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The story of this particular AHRA record-setting factory bred racer begins with a young starry-eyed drag racer in Ohio. In 1964, then 26-year-old Harmon "Harm" Friend worked at the local Ford plant in Lorrain, Ohio. He raced his Corvette Stingray at the Norwalk track on the weekends. More than impressed by the '64 Hemi cars laying waste to his Blue-Oval and Bow-Tie brethren, Harmon decided it was time to step up.

The task of finding one of these original lightweight factory Hemi racers is nearly impossible today. Ordering a 1965 Dodge Coronet stripper with the race Hemi was no easy task itself in 1965. Harm was especially impressed with the factory A/FX cars driven by Dick Landy and Ronnie Sox but knew acquiring a factory "altered" A/FX car would be next to impossible (Only 12 were built and all were offered to big race teams). Harm kept a close watch on all of the latest news in magazines and constantly prodded his local Chrysler dealership for any new developments on Hemi production. Harm finally learned that Chrysler would produce a limited number of lightweight 426 Race Hemi Super Stockers in 1965. Harm was prepared to do anything it took to get one of these Mopar-bred monsters. Harm lobbied his local Dodge dealer, Si Gary Dodge for his very own Hemi-powered Super Stocker. He didn't care what color it was. The interior color didn't matter at all. All that Harm wanted was his own Hemi to race. Finally, the day came when Harm sat down with then manager of Si Gary Dodge, Marty Gottlieb, and ordered a factory turn-key Super Stock, the WO51 Coronet for $4,700. Harm's car was built on April 15th, 1965. Within days Harm trailered his prized Hemi drag machine home. He is one of the elite few that had the opportunity to own a legendary factory Hemi racer, the 1965 WO51 Dodge 426 Hemi Coronet.

It is widely agreed that only around 101 of the Race Hemi-powered 1965 WO51 Coronet Lightweight cars were produced. Only about 35 of these 1965 Super Stock Hemi cars are known to survive today. Harm unconcerned with the paint, Chrysler ended up spraying this Coronet Racer in DD1 medium blue metallic. A rare color in its own right, perhaps Chrysler was making room on the paint shelf to spray this seldom ordered color. This is one of five sprayed that in that shade of blue. Harm immediately lettered over the blue paint "THE MAN FROM MOPAR,” a reference to the then popular "Man from U.N.C.L.E." television series. Let’s go racing!

Harms' 1st trip to track proved this Hemi was no slouch. Advertised as an out of the box 11 second quarter miler, Harm's Hemi managed a best of only 12.50 at 117mph. Plenty fast, he was still taking a ribbing from his buddies about being "scared" to open up the throttle. Hand shifting the Torque-Flite Tranny at 6800 rpm, Harm sure wasn't afraid. He soon learned that his car came from the factory with a 2.70 rear axle gear instead of the 4.56 gears all Super Stockers came with. The car was better suited for terminal velocity Salt Flat speeds with those tall cogs. This goes to show that even Mother Mopar herself isn’t perfect.

The Coronet ended up back at Si Gary Dodge to get its correct 4.56 gear set installed. This time, back at Norwalk, Harm torqued through the lights running 11.70-11.90s at 125mph. Harm's buddies were left silent. Within a few months the DD1 metallic blue was sanded down in favor of a wild metallic green finished hand picked by Harm. "Harm's Way" was lettered on the doors and the legend was born!

Lost and far from forgotten, Harm sold the aging Coronet racer to a close friend in 1969 and headed for a California vacation with his wife, making good on a promise to her. Harm had promised that when he set a national or world record, he would sell the car and take her on vacation. He finally set an AHRA world record in 1969. Reunited with his legendary racer was Harm in 2009, at the Cleveland, Ohio Mopar Nationals. Seeing the car again brought tears to his eyes and everyone involved. The car went through a rigorous OE Certification process where it scored a very high mark of Silver. It was knocked down on metric wheel weights and later version valve stem caps and is very, very close to receiving the coveted "Gold" Certification.

A multiple trophy winner with an illustrious history, the "Harm's Way" Hemi Coronet was always in good company as you can see.


