Moparts
Lou Mancini dart
Posted By: restoracer
Lou Mancini dart - 03/27/11 02:59 PM
Does anyone on here remember Lou Mancini having another hemi dart other than the yellow publicized car ? There was a yellow one at barret jackson a few years ago but this is not the car I am referring to.This is also in no reference to the Ron Mancini darts ,my friend has a dart and a former owner told us it was Lou Mancinis at one time,car was also in Quebec around the Montreal area in the early 80s ,does anyone remember this car? Thanks
Posted By: chryco
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/27/11 04:00 PM
It was white and apparently street driven. I saw it featured in a couple of mags years ago . It`s likely the yellow one you mentioned however.
Chryco
Posted By: restoracer
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/27/11 06:16 PM
Quote:
It was white and apparently street driven. I saw it featured in a couple of mags years ago . It`s likely the yellow one you mentioned however.
Chryco
the white car is a different car than the yellow one from barrett jackson,that yellow car was featured in a magazine article in the 70s when Lou Mancini had it,they took it for a street drive ,article said it was found on a used car lot but that was a wrong story as the writer just wanted to make the story sound more exciting,they also featured the car with no hood.
Posted By: chryco
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/27/11 09:15 PM
Quote:
Quote:
It was white and apparently street driven. I saw it featured in a couple of mags years ago . It`s likely the yellow one you mentioned however.
Chryco
the white car is a different car than the yellow one from barrett jackson,that yellow car was featured in a magazine article in the 70s when Lou Mancini had it,they took it for a street drive ,article said it was found on a used car lot but that was a wrong story as the writer just wanted to make the story sound more exciting,they also featured the car with no hood.
Good info and thanks ! And now ....I have the rest of the story .
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/27/11 11:45 PM
The Dart was purchased from the owner of the used car lot, it sat on the lot just as in the article, but behind a fenced in area. Tom Hoover did indeed see it for sale but it was in a fenced lot with a broken engine. It never lived in Quebec, it was never white. I only had one Hemi Dart. My brother had one original Hemi Dart which he won several national events with, one dart that started out as a body in white which he won one national event with and the last one which he crashed at Indy in 1976.
Lou Mancini
Posted By: restoracer
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 12:26 AM
Quote:
The Dart was purchased from the owner of the used car lot, it sat on the lot just as in the article, but behind a fenced in area. Tom Hoover did indeed see it for sale but it was in a fenced lot with a broken engine. It never lived in Quebec, it was never white. I only had one Hemi Dart. My brother had one original Hemi Dart which he won several national events with, one dart that started out as a body in white which he won one national event with and the last one which he crashed at Indy in 1976.
Lou Mancini
Thanks for clearing that up Lou ,no better way of getting the correct story than from the man himself,I will pass this info on to the owner and a big thanks for replying.
Posted By: restoracer
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 12:37 AM
The magazine article did say the yellow car was found on a used car lot but made it sound like it was someones daily driver as it said it showed the signs of being someones daily driver and story made it sound like it was just another used car,thats from the original story on the car,later magazine articles said Tom Hoover gagged when he read that,goes to show cant always believe what the magazines print.
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 12:58 AM
I respect (respected - he passed away of course) Baskerville but he wrote the article and added that it was a rusted hulk. There was NO rust anywhere, it never was on the street. I took the car down to metal, it was pristine. It indeed had a very nice lace paint job on it but someone added yellow enamel lettering using a K-Mart stencil kit. Baskerville did s*%t himself when I smacked the throttle to the wood, it did change lanes on me. Kirschenbaum did get P.O.'d at me for driving and taking pics with the hood off, and the bumper was tweaked to boot. But it was fun anyway. Lou
Posted By: B G Racing
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 01:01 AM
My understanding the yellow car was originally built buy Ray williams at Sponceller Dodge in McDonald Pa, and was green and white and monikered the "Asphalt Animal Jr".It was later sold at a Wexford,Pa car lot and eventually went to Pottstown,Pa.After changing a few more hands it was purchased by Mancini and restored for street purpose and sold again at auction.I can not varify this as fact,but if it's correct it was a dealer built car not an original L023M car.
Posted By: sixpakdodge
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 01:09 AM
A friend of mine owned Lou's Dart prior to Lou owning it. It was green and raced as "Car of The Rising Sun." Definitely an LO23 car.
