What do we have here? Well, “An old Dodge, for the sake of freedom, for the party, for life,” as one of Sweden’s greatest singer-songwriters, Ulf Lundell, poetically put it in his song “Gammal Dodge” (Old Dodge) from the album Utanför murarna. Yes, this is a 1963 Dodge 330, owned by music teacher Björn Holm from the province of Dalarna in southern Sweden. Given his taste for playing punk rock, I’m guessing this will be the last Ulf Lundell reference for now.
This Dodge spent its younger days at the drag strip in the United States, primarily around the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Between 1972 and 1980, it raced at venues including the Tristate Dragstrip under the name Statutory Grape. At its best, it ran mid-12s over the quarter-mile. Before it was later restored as a Max Wedge tribute, it stood abandoned at the Mopar® junkyard called “Mopar Mountain” in Kentucky.
“I found the car on Carsonline. My first choice was actually a black Polara, a four-door hardtop with either a 383- or a 413-cubic-inch engine – I forget which. But that deal fell through, and a friend contacted the seller of this 330, which I originally thought was too expensive. He managed to negotiate the price down to a reasonable level,” Holm says, adding that this is his first American car. Not a bad start.
As mentioned, Holm’s Dodge is a Max Wedge tribute, though not yet a full-blown replica. Under the hood is a 440-cubic-inch engine from 1972, with slightly overbored cylinders. A hot roller cam gives it a strong, throaty growl when you put your foot down. The V8 features 440 Source cylinder heads, a beefy cross-ram intake, twin Edelbrock 600 carburetors and spark courtesy of an MSD ignition system.
The Max Wedge exhaust manifolds command respect, of course. Behind the engine, the previous owner installed a built 727 automatic transmission, elegantly controlled via push buttons in the cabin. All that power – around 450 wild horsepower – is delivered to radial tires or slicks through a Dana 60 rear axle with 4.10:1 gearing. In other words, this car has no trouble leaving rubber on the pavement.
About 20 years ago, Holm was introduced to the world of Mopar by his friend Ulf Witasp, who also insisted that Holm should buy himself an American car. Holm began looking around and eventually decided that the Dodge 330 and Polara were the coolest cars on the planet. The reason? They stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, the finances weren’t there at the time, so it would be two decades before
Holm could make his dream a reality.
“Some people think these cars are ugly, but they have an irresistible charm. I think of them as ugly ducklings, if you know what I mean. The fact that they have an interesting history plays a part too. You could order a Max Wedge version straight from the dealership. You could buy the car and head straight to the strip to race it. Besides, I don’t like American cars with tailfins – they all look the same. The Mopar B-body from the early ’60s stands out in a way that feels a bit punk rock,” Holm says. He adds that he himself was born in December 1962 – a fitting anecdote in this context.
Candy cane painted wheels? Where did that idea come from? That’s how the car looks when Holm wants to hit the strip – though not during the photoshoot.
“I painted the rear wheels red and white because I got slicks and didn’t want them mounted on plain black steel wheels. I saw a photo of a Team Ramchargers 330 that had its front wheels painted exactly like that. So I got inspired to paint the slicks’ rims the same way. Yeah, Ramchargers is the sh*t,” Holm says.
What are his future plans for the Dodge? The roof and rear pillars will be painted with white stripes, transforming the car into a kind of tribute to Team Ramchargers. Then he plans to add vinyl decals reading “Statutory Grape Ohio” on the rear fenders and promote the family ranch in Burbank, Ohio, with Buck’n’Ohio decals on the front fenders.
“Other than that, I’m aiming for a car that runs on the street but is also fun to race at the strip. Unfortunately, I missed Mopars at the Strip this summer, but I’ll be back next year! No need to rush – everything has to work,” Holm says.
If he had unlimited funds, Holm would have no trouble spending them.
“With serious money, I’d own a small fleet of Mopar ’63s and a 1962 Lancer with only the bodywork preserved. Everything else would be upgraded with modern parts and a whole lot of horsepower,” Holm says with a grin.
There’s a 1964 Dodge 440 in some of the photos. It’s owned by Mikael Jendinger from Rättvik. He bought it from an American brain surgeon who had listed it on Craigslist. After Micke called and said he wanted to buy the car – but didn’t put down a deposit – the surgeon removed the ad. Then he went away for a week and couldn’t be reached. Micke began to worry (understandably), but the surgeon kept his word and the deal went through. And yes, that is a GM scoop riveted to the hood – both wrong and right, depending on your perspective.
The Dodge’s origin story in the U.S.? Robert Naber bought it in 1970 for about $100 from Kenmont Dodge. It wasn’t running, and his plan was to build a racecar. He removed the slant-six engine and found a donor car from which he sourced a front subframe and rear axle. He then installed a 400-cubic-inch engine with dual inline four-barrels and a 727 transmission behind the V8. In 1972, the car was painted and named Statutory Grape, and it ran at the strip until 1980, clocking 12-second passes.
In 1989, the car was sold because Robert needed money to buy his son Paul his first car – a Duster. The buyer was a guy from Kentucky who stored the Dodge at his Mopar junkyard for a while. According to Holm, sometime in the early 1990s, a friend of a man named Eric Pratt bought the car from the Kentucky owner. It still looked like it did during its drag-racing days. Eric’s friend began restoring it and repainted it red. Around 2003, the 330 was sold again at the Mopar Nationals in Columbus, Ohio. At that point, it had a 383, a tunnel ram poking through the hood, and an 8¾ rear axle. The buyer, Ronnie Williams from Evansville, Indiana, rebuilt it into a Max Wedge tribute with the current 440 and Dana 60 axle setup. This happened around 2013. The car was then sold to Leonard Andrescavage in Illinois in 2014, who later sold it to Holm in October 2017.
The Dodge arrived at the port of Södertälje on December 12, 2017, and was transported three days later to its current home in Vikarbyn, Dalarna.
What a journey.
0 Comments