Now THAT's a COOL car!!

I don't remember the exact year, but I guess it was about 1987 or so. My wife and I had traveled to Massachusetts (Rock Port, to be exact) to visit my 100+ year old grandmother. I didn't know it then, but it was the last time I would ever see her. I think she was 101 at the time. She'd lived on her own (unassisted) for over 40 years at that time. My grandfather had died long before I was born. My grandmother never drove a car, she never even had a drivers license (or any ID for that matter, other than a birth certificate). She walked to the local market once a week to get groceries, and when she got older the grocery boy would carry her groceries for her.

Gram' lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment building, and there was no elevator. Her best friend and companion, Estelle, lived directly underneath her. Estelle wasn't quite as old as Gram' was, but she was well into her late 90's by that time. Estelle too lived on her own. And, Estelle had a car...and she still drove. When either Gram or Estelle needed something which was further away than the local market Estelle would drive her car.

Gram' talked often about Estelle and her car. She talked about some of the little adventures they'd go on. One night while we were visiting, Gram' decided she was going to make her signature dish, homemade Clam Chowder (which was so absolutely fantastic people would fight over the stuff!). We needed some special ingredient which wasn't at the local market (I don't recall now what it was). No problem, Gram said, Estelle would be glad to give me a lift to the store which did have the ingredient she needed, and we'd stop down at the docks and pick up some fresh clams right off the boat on the way back. Oh man! This was gonna' be good (the clam chowder).

Now, I had never seen this car of Estelle's, I'd only heard about it from Gram'. The way Gram' described this thing it just sounded like your run of the mill 'old-person's' car. It was your run of the mill, 4 door sedan, in some nondescript color and it was old. Gram' used to say she'd had this thing ..."forever". And, when Gram' said 'forever' you just knew it was a really, really, long time! The complex they lived in had these little garages people could park their cars in, and this was where Estelle kept her car.

So off to the store we went.

When Estelle opened the garage door I saw pretty much what I expected, a nondescript 60's vintage 4 door hardtop sedan. It was a Dodge. As I got closer I began to notice this car was in great condition, and as I got up to the back of it I could see the placard said Coronet. As I looked inside my knees started to get weak. It was astonishingly well kept, like it just drove off the showroom floor! Even the seat belts were laid neatly across the seats. Wow! This thing could go into a car show without even being detailed! But what happened next was even more astonishing.

I walked up to the front of the car, my curiosity now at max. I looked at the grille, and casually asked Estelle what year the car was made. She said..."Heck, I don't know, a long time ago. It's just an old car." It looked like a '67. I think my voice was trembling at this point when I asked her if she'd mind popping the hood open for me so I could take a look. I don't think the hood was open more than 3" when my knees began to buckle! Naw...it couldn't be, could it???

As the hood opened, and the engine bay saw the light of day, I saw something just unimaginable. Before me sat a 426 cubic inch engine, the legendary and fabled "Hemi"! In 1967 Dodge put (139) Hemi's in the Coronet model and the overwhelming majority of these went into the Coronet R/T. 1967 was the only year Dodge would put a Hemi in any trim level of a Coronet. This car was probably one of four or five ever produced! To say it was rare is the understatement of the century! This thing was priceless!

The engine bay was so clean you could eat off of it. I asked how many miles? Estelle says..."Oh, I don't know, a lot I think; I've had this thing forever" (here we go with the "forever" thing again). So I walked around to look at the odometer...(I want to cry right about now typing this)...the car at 6,500 original miles on it! **THUD!!**

Even in 1987 this car was worth a ton of money. Today I have no idea what it would be worth...a LOT!

Turns out her husband had worked for Chrysler in some capacity many years before, and he'd bought this car for her just to run around town...which is exactly what she did with it (all 6,500 miles of it).

In part II of this story, I'll tell you about the ride to the store that day too. It was equally shocking. However, Part I stands on its own for an astounding experience.

Was it supercharged?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I thought you were going to say 440 as I was reading. Anyways looked up the 67 and did some reading. Pretty interesting. Tons of HP.

en.wikipedia.org...

--PART II - The Trip to the Store with Estelle --

I did eventually regain my composure, and had settled down to mumbling "Hemi" over and over again and shaking my head. I had completely forgotten that we were actually going to the store, not just looking at this one of a kind car.

So, we both got in this car (in the garage). She starts up the Coronet and let's it idle for a second. Even with a stock exhaust system, you could tell when a Hemi fired up. They just oozed horsepower (425 of them). I'm sitting there expecting this agonizing slow motion ride to the store, "blue-head" style.

I'm not sure but I think my head may have impacted the dashboard when Estelle mashed the gas pedal in 'Reverse' and laid rubber out of her garage. And before I could even recover she'd dropped it into 'Drive' and mashed the gas pedal again, laying rubber across the parking lot! HOLY S#!! I didn't know if she was having a stroke or what the hell was going on, but we were haulin' ass!

