1965 Plymouth Ute Austrialian Vehicle In Usa Since 1986 on 2040-cars
Douglasville, Georgia, United States
1965 Plymouth UTE Australian made to my knowledge only one in U.S.A. only 2000 made this is a real collectors item $250.00 deposit non refundalble vehicle may be viewed in Douglasville Ga. Trophy winner for 25 years Current condition. Slant 6 replaced with 1970 340 in 2005. Took word of the seller that it was re-built. It was! To best of my professional knowledge,No 3 cylinder has low comperssion like rings were not properly staggered and does smoke a bit. Body has a few Wal-Mart dings. Unfortunately in its last years it had to be used as it was intended to be. A 'Farm Truck' in order to liquidate my vast inventory of Mopar parts. It has been altered as far as engine location. Had to be moved back one inch for RH steering box. Fabricated steel engine mounts. Built 904 Transmission. Best ET at drags was 14.1 Call me for more info and to set up viewing xxx770xxx733xxx6451xxx BUYER RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL SHIPPING AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS Mopar Muscle Magazine July 01, 2001 Kenny Bayer's 1965 Valiant Wayfarer This Truck From The Land Down Under Provides A Great Ride Obviously, Mopar Muscle is a magazine for U.S.-built performance cars, and even if a German company now basically owns Chrysler, diehard fans will continue to purchase cars and trucks built in the States. In fact, many Mopar fans would rather drive another manufacturer's domestic model before getting into something from overseas. So why is there an import shown here on these pages? Well, because it qualifies as a "real" Mopar, of course. This is a 1965 Valiant Wayfarer utility truck, or, as it is commonly called in its birthplace of Australia, a "ute." Fans of A-Bodies will quickly recognize that U.S. new-car buyers never had a chance to get a mini-truck with this body style; the nearest thing in 1965 would have been the Dodge A100, made famous as Bill "Maverick" Golden's Little Red Wagon. The fact is, the Australian car market got something that probably would have been quite popular here, fighting with the Ford Falcon Ranchero on the open market. Ah, what might have been. This ute spent its first 23 years in Australia, coming to the States in 1988 when long-time Mopar enthusiast Kenny Bayer bought it and had it shipped across the Pacific. The Bayer Boys run a Mopar-only parts and repair/resto shop in Douglasville, Georgia, and had spent some time corresponding by mail with Australian Chrysler fans. Living in Miami at the time, he jumped at the chance to put an example on the road stateside, having only seen pictures of the ute in magazines. Sold sight unseen, a money order went across the water, and soon after, the car was on its way 12,500 miles around the world via the Panama Canal. According to Kenny's research, it is the only one of this year and model to be registered in this country. It spent the first portion of its life as a farm vehicle and was a far cry from a showpiece. Though showing its age and accidents, Kenny drove the Wayfarer as a daily driver the first few months the car was stateside, and then The Boys did a quick Duraglas-type restoration to get the car to the '89 Mopar Nats in Columbus. Unfortunately, on the way to the '90 Nats, it was involved in a hit-and-run accident on I-75 around Atlanta and needed some new sheetmetal as a result. It took 18 months before a Down Under connection named Graeme Jenkinson was able to locate and ship some clean (actually N.O.S.) panels to replace the damaged ones. Together with parts from a Valiant wagon and a Barracuda, the car was redone better than new. The diminutive truck was originally painted baby blue as one of the 2,000 or so built at the Chrysler of Australia plant in Adelaide, but The Boys covered the fresh sheetmetal with Corporate (Petty) Blue paint for all-American visual appeal. Under the hood was Chrysler's universal workhorse, the 225-inch Slant Six. Kenny will be the first to admit that he and his brothers have a soft spot for the Slant Six packages, which were, and are, almost indestructible. Since the machine was purchased to be a regular driver, an engine was built up just for the project, and the Wayfarer now sports the equivalent of a Hyper Pak, complete with a Dutra intake cast by Clifford, a Carter four-barrel, .030-over pistons, and a Mopar Performance cam. Behind this is a 904 automatic and an 83/4 rear with a 3.55 SureGrip. The stock bench seat (which Kenny says were like two pieces of plywood covered with foam) and