Hmmm. Petty charger build?

[Mike DC]

Yeah, I don't recall Petty ever running a 3rd-gen Charger without the STP red portion of the paint.  He ran 71/72 RRs in all blue but once he hit 1973 I think it was red & blue from then on. 

When the Hemi motors were gone they ran 426 wedges briefly (Max Wedge heads I think?).  NASCAR had started discouraging BB motors with weight/ci penalties before the BB motors were fully banned, and Petty saw the writing on the wall and started dumping money into developing a SB motor.  The took what the Trans/Am guys had learned about fast-winding 340s and began working on them. 



Petty himself has been known to say he liked the 1970s 3rd-gen Chargers as his favorite NASCARs.  Everybody links him with the '67 Belvedere or the '70 Superbird but I think he liked the mid-1970s more than any other time in his career.

The wing car era in particular was not his favorite time as I understand.  First Mopar didn't build him a wing car & he switched to Ford.  Then when he had the wing car he kinda felt like it gave too many other guys too much help catching him.  The stabilizing effect of the rear wing uprights really helped cover a driver's butt when he made mistakes that should have spun him out.  The Superbirds were fast cars but I think Petty was glad to see them go.       

   

[Brock Samson]

 As i recall, him and Pete Hamilton had a hell of a rivalry in '70,.. but he really dominated by the time he was in Chargers,..
I remember being pretty shocked when he joined up with Andy granitelli and the STP branding. but i was a kid then and only had the newspapers and a few magazines for my info. Took me quite a while to get used to the two tone red and blue but i absolutely like it now... 
As to making a clone you could allways go for it and drop in a HEMI when you can afford to, I would think over all it would be a pretty Pricey deal, a decent paint job alone would cost mucho moo la... 

[Aero426]

The last race for an all Petty Blue car was the January 1972 Riverside 500.    That car was a Road Runner.

[Brock Samson]

 wh i gotta do all the work around her?.. 

[LeadfootBob]

Just for clarity... A 440 IS a wedge motor. Pretty much the same engine as the 426, just a tad more bore. Throw the right air cleaner, valve covers and stickers on it and nobody can tell the difference 
A max wedge, on the other hand, could cost you some cash depending on how OEM you want it. Different (well flowing) heads and intake manifolds.

[Mike DC]

i was just giving you an economical solution , there are several nascar clones running around with 440's and 383's with hemi valve covers and they look pretty good

Got any pics or links on that one?

I remember having that idea years ago.  I was thinking maybe you could run the spark plug wires through the holes and down to the wedge head plug locations.   

[Nacho-RT74]

somewhere I saw a 71/72 Petty's Charger being already STP... and I'm talking about a real race pic, not a clone's car pic

[Nacho-RT74]

or maybe a clone, but I don't think invented from nothing



since 73 and lates paint scheeme was diff

[charger_cody]

Well I am painting the car petty blue myself. So the whole car will be petty blue. But, I was thinking that in a later time when I move out of my parents house and get my own place with a garage , until then, I will save up for a 426 wedge, and get the red done by someone else. I won't be putting a HEMI in any of my cars unless I hit the damn lottery.  I don't think the elephant of a motor is worth it when I could just build a 400 or a 426 wedge the RIGHT way and get just as much power.

Cody

[Ponch ®]

or maybe a clone, but I don't think invented from nothing



since 73 and lates paint scheeme was diff

I think he switched from the RR to the Charger sometime during the 72 season so there would have been a 72 Charger with that scheme, but only ran it for a few races before switching to the 73-based carl that he drove till 76 or 77.

[learical1]

I believe Petty's first race in a Dodge was the 72 Winston 500 at Talladega.  I think he switched back and forth between RR and Charger the rest of 72.  The 426 wedge in 1971 was a hemi block with the cylinder head mounting surface welded up and tapped to take a bolt instead of a stud above each bore hole.  The cylinder heads were 440 6 pack heads with very minor modifications. 

[Brock Samson]

 I saw this Cody and thought of you,..
dated dec.
http://www.petrol-head.com/2009/12/v8-power-deal-buy-a-ride-for-le-mans-classic-2010.html

[charger_cody]

I saw this Cody and thought of you,..
dated dec.
http://www.petrol-head.com/2009/12/v8-power-deal-buy-a-ride-for-le-mans-classic-2010.html

Wow that's bad lookin. Thats not a petty car though is it? Before he had that famous petty blue?

Cody

[68X426]

Cody, maybe you've seen this site before. If not, check it out. Dozens of Petty cars from back in the day.

http://s545.photobucket.com/albums/hh369/69RoadRunner/06%20Racing/Petty/?start=0

[Black Charger]

If you want HEMI power, you might want to consider using a modern 5.7L HEMI. These have been popular in resto mods, are super-reliable, have the look you're probably going for, and they cost about the same as any other well-built V8. I have seen built ones in the $6,000 range. The Petty Charger is one of my all-time favorite cars, so I wish you the best of luck with your project.

[DrHemi]

I was surprised to see no one mention a modern Hemi until I got to the last post. I'll have to dig up my old NASCAR stuff and find out about the cube limits. Whenever I'm at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the races there's a Petty Charger replica. Here's the site: http://ju-online.com/index.html mainly videos as the pics don't seem to be working currently.