Mopar Muscle – October 2019

their way over to the garage that housed

the Challenger. It was in poor shape, with a

broken torsion bar and paint/Bondo chunks

falling off of it, the result of some of the

previous owner’s horrific bodywork. “It was

a mess, to say the least,” Paul says.

But interestingly enough, Paul put a

new carburetor on the 383 Wedge, rigged

up a gas can, and got it to start right up.

“Game on,” Paul exclaimed. Though it

was pretty beat up, Paul started driving

the car around locally, showing the locals

that the “Russel-Mobile” was still alive

and kickin’!

This went on for the better part of two

years. Paul kept hitting the local shows

and cruise-ins. But soon he realized that

the car was slowly falling apart and getting

dangerous to drive. “The hole in the

driver’s floor kept getting bigger and bigger,

so I had to decide to either pass the car on

or fix it; I decided on the latter,” Paul says.

NO-REST RESTORATION

And so it began. Paul readied the car for

a complete restoration. He tore the Chal-

lenger down and started looking for a shop

that could bring this ride back to life.

“I had a hard time finding someone to

do the extensive metalwork. Many places

didn’t want the challenge that this Chal-

lenger was about to give them,” Paul says.

He then found Richie Giordano and Tommy

Sparks of G-Force Collision and had them

take a look to see if the car was even

fixable. “It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but

pretty close. It can be saved, “Richie said.

Without a hitch, the guys took on the holey

Mopar. “They rose to the occasion and

jumped right in,” Paul says.

Turns out the car needed full quarter-

panels, trunk floor, wheelwells, driver and

passenger floor panels, and lower rocker

panels. It also had rear-window damage

from the vinyl top. The fenders, inner fend-

ers, and doors also needed work. From

there, they sprayed the car in high-impact

Top Banana Yellow on the underside and

engine bay, and returned the roller back

to Paul so he could install the drivetrain. “I

thought about spraying the car the original

FF4 Light Green Metallic, but then my mom

and Joseph reminded me about why Russel

loved the car so much; it was that intense

yellow paint job,” Paul says. Overall, it was

a year and a half of work getting the metal-

and bodywork finished, but to Paul and his

brothers, it was well worth it.

Paul brewed up a plan for the power-

plant of this ride. He handed the parts

off to Tommy Sparks and let him do his

magic. It all started with Russel’s 383ci

Wedge block that was in the car when he

passed. It was then stroked to 431 ci with

the rotating assembly consisting of Eagle

crankshaft rods and Diamond pistons.

Next, Frankie Ford manhandled the Indy

aluminum heads, and the Wedge was

finished with a Howard’s solid-roller cam.

He backed it with a built 727 Torqueflite

with a reverse manual valvebody and a

Gear Vendors overdrive. A Dana 60 built

with 35-spline Strange axles and spool

gets the power to the pavement.

For suspension duties, a complete Cal-

Trac split monoleaf adjustable suspension

with adjustable shocks was mounted out

back. Up front, Slant 6 torsion bars were

added along with a strengthened K-mem-

ber and adjustable shocks. For stopping

power, vented and slotted disc brakes from

The Right Stuff were installed at the cor-

ners to get this beast to come to a halt. For

running gear, Paul chose steel wheels with

the Mopar dog-dish hubcaps for the street

(15x7 front, 15x8 rear). He wrapped them

in Mickey Thompson rubber 205/70R15

and 275/60/15, respectively. For the track,

Paul has a set of lightweight Centerline rims

for better e.t.’s.

Once the car was moving under its own

power, Paul sent the car back so the body

could be finished off. Once the bodywork

was finished to perfection, Tommy and

Richie finished spraying the high-impact

yellow onto its flanks. From there, the car

came back to Paul, where he finished

installing the interior, putting in the glass,

and installing the finishing trim. The interior

has an eight-point rollbar, Hurst Pistol Grip

Quarter Stick, lightweight Kirkey’s seats,

and an assortment of AutoMeter gauges in

the newly installed rallye dash, something it

didn’t come with originally.

Other features include fuel-system

modifications, such as installation of a

Mopar sumped fuel tank with a MagnaFuel

pump, which feeds the thirsty Holley 950

carburetor. An MSD digital 6al-2 supplies

the ignition system, a Power Master 140-

amp alternator supplies the power, and

a Griffin Radiator with a set of Spal fans

keeping everything cool.

Once completed, Paul was proud of what

they built. “It’s exactly as Russel wanted it:

a street/’strip car with plenty of power,” Paul

says. The Top Banana Yellow was a hit with

the crew as well, as it made this E-body

impossible to ignore wherever it went.

And since it was built to hit the quarter-mile,

it was only right that Paul christened it at

the ’strip after some time on the streets.

He even ran it at Hot Rod Drag Week in

2016–2017, pulling consistent high-10-sec-

ond runs every season.

However, issues popped up in 2017.

A thrown rod did major damage to the

Wedge, so Paul regrouped and went in

a different direction. “I had heard about

RUSSEL’S MUSCLE

64 moparmuscle.com