three-speed-on-the-tree column shift were replaced with a '66 Dart GT console/shifter layout and a pair of cushy, late-model buckets from an '80s Shelby Charger. A later set of Rallye wheels were put on the truck to give it an even sportier appearance, but it still maintains its original flavor. Of course, the truck retains its right-hand drive, which takes some getting used to. It's great for conversation, though, and Kenny talks about the looks they get while cruising to the store in the passenger seat. Nothing like having a police officer do a double-take as you look at him through the passenger-side window while tooling down the highway. A crowning moment for the project came several years ago when the Valiant-based truck from Australia was displayed at Chrysler's old corporate headquarters in Highland Park. There, Kenny was able to talk to many of the engineers involved in these projects, including one who had been in Australia helping with design work at the time. It has also been displayed at the DaimlerChrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills. As built, the ute was made to be used, and like U.S.-built trucks, many were likely used up, so how many may survive to this day is not known; Kenny's sources in Australia figure less than 500 remain at this point after decades of chasing kangaroos through the outback. Thanks to the efforts of the Bayer Boys, we know at least one will remain on the road for a long time to come. |
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Barrett-Jackson 2014: 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird passes half a million dollars
Sat, 18 Jan 2014The Plymouth Superbird is one of those classic American cars from the muscle car era that has captured the imagination of all sorts of automotive enthusiasts long after its presence on roads and race tracks wore away. It's easy to see why. Where else but in the Swingin' Sixties and Seventies would a car leave the factory with an aerodynamics package that included a pointy beak and a rear spoiler that sat several feet above the rear deck?
The example you see above, which was born in 1970, is one of the finest Superbirds we've ever seen. Combine its complete restoration with its original 426 Hemi engine, and it's no surprise that it managed to bring in a cool half million dollars (plus 10 percent in fees) at Barrett-Jackson. See it yourself in our high-res image gallery above, and scroll down below for the official auction description.
If you want to follow along with the coverage, check out the Hagerty Fantasy Bid online game here.
'71 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertible sells for $3.5M [w/video]
Mon, 16 Jun 2014
We're plenty used to seeing classic cars selling for millions of dollars. It's just that they're usually European: Ferraris, Bugattis, Mercedes and the like. There are some rare American exceptions, usually wearing the names Duesenberg or Shelby. But what we have here is the most expensive Chrysler product ever sold at auction.
The vehicle in question is a Plymouth Barracuda - specifically a 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible, chassis #BS27R1B315367 - that Mecum Auctions just sold after eight solid minutes of feverish bidding for a high bid of $3.5 million at its auction in Seattle, Washington. That figure positively eclipses the $2.2 million paid for a strikingly similar Hemi Cuda (chassis #BS27R1B269588) fetched nearly seven years ago in Scottsdale and another that was the first muscle car to break the million-dollar mark in 2002.
SRT belatedly claims Plymouth Prowler as one of its own
Wed, 19 Dec 2012Before Chrysler had Street and Racing Technology, it had Performance Vehicle Operations. What the two entities have in common, before SRT became its own brand, of course, is that each was created to take Chrysler and Dodge (and Plymouth, before it was unceremoniously killed off) vehicles to the next level of style and performance.
We'll leave the question of whether or not the old Plymouth (and later Chrysler) Prowler was ultimately a stylish, performance-oriented car to you, but the boys and girls currently leading the SRT charge at the Pentastar headquarters are keen to accept the retro-rod into the fold.
According to the automaker, all of SRT's current high-performance models owe a debt of gratitude to the old Prowler, due mostly to that car's use of lightweight bits and pieces and innovative construction techniques. If nothing else, the fact that the Prowler's frame is "the largest machined automotive part in history" is pretty cool. Read all the details here.