Tag Archives: Belvedere

The Least Junked Car – Plymouth Belvedere

The sixth generation Belvedere, with styling overseen by Elwood Engle, was launched in 1965 with a variety of V8 engines ranging from 4.5 litre / 273 cui to 7 litre / 426 cui capacities with either 3 speed manual or 3 speed automatic transmission.

Plymouth Belvedere Wagon, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

In 1966 Richard Petty helped boost Belvedere sales considerably by winning seven races and his third NASCAR title a feat he bettered in 1967 by winning 27 races on his way to winning his record, for the time, fourth NASCAR title.

Plymouth Belvedere Wagon, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

Plymouth offered a full range of body styles on the B Platform including; 2-door sedan, 4-door sedan, 2-door hardtop, 2-door convertible, 4-door station wagon like the 1966 example seen here at an Avenue Drivers Club meeting at Queen Square Bristol.

Plymouth Belvedere Wagon, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

This vehicle fitted with a 5.2 litre / 318 cui motor was first registered in the UK on the 18th of September 2002.

Plymouth Belvedere Wagon, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

According to the Planet Junk Car Database the ’66 Belvedere was said last year to be the least junked car in America, though exactly how reliable this information based on the record’s of just 33,000 junked vehicles is perhaps open to debate.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Least Junked Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Mix’n’Match Electric Blue – Plymouth Belvedere

There are few legends in all of motor racing that are quite so enduring as that of the Petty Family, it’s not quite exclusive use of Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler products with an electric blue paint scheme.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Tea total brothers Lee and Julien Petty used to take time out from their haulage business and enjoy giving the local North Carolina moonshine runners a good whupping in illegal races for large bets with a 1937 Plymouth they built that was possibly powered by an in line 8 cylinder Chrysler motor.

Plymouth Belvedere, Richard Petty, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

After the ’39-’45 war Lee embraced and supported Bill Frances efforts to established a stock car series that was more formally organised and ended up winning NASCAR 3 Championships driving his own Petty Enterprises Chrysler, Dodge, Oldsmobile and Plymouth cars, which usually carried the #42, but occasionally carried the #43.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Late in Lee Petty’s third and final 1959 championship winning season Lee’s sons Maurice and Richard Petty found they had neither enough traditional Petty white nor dark blue paint to completely cover a Plymouth that was in need of paint, not wishing to waste either pot they mixed the two together which combined to make the ‘electric’ blue that has since been patented as the same ‘Petty Blue’ seen on today’s featured ’67 Belvedere.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

In 1961 an accident at Daytona effectively ended Lee Petty’s career, but by then his youngest son Richard had just completed his first full season behind the wheel finishing an impressive second to 1960 champion Rex White with the first 3 of an eventual unbeaten career total of 200 race wins.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

In 1964 Richard by now running almost exclusively in the #43 won his first of an unbeaten career total of seven Championships starting 61 races, winning 9 of them and scoring 28 further top 5 finishes driving 426 cui Hemi powered Plymouths.

Plymouth Belvedere, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

1967 was perhaps Richards career defining season, the Hemi had been restricted to 405 cui for the 1966 season after being banned completely in 1965 as were overhead cam NASCAR projects intended for 1966 from Ford and Chrysler.

Plymouth Belvedere, Richard Petty, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The 1967 Belvedere had not proved quite as fast as the ’66 model which Richard had used to win seven races and claim third in the 1966 championship so Maurice reskinned the 1966 winning car with a ’67 body that allowed Richard to win the 1967 championship with a career high 27 wins in a single season backed up with 11 further top fives that included an unbroken record of 10 straight wins.

Richard is seen driving his ’67 Belvedere wearing the same period correct cowboy boots as he would have worn back in the day on account of ‘they didn’t have anything else back then’.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mix’n’Match Electric Blue” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Seven Laps Led – Plymouth Savoy

1 Reply

“There’s no such thing as a ‘Plain Jane’ in the Plymouth line-up for 1959!” Plymouth dealers were informed and the base Savoy model proved the point with similar levels of chrome to the top Belvedere and Fury models with standard two-tone instrument panel, foam front seat cushion, dual sun visors, dual horns, and dual front door armrests.

Plymouth Savoy, Sonoma Historics,

After making 9 starts driving Petty Enterprises Oldsmobiles in the second half of the 51 race 1958 NASCAR Grand National series and winning $760, Richard Petty, later The King, continued with a 22 race schedule in the 44 race 1959 season.

Plymouth Savoy, Sonoma Historics,

Like his Dad Lee Petty the 22 year old Richard swapped over from Oldsmobiles to running Petty Enterprises entered Plymouth’s mid season. Turns out the same Petty Enterprises Plymouth’s would run in 2 door hard top Savoy form for some races and with the roof unbolted and removed in Convertible Belvedere form for others.

Plymouth Savoy, Sonoma Historics,

Lee Petty won his third and final NASCAR Grand National title with 11 race wins in the 1959 season, while Richard finished 15th in points with 9 top ten finishes and the NASCAR Rookie of the year award with his winnings for the year at $8110.21.

In his fourth drive in the Plymouth Richard recorded his first seven Grand National lead laps in the Southern 500 at Darlington where he finished 4th.

Today’s featured ’59 Plymouth Savoy is painted and stickered up in tribute to Richard Petty’s Rookie of The Year winning ’59 season.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs of the Plymouth taken at Sonoma Historics earlier this year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Seven Laps Led” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !