Hi,
not to change the subject but I had a chance to work on the red one this summer, A local guy here now owns it, didn't seem that big of a deal to me but now after reading this post I've changed my mine.
russ

hemi shot

interior shot with dash plack you guy mentioned

Great post...Ed I sure wish you could get a lead on this car..You have spoken many times in our converstaions of this car and I know how much its means to you..Good luck with this search..

I am the original owner of the 1966 Belvedere II referenced by A. Greg Bull in a previous post. The car was ordered through Franklin Motors in Wyckoff, NJ, where my father was General Manager. It was the third of five Hemi cars sold by the dealership during the 1966 model year. The order was place on Tuesday, March 22, and the car arrived at the dealer on Thursday, April 7, only 16 days later! I took delivery on Tuesday, April 12 and it was my only vehicle during the next 22 months. I drove it 72,000 miles during that period. I was in the Army and stationed 180 miles from home, but returned home every weekend. When the 1967 GTX model appeared, I purchased a GTX speedo and installed it in my car. I removed the odometer assembly from the '66 120 mph speedo and installed it into the 150 mph GTX speedo assy to maintain the correct milage reading. In August,'67 I reached 148 mph on one occassion. I meticulously logged every penny of gas, parts,insurance to understand the cost per mile of its ownership. The vehicle averaged 12.2 mpg for the 72,000 miles and the cost of ownership was 8.3 cents per mile. This was based upon purchase price less what it was sold to Mr. Bull for in 1968 and included a rebore (.040 over) with # 6 cyl sleeved due to a broken ring at 52,000 miles in June 1967. I became the fifth owner of the car (again) in 1972. It now had 115,000 miles on the odometer. From 1972 until July 4, 1980, I drove the car another 70,000 miles. It, unnessessarily, received another engine rebuild when severe blowby began at 120,000 miles. Under hard accelleration, the oil fill cap would blow off the valve cover and be cradeled between the steering shaft and the frame. After obtaining all parts to do a rebuild, the dissaembly began. The cause was not engine wear, but the heat riser section of the intake manifold had cracked and the screw-in core plug in the bottom of the heat riser section was now laying in the lifter valley. Some of the exhaust was being pumped into the internals of the engine and blowing off the cap. The vehicle was stolen July 4, 1980. The engine was likley removed and the body left on a street in Paterson, NJ. After repeated tickets left on the car, I believe it was towed and scrapped. Two months after the theft I received a summons for ignoring the tickets. I told the local police to whom I originally reported the theft to to resolve the summons.

What a way for the 'ol Plymouth to go..... probably did get scrapped after the fines were never paid. Great story and info.

The VIN of this and every other 66&67 4door Hemi car is in the IBM Cards at Chrysler. Somehow if someone can get an opprotunity to look at all the IBM cards they are all in there. A search between March 22nd, and April 7th and the VIN to this 66 will appear. Could take a few days off of each end of that date range for paperwork travel and the car being delivered to dealer.

Deal is now that you tell them the VIN and prove ownership and they send the info to you. So to work it the other way would have to be somehow arranged.

Interesting story! Thanks for sharing it with us!

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The vehicle was stolen July 4, 1980. The engine was likley removed and the body left on a street in Paterson, NJ. After repeated tickets left on the car, I believe it was towed and scrapped. Two months after the theft I received a summons for ignoring the tickets. I told the local police to whom I originally reported the theft to to resolve the summons.

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Egads! So you reported the vehicle stolen, yet the police issued parking tickets to you after the theft was reported. Seems strange that they never checked to see if the presumed abandoned vehicle was on file or not... especially if it was sitting on the street without an engine!

Sounds like somebody in the police department dropped the ball there!

The car was reported stolen to the police of the town and in the county in which I lived. The parking tickets and summons were issued by the city in another county where the car had been dumped.

Do you happen to recall the gear ratio? I ask this because 148 seems to be a recurring number for top speed of hemi cars. I believe a 66 had 14" wheels. 68 and up with 3.23's and 15" wheels went 148.
Just curious.

Maybe the top speed was limited by aero drag?

It would have had a 3:54 Dana 60 with 14 x 5.5 Steel wheels

I've located a pic of the car from 1979- the way it appeared (and in the same parking lot no less...) when stolen on 7/4/1980 :

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Look at the tires in the picture, they are big and meaty, not stock size. Could be 15's. Look at the front bumper on the 67 wagon, from a 68-9 plymouth.

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Look at the tires in the picture, they are big and meaty, not stock size. Could be 15's. Look at the front bumper on the 67 wagon, from a 68-9 plymouth.

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Yep, could be anything, but when new it would have been originally equipped with 14 x 5.5 rims.



Since the thread is locked I am commenting on the below (last) post here:

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Yeah I guess the Hemi production figure's for the Hemi 4-door's have almost doubled since this thread started, lol.

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Let's keep our feet on the ground here, in reallity the official number has not yet changed, it stands at 4 cars, 1 1967 4 door Hemi Plymouth and 3 1966 4 door Hemi Dodges. The most promising exception being the green 66 Hemi Belvedere II that "most likely" existed, but since there is no VIN evidence to solidify it as "undeniable", it technically does not count. I really hope that someday a VIN # surfaces and can prove the car was 100% authentic, even if it probably does not exist any longer.

As far as other cars that might have been built but are now long gone, we may never know unless one surfaces in the future, and with the popularity and recognition Hemi cars get, expecially a 4 door, that possibility is pretty unlikely. In the end, no matter which way you cut it, they are super rare and unusual cars.

In the black and white picture it looks like the license plate reads NOK 284, couldn't the dmv run this number or have you tried this???

NJ purges it's records after some time has passed (so I am told). 66Belv suggested the same thing in an e-mail to me earlier today.

Any NJDMV (NJMVC) people out there?