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 01:17 AM
I still have a copy of the title, it's an LO car. It had no white on the car when I purchased it. Only green. It had the original shifter in it, interior, etc. It had two holes that only the original LO/BO cars had. I highly doubt a dealer would do what Hurst had done. Back in the day, you didn't have to have an original car to compete with it. Why go through all the exercise? Today, yep, the extra exercise is worth it. I would really like to see the car again if anyone knows where it is at.
Lou
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 01:21 AM
By the way, who owns the neat Dart in the pics?
Posted By: mike s
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 04:31 PM
Quote:
A friend of mine owned Lou's Dart prior to Lou owning it. It was green and raced as "Car of The Rising Sun." Definitely an LO23 car.
Yup
Posted By: sixpakdodge
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 04:34 PM
...
Posted By: David Hakim
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/28/11 09:10 PM
Lou,
I just sent you a PM regarding your HEMI Dart.
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/29/11 02:07 AM
I wish I would have taken pics of the car before I started working on it. I actually bought it with the intention of street racing, oops, racing it. As it turned out, I never did get it to the track or on the street anymore than driving it for the article, to a local high school car show, and to the front end alignment shop. The trip to have the front end aligned ended up with the young technician stating he had to test drive it before and after the alignment. I said the only thing you'll be driving is nails and then I left.
Posted By: ro23car
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/29/11 02:49 AM
well who owned the car i think was called irish rover. i remember seeing it a detroit autorama many years ago.
Posted By: JAKE68
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/29/11 03:00 AM
The irish rover was Rons original car that was the red and black one. Jake
Posted By: Joe Grippo
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/29/11 09:50 PM
Here is the Dart in 1997 when it was owned by my friend Tim in Pottstown, Pa...
97-NMCA MAPLE GROVE-DAN AND TIM002 by
Joe Grippo, on Flickr
97-NMCA MAPLE GROVE-DAN AND TIM001 by
Joe Grippo, on Flickr
Posted By: Joe Grippo
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/29/11 09:57 PM
And here it is in 1996 when a bunch of us went to the Super Stock Reunion in Dinwiddie, Va...
96-SUPERSTOCK REUNION-VMP027 by
Joe Grippo, on Flickr
Tim sold it around 2000 to a guy in Indiana and I think he was the one took it to BJ where F. Engelhart bought it and it fell off my radar.
Posted By: sixpakdodge
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 12:38 AM
I believe it was a Las Vegas collector who bought it at Barrett-Jackson for around $300k.
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 01:28 AM
Joe, please tell Tim I said hi. I'm sure he told you that he stopped by at that NMCA race and he showed me the car. First time I had seen it since i sold it.
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 01:30 AM
I recorded the show, I saw Englehart near the car, I assume he bought it. Anyone for sure where it is at?
Posted By: marfen
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 05:25 AM
Lou, here's ads from the early 80s advertising the hemi dart in Quebec that hemitime68 is referring to. He's been a huge help finding history of my car and we're trying to find history prior to this time period pre 83. Previous owner mentioned it was at Mancini's before it left for Quebec. Is it possible it was there for some work prior to being sold by a customer of Mancini's? Was running a tunnel ram and dominators, had a real strange cage, originally a stick car but ran auto for many years, no trunk hinges just pins/bolts. Any help greatly appreciated and it's awesome you've joined up to help out on this thread
Posted By: marfen
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 05:27 AM
Here's another ad , same car, year later. first pic was the car running at Napierville Quebec. This pic is weird, looks like it's got 1984 on the door.
Posted By: Joe Grippo
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 01:26 PM
Quote:
Joe, please tell Tim I said hi. I'm sure he told you that he stopped by at that NMCA race and he showed me the car. First time I had seen it since i sold it.
Will do. I remember when you guys where checking it out that day...Very cool.
Posted By: JAKE68
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 02:11 PM
It maybe the one that ron used a body in white that was sold to Bruce Hawk???????. Lou I was at the shop the day YOu got that dart and it had the lace paint job. I was bumed when you said you were going to take the race out of it. Now I think different cause you saved a piece of history. Jake
Posted By: sixpakdodge
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/30/11 04:34 PM
Quote:
It maybe the one that ron used a body in white that was sold to Bruce Hawk???????. Lou I was at the shop the day YOu got that dart and it had the lace paint job. I was bumed when you said you were going to take the race out of it. Now I think different cause you saved a piece of history. Jake
I had heard that the Wilkes family has the remains of the BIW car that Bruce had. It had burned up in a fire.
