› Forums › Forums › OLD RACE CAR LOCATOR › WHERE IS original STORM KING ?
mikey.
dinoOk …Bill & Gary ‘snuck’ this in another topic; So Where is It ? “Chrysler Dealer In Ct.” ??? how many can there be to investigate? Dover CSI …get on the case …dealer guys …ask around -get some leads “who collects” cars ?
Storm King wrote:
‘Well, the original “Storm King” is hiding in a private collection somewhere. We had heard that a Chrysler dealer in Conn had it in a collection but before we could go check it out, we moved, lost touch with those who knew where it was, etc. Consider; our max wedge was totally uncut, except for where the first set of fenderwell headers went. The car never even had so much as a roll bar in it. when we sold (traded) it, it was eight years old and had 3,400 original miles on it. Someone has a real gem hiding somewhere! We do have the VIN on a piece of paper, maybe other documentatioin on it.’
storm-king-2
My father sold the original Storm King to Ray Bunora, of Newburgh, NY, after I got drafted into the Army. We delivered the car to Ray while I was home on leave after basic training. That was Nov. of 65. When I got out of the service in 67, Dad bought the original back from Ray, and I bought the Black Arrow. While I was in the Army Dad had been helping Joe Beltempo with his 64 Dodge, 4 spd, 426 street wedge. I really never heard how they did, so I’m guessing it wasn’t too good. Joe & I became good friends, and he used to go to the track with us & help out. He met Jed StAngelo at Conn Dragway, & bought the “Northeast Raider” at the end of 68. Dad & I had always intended to run both cars, he would drive the Dodge, I would drive the Arrow. Unfortunately we never came up with a way to get both there at the same time. In 70 or 71 ( CMS ) he swapped the original even for a 67 Hemi, 4spd, GTX with a bad crank. Ritchie Falcone got the Dodge. He solod it to another Newburgh guy that was into the use of pharmaceuticals. He reversed the paint scheme, white for turquoise, turquoise for white, & blew up the original motor. Ray Bunora bought it from this jokers father. It now had a 413 in it. I think Ray found another 426 for it. I don’t think he ever ran it again ( Ray collected a lot of cars ). Ray sold it to a dealer in Massachusetts ( not Conn ).
Several years later he was wishing he had it back, & went looking for it. The dealership was closed, as in out of business, and no one around the area knew the whereabouts of the former owner. Thats where the trail go’s cold. Ray actually got one of the mopar magazines to publish a request for information on it. They even posted the vin #. No response. Sadly Ray is no longer with us. But he had several sons that were also car guy’s. Anybody living around Wallkill, NY can check & see if any of them are still around there.
I need to write a book.
Bill
dinoBook? ….The Perfect Storm
jackmanSounds like the trail went cold at the dealer but since you have the vin # ya might be able to ID the car at some high end auction , since it end up at a dealer I doudt it sitting in a field somewhere ,,,,,,,,,,,, How about the 67 Hemi GTX any clues where that ended up ❓ ,,,,,, believe me I would trudge through farm field after farm field looking under evry rock cow or what ever if I thought I could score a car like that……… Bill you also got me think the son or sons of Ray Bunora might be the previous owner of my Challenger after all Wallkill in the 60’s 70’s being a small town makes these things more possible……….
mikey
I’m thinking that if you have the vin#, there must be one of us ODFs thats a cop, or could ask a favor of a buddy who’s a cop, and run the vin#. Nothing to loose,maybe lots to gain ❗ One never knows,do one ❓ ❓
Mikey
storm-king-2
Jack,
I’ll have to ask Gary where the GTX went, I had already moved to Tenn. when it was sold. Mom & Dad moved to Tenn also after dad retired. Not to long after he moved down there we were reading a magazine that said there were only 48 4 spd, Hemi, GTX’s built in 67. He had sold it with the trailer for , like $3500. Got any idea what that would bring today. He may have sold it to Ianola Bros. Kindof like my Superbird, for several years you couldn’t give one of those things away. I finally sold mine to a guy in tenn. for what I paid for it ($3,900)[ I was working at the dealer]. 2 years later they were bringing high 5 figures. Oh well, my mother got it out of her back yard.
Bill
jackmanBill you make me think a lot 😆 ,,,,,,,,,,, your Super Bird was it yellow ? I remember seeing a yellow Super Bird in Cornwall way back in the 70’s I thought it was Cool my Dad thought it was just plain nuts 😆 ……..
The Hemi 4 speed GTX would be worth huge cash in todays market and when the economy gets back to full swing big big big really big…….
storm-king-2
That was it. I lived out in Modena when I bought it. But I was in Cornwall with it a bunch since my folks lived there til they moved to tenn.
They lived in the third house on the right, as you go up Laurel Ave to the hospital. I used to do burnouts in the driveway with both the wedge & the Hemi’s. I heard they would rattle the glass in the hospital, but no one ever complained.
The Superbird was a 440 auto, with 3:55’s & G-60 15’s on Ansen wheels. It would make the turn at the flagpole on Storm King Mtn/9w, 10 mph faster than my 383 Road Runner ( about 105 ). It would be squaling the tires all the way. 9w over the mountain was one place I loved to drive fast on the street, otherwise I tried to be conservative, not always successfully, but I tried.
