1967 Plymouth GTX "Silver Bullet"

[Peter Lombardo]

Borrowed from a Feb 2009 Car Craft article by Miles Cook.

“Back in the day, the Silver Bullet was quite simply the baddest street machine on the Detroit scene.

What is it about this car that’s bestowed with a name that carries such impact? By make and model, it’s a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX that basically served as a rolling Chrysler R&D testbed when it was owned and driven by Jimmy Addison.

By chance, or more likely by design, this Hemi-powered GTX became the most feared warrior on the Detroit street-racing scene during the early 1970s.

Motivated by a hulking 487-inch Hemi, the Bullet was a 10-second street car--and as much or more of a true street car than anything that’s being heralded as such today.†Here is the link to the website and story on this car.

http://www.carcraft.com/featuredvehicles/906_1967_plymouth_belvedere_gtx/index.html

A few years ago, while browsing through the first ever copy of Chrysler Magazine, I found a story about this car, The 1967 Plymouth GTX dubbed “The Silver Bulletâ€. I thought it was a worthy subject to build so I set about building it. This was the first “street†car model I built after only building race cars…so it was a departure for me.

This is basically a Revell 1967 Plymouth GTX painted HOK Silver. Bare Metal Foil and a photo etch set complete it.

The slicks and small American flags were lifted from the Revell 1967 Dodge Charger kit.

Even though these pictures don’t really show it, the pictures in the Chrysler Magazine showed the oil cooler under the front bumper,

so I added it to my build. I fashioned the hood extenders from aluminum tube with wire tips.

It is a simple straight forward build of a famous, at least in Detroit, street racer that had one heck of a reputation. Good old Detroit Muscle at its finest.

[Eshaver]

Peter, once again , you'r e work is immpeccible !!!!!! Oh the engine came yesterday an thank you for sending to it's new home . Ed Shaver

[george 53]

Pete, I saw this car run on the streets back in the day!! It was actually a Chrysler R&D car for the hemi street racers!! I've seen it at MANY street meets too, and it still is awsome to see it light up the tires at a WHIM!!! It ran FOUR hemi mufflers and was STILL loud! GREAT build on a GREAT historical Street Machine!!!

[Peter Lombardo]

Pete, I saw this car run on the streets back in the day!! It was actually a Chrysler R&D car for the hemi street racers!! I've seen it at MANY street meets too, and it still is awsome to see it light up the tires at a WHIM!!! It ran FOUR hemi mufflers and was STILL loud! GREAT build on a GREAT historical Street Machine!!!

One small change to that, it actually was running four Cadillac mufflers because they had wider diameter pipes. Thanks!!

[jedimastergary]

looks great good build

[Dragline]

Very nice repro of a sweet car. I remember this car from some magazine from back years ago.

Feared is right. A true 10 second car in those days would have ruled with no problems.

You did a great job all around on it Peter.

Bob

[Joe Handley]

Pete, I saw this car run on the streets back in the day!! It was actually a Chrysler R&D car for the hemi street racers!![/b[/]i] I've seen it at MANY street meets too, and it still is awsome to see it light up the tires at a WHIM!!! It ran FOUR hemi mufflers and was STILL loud! GREAT build on a GREAT historical Street Machine!!!

Yup, if I remmeber the story correctly, this was an blue early model 440 Magnum car that was used for regular R&D within Chrysler then was "retired" and then turned into a factory backed street.

[caine440]

Great Job!

That car a terror!

I have the story on the Bullet. Loved how they talked about Jim Wangers of gto fame wanting nothing to do with racing the Bullet.

Your build is stunning as always!

Thanks for being back great memories!

[Harry P.]

Oh yeah... '67 Belvedere, one of my favorite cars of all time! Of course that's because it was my first car. Well, not with a HEMI... but at least it LOOKED like that car! Sort of. Kinda.

[Guest]

Awesome! I hard a difficult time telling where the pics of the real thing and your build left off. If you want a set of big and little Cragars to make your build closer, pm me your addy, I will send em, it looks like you have keystones on your build while the real car had cragars. Incredible build!

[whale392]

Very nice build of a very sexy car. To me (this is merely opinion), the 66-67 Plymouths and Dodges (2dr Hardtops) are just about the most aestetically perfect cars built...........there really isn't anything you can do to them to improve their looks, as they just look SOOOOO good stock.

[Peter Lombardo]

First off guys, thank you very much for the kind words, I really appreciate them. I built this car a number of years ago when I was just getting back into street cars and customs. Before that I was a race car "snob".....especially Tamiya race car kits. Back then my "stash" of street car parts was limited so I used the closest parts (wheels) I had.

Thanks, Lee for the offer of the Cargar mags, but I have a set now, I am just too lazy to change them up. I had a set of real Cragars on my 1973 Camaro RS back in the day. I saved up for them for months and man, they made the look of my Camaro just pop. I loved that car and truly wish I still had it.

