[ QUOTE ]
Was this a GM-only event ? I´m asking because a friend got a preview of a blue -68 Barracuda with a "prototype" Hemi-engine in Texas a few weeks ago. It had orange valvecovers and no visible ignitioncables. They said it was a 9-second car that would be debuted at Carlisle, but I have only seen the pictures my friend took so far. It supposedly slipped out the backdoor from Chrysler.
[/ QUOTE ]
The car you're talking about was Tom Hoover's (The engineer "father" of the 426 hemi) It was originally his 69 440 barracuda. It now has one of the prototype 1972 ball stud hemi engines. This engine was supposed to be the smog-era replacement for the 426 hemi if it survived the 1971 model year. Sadly it did not. The design used a semi-hemi (a la chevy big block) type valve train with the spark plugs in a more conventional location. I don't think it is currently a 9-second car in its present configuration (the car may have been in the past) and I doubt anyone is going to run it as it has the only running version of that engine ever made. The engine itself was purchased from Dick Landy and took a bunch of custom work to make it operational. It was installed in Hoover's old 69 as something of a tribute to him as the engineer that is really credited with getting the 426 Hemi into production. The 69 Barracuda was Hoover's own car and a pre-production test bed for Chrysler performance parts for many years. It will be at the July Chryslers at Carlisle event (and so will I
)