the entire interior so we could see what was involved with tubbing the wheel wells.

The spot welds are drilled out so the now split inner tub can be removed.

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In this photo, you can see the surplus strip of floor being cut away.

Here’s a common site! Steve doing that job that no one else will, except Gordon Kyd who has also spent a decent amount of time under the car removing all of the tar and dirt.

The inner tub is roughly sitting in its new location. You can see how much extra room is gained by performing this procedure.

After cutting down and shaping the spring box, it is clamped in place.

After careful measuring, a section of chassis is removed to make way for the pre-fabricated leaf spring mounting box.

Next we removed the spare tyre well so we can add a flat floor. This step also gave us great access to the rear chassis rails so the rear spring hanger mounts could be added.

Once the inner wheel wells have been cut out, the next step to mini tubbing a car is to move the leaf springs inboard to free up more space. There are a few methods to achieve this, but we chose to use the Mopar Performance Spring relocation kit.

This photo illustrates the old and new leaf spring mounts, and how far the springs are moved inboard.

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Here’s the spare wheel well. Considering its excellent condition, I’m sure it will find a new home in another project down the track.

This is the new flat floor sitting in position. We made this modifica-tion so we could add a custom made fuel tank. The new tank will allow us to bring the exhaust system to the rear of the car. The new tank will have a higher capacity than standard which will come in handy when the Hemi gets opened up!

Here’s the rear hanger mount sleeve in position. The holes are already in the chassis, but they need to be opened up a few extra millimetres.

Here we see the Mopar Performance spring relocation kit fitted and tacked in ready to weld up.

This pic shows the four bolt holes from the original hanger mount.

Meanwhile, at the front we’ve started to modify the engine bay. As the battery will be moved to the boot, we’ve hidden all evidence of it ever being there by mirroring the other side of the inner guard. Most accessory holes have been welded up, and the holes on the shock towers have been plated.

Well that’s it for now. In the next instalment the wheel tubs and boot floor will be welded in. We’ll fabricate and fit chassis connectors, and cut and fit the interior panels affected by the wheel tub modifications we’ve done so far. To get the car back on the ground, we’ll get a diff under the rear, and mock up the front suspension and brakes. If all goes well, the next thing to do is get the Hemi sitting in the engine bay, and direct our attention to all of the modifications that have to take place at the front of the car! In the meantime, check out the progress pics on the Regals website under the “In the Build” section.

Here’s the finished set up (minus bushes).

With the spring relocation kit and the new flat floor in, the rear is really starting to take shape. Another day of welding will see the tubs completed.

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PRESIDENT Chris MedePh: 0407 212 222 Email: info@regals.com.au

VICE PRESIDENT Simon GriffithsPh: 0425 350 002 Email: valiant770@optusnet.com.au

SECRETARY Michelle GriffithsPh: 0425 236 022 Email: valiant770@optusnet.com.au

TREASURER Andrew MedePh: 0412 164 376 Email: andrewmede@optusnet.com.au

PUBLIC OFFICER

Chris Mede

Ph: 0407 212 222

Email: info@regals.com.au

PLATES REGISTRAR

Raf Jelicich

Ph: 0431 485 741

CLUB RUN CO-ORDINATOR

George Tatsis

Ph: 0410 006 710

Email: dart383@optusnet.com.au

EVENTS PHOTOGRAPHER & REPORTER

Gordon Kyd

Ph: 0401 585 905

Email: gskyd@pacific.net.au

WEBMASTER AND NEWSLETTER EDITOR Bruce Rayne Ph: 0401 671 400 Email: mail@branchus.com.au

COMMITTEE MEMBER Andrew PanaPh: 0450 426 383 Email: plymouthduster383@hotmail.com

COMMITTEE MEMBER Leam McGrady Ph: 0423 285 271

CLUB CONTACTS

Just who are these young whipper-snappers? Do you give up? These are none other than the Regals club president Chris Mede, and club treasurer Andrew Mede, posing with Chris’ old girlfriend (his VG Valiant), as well as the once renowned “Tyre Fryer” VC.

Do you have any embarrassing old photos of yourself and an old vehicle? If so, we’d love to see them! Send your scans to info@regals.com.au.

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BLAST FROM THE PAST

REGALS TORQUE 19

• Custom axles and diff components supplied• Brake modifications and conversions• All types of custom machining

MOPARSPECIALIST

• Custom hand made diffs• Diff modifications• Chassis and race car modifications

Contact Terry 0432 017 592

10% Discount for members of the Regals Mopar Car Club

(02) 8838 7111ASK FOR NICK

Specialising in the restoration & preservation of classic Chrysler cars & components

www.pentastarparts.com.auPhone +61 2 9608 8888 • Fax +61 2 9608 8910PO Box 70, Hoxton Park NSW 2171 • 1c/7 Lyn Parade, Hoxton Park NSW 2171

10%

Discount for

Regals Club

Members

20 REGALS TORQUE

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