Posted By: Billet426
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/31/11 02:23 AM
Quote:
I said the only thing you'll be driving is nails and then I left.
Now that is classic 
Nice to have the real deal chime in on a topic 
Gary
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/31/11 11:30 PM
Here's what I remember. Ron's first car, the red car, first appeared with black stripes in 1970, then later with silver in 1971 was a real LO23. Ron was the 2nd owner. It was sold to a good friend of my dad, they both worked at Defense Engineering at Chrysler. It became the Irish Rover. The second car Ron raced started life as a 1972 Dart body-in-white, which he converted in to a 1968 by cutting the ass off of it and switching it with my uncles 1968 dart baby grand car (it started off as a real 340 GTS). Ron won a national event with that one, sold it to Bruce Hawk. It was raced by Bruce as a SS/A car. It was sold to Wilkes where it supposedly burnt in a garage fire. The last car that Ron raced started life as a 1969 Dart 340 (Swinger I think), he of course made it a 1968 and 1st ran it in A/MP, then de-stroked it from 426 to 396 to run B/MP. That was the car that gave Ron a ride for his life thanks to a loosening adapter sleeve from the filter to the oil pump housing. This same sleeve issue caused my buddy to hit the rail at Norwalk in his 1964 Aluminum nose 64 Plymouth. And as Forest Gump would say - "That's all I have to say about that".
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 03/31/11 11:38 PM
As for the car in Quebec, we might have worked on it but generally the only thing we did for customers at the time was build engines, transmissions, move rear springs inboard. Doesn't sound familiar but was too busy having fun working on this stuff, meeting some neat people, etc., etc. It was always fun "testing" vehicles on 6 Mile Road in front of the shop. Got to the point that we had to call the local police precinct and a car would slide by so we could make a pass. Most of the local cops dug the race car stuff. Actually had a few of them for customers. It's amazing how time flies.
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/20/12 05:56 PM
Here's a pic from Autorama with Lenny the owner at the time. He purchase the car from Marty. I remember the car in about 1970 siting at Marty's house. Anybody know who cut the crossram into three pieces and did the work on it?
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/20/12 06:13 PM
I got this photo from someone on the net who said they owned it and took the picture. Lots of B S on the net! I was at Lenny's house that day and we put the slicks in the basement and Lenny sat in a chair and took this pic after Autorama. That's his boot tip in the photo. You can see his Blue 65 Plymouth on the left, used for street racing. He had several Kelloge full radius hemi cranks in the basement he said he just got them form Mancini. Funny thing one of the Mancini's also showed up at his house and tried to buy the car the year before this. He never knew how they found him because the car was never registered. He bought the car in about 1977. I remember that because I was looking at Marty's 57 Chevy gasser with the 302 with Crower zoomies at the time.
Posted By: gtsdude
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/20/12 06:22 PM
I recorded the show, I saw Englehart near the car, I assume he bought it. Anyone for sure where it is at?
I thought Englehart bought that car also, it was at his car show the last year he had it. I heard he sold it to some one else shortly after.
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Posted By: MI_Custumz
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/21/12 11:24 AM
Emailed Lou about the Irish Rover. "This was my brother's. Won 3 national events with it. Car at speed, Indy 1971. Same car as 1970, but silver stripes instead of black." From Lou Mancini
Posted By: hemi-itis
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/21/12 06:32 PM
Posted By: Labratt
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/21/12 09:48 PM
Herb..is this Gary Jacob's friend,Lenny...who use to work at Mancini's,and owns a '63' Plymouth Belvedere race car?..that is currently being re-built.
Posted By: JAKE68
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/21/12 10:40 PM
Randy that is not the same Len.Len that owns the 63 used to have a ss/ah car but it was one that he had built. He sold that car to Eddie Smith Which ended up being Eddies last A car.
Posted By: BB Dart 69
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/22/12 05:12 AM
Quote:
I got this photo from someone on the net who said they owned it and took the picture. Lots of B S on the net! I was at Lenny's house that day and we put the slicks in the basement and Lenny sat in a chair and took this pic after Autorama. That's his boot tip in the photo. You can see his Blue 65 Plymouth on the left, used for street racing. He had several Kelloge full radius hemi cranks in the basement he said he just got them form Mancini. Funny thing one of the Mancini's also showed up at his house and tried to buy the car the year before this. He never knew how they found him because the car was never registered. He bought the car in about 1977. I remember that because I was looking at Marty's 57 Chevy gasser with the 302 with Crower zoomies at the time.
