Tony heads over to the MMA’s Brooklands bash and is blown away by three beefy and beautiful examples of Detroit’s finest…
Adry, overcast bank holiday Sunday at the end of May created the setting for the Mopar Muscle Association (MMA) Chrysler bash at Brooklands Museum, located in Surrey. Always eagerly awaited, this show never disappoints, as it’s a ‘turn-up and display’ arrangement rather than a pre-booking affair, so you never quite know what is going to show up, which adds to a wonderful, easy-going atmosphere for owners and enthusiasts alike. There is a trophy presentation at the end for five lucky participants; however, these are my three car picks of the day.
Firstly, one of my favourite Mopars in the country is this 1969 Hemi powered Dodge Super Bee (as featured in the Drive-My). The car was imported from America, came to the UK via Germany and is a superb example of a 426cu in factory-built B-body. Only 73 WM23 two-door hardtop automatic Hemi Super Bees were built for the 1969 model year, so this is a super-rare muscle car. The colour combination helps to elevate the car too, painted Q5 Bright Turquoise, with a white vinyl roof, white Super Bee stripes and a white bucket seat interior, all combining to make it even more desirable. Currently it’s owned by Mark Jackson of North London.
I nearly fainted at seeing this Oldsmobile – Peter Webb from Kent left his Plymouth ’Cuda at home, choosing to come in his new purchase, an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, very rare 1966 Oldsmobile W30. Finished to a high standard, his Target Red with black bucket seat interior Olds came with a Rochester tri-carb set-up on a 400cu in V8, with 10.25.1 compression making 360 horses. All were equipped with manual gearboxes and the car has a close ratio Muncie manual four-speed transmission.
This W30 is number 15 of only 54 built for homologation purposes to race in C stock drag racing, although 97 were offered to dealers where they made the modifications in house. The W30 L69 coded engine benefited from an outside air induction system, which feeds the trio of carburettors cool air via tubing from entrances in the front grille – this is unique to the model and is the only real tell-tale sign of a W30. The battery was relocated into the trunk to make room for the air hoses. The cars were all built in June 1965 at the Lansing Car Assembly Plant in Michigan, where incidentally the very last Oldsmobile came off the line in 2004, an Olds Alero. Look out for this GM masterpiece at shows this year – it’s definitely worth a look!
Even though the show boasted many exceptional E-body Barracudas and Challengers, I could not take my eyes off a 1970 440+6 Plymouth ’Cuda. This TX9 Black Velvet ’Cuda came with a four-speed manual gearbox, black interior and black ‘ghost’ 440 hockey stripes factory fitted and also came with a really neat code A21 collapsible front bumper. This car is one from the collection of Carlos Monteverde and Martin Savill from RPM brought it along for its first outing in five years. Many thanks to the MMA committee for organising yet another fantastic Chryslers at Brooklands.
1970 Cuda 440+6. Peter Webb with his 1966 Olds 442 W30.