Here are some of Harm's buddies seeing what makes the 'ole cross-ram Hemi great. We have a wonderful photo album of this car throughout its racing days in the 1960s, its painstaking restoration to original just completed in 2009, and photos today.


Everything was magical about Chrysler's legendary A990-designated race Hemi. Induction is courtesy of dual Holley 4bbl. carburetors mounted atop a special lightweight magnesium intake manifold. The 1965 Race Hemi utilizes the same K cylinder heads casting for the 1st year 1964 Hemis, only this time cast in aluminum. The change from iron to aluminum meant a 40 lb. weight savings per head.


Power to weight reigns supreme then and now at the drag strip. The factory lightweight WO51 Coronet's showcased many race-bred features and weight-saving deletions in addition to the highly under-rated (425HP) 426 c.i. Hemi V8.


Bucket seats were straight out of Dodge's A100 van line from the factory. They were mounted on aluminum brackets, drilled for weight.


Offering up a hint of the purpose of this machine was the lack of a P (parking) designation on the factory shifter column.

The heater and radio were deleted.

The rear seat delete was also part of the W051 package.

Although deleted as part of the W051 package, the seat belts came packaged in the trunk. The rear mounted battery is also part of the package. This Dodge utilizes an OEM battery along with the correct spare tire & wheel.


Dodge used lightweight Corning Glass on the front and rear side windows of the WO51 Coronet. This Hemi retains its original Corning glass. Dodge used this light weight Plexi-Glass material on the side windows for a considerable weight savings over production glass. Fresh from barn storage in 2007, the Corning was duct tape sealed, when the tape was removed, these "kills" were uncovered and remain on the car today. The front windows retained their roll-up feature for convenience, but now utilized special aluminum tracks. The rear windows had no tracks and were in a "fixed" position. The light weight doors also use special aluminum door hinges, unique to the WO51 cars. Side mirrors were not an option. This example retains all of its correct features.

The front sheetmetal is special acid-dipped lightweight metal. Many believe that there cars came with an aluminum front end, and this is not the case. This car actually retains its original sheetmetal with a high quality restoration just completed by Pro Classics in Texarkana, Texas. Scott Churchwell massaged the body and shot it back in DD1 medium blue. The hood, front bumper, fenders, core support, and doors are acid-dipped.

A 1960's legend in its own right, this F-4 Phantom Jet Fighter is on display at the Dallas Love Field Frontiers of Flight Museum, located only minutes from our showroom. Many of our photographs are taken at this museum, which is also home to Apollo 7.


Harm was running at Norwalk in AHRA C/Hot Rod Formula 4, because that's where the money was that night, and he managed a personal best. His trap speed of 119.82 was good enough in fact to set an AHRA World Record for that class. Harm went to work.



Not exactly part of Dodge's factory lightweight modifications was Harm's addition of washtubs to take advantage of new S/S rules. Although the "tubbed" wheelwells would now accommodate 10-inch tires with their perfect curvature, Harm now needed clean clothes and was forced to purchase his wife a new washing machine. At the end of the '69 season, Harm sold the car, 115-inch wheelbase, washtub tubs and all. We happen to still have these washtubs too.

In 1971, the car's lengthy Texas barn storage began. We car folks have all heard about the "Hemi in a barn" story... In this case, its true! Here is the Dodge as it was discovered by Matt Mungo in 2007. Matt worked for Danny Proctor at Pro Classics in Texarkana, Texas. Matt, having heard it all before, figured this tall tale was worth a look. The barn was in Queen City, only about 20 miles from the shop. The car was largely complete. The lead footed friend that Harm sold the A990 powered Coronet to grenaded the engine and in it was a Hemi & Torqueflite from a '67 GTX.

Danny Proctor searched high and low, eventually finding the Holy Grail of Hemi's in New York with the correctly dated 1965 components. This car is powered by its date-correct 1965 Race Hemi, complete with the ultra-rare aluminum "K" heads, magnesium intake, 12.5:1 compression and all thats makes a Hemi a Hemi. This Elephant Mill was built by noted Mopar guy, Matt Mungo.It is dyno-tuned at 530 horsepower and is backed by a tough-as-nails 727 Torque-Flite transmission built for the Hemi. This reverse pattern manual valve body 727 was also unique to Super Stock Dodges.

