performance plymouth dealers

[polywideblock]

was there a "performance " dealer for Plymouths back in the day ? (like Mr Norms Grand Spaulding dodge )

  if so who  ? pics, links  please   

[Ghoste]

Not really, there were some that supported it for sure but not on the level of Grand-Spaulding.  Melrose, Yeakel both went for the performance market and the dealer in Ferrndale that was tied in with the Golden Commandos.

[oldhemiman]

The Golden Commandos were sponsored by Hamilton Motors in Detroit Mi., the Ramcharger Dodge was sponsored by Hodges Dodge in Ferndale Mi. There was a Plymouth dealer McCullogh-Ricci on Warren Ave on the east side of Detroit that sold quite a few high performance Plymouths and sponsored a drag car driven by a salesman named Dick Housey. I bought my 1963 Sport Fury from them. One day, while my car was being serviced, I saw Hayden Profitt (an ex Pontiac racer from California) working on his max wedge in the service department before a race at the Detroit Dragway. This dealership was not on the high performance level of a Grand Spaulding Dodge, but was fairly well known on the east side. There were other Plymouth dealers in the Detroit area that also were into high performance but on a smaller scale. There may have been some Hi-Po Mopar dealers on the west side of Detroit, but that was mostly Ford country.

[polywideblock]

thanks for the info     

[68X426]

I've always had an understanding that the reason for no high visibility Plymouth performance dealer like Norm was because of the business arrangements that Chrysler had made with Ray Nichols in the 60s and Richard Petty in the 70s. 

Those two racers were far sighted and ballsy business entrepreneurs who controlled the performance parts distribution systems of Mopar/Plymouth as part of their deals with Chrysler.  Now I could be wrong but I think Nichols and then Petty effectively "ruled the roost" so to speak, made millions on their exclusive parts deals, and cut the dealers out of the mix.

[Ghoste]

I hadn't heard that before.  Doesn't really make sense to me either since Nichols did Dodge stuff as well and neither of those guys sold cars at the retail level.  Also, they were strictly into stock car racing so an arrangement like that would have cut Sox and Martin out.