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No Hemi racecar exhibit could be complete without Bob Riggle's Hurst Hemi Under Glass. I still remember the first time I saw this car at Amarillo Dragway back in the sixties. When the wheels on this 'Cuda went skyward my jaw dropped to the ground and I was forever hooked on wheelstanders, jet cars and Saturday night at the drags.


This is the new "Hemi" which is being run in Mopar's Pro Stock program and is finding its way into other classes. Is it a real Hemi? Maybe, but since it says it on the valve covers we will go with it. In the background you can see Dave Strickler's altered wheelbase car. That is a real funny car. I don't know what those things they call funny cars are but this is the real deal. A factory-built motor with injection and nitro in a steel body. Whoooo!


This, my friends, is the car of the future past. It is a Dual Ghia. Originally designed by Chrysler's legendary Virgil Exner as a show car, it was so popular Chrysler thought about bringing it out as a limited production (sounds familar doesn't it?) but the deal got nixed. The Dual Motor corporation got the rights from Chrysler and went into production of the car using a D-500 285-hp, 315-inch Hemi for power. The production lasted from 1955-1958. The cars sold for a hefty $8,000 and only 177 were ever built.
It isn't a Chrysler body, but a Hemi in a '41 Willys is and always will be waaay cool!
The stock 300C Chrysler, like Mr. Parks', came stock with dual four-barrel set-up that had advertised horsepower of 375 with 420 lbs of torque. You could order one with higher compression and better cam and get 390 ponies. Ah, the good old days

Finally, they have this trick rotating display just as you walk in the door of the museum. When DRO went in they had a Viper, one of the turbine cars and a silver car dubbed the "Thunderbolt." You talk about a cool looking streamliner. It was a concept car built in 1941. Our guess is that WW II stopped that program.

In a couple of weeks we will bring you more photos and captions from the Hemi display at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. Check back.

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