1964 Dodge Polara 500
I am Al Beek of Dorr Michigan. I bought this car March of 2000, my wife decided I needed something to do, (Apparently I was driving her nuts) I like the way she thinks. At that time I owned a 36 Ford 5 window Coupe Pro Street. Most of what I wanted to do to it was already done, so she decided I needed another project. (Yes!) I then started looking in an Auto Trader magazine and found a 64 Dodge Polara 500 for sale. I wanted something different, not like the usual Roadrunner, Cuda, Challengers etc... So I called the number and talked with the owner. He said at that time, all the sheet metal work could be done in one weekend.
I took a day off from work, and drove about 450 miles to look at the car. I was a little disappointed to say the least. It had a lot more rust than I wanted to tackle on my first project. Well, I was about ready to go home, when my wife asked if there was a restaurant nearby so we could have lunch and discuss this further. On the way to the restaurant I asked my wife what she had thought of the car, she said I think its neat. So I asked her another question, what did she thought of the interior, does it scare you? She said no, she would reupholster whatever I bought. We went back to the car from the restaurant and the gentleman told me then that the Polara 500’s are more rare. Not knowing that much about old Dodges I thought he was telling stories, well I bought it.
I got home, stripped it completely and put it on a rotisserie. For 2 years and 2 months I ate, $hit, and slept that 64 Dodge. I stayed busy like she wanted, I put 2 rear quarters, new trunk extensions, frame ties, new upper and lower driver side cowls, 2 new front floor pans and much more. While on vacation my wife and I went searching for junkyards and found a Mopar yard in Aurora, Missouri. We bought almost everything I needed like: bumpers, taillight assemblies, doors, front fenders, wiper arms, chrome letters and 2 quarter panels. My wife even helped me take parts off the cars, and even put parts in the truck that we rented. One day while I was welding in the new floor pans, my wife and I were talking about what color to paint the car. She then said it would be fun to paint a car. (WOW!) What an opportunity to get my wife into my hobby, I told her if she wanted to paint the car she could. She then said I don't want to do any of the bodywork, but I think it will be fun to paint it. So I let her, and she did a great job! She also did the upholstery and some awesome embroidery work in the interior.
So this old Dodge that I was going to pass up, turned into a serious beautiful car with lots of encouragement from my wife and hard work from the both of us.
ENGINE: 470 cu. in. Indy Stroker
HEADS: Indy 400 SR
INDUCTION: M-1 Single Plane Intake, 750 Speed Demon Carb
CAMSHAFT: Mopar Performance Hydraulic 509 / 292
POWER: 547.9hp @ 5600rpm, 565.6 lbs ft @ 4200rpm
TRANSMISSION: 727 (Full Manual), Turbo Action Converter 4000rpm stall
REAR END: Dana 60, 36 Spline Moser axles 3.56 gears
FRONT SUSPENSION: Stock Torsion bars
REAR SUSPENSION: Stock Leaf Springs w/ traction Bars
BRAKES: Stock 10" Drums For now...
WHEELS & TIRES: 17x8 / 17x10 Boyd Patriots w/Nitto NT 450 Extreme Performance
BODY MODS: Max Wedge Hood Scoop, and frame ties
PAINT: DuPont Chroma 1 Torch Red
BEST ET: 12.77 @ 110mph on the 17s that are in the pics
COST: Imagine...
