Motown Missle Pro Stock

[Yellow Submarine]

I'm a little late getting around to posting this (2years). In 2014 the year I retired I finally got to meet the Motown Missle team and see some of the origional cars. I had read the were going to be in North Carolina at the East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame meeting and car show.
Since high school in 1970 I have been a fan of the Missle cars. For those not familiar, there were 3 actual Missle cars that competed in the golden years of pro stock drag racing. The cars were a 70/71 Challenger (updated at the end of the 70 season to 71 trim and with new paint graphics. Then in 72 they went with a Cuda that was my favorite then a Duster for 73. The team included some diehard racers and some engineers from Chrysler. A lot of testing and development was done and passed on to other mopar teams.
The cars were driven first by Dick Oldfield then Don Carlton. They were owned by Ted Spehar who owned a famous Sonoco gas station that also built mopar race engines.
A street racer by the name of Jimmy Addison worked at the same station and terrorized the local racers with a 67' GTX with a stroked Hemi. Legend has it he never lost. The car was called the Silver Bullit and is famous as well.
The three cars have all been found and restored. The Cuda unfortunately wasn't quite done so I still have not seen it. The other cars were there and incredibly *****in.
I talked to several of the team that were there and got autographs in the centerfold of the Hot Rod mag issue featuring the Cuda. My wife spoke to the wife of Joe Pappas for quite a while. Joe was one of the designers/ builders/ mechanics and engineer. Tom Hover was there and was one of the team and considered the father of the Hemi (gen 2). The origional owner of the cars, Ted Spehar was there and autographed my origional Mac model of the Missle Cuda I built when I was  17.
Overall it was well worth the cross country trip to attend the gathering and meet these guys after all these years. Hopefully I will be able to see my favorite of the three cars. The black with gold leaf Cuda.
If you are unfamiliar with this team of mopar believers and the cars, look them up. They were incredible at what they did.

John

[JimSC]

Sounds like a very worthwhile trip!

[Chryco Psycho]

Don Carlton & the team were amazing way ahead of their time with technology , don was nearly perfect as a driver being able to the exact same driving time after time .
 Cool that you got to meet them , I would have loved to be there too

[Chryco Psycho]

They also built a very controversial Wire car where much of the frame was eliminated by using taught wires to hold it rigid 
Mentioned in this article http://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopp-0605-drag-racing-history/

[wantone]

... Small world!  My best friend's dad owns the 70 challenger.  Fun fact about it is that they had 2 trunk lids.   The original one has a dumbass airbrush job on it and they had a 2nd one that was black like the rest of the car.   Heck, I grew up goofing off with the car before Dodge asked to refurb the car prior to the 13' challenger release.

[Yellow Submarine]

 Thanks for posting the pics Chryco I am not good with that stuff. The wire car was there and it is a strange thing to see. To me the Cuda was kind of the end of the line for both stock bodied cars and  Chrysler being able to run the hemi head to head with other manufacturers before penalizing them giving preferance to sbc in tin can Vegas. Sorry but that still pisses me off after all this tine.
Anyway prostock to me is a all steel body with everything based on a production vehicle. When they went tube frame they became carburated funny cars. Thus the Cuda was the last of a breed and my favorite even though I have still never seen it. The Challenger was restored to 71' livery and interestingly has a big rinkle in the quarter panel as if the engine torqued the body on launch. I took pics of this but cant find them. 
The Duster is cool even though a tube framed car. i saw it there and at the Don Garlits museum in Acala Fla a few years ago. All in all it was great meeting the crew. Too bad Don Carlton was no longer around. That would been frosting on the cake..