FINE & DANDY
A ’65 Dodge Coronet fettled by ‘Dandy’ Dick Landy and channeling the 60s Super Stock era of 1965
CLIFFORD HOAD’S ’65 DODGE CORONET HAS A ‘DANDY’ DICK LANDY HEART AND CHANNELS THE SUPER STOCK ERA OF 1965
Sin OMETIMES you’ve just got to be the right place at the right time, and the for Clifford Hoad, that place was Pomona Swap Meet in 1991: “It was love at first sight. It was on the back of a trailer not running: a ’65 two-door favourite Dodge Coronet pillarless coupe, my Dick two-door Mopar inspired by the original he recalls. Landy altered-wheelbase Dodge,” to put a “I said to the guy selling it: ‘I’d love ‘I know Hemi in it like Dick Landy’s.’ He said: take you Dick Landy; if you buy the car I’ll around to meet him.’” US and At the time, Cliff was living in the Sun, so touring with his band Kings Of The on the he had all of the mechanical work It car performed at Dick Landy Industries. car and was a rust-free, very dry California wanted the perfect platform for what Cliff navy-blue to achieve. “The car was an old drag car. metalflake colour because it was a the The fenderwells were all cut out where it had crossram manifold used to go, but road and blown up and the car was put off the he says. hadn’t been registered since ’68,” in Don’t forget, this was all happening people 1991-2, when there weren’t too many hip to the – Aussies especially – who were But it fact that Mopar stuff was actually cool. was up also meant that Cliff’s time in the US back to and he had to get himself and the car the small sunny Queensland. Plus there was left-handdrive detail that you couldn’t even get a at the car registered in Queensland the car time! “I took from ’93 to ’94 taking back to bare metal and had Glen Henderson “Got it up in Brisbane paint it,” Cliff says. register all looking sensational, but I couldn’t car back it. I was mad enough to bring the drive it. I knowing I would never be able to but can’t remember when the rules changed, [which I got caught up building the T-bucket SM Hot Rod #16] and with the we featured in band, so the car went into storage. ago,” he “It stayed like that until three years blankets continues. “It was up on blocks with on it; it all over it and there was not a scratch done to just needed the brakes and radiator that get it up and running again. It’s a miracle happened I never sold it or that nothing ever couple of to it, and I finally got it registered a years ago.” that The Moparphiles out there will know cars in Hemis were never offered in the street There ’65, following their ban from NASCAR. 500 was no need to produce the requisite road-going cars to meet the homologation were rules, but that was okay because there plenty of drag racers who had discovered Dodge the benefits of the magical Hemi, and an sorted them out with the A990 Coronet, of out-and-out drag car that was stripped The anything that didn’t make it go faster. because body panels were even acid-dipped the Super fibreglass parts were outlawed in Stock classes that year. as an While Cliff has always had those cars inspiration, particularly the one campaigned no barebones by ‘Dandy’ Dick Landy, his car is Coronet racer; it’s the top-of-the-line excessive 500. “With the 500 you had the Landy’s trim pack, whereas with the 440 – like off,” he car – everything had been shaved the car, explains. “I’ve kept all of the trim on and the including the four-inch sill mouldings around outrageous polished stainless trim no the roofline. It’s pretty lush, but there’s disc power steering, although I did put power That gave brakes and a vacuum pump on it. it; you’d me a little bit of worry when I first had the thing put the brake on and you’d feel like
TO PUT A HEMI IN IT I SAID TO THE GUY SELLING IT: “I’D LOVE DICK LANDY; LIKE DICK LANDY’S.” HE SAID: “I KNOW I’LL TAKE YOU AROUND TO MEET HIM”
DICK WORKED HIS MAGIC ON THE CAR AND HE TAUGHT ME LOTS OF STUFF WHILE IT WAS BEING BUILT – AND I LISTENED
went three feet further than you wanted it to!” Part of the reason for that poor brake performance was the lack of engine vacuum created by Landy’s secret race-grind camshaft. It’s a pretty angry-sounding beast, and could have been a lot angrier if Dick Landy had his way: “It had a high-rise Weiand tunnel-ram on it with two 1050 Dominator Holleys, but I didn’t want to cut a hole in the bonnet,” Cliff says. Instead, a low-rise dual-quad intake was installed and paired with a couple of 750cfm Carter AFB carbs – this was dubbed the Street Hemi package, as opposed to the magnesium crossram intake that the race Hemis ran. Although he’s owned the car for over 25 years and has only recently started enjoying it, Cliff thinks the time is right to let someone else enjoy it. “If I was to have sold the car 15 year ago it probably would have ended up with Convo Pros on it, a rollcage and tubs,” he says. “I’ve tried to keep the car in a time bubble of when it was built in the early 90s as a tribute to Landy’s mid-60s vibe, and that’s why it is what it is. It has drag racing history, not in the sense that it’s Landy’s drag car, but the guy worked his magic on the car and he taught me lots of stuff while it was being built – and I listened.” So, if you’re keen on owning a piece of legendary Mopar muscle with a fair chunk of s Dick Landy DNA, get in touch.