Vehicle Description
1965 Plymouth Belvedere II
In 1965, the muscle car wars were raging and engine power was
everything. In January of that year, the Beach Boys recorded "Shut
Down" - a song about a drag race between a 1962 Super Stock 413
Dodge Max Wedge and a 1963 fuel-injected Corvette Stingray, and
that pretty much summed up the action on American streets and
strips for the era. Drag racing was the hot competition, and every
American automaker wanted to win NHRA titles in the factory stock
classes. No expense was too high to put muscle on the strip. That
commitment led to some legendary low-production factory-built
racing cars.
Purchased by our consignor in 1993 at the Mopar Nationals, held at
Indianapolis Raceway Park due to a lack of room at the Hebron, OH
facility and meanwhile Ronnie Sox set a new lot E.T. when he took
on a Corvette ZR1 in a new production Viper, man the good old days
sure were good. Now for consignment, a former Florida car until
1993 and starting out life as a mild-mannered slant 6, this
Belvedere II has had a healthy engine upgrade, and an unmolested
body in a respray of the original hue, along with some other
goodies thrown in for good measure, and pure tire burning
excitement. An original interior with a matching seat and I've
taken the way back machine to 1965.
Exterior
An older factory matching respray and clear coating is on straight
steel panels with nicely minded gaps all around. A few inclusions
are noted, but nothing to detract from the overall beauty of this
B-body Mopar. Chrome and trim work is all good and a chrome and
white painted spear runs the gamut on the sides and presents itself
at the belt line, and does a beautiful job of breaking up the
Medium Turquoise steel slabs. A pristine front grille flanked by
single headlights on either side and a P L Y M O U T H badge
resting on the front of the hood. Take a close look at the side of
this car as that B pillar is standing still but looking a lot like
its moving forward as it forms a V from the rear glass and back
window. Speaking of the roof pillars, bright clean white paint
works its way up the steel and bathes the roof creating a wonderful
compliment to the turquoise. Square tail lights are on the back
along with another clean chrome bumper and there is enough room in
the trunk to rent out as a 1-bedroom apartment! 15-inch Weld
DragLite wheels are on all 4 corners and looking racy as well,
especially with the 29x12.50 Hoosier meats on the back
Interior
Nearly perfect two-tone turquoise door panels greet us with a swing
of either door. A dark turquoise panel is on the uppers and lighter
turquoise is on the lower 2 thirds. Within this is an armrest with
a medium turquoise vinyl padded topper, a lever door actuator not
often seen, a window crank, and the all-important Fratzog emblem.
Inside more two-tone turquoise with a darker hue for the tuck and
roll inserts and smooth bolsters in a lighter hue for the split
front bench and solid rear bench. The front bench is dressed with
racing lap belts but the original seat belts are included. The dash
and all other panels are original to this machine. It presents as a
curved in aluminum panel with a black insert for the rectangular
design instrument cluster temp controls are push button and are on
the drivers right along with an AM/FM/Cassette radio. A Mopar
badged rally style steering wheel sits atop the factory column and
has an AutoMeter tachometer strapped to the top. A light turquoise
headliner in vinyl is above and shows slight wrinkling on the B
pillars but remains tight otherwise, and turquoise carpeting is on
the floors and looking great.
Drivetrain
All clean and green under the hood in the clean engine bay now with
a turquoise painted block is a Ray Barton Racing Engines built
440ci high performance engine which is topped with Edelbrock
aluminum cylinder heads. It has a Holley 4-barrel carb on top under
a pleated top air cleaner covering and below is a Weiand Team G
intake manifold. A Frank Lupo Pro-Formance built A727 Torqueflite
3-speed automatic transmission on back, along with a manual valve
body and a Frank Lupo 9.5" Dynamic Racing torque converter. An
8-3/4 rear axle weighing in with 4.10 gears spins the tires. Very
nice under this hood with no corrosion, supple hoses, MSD ignition
and an aluminum radiator to keep things cool.
Undercarriage
Bottoms up as they say and here we see rust free steel all painted
black with some road dirt showing up, but structurally sound. A
fairly heavy undercoating but all good and solid underneath that.
Independent torsion bar suspension with a later model K-member is
up front and monoleaf springs with CalTrac bars are on the rear.
Disc brakes are seen on all 4 corners and bolt in subframe
connectors are now on to stiffen things up. Silver coated headers
rain down from the engine and are attached to a dual exhaust system
with Flowmaster mufflers all in 3" format.
Drive-Ability
My cohort and I fought tooth and nail to drive this one and it
turns out we spent the better part of an hour going over this car
and driving it. It played well with nice acceleration, quick bias
free braking, and good handling. All functions were working as they
should, and the interior presents as nearly showroom.
A beautifully performed build with some massive power under the
hood in the form of a beefed 440ci V8. A really nice interior
looking just like the original would have looked, and in snappy two
tones of turquoise and white. A not oft seen example gracing our
Hallowed Halls here at Classic Auto Mall ripe for the picking.
VIN DECODE
3357108468
3-Plymouth 6 Cylinder
3-Belvedere II
5-1965
7-St. Louis, MO Assy Plant
108468-Sequential Unit Number
FENDER TAG
3 9-Variable Wipers
AB 20-225ci Slant 6
D 5-Automatic
E 5-Heater & Defroster
SO 916-September 16th
BDY R32-Belvedere II 2 Door Hardtop
TRM H10-High Grade Turquoise Cloth & Vinyl
PNT WK2W-White, Medium Turquoise Metallic
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 650 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown,
Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia
on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is
www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914.
Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the
vehicle in person.