FRANK BERGAMIN(^1970) DODGE CHARGER
Paint: Glasurit Jet Black
DONK
Type: 498ci big-block Chrysler
Inlet: BDS
Carb: Twin 950 Quick Fuel
Blower: BDS 8/71
Heads: Edelbrock RPM
Valves: 2.14in (in), 1.81in (ex)
Cam: 260°@0.050, 0.600in lift
Pistons: Callies forged
Crank: Scat forged
Conrods: Scat H-beam
Radiator: Custom alloy with twin electric fans
Exhaust: TTI 4-into-1 headers, that’s it!
Ignition: MSD
SHIFT
’Box: 727 Torqueflite
Converter: Coan blower custom 10in
Diff: Dodge
BENEATH
Front suspension: Torsion bar,
Calvert 90/10 shocks
Rear suspension: Calvert mono-leaf
springs with CalTracs, Calvert eight-way
adjustable shocks
Steering: Stock
Brakes: SSBC discs with four-spot
calipers (f), drums (r)
ROLLING STOCK
Rims: Weld ProStar; 15x5 (f), 15x10 (r)
Rubber: Maxtrek 195R15LT (f),
M/T ET Street S/S 295/65/15 (r)
Frank says. “When I saw it sitting there with
flat tyres looking real dirty and old I didn’t think
the body looked that good, so I thought we’d
just throw a blown motor in it and do a burnout
car anyway.”
Before he got too carried away though, Frank
had the good sense to send it to Smith’s Body
Shop in Port Adelaide for a bit of a tidy-up.
“They spent two days rubbing it back, buffing
it and polishing it. The boot wasn’t painted so
we sprayed that, the tail-light panel had a dent
so we fixed that, and then it came out so well I
thought: ‘Oh man, I can’t do burnouts in this.’”
The engine in the car is based on a 1974
440 block and has been bored and stroked
out to 498ci with a Scat forged crank and
H-beam rods topped with Callies forged
pistons. Edelbrock RPM alloy heads close
it off before the BDS 8/71 blower goes on
top. Twin 950cfm Quick Fuel carbs make sure
there’s no issue with fuel supply, and a Crane
solid cam with 260° duration and 600thou
lift gets the rumpity-rum happening. The
sweet sound of almost 500 inches of
American muscle meets your ears
unadulterated via the four-into-one TTI
headers with two-inch primaries.
While the paintjob is over 10 years old and
the car sat around for many years, once Frank
got hold of it, it wasn’t long before it was up
and running. “It’s been on the road about a
year now,” he says. “I took delivery of it in
October 2016; it spent a couple of months
at my mate’s panel shop so I spent that time
getting all the parts together. I got it back
after Christmas and then me and my brother
hammered it, putting it together in time for
a Chrysler show in Adelaide. We had six
weeks and I broke my finger two weeks into
the build!”
Somehow they managed to meet
the deadline and the car has been wowing
- and deafening – people at every show it’s
gone to.
Creating a movie-car tribute wasn’t initially
on the cards, although Frank already had one
on the go: “I’ve also got a ’69 Charger that
I’ve been restoring over several years into a
General Lee Dukes of Hazzard
car.”
That will be the next project to roll out of the
shed, but for something completely different,
Frank just picked up a 1961 Humber. What
on earth for, you might ask? To make a Mopar-
powered gasser, of course!
s
PEOPLE ALWAYS ASK IF THE BLOWER
IS REAL, SO WE’VE DONE A FEW
POWERSKIDS OUT THE FRONT OF MY
HOUSE JUST TO PROVE IT IS