Man that picture was along time ago. I was 16 when i helped put them cranks in the basement. Had to do my chores so i could hang out Now that i think of it, Lenny was a bad influence
Posted By: 65 Belv A990
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/22/12 08:35 PM
Quote:
Quote:
I got this photo from someone on the net who said they owned it and took the picture. Lots of B S on the net! I was at Lenny's house that day and we put the slicks in the basement and Lenny sat in a chair and took this pic after Autorama. That's his boot tip in the photo. You can see his Blue 65 Plymouth on the left, used for street racing. He had several Kelloge full radius hemi cranks in the basement he said he just got them form Mancini. Funny thing one of the Mancini's also showed up at his house and tried to buy the car the year before this. He never knew how they found him because the car was never registered. He bought the car in about 1977. I remember that because I was looking at Marty's 57 Chevy gasser with the 302 with Crower zoomies at the time.
Man that picture was along time ago. I was 16 when i helped put them cranks in the basement. Had to do my chores so i could hang out Now that i think of it, Lenny was a bad influence
Every time I read a thread about Ron Mancini’s 68 LO23 Dart it brings up bitter sweet memories.
Yep it was around 1977 when Lenny K bought the Irish Rover as I wanted to buy it too. I grew up with the son of the guy Lenny bought it from Marty Regan. I spent a lot of time during my teen years around the Rover. When Marty first bought it from Ron Mancini it was still wearing the burgundy paint with the bumble bee stripes and the Gratiot Auto Supply logo on the doors. He ran it that way the first summer, but I do remember him getting some flack about the Gratiot Auto Supply logo still on it. He repainted it that winter to the pearl white and candy green loosely replicating the tail stripes Mancini had in it in green. He then painted the block and intake the same candy green, and the Irish Rover was born. It definitely was a real LO23 car that Ron had acquired from Gil Clark back in 69 or 70. It was unmolested other than leaf spring relocation under the frame rails and a mini tub split of the factory wheel houses. It had a Dana 60 replacing the 8 ¾ stock Torqueflite rear end to the car as well. It had never been caged and the interior was factory issue except for the order code 573 wood grain sports steering wheel that someone had put in it previously. The cross ram intake had been cut, ported and re-welded before Marty got it and I don’t know who did the mods. Lenny and his brother Dave were the Mopar gurus in my neighborhood back in the day. They lived together in their parent’s house that the boys inherited when they were both killed in a car wreck if I remember correctly. That house in Sterling Heights in a subdivision was right across the street from the Regan’s that’s how I came to know Lenny and Dave. Lenny and Dave’s place looked like a miniature Grand Spaulding Dodge back in the day. Dave’s Superbird, Lennys 65 Satellite , a 68 hemi Charger in the garage a 69 GTX out in the street, various other B-Bodies coming and going all the time with engines and transmissions all over the place. It was Mopar nirvana for a young 17 year old Mopar head like me driving an F-8 green 69 Coronet at the time. It was Lennys 65 that started my lifelong love affair with 62-65 B-Bodies. I too remember the stack (maybe 6-8) Kellogg hemi cranks that used to sit in the corner of Lenny’s living room still in the wooden crates.