Harry and Whale, I have to completely agree with you guys, the '66 and '67 Plymouth and the '68 and '69 Dodge Chargers were to my eyes the two best American Muscle Car designs of all time. I know the GTO and Chevelle's of the day were great, but if I had but one choice, it would be a toss up of these two cars.

Back in 1966 my very good friend from my High School days had a pale yellow with black vinyl roof and interior Plymouth Satellite. The main difference between the '66 and '67 were the inner headlights. The '66 had the turn signal lights there and the '67 had the high beams located there. There were many minor differences too, but the headlights were the easy to spot difference. Any way, this car had a HO 383 V8 that really packed quite a big punch. We would take on Chevelle's, Goat's, Torino's man, you name it and we always did very well street racing. Didn't always win, but always did get respect. Fun and very dangerous memories.

In 1969, Don (my buddy) traded the Plymouth in on a '69 Dodge Charger, light metallic blue with black top and interior. That was also a beautiful car. It also had the HO 383 and rally wheels. I don't recall that car being as quick as the Plymouth (weight, I think) but it was sure a looker. Many of the "young ladies" turned their heads when we would "cruise the Jersey Shore" in the summer or pull up to the White Castle on Friday or Saturday night. Trust me, they were looking at the car, more than looking at us. The girls would sometimes call out to when we pulled up, "Hey Rich", even though our names were Pete, Steve and Don. Like I said, it was the car.

Back in those days, the White Castle still had what they called "curb service". The ladies would come out to your car, take your order and return with a tray loaded up with twelve cent hamburgers, french fries and soft drinks. It was the East Coast equivalent to the West Coast drive-ins without the roller skates. On weekend nights, all year round, it was one of the places to see and be seen. All of the young guys would want to show off their Iron and in so have a certain part of their anatomy and their wallets measured against the other guys. Don's dad had money, and therefore his cars always placed us at the higher end of the pecking order....that was a good thing.

Ahaaaa, the golden memories....the late sixty's were a great time for fast cars, cheap burgers and lost innocents. Back then, we were happy and carefree. It didn't take much either, a fast car, a cute girl and a few cold Colt 45's and life was great.

As I get older, the one aliment that I pray I never get is Alzheimer's, I want to take my memories to my grave....I want to hold on to them as long as I can.

[Shawn Tillotson]

I am real partial to the 66-67 Mopar B Bodys myself. I attempted one of these kits to build the future look of my Mopar and was unhappy with the fit of the back bumper finish panel piece and have since shelved that project until I can cut it up into 3 pieces. Great build I love that car and have often thought about painting my 1:1 silver but can't decided

[whale392]

Pete, to add to our grill observations; the front bumper on the 66 Plymouths was also smooth, as the parking lights were up in the grill versus 67 when they moved them to the bumper due to headlight placement. The headlight bezels were slightly larger in 66, and the parking light bezels were slightly smaller diameter than the later 67 units second headlight. My dad bought new (and still owns) a 66 Plymouth BelvedereII Hemi/auto in Turbine Bronze Metallic with the black bench interior. I remember riding in that car for most of my youth (with various powerplants in it, but always a big-block. He now owns a 66 Dodge Coronet500 Hemi/4spd in Dark Arctic Blue Metallic with the black interior to go with this car, plus two more 66 Plymouths (both big-blocks) and another 66 Dodge Coronet500 (also a big-block). He is where I got my love of the B-Body, and I own 2 65 Dodge Coronet500s because of him!

[RodneyBad]

It looks fantastic.

Great work.

My Dad has 66 with a 440 4bbl

[Harry P.]

Shawn, that black one is killer!

And Peter... great memories, great story!

[sigmaman]

Awesome model of a truly awesome. I have a Muscle Car Review magazine article on that car. I had thought of building it myself but had never got around to it.

[Crusader101]

Peter, this is a terrific replica of the original...I remember photographing the original at last year's Woodward Dream Cruise here in Detroit. It was parked front and center at 13 Mile Rd. and Woodward, the epicenter of the Cruise with approximately 40,000 cars in attendance.

Beautiful build!

[Smart-Resins]

Very nice! Jody

[VW Dave]

Very nice job on the 'Bullet,' Peter; another one of my favorite Mopars.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the subtle flaring/'bulging' on the rear fenders....nice touch adding that detail to the model as well.

Edited March 24, 2010 by VW Dave

[edward smith]

Very nice work, always good to see cars being built out of originals.

[Tony T]

Nice build! I just recently got the 2 in 1 '67 GTX kit, and this gives me an idea as to how I might build it!! I like that black one with the dog-dish caps, too!!

[Foxer]

ok, I see nothing about the Lone Ranger here ....

and, great looking build, Peter!