This car is a great and rare part of history. It is the type of car that many of us Mopars owners dreamed of having. If you were, or are now into racing your 63, this is the bad boy you want.
According to Darrell Davis (author of 1963 Plymouth Super Stock Guide),
“The car was originally one of the factory owned cars. The 15 82500 is a code that means that the car was sold to Chrysler-Plymouth division and on the General Manager of the division's budget. Obviously this car was a real factory car.”
“How it got to Milne (Brothers), I don't know but it was likely one of the cars shipped out to CA to compete in the Winter nationals in Pomona. There were only two big meets then. The Winter nationals and the Nationals.”
“What is also strange is that the car was originally painted Coppertone which was supposedly only available on Sport Furys. It is one of the really rare cars of the period.”
The only known race history about the car while it was still in USA, is that it was at Milne Brother’s Plymouth Center Pasadena CAL. They raced the car after the factory finished racing it . Australian car dealer Ash Marshall somehow got to California and to a drag meet with the Milne Bros, a deal was done on the Plymouth and by December 1964 it was on a ship in Sydney Australia.
From Drag Racing News, 1987
Meanwhile, back in 1965 a Sydney car dealer by the name of Ash Marshall, who'd experienced drag racing in the States (to the extent of taking a ride in the back seat of an eleven-second Super Stocker during a race!) and been involved in running an imported Plymouth for six months before selling it, announced that he'd just bought an American Top Fuel car. The ex-Potter and Winters "Vandal" had been run only a couple of times and would be the latest in US technology to hit Australia.
It has passed through many hands in Australia and is a very well known car Winner in Comp Elimination at the first Australian Nationals Oct 1965 .
1968-69 Bill Jane owned and raced the car. He is the brother of the famous Bob Jane, one of Australia’s greatest road racers.
The first guy to have the car in Western Australia was Toby Carboni, he had a shop called Carbon Brakes just down the road from Al’s dad, Doug James.
Al says,
“Dad (Doug) was always a used car dealer back then and I guess he came across the Ramcharger in business. He raced the car in the 70's with huge success until the cost forced him to sell it.”
Fast-forward 21 years to 1998 and we found the Ramcharger ! It had been sitting in a shed owned by the same guy that dad sold it to in 76 ! By 2000 I had it back at the track painted up just how my father had run it in the ‘70s .
Al’s son, Aaron James is now 16 years old and is awaiting his shot at driving it , I may be just the crew chief soon.
Al continues to run the car with the help of his mate Shane Page. His Chrysler brain and passion has been very helpful in the last 8 years. Al continues to improve the car, and now it is back in the factory Coppertone paint. With the big 526 cubic inch engine it is running faster than ever ( 9.59 @ 139 ).
Text from article:
Drag racing beware, for the ram-chargers are here! For those of you who were at the recent drag meeting held at Castlereagh, we cannot do much more than say, "This was sure drag racing at it's best." And we feel sure that you will all agree on this point.
For those of you who were unfortunate to miss this spectacle, we offer our condolences. However, AHRM has a big feature next month on the performances of the big Plymouths, together with full specifications and an insight into what makes the Ram-chargers tick! Don't miss it.
AHRM was right on the ball when Bob Fuerhelm's 500-cu.in. Plymouth was slung off the Monterey in Sydney last month. Sliding past oil drums, furtively whipping past eagle-eyed customs agents and generally making like foreign spies, we managed to shoot off the first pictures of the hot Plymouth just to whet your appetite for next month.
This particular machine has been raced in the U.S.A. by Bob Fuerhelm’s, over the past year, and features alloy body panels, cheater slicks, reversed knock-on wheels and lightweight front suspension.... whoops! we're giving you our next month's secrets already. Watch for our BIG feature, which will also be accompanied by a road test of a Plymouth Sport Fury.
The Super Stocker Plymouth in race form in front of Doug James used card dealership in 1976.
Text from article:
A feature of a recent drag meeting at the Castlereogh strip, west of Sydney, was a clash between a local dragster and an imported Plymouth Ramcharger piloted by visiting American drag racing star Bob Feuerhelm. From the standing start the Sydney dragster pipped the charger by a mere 1.05 sec. over the standing quarter mile. But the charger left the dragster at least five car lengths behind at the start, its acceleration was so hot. It only dropped back at the finish, when the dragster was doing at least 15 m.p.h. better. But it opened some local eyes.
Page sources:
Darrell Davis
From correspondence to to Al James
Here Comes The Ram Chargers!
From NOV/DEC 1964 Australian Hot Rod.
The Kings of Drag Racing
written by David Cook
from Drag Racing News
page 36-40; 48-49; 52-57 - March, 19871987
1968-69 Bill Jane owned and raced the car.
1975 when his dad, Doug James had the car.
Before Al’s repaint early in 2007
Making those tires hot and sticky!
Al and Ash Marshall, the original importer of the 63 Super Stocker, he is a Drag Racing legend in Australia, was the first to go 200-mph (front eng. dragster) and the first to go 6 seconds. had him in tears talking to him about the car, he was so happy it was still around.
Aussie Al’s back on the track in 2008.
Aussie Al’s back heating up the slicks!
Working on getting it ready to hit the track aging after re paint to the factory Coppertone color.
Update Nov. 08: the Super Stocker has a new PB at 9.24 @ 143 mph, here are a few new shots.