i have some good news to report !
at the beginning of this thread, i mentioned a local dirt track racer converting one of these cars to dirt track use, and was testing on the highway in front of his house, causing an accident with a fatality.
after some investigating, an interesting tale emerged.
the first thing i did was contact the local newspaper to see about their history of saving news from years gone by. it seems they have lost the years from sometime in the mid to late 50's through 1972 or so, so that was a dead end.
next, i tried the local library. same thing......... they have what the newspaper can provide, so if certain years are missing from the newspaper office records, they can't be provided to the library.
then, i contacted the history center. this entity has just begun to really get serious about compiling local history, they have some great people on the staff now, and are renovating an historic building that is way larger than their current location. this will allow them more room for the artifacts they have now, as well as ones they will accumulate in the future.
however, i struck out there as well.
somehow, i then got reminded of a fellow i knew [a friend, actually] that hung around with that racer back when that accident occurred, and was present that fateful day.
it seems the car involved was a REPLICA of the hemi 4 speed car, and was a previous crash victim itself, making it perfect for the banging around a dirt car receives in use.
as the car was setup for turning left, it was somewhat hard to load on the trailer, driving it up on at a very slow speed.
and now i know everyone can see this coming, the driver jumped on it, the throttle stuck, and it was wide open into the oncoming car, killing the driver instantly.
there were news reporters there covering the story, and i was correct in reporting of the picture on the front page of the paper, as well as the car being in the impound lot at the local junkyard.
remember now, this was a REPLICA of the 66 belvedere hemi 4 speed car the racer owned at the time. that car was unhurt !
fast forward many years, and the car was sold to a family that are Mopar lovers, and have a nice collection of hemi cars.
as of approximately 15 years ago, they still owned the white, 66 belvedere hemi 4 speed car the local racer purchased new. as it is a survivor car, it is only having the necessary care needed to preserve it as it was delivered.
i haven't had the opportunity to contact this family, so this is as far as i can relate to this vehicle.
as these folks like their privacy, i will only say this car is located in western Pennsylvania. [provided they haven't sold it in the years gone by]