After screaming himself hoarse as a spectator at the last 24 Hours of LeMons race at Altamont (and preparing to hitch up the ol' Serro Scotty to meet me and the Loverman up at the Thunderhill LeMons race), Belvedere Adrian has obtained a wrecked '66 Belvedere and is in the process of readying it for some CRX-sideswipin' mayhem at one of next year's LeMons events.
Prior to coming into Adrian's possession, this car had had an unfortunate incident involving high speed, drum brakes, and a row of parked cars. The engine mounts were torn out and the right fender was crushed all the way back to the firewall (note the headlight trim located about an inch from the door). Here's a couple of members of Team Belvedere (including Jack Astro of Project Car Hell Song fame) taking a break from their labors.
That Poly 318 engine is quite wide, but it's a bulletproof powerplant, ideally suited to the rigors of a punishing race such as 24 Hours of LeMons.
Naturally, I had to break out the Project Car Hell Tipster T-shirt stencils to help decorate the car.
This car gets the official Murilee Martin Seal of Approval™! Of course, that doesn't mean the mighty Team Jalopnik car won't leave it far, far behind when the race begins... after we utterly humiliate Team Autoblog's '87 Hyundai Excel, that is. You listening, Autoblog? You think that Excel (or is it a Daewoo Lanos?) can take our Cordoba... I mean, Achieva... I mean, whatever we end up building?
Finding a fender that will fit is no big deal- after all, the fender off any similarly-sized car will do fine. However, in order to get the Belvedere in true racing trim, it's going to need some brake and suspension upgrades. As we saw a while back, 1973-76 Valiant or Dart disc brakes bolt onto a Belvedere... but Adrian's having a helluva time finding a donor car in the junkyard. Any readers out there with a line on such brake parts (or fat swaybars) at a reasonable price, please contact me (murilee at jalopnik dot com) and I'll relay your contact info to Adrian.
And now let's hear what a 318 with Cherry Bombs sounds like as it cruises Alameda!