I occasionally find a retired race car on my scrap yard trips, but most of them break down. The machines are quite modern. today gem dump is another kind of racing remnant: an ancient dirt road monster probably last used more than 40 years ago, found in a Denver area yard last summer.
It’s really just a gutted shell lying out in the open decades after the last competition, but you can still get a glimpse of its past amid the rust and peeling paint.
The rear areas clearly define it as a Body of Plymouth 1965 two-door sedan.
1965 B-Body Plymouths was sold as three models: premium satellitethe Middle School Belvedere IIand El Cheapo Belvedere I. The silhouette of the Belvedere badge on the fenders found inside the vehicle suggests that at least Fenders comes from a Belvedere I (by the way race cars – especially dirt road racing cars – crash into each other, we can assume this is the 19th fender linked to this car) .
Belvedere fenders were easy to find in scrap yards until about 40 years ago, and faded sponsor stickers suggest this car was last raced around that time. You can still buy new Valve body “Turbo Action” for automatic transmission Chryslerby the way.
Similarly, CRC 5-56 . lubricant still exist. The “OZONE SAFE” label on the can suggests that the sticker belongs to late 1970s to early 1980s source.
The roll the cage is definitely old school, especially the lack of door bars. Denver area there used to be many racesinclude terrestrial park and Englewood Racetrack (both very close to the last parking lot of this Plymouth), but they closed long before the 1980s. Lakeside race track was in business until 1988 (and still standing today, kind) but that filthy oval mainly hosts races for dwarves during the last 30 years of operation. Probably Colorado Springs International Racewayclosed in 1985, was this car’s last race site.
There is a donor that suggests an origin away from the Mountain Time Zone. I can’t read the company name (except that the name might be an excerpt that includes “oluce”), but it appears to be an institutional food business in Houma, Louisiana. It’s possible this car was purchased in Louisiana and brought to Front Range Colorado, where it rusted in the yard or field.
There’s not much left, but it’s one of many automotive history i like the material in This series. One of my all time favorite racing cars is a Belvedere (No, it’s not this one), so I knew the last chapter of this car had to be recorded.
There are still some of these cars today. Keep my beer, old Belvedere running!
If you’re old enough to remember the new ’65 Belvederes, you’re old enough to remember film.
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