We shot out of the parking lot into the street in this power-slide maneuver, and then the secondaries on the carburetor opened up and whipped my head back into the headrest. Her foot was glued to the floor!

About 100 yards in front of us I could see a stop sign coming up. Estelle wasn't letting up, this thing was wide-open, Bay-bee!! I thought she'd lift and brake any moment...nope! We blew through the intersection going at least 70mph!!

I said (as calmly as I could)..."Estelle, ummm, that was a Stop sign back there."

She looks over at me and says..."I know. But I'm old; I don't have time for that!"

I kinda' started to get skeered just a little bit then (aka - my toes had dug into the carpet clutching to hang on, and my sphincter muscle was pinching the buttons off the upholstery on the seat). Now there was a stoplight coming and it was red, and there were cars stopped. Estelle was gonna' have to stop this time, or else there was going to be a MAJOR malfunction!

I'm not sure how close we got before Estelle braked, but I could see the whites of the dinner plate sized eyes of the person in front of us in their rearview mirror, that look of terror was probably reflected on my face too. Just like the gas pedal, Estelle knew only one position, mash it to the floor...and that's just exactly what she did with the brake. We finally skidded to a stop about 3/8th's of an inch from the car in front of us. I was paralyzed, my fingernails digging into the dashboard.

When the light turned green, Estelle just sat there. For a moment I thought maybe she died. She was just sitting there staring straight ahead. I figured her heart just exploded from all the excitement. Nope, a split second later she just mashed the gas again and we launched off again. (she was just giving the terrified driver in front of us a head start).

We managed to make it to the parking lot in one piece. I didn't even notice that she'd parked. "Parked" is probably a strong word, she really more just stopped at a random location and got out. We got whatever it was we went to the store for, and my knees were still wobbly when we got back to the car.

I asked Estelle if she'd mind if I drove her "Cool Car" on the way home (it was really a self-preservation ruse). She agreed, and I did the "blue head" 25mph, holding up traffic, drive all the way home.

It didn't occur to me until later that I now understood why my grandmother had such vivid memories of Estelle and her car scorched into her brain!

That was a fun story! I felt like I was right there with you. Thanks for sharing!

a reply to: schuyler

No, just normally aspirated. 4 barrel Holley double pump (as I recall).

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: schuyler

No, just normally aspirated. 4 barrel Holley double pump (as I recall).

I was just thinking of the Little Old Lady from Pasadena and her supercharged Dodge

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Oh my

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Part 2 was a hoot to read. Thanks !!

Love this story! Thanks for sharing.

Closest I've come to driving such a thing was my dad's 83 Mercedes 380SL with the v8. The thing would launch if you were at a stop, but otherwise wasn't that "quick" per se.

What it WAS amazing at was holding a hard, steady acceleration. Watching the speedometer go up as you floored it from about 40-110mph was like watching a smooth moving clock hand, and before you knew it, were flying; man was that ride steady.

Felt like a boss taking my date to prom in that beast... thanks for reminding me of fond times, FCD.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yep a Coronet, I read that right..
Here's a 67.
With a wicked engine, gets 12 gallons per mile ( yes 12 gallons per mile )
Good old 4 barrel...
Step on the gas and your eyeballs hit the occipital of your skull.
Thanks for another great story.


Edit: my parents got an old police car with this engine. It was named "La Bamba" it was a Chevelle( Chevy ).. dad let 11 y/o me test it out with my 4 y/o brother in the back unbuckled on a stretch in Mira Loma California. Looking at my brother in the rear view mirror, I stepped all the way to the floor deliberately to see my brother take on the force into the seat. He was laughing and my dad was not... dad reached over with his foot and hit the breaks, my laughing baby brother flung forward cheering and still laughing.

They don't make them like this anymore..

Edit: "La Bamba" was a Dodge. We also had the Chevelle.. had to call my dad and find out🤗

Great story, extremely rare car for sure and I can imagine the pucker factor would be off the chart.

Reminds me of a story my brother told at my Dads funeral and one I’d never heard before. My brother had bought a Shelby GT500 and was giving Dad a ride for the first time. My brother got on it getting on the freeway and got up into the 130’s before pulling to the side and stopping. When he did, he looked at my Dad and said “so what do you think?”, Dads response was “can I drive?”. Well they switched sides and brother said without hesitation Dad launched the car getting the front wheels off the ground and proceeded to go through the gears way faster than he did and hit over 150 on the speedo. When they stopped he said Dad looked at him and said “I like it”. Pop was a minister but certainly not your typical one. I miss the ol man dearly he was a rare breed.

My uncle has a 66-68 Camaro with traction bars just in the garage rusting away.... on the hood it says Omen, is there such a car? I looked it up and see nothing about a Chevy Omen camaro or Firebird.