During the time Marty owned the car, his son Darryl my friend and some of us would on occasion sneak the car out on the streets when his dad was up north at their cabin. One fateful day the car was brought out and fired up for another clandestine run though the neighborhood, and Darryl forgot 4 out of the 5 hood pins. We took off and he matted the gas pedal in first gear and off came the hood about 30 feet in the air. That is except for the big chunk on the passenger side rear corner that stayed with the car as it was the one pin that did get clipped. It’s ironic though as the hood came back down to earth right side up on the grass in front of an elementary school and if all 5 pins had been forgotten, the hood would have never been damaged and we more than likely have never gotten caught. Ron Mancini wanted to by the car back from Marty not too long after he wrecked the M/P Yellow one at Indy in 76, but Marty did not want to sell at the time. So they may have followed up and got Lenny’s address from Marty or maybe he just pointed across the street. When the time came for Marty to retire and spend more time up north he put both the Rover and the blue injected F/Gas 57 Chevy up for sale. As a young man I was working two jobs plus going to school and had a little cash saved up and borrowed a couple of grand from my dad. I knew even back then that these LO23 Dart’s and the BO29 Barracuda’s would be worth a small fortune someday. I offered him $8500 for the car (a lot of money back in the mid 70’s and a small fortune to a 17 year old). My dad thought I was nuts but reluctantly agreed to loan me the money anyway. Marty asked me what my intentions would be with the car. The Dart was fully capable of high 9.60’s- low 9.70’s at 145 mph back then and by the time it went up for sale, it was too fast to legally run without a cage. Knowing how valuable this car would be never being caged or cut up (just the mini tubs from factory wheel houses) and not being streetable, I had but one reply. I said ”Mr. Regan, if you sell me this car I plan to put it up in storage, repaint it back to its race day graphics when Ron campaigned the car back in 1970”. I also told him when I get old enough to buy a house; I would build a room for the Dart and put velvet theater ropes around it. He smiled and then reminded me of the hood launching episode as well as other escapades. He also reminded me that we were all still a bunch teenage punks and he would never be able live with himself if any of us wound up getting killed in the thing. He then turned around and sold the car to his neighbor Lenny who was in his late 20’s at the time and deemed more responsible for considerably less money than I offered him from what I understand. After Lenny got married, he moved out of the old neighborhood and bought a house in Warren in the 13 and Hoover area he showed the car at the Autorama at Cobo and I lost touch with him after that. I always wondered what happened to the Irish Rover until I heard here on the board a couple of years ago that a broker/representative for some rich guy found out about it and offered Lenny crazy money for it. I know the car was cleaned up and put on display that same summer at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green and when I seen it my heart sank. All it can ever be now is a show poodle with an occasional romp though town on a cuise night, but what a sight that would be.
And to BB Dart 69 that picture posted above is from Lenny’s driveway at the Warren house is that where you know him from? I remember all the cranks in the living room from his parents house when he lived with his brother. Both of them were great guys and maybe Lenny was a bad influence on us kids, but I became the same bad influence on the kids that came up after me. Whatever the case I sure miss hanging out with him.
I have a collection of over 2000 1/18th scale die cast cars with a large percentage of them vintage drag cars. The replica of the Mancini Racing/Gratiot Auto Supply Zoom-O Hemi Dart sit’s front and center in my collection. It would be the one thing I would grab if my house caught fire and I had to escape. It serves as a lifelong memory of the “one that got away.”
Ed.
Posted By: JAKE68
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/22/12 09:59 PM
Ed I never get tired of that story. It funny how this thread popped up again because Ron was at my shop the other day and we were talking about that car. jake
Posted By: BB Dart 69
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/23/12 12:01 AM
ED Yes,right behind the donut castle. Lenny is still around. Im 52 now and still do motors and trans the way he taught me
Im the same bad influence, I give parts to certain kids just like Lenny did for me
Mark
Posted By: A727Tflite
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 04/24/12 12:23 AM
Well, this is about the best recollection of the events that I have heard and pretty accurate too as i remember them. I was the one who almost bought the Rover back from Marty. At the time I had the yellow car. I don't remember why I didn't but I had thought of buying Ron's car and selling mine since mine had no race heritage to speak of.
I still have the original shifter out of the Red car and the wheels that Ron had on it for a short time. The intake manifolds were all done by Diamond at the time. That car at the tail end of 1970 could have qualified for Pro-Stock at a few races, it was running as fast as the bottom 16 cars at some of the Pro-Stock races.
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/22/12 04:34 PM
It was a different Lenny. the one that bought the Dart had 65
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/22/12 05:16 PM
I remember the event with the hood being broken on the Irish Rover quite differently. I was actually there! We were at a party on 14 Mile Rd. at a girls(that will remain unnamed) house I went to school with. Darrell pulled in the driveway with the Dart and turned it off. When he went to leave it wouldn't start so he asked for a jump start. As Darrell when to the back of the car to open the trunk. Some fool went to the hood and started taking out the pins thinking the battery was in the engine compartment. The hood never got took off and they got the car started. Darrell backed out of the driveway onto 14 Mile Rd. and pulled a hole shot the hood did go about 30 feet in the air and landed in the left turn lane right side up but the corner that had the pin in it had broke off. When we would show the car we always took the corner of the green blanket that we always sat the hood on and pulled it up over that corner to conceal it.
