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This EB5 4 speed 440-6bbl GTX belongs to Rick and Darlene Richards of Louisana.
There car is one of only 3% or 214 that came with the 440-6bbl 4 speed w/ 3.54
geared Dana 60. Their GTX was painted the most popular color found on a 1970-EB5
Blue Fire Metallic with 14.1% or 1007 1970 GTXs coming from the factory in this
color. A rare option this car has is the AM/FM radio with only 9.5% or 678 of
all 1970 GTXs coming with the R21 code. This car was one of 27% that came with
the J45 or hood pin option. Below is this car's story while the Richards have
owned it.
We bought our GTX in December 1979. I had just totaled out a 1969
SuperBee in October of that year which I had owned since the early part of 1972.
I salvaged as much as I could off the '69 Bee to have for another car. In December
of 1979 my brother called me and said he knew where there was an old Plymouth
that I might be interested in. He said the bank in the little town he lived
in had the car and that they had repossessed it and I could probably get it
pretty cheap.
I went to look at the car and it was a 1970 GTX. At the time I
had no ideas about collector cars other than the old '55-56-57 Chevys and had
no idea this would turn out to be a very collectable car or even how to check
out the codes on the fender tag.
The GTX had a worn out 400 engine in it, the interior was shot
to say the least, there was no back seat as this area had been made into a bed!
The original 4 speed and console were gone and in there place was an automatic
tranmission with an E-body shifter. The positive was the body was in real good
shape so I figured I could put the interior out of the '69 Bee into it.
The bank wanted $500 for the car and I thought that was too much
as the ignition switch was gone, the left wing glass was broken out and it wouldn't
even start. I haggled with the bank for a little while and ended up giving $350
for it. I set the points and got it running and started for home however the
400 didn't make it.
I put the interior out of my '69 Bee in the X and then put in
a 440 HP engine I had from a '69 Charger RT that had gotten stolen from me in
1974. I drove the GTX this way all through the '80's and loved the car. Then
I met a guy that was the president of a mopar club where I live and he asked
me if I knew that it was a 6-pack car and that it was rare. I said no. At this
point I thought I should find out what I could about the car.
Our GTX, VIN# RS23V0G182---was a 440-6bbl 4 speed with B5 (Blue
fire metallic) paint, high back bucket seats with premium trim, floor console
w/woodgrain trim, light package which included the hood mounted turn signals,
AM/FM radio, track pak (3.54 geared Dana 60), hood pins, hood performance paint
treatment, airgrabber hood, white sport side sports stripe, and a 26" HD
radiator.
In 1992, I decided to restore the GTX. The car came from Missouri
so the old salty winters was beginning to show. I had done some bodywork before,
but nothing like what I wanted to do with this car. I got some estimates for
the restoration and it was way out of my budget.
I got some books and started reading took a welding class and
started in. I had to replace floor pans, trunk floor pan, and rear quarter extensions,
deck filler, both lower corners of rear glass openings and both quarter panels
from the door back. When I cut the quarters off, I got really scared. I didn't
know if I would ever get my car back together again. I got most of the metal
welded back on before bad weather started. I was working on it in the carport,
so a friend said I could bring it to his shop and work on it, so I gladly took
him up on his offer.
I got the body work done and started working on redoing the dash
. I had to remove the dash VIN plate because there was rust around it from the
windshield seal leaking. I repainted the dash, locked the dash VIN plate in
my tool box with the GTX's fender tag and went home for the day. The next morning
my friend called me at work and said the shop had been burglarized and that
I better get over there.
I left work thinking my car was probably gone. I got there and
the car was there but all my tool boxes was gone, no more VIN plate or fender
tag. I sat down and cried because I figured that was the end of the car after
all of the work and money that I put into it. I put the engine and transmission
back in and loaded it on a trailer and hauled it home. I only had a carport
to put it in so my wife and her brother helped me build a garage to put it in.
I left it set there for 8 years other than starting it and pulling
it out every now and then just to put it back away, sick over the deal. I finally
decided I would complete it anyway and started doing the interior and the rest
of the work.
I finally contacted Galen Govier to see what I would have to do
to replace my lost/stolen tags. This took a lot of proof and paper work to prove
everything. It took a long time but I finally got it all back and on the car-thanks
to Galen Govier and AG back east.
Right now the GTX has the 440-6 power plant with an automatic
transmission replacing the 4 speed, with new B5 paint with a brand-new white
interior. We drive the car as often as we can to car cruises/club meetings,
fund raisers and so on. I have had the car since 12-79 and had never taken it
to the track until this summer. The GTX now has gear vendors under/overdrive
6 speed, roller rockers, MSD ignition setup, 4-10 suregrip, subframe connectors
and safety loop tied to subframe connectors making another cross member for
support. I plan to put a 2800 stall converter in soon. I hope to get some slicks
before I try the track again. I won't run it at the track very much as this
is a cruiser. With the gear vendors and the 4-10 gears I can cruise at 70mph
and turn 2800 RPMs. That's not bad, you can still play when you want to. We
plan to start running it some with other club members that have Mopar muscle
cars. We are now members of the Mopar Magic Unlimited Car Club of Shreveport,
LA.