I did however own a mid 80's Chevy Berlinetta ( weak A$$ engine Camaro all digital dash )...
Worse yet had an 82 DeLorean with an even weaker Volvo engine....

Mullet and Oakley Blades... This car was a horrible car.

Bring back some real cars with actual muscle!

a reply to: Bigburgh

Some of the '67 Hemi's came with dual 4 barrel carbs, so yeah, good gas mileage was never one of the intended objectives for the Hemi. And '67 was the only year Dodge would let you buy the Hemi in a non-R/T version. After '67 the Hemi's were reserved for the Dodge muscle cars like the Barracuda and the Charger.

I was never a big Dodge guy, but anyone could appreciate the 426 Hemi. I always wanted to get my hands on one in a Super Bee, a Charger or a Barracuda. Never found one which wasn't trashed.

My big thing was Chevrolet when I was into wrenching on cars. I had a buddy of mine who wrecked his 69 Camaro about a week after he'd put a Corvette LT-1 balanced and blueprinted 4 bolt-mains crate engine in it (crashed it backwards into a bridge abutment and totaled the car, but the engine was fine.) I bought the car off him for the engine, and pulled the engine. I put it in a fully built '76 project Blazer I had. I'd done a full frame off restoration on the Blazer and put that LT-1 in it with some hooker headers, dual 2-1/2" exhausts straight through with glass packs. It dyno'd at just under 500hp. When I'd jump on that Holley 750cfm double pump the Blazer would literally leap off the ground! I've even got pictures of it (somewhere around here) where you can see about 2" of daylight under all four tires from a standing start. Man, I loved that truck! It looked sharp too! Painted it Corvette Orange in 2 stage lacquer with a thin white stripe down the side. Over width white spoked rims on soft rubber. It was a sweet ride and a real looker too. Did all the engine, body and paint work myself. I was proud of that rig when it was done. Drove it for many years.

In a crazy ironic twist, I sold the Blazer years later to this young kid. He wanted it for the engine. He pulled the engine, rebuilt it and put it in a 94' Camaro project he was working on. I had to help him get the motor in that car because the engine trans combo was so big.

About a week after he got the car finished up he was hotdogging it with his girlfriend in the car, spun it on a freeway on-ramp and crashed it...you guessed it...backwards into a bridge abutment totaling the Camaro!! Camaro was crunched but the engine was fine. I kid you not!

That engine just DID NOT want to be in a Camaro! That's a true story too.

He said he was going to get another Camaro and put that engine in it. Never did hear how that went, I lost touch with him. Funny story though.

a reply to: Bigburgh

I used to have a 74 Nova.
400 small block, had a 650 cfm 4 barrel on it. Cammed out. Loved that thing.
The front end came off the ground when I hammered down on it. Got 8 maybe 10 mpg on it, it was great.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I traded that Camero berlinetta in for a Frankenstein 78 front 79 rear dodge ram ( Nick named "Butt Fur" by the Reno Rodeo Committee ) with hemi engine. I kept snapping twisting the universal joint and drive shaft once a month. The Nevada desert hated me. But Locktite glue and Napa Auto loved me. Not a mechanic, but after owning that truck i was a professional at getting under a truck and swapping parts. 12 bolt posi tractions can be a b!tch.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

So... I'm guessing a little yard work here and there?

Maybe a foot rub, shoulders too?

Going by Estelle's driving, take her to the movies - she's a 'fast' gal, maybe try slipping her a little tongue even?

Then be all kind and gesture her with a newish camry, or mazda. Tell her its for her safety... Then buy that beastly car off her for a steal!

Oooohhh, humbugs was the lollies they ate back then too, bring those to the door.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: Bigburgh

I used to have a 74 Nova.
400 small block, had a 650 cfm 4 barrel on it. Cammed out. Loved that thing.
The front end came off the ground when I hammered down on it. Got 8 maybe 10 mpg on it, it was great.

The Nova was is..
It was a chevelle/Malibu... seriously strong car

a reply to: watchitburn

Yeah, those old Novas would get on down the road. I really like the 400 CID motor, but a lot of people didn't. You could push a 350 harder though. You couldn't really do much building on the 400. People used to rave about the 454 big blocks, but you couldn't do anything with those, and the stroke was so long they'd just puke rods all the time if you really got your foot in one.

I'll bet I've pulled and replaced about (25-30) 350 and 400 engines in my life. Loved that engine. I even got to where I could rebuild the Rochester Quadrajet carbs myself (and that is not an easy carb to rebuild). I actually wound up liking them maybe even better than the Holleys for some things.

i got my classic car under pretty comparable circumstances but with more miles, i got a 1967 oldsmobile torronado with a 425 with 38,000 original miles on it that had only been driven too and from church by a little old lady in Kalispell montana like 7 years ago for 3 grand , thing is heavy but it gets up and goes pretty well has a rotatory speedometer like a slot machine and original Moroccan leather seats