1967 Plymouth RO23 Belvedere

This 1967 Plymouth RO23 Belvedere, Lot S177, sold for $79,500, including buyer’s premium, at Mecum’s Kissimmee, FL, auction on January 26, 2013.

“Are Plymouths fast? Ask the man who didn’t own one!” That provocative little advertisement was placed on the inside cover of the 1967 NHRA Rule Book. It went on to point out that Plymouths driven by Jere Stahl (of Stahl Headers fame) and Shirley “Drag-On-Lady” Shahan mopped up the Super Stock competition at the major events of 1966. It was a brilliant place for an ad that was essentially preaching to the choir, and it made the point: Chrysler was serious about drag racing.

Raising the B-body bar

Super Stock racing featured cars that were substantially factory stock. The cars on the track were nearly identical to the cars you could buy in the showroom, and anyone interested in a really fast street machine knew which dealer to go to. Plymouth’s performance in ’66 was basically a repeat of the 1965 season, and Chrysler was so intent on keeping the momentum going in Super Stock in 1967 that they produced two very special vehicles just for that competition: the Plymouth RO23 Hemi Belvedere II and the Dodge WO23 Hemi Coronet.

Just 55 of each were built; all were basic white with black interiors, and all were built on February 12, 1967, at the Lynch Road plant in Detroit. Talk about a special order — February 12 was a Sunday.

Racer-spec in a plain white wrapper

Keeping the weight to a minimum was critical, since the NHRA Super Stock class determination was based on a horsepower-to-weight ratio — for example, SS/A required up to 6.99 pounds per advertised horsepower, while SS/B required 7.00 to 7.69 lbs/hp — and Chrysler was hoping to race these special mid-sized B-body cars in SS/A or SS/B.

These cars were given no soundproofing or seam sealer during assembly, no foam under the headliner, and there were no heaters or radios. The front sway bar was deleted, too. The base Belvedere came with rubber mats instead of carpeting, and so did the RO23. The battery was relocated to the trunk for better weight bias.

Under the hood was the standard 426-ci 425-hp Street Hemi. The intake manifolds on the WO23 and RO23 cars were stock pieces changed inside using the modification pioneered by racer Arlen Vanke, and the stock carburetors were optimized for drag racing. This, too, was important, because Super Stock rules required factory carbs only.

Automatic cars got the A727 TorqueFlite transmission, modified from stock with manual valve body, and featured heavy-duty clutches and bands to handle 7,000-rpm shifts. The A833 4-speeds were “slick-shift” units — transmissions modified by removing the synchros and machining every other tooth off the drive gears for easier full-throttle shifting. That package was topped off with a Hurst shifter.

The cars were delivered with the standard Street Hemi oval air cleaner, but boxed in the trunk was a special unit that fit the opening of the hood scoop — a piece unique to these cars. The only wheels available were painted 14×6.5 or 15×6 steel units. Final drives were 4.88:1 gears in a bulletproof Dana 60 on 4-speed cars, or 4.86:1 in Mopar’s 8¾-inch unit on automatics.

Other than the steel bolt-on air scoop, the RO23 looked like a bargain-basement Belvedere. At a cost of $3,831, it was hardly a bargain (a basic Belvedere I started at around $2,315) but the RO23 contained everything top racers such as Sox and Martin and many regional privateers needed to compete in Super Stock — and with quarter-mile times in the low 11s at over 120 mph, these cars dominated their class.

Evolution and rarity

Whereas Chrysler’s Super Stock cars for 1967 were fast while looking bone-stock and showroom-fresh, their race cars for ’68 evolved into something else.

By ’68, Super Stock racers were starting to look at smaller compact and “Pony” cars (remember those power-to-weight formulas), and Chrysler obliged by stuffing Hemi engines in their A-body Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas.

The transformation of the new cars was so radical that they could not be built on an assembly line (not even on a Sunday), so Chrysler turned to Hurst Industries to build about 50 each of these mystical, legendary racers. So in a sense, the RO23 and WO23 cars were the end of an era — the final purpose-built Super Stockers to come directly from a Chrysler production line.

Quarter mile to collectible

With just 55 built and an unknown number surviving, it’s not surprising that RO23 Plymouths are rarely offered for sale. In the past 10 years, only four have sold at auction. The highest sale was $151,200 at RM’s 2007 auction in Fort Lauderdale. The Hurst-built ’68 Hemi Darts and Barracudas typically bring more than that.

Although the Hemi compacts are just as rare as the RO23s and were just as successful on the track, they also have something else going for them: a nasty, aggressive, ready-to-dominate look. The pedestrian demeanor of the Belvedere is likely the reason the RO23s usually sell for less.

Then there is our feature RO23. It had been given a questionable restoration — the engine has too much chrome, the unique air cleaner is missing and the front inner headlights have been removed (a violation of the ’67 NHRA rulebook). All that should cause concern for any potential buyer. The lack of documented racing provenance does nothing for its value, either, and name-dropping Joe Amato, the most successful Top Fuel driver of the ’80s and ’90s, isn’t enough to overcome this car’s weaknesses.

There is nothing on this car that a little time and money can’t cure, but the issues are enough to drive down its value. That’s a shame, since these fast and fascinating Super Stock machines should really sell for close to six figures. In this case, $79k is about right. Well bought.

(Introductory description courtesy of Mecum Auctions.)

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