Update on the 1967 Dodge from Roadkill “Trading Down and Giving Back”

During the tenth season back in 2021, the Roadkill show had an episode titled “Trading Down and Giving Back”, which essentially ended with a young man driving away with a new-to-him 1967 Dodge Coronet that had been traded to him by show hosts Mike Finnegan and David Freiburger. The young man’s name is Sam Allen and it turns out that he lives in my general area. I learned of Allen and the ongoing plans with his 1967 Dodge Coronet from a Facebook post about a local bowling alley hosting a fundraising event to help him get the car to a Roadkill racing event in Arizona later this year. Upon seeing that post, I was put in touch with him and I learned that since getting the car, he has put a ton of miles onto – and a ton of work into – his classic Dodge.

Now, for those of you who haven’t seen the show or this particular episode, while the hosts were trading down, by the time they met Sam Allen in Auburn Hills, Michigan, they had already made a few trades. As a result, the 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 that Allen received was not in the best condition. He describes it as “practically destroyed, but driveable”, with a 318-cubic-inch V8 topped by a 2-barrel carburetor and backed by an automatic transmission. As you can see in the images here, the vehicle is not exactly show quality on the outside either, but that didn’t stop him from pouring loads of love into the vintage Dodge.

Less than a week later, Allen began adding power when he swapped the 2-barrel carb and intake for a 4-barrel setup and a short time later, he added headers as well. Along the way, he tried a few different carburetors to see which ran the best, but about four months after Sam Allen got the car, the connecting rod for cylinder #1 decided to exit through the oil pan.

“At this time, I really didn’t know what to do. I had just started college and most of my money had to go that direction. I wanted to get a 440 but that wasn’t in the budget at the time. I had planned to go with a 360, but I couldn’t find one near me that I wanted. So I stayed with the 318 and decided to build that. I found an extremely low-mile ‘69 318 that was just what I had been looking for,” said Allen. “It was also at this time I bought a 4-door parts car for the front clip and a few other parts. I later sold it for next to double what I paid. I put a Summit K6901 cam and lifters in along with a new timing chain. Paired with the old intake and carb I had put on the old 318, it was back up and running!

“But the only thing I really didn’t like was how it ran. So 3 months later, I decided it was time to do a few things. The first of which was to change the heads out for my ’67 heads. I had them done up by a friend of a friend. The second of which was adding in a summit K6900 cam with comp lifters. I also decided to re-ring and put in new bearings. This combo ran great ’til my poor assembly of the bottom end got me. The #1 main cap had loosened both bolts and it dropped on my way to school. Not knowing what to do and having a lot of exams coming up. I had another winter to decide what to do.”

Upon running into that engine issue, Sam Allen hit the wall that many classic car owners run into when faced with a major repair that requires big, often costly, decisions. As has happened to many of us, he got away from putting time into his 1967 Dodge, but as is also often the case, it was his gearhead buddies who got him to get back to work on his Coronet.

“Come March of ’23, I really had no desire to work on the car. My friends hated seeing me so down about it so one weekend we fired up the heater and got to work. This next one I’m not too proud of but on my shoestring budget it worked enough. We got the motor out of the car and rushed off the oil pan to see what happened. We inspected everything and decided that we only needed a new main cap. So I ran to the junkyard a pulled a set of mains off an ’88 318. I should remind everyone that this was not my best decision, we tested the 3 main caps to see which one had the best clearance to replace the old one and slapped the motor back together. Not my finest work, but it did work.

“This new combo ran great! I went on several road trips with this engine and even dynoed it! It only made 186 hp at 4,300 rpm and 254 ft.-lbs. at 3,300. It was a strong runner nonetheless. Until I decided to go on my longest trip yet: from southeast Michigan to Chicago. About halfway there in a little town called Harbert, Michigan, it blew a head gasket. At the time and for a while after, I thought I totally lost the rings on cylinder 6. I had to have a buddy come pick me up 4 hours away and tow me home. I had RKN and Woodward coming up and no car to go to either.”

Fortunately, through a friend of a friend, Allen found a running 318 that he could swap into his ‘67 Dodge, so he pulled his engine (which he thought had major damage) and began to tear down the top end. While doing so, he found that it was just a blown head gasket, so he put that engine back together with all new gaskets and got it back in the car – one day after Roadkill Nights in Detroit. Fortunately, he was able to attend the Woodward Dream Cruise and shortly after, he found his big block.

“I still had Woodward the weekend after and it was a blast. Especially letting everyone see my car up and running at Woodward. After Woodward, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a 440 and 727 for $300! I got it home and completely tore it down. It had some mild surface rust in the cylinders so I ball honed it to knock that off. I gave it new rings and rod bearings. And threw it back together with a Mopar_® Performance 484 purple shaft. I then proceeded to mix and match the tailshaft and housing off my small block trans to match the one off the motorhome 440 and it works great!”

When I spoke to Sam Allen, he was in the process of replacing the automatic with a 4-speed manual, along with installing some new-to-him front suspension parts from a 1968 Dodge Charger.

“My plans right now are to get it ready for the 2024 Roadkill Duct Tape Drags. Being a recent graduate from college, it’s been more of a weekend warrior project and owning this car is the only learning I’ve done. Watching Roadkill and doing things myself is how I learned to make my car the way it is. This is how the car is at this moment. The exact specs are as follows:

• 1978 440 factory rotating assembly
• Mopar performance 484 camshaft
• “516” casting heads with red stripe springs
• Pancake intake with 1” spacer
• Holley 700 cfm mechanical
• 1964 A833 4 speed
• Custom built driveshaft
• 489 case 3.23 sure grip with new axles and green bearings
• 11” drums in all 4 corners
• And a driver who is constantly finding something to fix on the car”

For those who are not familiar with the Roadkill Duct Tape Drags, the event is held in Tucson Dragway in Arizona, and while the date does not seem to have been made official yet, it was held on September 29-30 in 2023. Sam Allen plans to be there, racing the 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 that he received from the Roadkill crew – just with a much bigger engine and loads more on-track potential.