Bill
jackmanSee that a long long mystery solved , since seeing your Super Bird I often wondered who owned it and where was it now and was for ever scanning the the country side for that car,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and yes I am tottaly serious on that I knew that Super Bird was owned by a Cornwall person since I saw it more than several times just did not know who it was ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, this is cool 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
BTW since you were up in Modena are you familiar with the 69 Daytona 440 that sat for about 15 years right on rt 32 going in to Plattekill? that car sold in 1985is for 10 grand and it was trashed by a car thief / nose knocked off and covered with tree sap………..
storm-king-2
Yup, was a black one. Used to go by it every day. Don’t think I ever saw it move. I drove my bird in rain, snow, ice or whatever else was out there. In 1972 we used it to tow the trailer with the Pro/Stock Duster on it, all over Division 1. It was no garage queen. A trooper stopped my wife one day out in Plattekill to ask her what kind of car it was. She just looked at him like, what are you stupid ? You know it had PLYMOUTH on the rear quarters in foot tall letters. I don’t know, maybe he just wanted to hit on her. My partner Richie & I used to park it by the fence in the gasser pits at Dover and sit on the wing to watch the races. It was cast aluminum with additional supports in the trunk.
Bill
storm-king-2
When I quit Park Motors & went back to working construction, the first job I went to was a new building at Bocies ? trade school, know where I mean. Think it was Middletown, have to check with Gary, he went there. Well, I pull in the parking lot, & there sits a B5 blue Superbird. The only other parking space was right in front of it. After I got checked in on the job I ran into another worker that knew I was into cars. He says there’s a guy here that has the strangest looking car I’ve ever seen. So we go over and look out the window & he says “holy s–t there’s 2 of them out there.”
Bill
jackmanBill
The Trooper was just being a Trooper he could not resist it was too much nice car and a female he wanted to “hit on her” and check out the car 😆 …….
Thats it Black Daytona , back in 84 word was that the owner was a miserable grouch and advised not to bother but I inquired about the Daytona as it turns out owner was nice guy showed me the car which had a mint red interior and if I remember right had less than 30,000 miles , he bought the car at Park Motors few years later it was stolen and recovered in NYC the thieves crashed it and knocked the nose off, the owner had a brand new NOS nose in the garage nut never got around to fixing it,,,,,, he wanted 10 grand for the car seems like a deal now but that was way out of my league back then ,,,,,,, the car got sold and last I heard it was down in Orangeburg waiting to be restoed….. Right next to the Daytona was a totally trashed 71 383 Cuda with shaker hood he want 600 dollars for that I passed cause it was in bad shape still kicking myself for that one 😡 I watched a Cuda shaker hood (just the hood no car)sell on e bay for 18,000 dollars…..
jackmanYea I know where that is Gibson Rd in Goshen I went to school there 77-79 diesel mechanics/ small engine repair, I bet both of those Super Birds are still around the B5 blue is an awesome color too other than your Super Bird I have not seen any in the Cornwall area,,,,,,,,,, but here is a Cornwall area story………..
Can’t remember the exact year but a good guess would be 1974 to 76ish I was about 13 and not up on Mopars yet, a friend and I spotted the most hideous trashed out car I had ever seen it was in the parking lot of Bowling Time Lanes on 9W in New Windsor , this car was all rattle can primer and had holes in the rear quarters, holes in the front fenders that looked to be patched with chicken wire and also had no grill just a wide open radiator and 4 bulging head lights,,,,,, theis car was ugly but those holes were machine cut so we did not get it 😉 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, anyway as we check out this hunk of junk the owner appears out of the bowling alley and at first is pissed that we are looking at his car after a little talk he gives us the whole story on the car turns out it was a 69 Daytona that his Uncle had bought brand new but as bad luck would have it the Uncles wife absolutely hated the car and refused to ever drive the big ugly thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,, so to make the wife happy the Uncle treid unsuccessfully to convert it to a regular Charger and all he did was make a mess of it in the end the Uncle gave the car to his Nephew who really liked the Daytona and wanted to convert it back but he had his hands full that Daytona was trashed out was hard to believe it was only 5 or 6 years old,,,,,,,,,,,, bet that ended up at Consolidated……….
storm-king-2
I sold the Superbirs to a guy in Hendersonville, Tn. He had an original Plum Crazy 6 pak, 440 Challenger, that won all kiinds of local car shows. He & his wife were T-boned in it by a drunk. They survived, but the car didn’t. When he bought my bird he said he would never part with it. Couple years later, when the prices jumped, he sold it. They never traveled much, probably still live right around Nashville.
I’m heading there this morning, I may have to look him & Don Ford up. Just thought, now that’s funny, a guy named Ford running a Plymouth, with a Chevy in it>
Bill
storm-king
We may be getting waaay off topic here, but we had some spirited drives across “Rock Cut Road”, from Newburgh out to Modena. I had a factory ’69 383 Dart GTS (B5 blue), and Bill had the ‘Bird. We’d turn onto Rock Cut, sinch the seat belts (remember when you could do that?) and I remember even putting my helmet on a time or two, and we’d flat hammer them all the way out. I don’t remember how many miles that was, but what a blast! I always thought the Dart did a respectable job hanging with the ‘Bird.