The exhaust systems for these cars were a marvel in themselves. Danny managed to locate a nearly complete NOS exhaust system. These radial free-flowing headers feature exhaust cut-outs and the factory muffler setup that was seldom hooked up. These cars were sold as "not street legal."

Always a jokester, Harm installed a set of Roller skates back in the 60's. A poor mans wheelie bar setup, imagine trying to get through tech inspection with these! He ran the car with them until one of them came off during a run. In good fun, Danny and the team at PRS Classics have re-installed their own version of the NHRA-not approved wheelie shoes. We want to Thank Mopar Action and Mopar Collector Magazines for two photos from their articles about this Hemi. (Yes, the skates are included)

The team at Pro Classics learned from Harm's mistake, opting to professionally refinish the wheel wells so they wouldn't have to buy "Maw" a new washtub or washing machine.

The metal work and paint is top notch. A wizard with paint and body, Scott Churchwell massaged the original lightweight fenders, hood, and doors to their original glory. Scott found original penned-in paint codes. It seems that of the 5 DD1 medium blue metallic cars produced, this is the only one with blue upper door frames. The other four cars interior frames were painted in tan.

Symbolizing an excellence in driving prowess, mechanical achievement, and a valued attribution to drag racing was the AHRA award presented to Harm Friend from his world record run on a hot August day in 1969.


All of these historic racing plaques were affixed to the car and are now displayed in this case. This car was a standard fixture in Ohio and was respected as a serious contender. Harmon was a local legend and made the rounds of many tracks. Norwalk and Dragway 42 were Harmon's local tracks.


This stance is thanks to the factory stamped-steel wheels wrapped in correct Firestone Gum-Dipped rubber. The front tires are sized at 7.75 - 14 and the rear "slick: tires are 8.20-15s.

Harmon was known to have fake parts hanging out of the Dodge's trunk from time to time. Here we see the car prior to its "Mean Green" paint job. By the looks of the photo above, this must be the "Man from MOPAR."

Fill 'er up and check the tires please. This Sunoco photo of our '65 Hemi Coronet is circa 1969.


Mid 1960's Mopar's utilized anodized aluminum trim for the grille, belt molding, headlamp bezels, and more. The WO51 Super Stock Coronet featured two functional headlights, instead of the standard dual lights on each side.

The factory aluminum trim is in excellent condition throughout this Coronet.

There are just so many little features of these cars to take into account. Notice in the photograph above the lack of reverse lights. These aluminum delete plates are in place instead.

The headliner did not feature standard dome lighting and a few of the headliner bows were factory deleted as well for weight savings.


The engine compartment is highly detailed and showcases the date-correct '65 Race Hemi engine perfectly. The windshield wipers were even factory deleted. There is just so much to know about the A990 (Super Stock) Hemi Mopars.

The valve covers highlight correct style porcelain spark plug boot covers.

The core support has been acid dipped and is accompanied by the correct & restored heavy duty Mopar radiator.

The Race Hemi ingests cold air through its special hood.

Options were few and power was plenty on this WO51 ordered '65 Coronet Super Stock Race Hemi. The original V.I.N. and trim tags are in place.

The undercarriage is beautifully restored & detailed to showroom original.

So, how does it sound through the factory mandated muffled exhaust system with a single transverse muffler? We wouldn't know, just like 1965, the Hemi sounds its best with the opted dual cut-outs open! Be sure to play our video/sound clip. Here our video again for you to review-

The factory rear end houses 4.56 gears, standard fare for the WO51 Super Stock cars. These markings were on the original, unrestored axle and the specialists at Pro Classic's in Texarkana kept this Dodge true to its roots. Heavy Duty factory drum brakes provides the stopping power.

Again, you are welcomed and encouraged to contact Dave at 214-213-7072 or Maris at 214-616-2317 with any questions.
 

This is the story of Harm's Hemi!

 

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