Originally owned by MLB Phillies Coach John Vukovich

1967 Dodge Coronet 500 / 383. 4speed. posi

Originally purchased in late '67 by John Vukovich - who later went on to play and coach for the Major League Baseball teams The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies - this '67 Coronet has changed hands three other times making me the 4th owner. I have extensive documentation including the list of registered owners. Chrysler Certicard. Chrysler Historic Collection photocopy of the build-card. and a build record certificate. This is an original CA car.

The Coronet decodes as follows:

W= Dodge 117"
P=Premium
23=2 Door Hardtop
H=383 - 4HP - 8 cyl
7=1967
5=Los Angeles. CA

Paint: ZZ1=Gold Metallic
Trim: P6X=Black All Vinyl
Trans: 3=4 speed manual
Axle: 4=3. 23 posi

This Coronet's a driver in every sense of the word. Numbers matching. fully rebuilt motor. running gear. and suspension. original steel. original paint. and a sweet interior. she is a blast to drive and comes with receipts for all of the work listed in the following description.

Besides weekend cruises and just running it around the neighborhood for fun I've also taken her on a couple 500+ mile road trips here where I live in the Pacific North West. The car does great stoplight to stoplight as well as on the open road. She fires up right away and never disappoints.

Engine - 383 4bbl V8
The motor and heads are original castings and fully rebuilt top to bottom with about 3 years and 15k miles on it (all receipts included. ) The rebuild was mostly to stock spec with a . 40 over. a mild cam. rebuilt heads. and new components including: flywheel. water pump. fuel pump. aluminum radiator. starter. alternator. distributor. headers. plugs. wires. coil. air cleaner. hoses. lines. etc. The 3" Headers with crossover and flowmasters sound awesome and put a smile on my face every time I start the car.

The choke works great on the 4bbl Holley Carb. the starter is tight. the motor is tuned well and idles smoothly even with the mild cam. The alternator is a high amperage output unit to support the addition electric fans on the aluminum radiator. The throttle is responsive and the cables are new. I run premium gasoline only because I choose to. I was told by the speedshop that rebuilt the engine that low octane will work just fine.

I've been driving fast cars for some time. and while this engine is fast. it's not crazy. My favorite thing about it is that it's reliable for long distances and has even torque from idle all the way up to about 3500rpm. It's great for snapping you back into the seat from a launch. or for aggressive passing power on the freeway. I'd conservatively estimate the HP at over 400 with stock ignition timing and no real dyno tuning.

The battery is new along with the harness that travels to the firewall. There's a quick disconnect for the negative terminal that comes in handy when you need to kill the power for working on the vehicle or parking in the street. Other new electrical stuff includes the blinker shutoff switch and wires. aftermarket tach and aftermarket underdash oil psi and water temp meters. All the lights work and blink along with the horn honking and heater heating. The windshield wipers wipe but the relay is malfunctioning and doesn't reset them at the bottom of their stroke in the off position (that means you have to wait for them to get down and turn the knob off)

The engine bay has been resprayed the correct ZZ1 paint. This is the only new paint on the car. The engine compartment is clean and functional. but by no means in show condition. The paint on the intake manifold is flaking a little bit on one side and the terminals on the firewall have aftermarket soldering and crimps on them. Perfectly functional. but not stock.


Running Gear / A-833 Four Speed (Passon Performance Hemi 4 speed overdrive)
I hate to brag. but the 4 speed in this car is a big deal. The original A-833 is a great box. and while the housing on this one is original. the insides are nothing but. For a ton of detail please go to their website and click on the Hemi 4speed overdrive link at the bottom of the page. Basically Passon has fabricated an amazingly strong and lightweight gearset that gives you the following 4spd ratios

1 = 2. 66:1
2= 1. 59:1
3= 1. 00:1
4= . 80:1

The result is an even bandwith of power transmission across all gears and an overdrive 4th allows for taller rear-end ratios while keeping the revs at around 3k on the freeway. Pete from Pete's gearshop in Hayward CA did me the absolute courtesy of rebuilding my A-833 with the hemi 4spd setup and it's the best thing I've ever done to a classic gear box. This transmission is super tight with all new components inside. new clutch. new custom fabricated drive-shaft. new U-joints. and a rebuilt 8. 75" differential with a 4. 11 gear ratio. Don't let the numbers fool you. this car flys on the freeway without spooling up given the . 80:1 ratio in 4th gear. The clutch linkage is also rebuilt and the throwout bearing is new and the pedal freeplay adjustment is spot-on.


Suspension and the Rest
The front end is fully rebuilt with new OEM bushings. aftermarket sway bar. and tubular upper control arms. The rear leafs are 3 tall and seem fine to me but I don't know if they're original or aftermarket. Eibach competition shocks all the way around don't make it a sports car. but they're miles better than the original oil dampening. There's an old school pinion snubber in back that's kind of cool and the wheels are rattle can black with new rubber all the way around. The brakes are four wheel drum and are fully rebuilt on all corners. They stop amazingly well considering the weight of the vehicle. The manual steering box is original and also relatively tight for this era vehicle.

Paint. Body. Glass. Rubber. Interior
This car is 47 years old (I can hardly believe it myself) and has never seen a respray. It is original metal. original paint. original glass. and original weather stripping all the way around. It has knicks. chips. scratches. dings. fading. wear. and pitting. That said it doesn't look so bad. doesn't leak a drop of water. doesn't have any rust besides the superficial variety. and the chrome and trim is all there and quite presentable. The doors open and close easy and the panel alignment acceptable. The bumpers shine up and the black top looks new to me and it's the only exterior component that's a 10. I never wanted a trailer queen and I don't like driving stuff that's too nice - but I always believed that this car deserved a bare metal respray with all of the fixings. I'm just not the guy to do it.  

The interior is stellar. new seatcovers. new headliner. new carpet. and new door paneling. The armrests are original but not too worn and the dash has a little crack in it on the passenger side. As I mentioned in the beginning all of the lights light up. blinkers blink. etc.

Reason I'm Selling
I love this car but I want to move up to a convertible: 1968 drop top Fury II or late 60's Pontiac Catalina convertible are at the top of my list.

Terms
I won't let it go for less than what it's worth (we all know how that works!) and I reserve the right to end this auction for local sale. I've tried to write as detailed a description as I know how to. Sometimes people buy used cars and are upset when they discover a shortcoming that was not listed in the advertisement - I know. I've bought lots of used cars and have sorted through lots of shortcomings. If you have a question and it's not in this writeup please ask. If I didn't put something in the description it's either because it wasn't important enough for me to include or I didn't realize that I omitted it.

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