I guess that the fool who took the pins out thought the battery was in the engine bay because they had saw me take the 67 Shelby hood off of my 427 68 Mustang GT fastback that was at the party that night also. I had a charger with me and had topped the battery off at the party before going out for some late night runs that night on Gratiot. I had hoped to square off against the Rover that night but didn't have my slicks on the car. After Darrell broke the hood he want straight home though. I had only turned mid to low 10's with the Mustang but had beat much faster cars on the street with it. I had the fastest car in high school Nice to have a wheel stander at 16.
Marty wanted me to buy the 57 Chevy gasser because at 16 he saw how successful I was at street racing in the Mustang at the time. He was always interested in the work I was doing to my car and i just wanted to here about his. I remember him saying of the 57 "It would do 11.57 with a hundred mile an hour tail wind."
It was a great time back then and the Hot Rods Sale section of the news paper had hundreds to choose form. I should have bough John Rivers LO23 Dart when I had the chance to way back. Saw it years latter and Jackson owned it from the auction. Chris Campbell's from Bob Seager's band fame LO23 Dart was for sale recently in the Waterford, Mi area.
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/22/12 06:03 PM
Ed, When did you have a Super Bee?
I remember you driving your Grandmas old green 318 Coronet with 50's on the back in high school. HaHa how time flies. It seems like yesterday I was pulling wheelies outside Mr Solomen's class at Warren High in the gold Mustang.
Do you remember the piss green 68 Charger I had for a week or so. Great engine shitty car Lenny may still have parts of that car. I am working on another 427 Ford engine. Collecting parts it will have the cobra Jet crank also(adds 30 cubes) My secret weapon then and now. Marty knew by the sound and always said "Sounds like more inches in the there your shaking the squares in the street loose. I was a bad influence to many!
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/25/12 03:25 AM
Here's another Gratiot Auto Supply Dart. I can't make out who the driver is on the window but I remember seeing two of them before the red one and this one with the snorkel hood, a Modified Class car. At one time I remember a red one and a black one. Anyone have a picture of John Rivers LO23 Dart from back then. Brent has it down in Florida last I heard it was for sale again. I know John got his from Van Dyke Dodge. Don't know if he picked it up from Hurst in Madison Hts. or right from Van Dyke Dodge. Funny how so many of these cars were in such a small area of MI. I still have some of the Gratiot Auto Supply graphics in black and in white, a fringe benefit of being a preferred customer.
Posted By: sixpakdodge
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/26/12 03:05 AM
Quote:
Here's another Gratiot Auto Supply Dart. I can't make out who the driver is on the window but I remember seeing two of them before the red one and this one with the snorkel hood, a Modified Class car. At one time I remember a red one and a black one. Anyone have a picture of John Rivers LO23 Dart from back then. Brent has it down in Florida last I heard it was for sale again. I know John got his from Van Dyke Dodge. Don't know if he picked it up from Hurst in Madison Hts. or right from Van Dyke Dodge. Funny how so many of these cars were in such a small area of MI. I still have some of the Gratiot Auto Supply graphics in black and in white, a fringe benefit of being a preferred customer.
That is the body in white that Ron crashed at Indy.
Posted By: MI_Custumz
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/26/12 04:50 AM
1972 body in white crashed at Indy in 1976.
Posted By: Race&Resto
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/27/12 06:45 PM
Quote:
Here's another Gratiot Auto Supply Dart. I can't make out who the driver is on the window but I remember seeing two of them before the red one and this one with the snorkel hood, a Modified Class car. At one time I remember a red one and a black one. Anyone have a picture of John Rivers LO23 Dart from back then. Brent has it down in Florida last I heard it was for sale again. I know John got his from Van Dyke Dodge. Don't know if he picked it up from Hurst in Madison Hts. or right from Van Dyke Dodge. Funny how so many of these cars were in such a small area of MI. I still have some of the Gratiot Auto Supply graphics in black and in white, a fringe benefit of being a preferred customer.
So whats the story on the John Rivers 68 Hemi Dart, is that the one that was in a street race that crashed. And what happened to the Irish Rover 68 Hemi Dart, what's it's status today.
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 05/29/12 06:50 PM
So whats the story on the John Rivers 68 Hemi Dart, is that the one that was in a street race that crashed. And what happened to the Irish Rover 68 Hemi Dart, what's it's status today.
John Rivers car was for sale in Florida serial number LO23M8B391xxx. As far as I know it was never crashed and was raced. It was owned by Craig Jackson and sold at auction to Brent and is black and restored. It has a title from Minnesota as I recall.
The car that was crashed was Chris Cambell's from the band of Bob Seager LO23M8B297xxx a four speed car. Also for sale in the last five years out in Waterford, MI.
I lost touch with Lenny in the mid 80's and haven't seen him. I have been by the house on Carrillon in Warren but it sure looked like someone else lived there when I drove by. He told me last I seen him someone out west wanted pictures of the car and one of those is the picture I posted on a earlier post when it had the tires and wheel on the back off of Lenny's big Chrysler that he drove to work. The person never had come through with a offer after a few months and he told me he was giving the car to his son Jeff. He was about four at the time. The plan was to paint the car a midnight metallic blue and the only lettering or graphic was to be midnight rambler in small letters on the trunk on one side above the rear bumper. The pearl white paint job may have had a few others under it or was so thick in layers that it was badly spider cracked but looked good from a few feet away. The hood also had a six or seven inch by two inch piece out of the passenger side rear corner also but the piece was present.
I lived close enough to Marty that when the car was fired up many would jump on their bicycle in the neighborhood and ride over to Amsterdam and steady flow would ride by to witness the behemoth Hemi in action. I was one!
Thanks to all for the info on the photo I posted. I had a inkling but it's nice to get a confirmation.
Posted By: liteweight
Re My LO Dart - 09/27/12 05:47 PM
Hey Guys
I was forwarded this post from Charlie A over @ classracer.com. Great thread
thanx for sharing those memories gentlemen.
I have an original LO HemiDart that I've been chasing it's history for the past 10 years. It seems it falls off the planet from 68 through to 1980??- 1982 era. The first known owner was Lou Vignonia who purchased the car in Mt. Kisco, NY. It was purchased from Lou by Tim Hennesey & restored in 1986. Tim sold it in 1990? & went through several owners till I aquired it in 2001. It was believed to have been one of Charlie Castaldo's cars, but has been proved it is not, as his 4 spd car was crashed in E town in 69 & the auto car is accounted for & resides in NY
I started a thread a couple years ago:
http://www.classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=13002&page=188It has close to 2000 replies & over 300,000 views, but, I am still no closer to knowing this cars history. There's lot's of great info & pictures if you have the time to read it all.
Mark Janaky & several others have put many hours & $$$$ into this for me, but it is still known as the unknown soldier.
I'm hoping that bringing this over to this site might unearth some new info or leads that I can follow up on. I sure would appreciate it.
Here's some pictures of it.
liteweight
Posted By: liteweight
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 09/28/12 02:13 PM
No one ????
Here's a couple pictures of it when Tim Hennesey purchased it in 1985?
This decal was on the PS quarter glass. Anyone have info on which track this was held?
liteweight
Posted By: Rhinodart
Re: Re My LO Dart - 09/28/12 03:45 PM
Hey Daryl, most people on this site know about the classracer thread, but hopefully some new blood will come along. As always, good luck!
Posted By: barracudabob
Re: Re My LO Dart - 09/29/12 02:46 AM
I found an article in Mopar Action tech Special 1995 that has two Darts. One is a car that Charlie Castaldo bought new. There's a picture of him towing it on a dolly with a 68 Dodge Station Wagon. The article doesn't say who he sold it to, but that eventually Tim Hennessey got it and restored it, and from the pictures, it looks just like your car. The other is Charlie Comella's which at the time, 1995, was a race car. You probably have this information already, just thought I'd post it. Thanks, Bob
Posted By: MI_Custumz
Re: Re My LO Dart - 03/24/13 08:14 PM
Here's the shot in the magazine with Lou's car without a hood and tweaked bumper.
He ate my tire smoke right after this picture was taken. Gray Baskerville, the guy that wrote the article was actually sitting in the back of my dad's pickup truck with the tailgate down to get this picture. We were just driving by the old Bel Air Drive-In on 8 Mile Road.-Lou
Posted By: CobraJetKid
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 07/16/16 09:58 PM
Here's a picture of it from Autorama 2016 restored to 1970 paint.
Posted By: MI_Custumz
Re: Lou Mancini dart - 07/17/16 12:52 PM
Here's a picture of it from Autorama 2016 restored to 1970 paint.
That's Ron Mancini's old car. I think he said it had gold color wheels on it with that paint scheme when he had it.
