Plymouth Under Glass

Factory-built Super Stockers had torsion bars, but Dave Glass, the owner of this ’65 Plymouth Belvedere coupe, prefers a straight axle front suspension. The car is mostly restored, but the roof paint is from its original racing career.
Factory-built Super Stockers had torsion bars, but Dave Glass, the owner of this ’65 Plymouth Belvedere coupe, prefers a straight axle front suspension. The car is mostly restored, but the roof paint is from its original racing career.

There’s a famous Plymouth Barracuda wheelstander car known as the “Hemi Under Glass,” but the car featured here is a ’65 Belvedere altered wheelbase gasser that was restored under the direction of Dave Glass. He’s the owner of D & M Corvette Specialties in Downers Grove, Ill. but as his Plymouth racer shows. Dave has interests other than his specialty in the Corvette niche.

“I wish I could say that the Belvedere is a famous racing car because that would make it more valuable,” said Glass. “But I have to be honest and admit that I just don’t know.” The Plymouth “post coupe” was built as a “Match Race Stocker.” It looks a lot like the factory-backed, altered-wheelbase Plymouths that drivers such as Lee Smith used to drag race back in the ‘60s.

Glass is an avid car enthusiast who fixes and sells all types of muscle cars and hot rods. Along the road to his success fixing and selling Corvettes, he has also become a specialist in the recreation of “straight-axle” racing machines. (Cars with I-beam front axles.) Glass has a wild-looking Corvette that is built up this way, as well as a Chevy-powered Willys coupe.

Dave’s red, white and blue ’65 Belvedere could probably pass for a high-dollar, factory-backed Super Stocker if it had the original type torsion-bar front suspension, but this car did not always look as nice as it does today. “The Plymouth was drop dead ugly when I first bought it,” Dave explained. “The crew in the D & M restoration shop redid just about everything — except the roof.”

The car’s roof is painted a medium blue color with multiple white stripes running front to rear. “Believe it or not, the paint on that roof is completely original,” Glass pointed out. “While we don’t know if the car was famous, we do know for sure that this Belvedere was an old racing car. We purchased it from a man in Indiana, but all the evidence suggests that it was drag raced in Kentucky.”

The car had no motor when Dave got it, but the four-speed gearbox was in it and looked to be 100 percent factory installed. “The car was not converted to a four-speed,” Dave feels. “It had been tubbed and it carried a 6-point racing cage. The guys at my store really got involved with it. Sometimes they think I’m just plain nuts, to take on projects like this, but they know that I really enjoy the cars.

Plymouth Division was forced  go racing in the ‘60s to keep up with Chevy, Ford, Pontiac and Mercury. Dave’s research shows that Plymouth built 11 acid-dipped Satellite coupes with 426 Hemis and four-speed gearboxes to race in the 1965-1966 season. “I grew up in that era and watched drivers like ‘Dandy’ Dick Landy and Sox & Martin run cars like my Plymouth,” Glass explained. “That’s when I first raced my Willys, but it was also the onset of the ‘funny car’ era. So I decided to build a car like the ones I saw racing back then.”

All of the mechanical restoration and bodywork was done right at D & M Corvette. Dave’s complex in Downer’s Grove includes a fully-equipped restoration shop, as well as a body shop and a service building. Randy Ball was the only outside contractor on the Belvedere. He stitched up the red, bucket seat interior. Fiberglass front fenders are fitted and sit high off the ground.

The engine under the hood today is a 472 Hemi. The car goes to cruise nights in Downers Grove, but is not actually raced. “I got that out of my system years ago,” says Glass. “But when I ran into a rep from Comp Cams at a car show, I asked him to get me a snarly cam that made the same noises as a race car and he delivered in spades.” The engine drives to a sturdy Dana rear axle.

Dave says he loves the way the Belvedere came out. “It’s a racing car so it’s cold-blooded until it gets up to 150 degrees, then it drives and runs good,” he says. “The only thing that could make life better is if we found out more about its racing history. We keep hoping someone will recognize the paint scheme on the roof and step up with documentation of a drag racing career.” Anyone who knows anything about the car can reach Dave at (630) 968-0031 or (630) 968-0410.

A fleet of ’65 Plymouths dominated NHRA Top Stock Eliminator competition in 1965 and memories of those days inspired Dave Glass to build his red, white and blue bombshell.
A fleet of ’65 Plymouths dominated NHRA Top Stock Eliminator competition in 1965 and memories of those days inspired Dave Glass to build his red, white and blue bombshell.
About John Gunnell 143 Articles
John “Gunner” Gunnell has been writing about cars since ‘72. As a kid in Staten Island, N.Y., he played with a tin Marx “Service Garage” loaded with toy vehicles, his favorite being a Hubley hot rod. In 2010, he opened Gunner’s Great Garage, in Manawa, Wis., a shop that helps enthusiasts restore cars. To no one’s surprise, he decorated 3G’s with tin gas stations and car toys. Gunner started writing for two car club magazines. In 1978, publisher Chet Krause hired him at Old Cars Weekly, where he worked from 1978-2008. Hot rodding legend LeRoi “Tex” Smith was his boss for a while. Gunner had no formal journalism training, but working at a weekly quickly taught him the trade. Over three decades, he’s met famous collectors, penned thousands of articles and written over 85 books. He lives in Iola, Wis., with his nine old cars, three trucks and seven motorcycles.

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