Car Of The Week: 1967 Plymouth Hemi Gtx

Eric Judd insists that he’s really a Ford guy that somehow fell into MoPars. And when it comes to his prized 1967 Plymouth GTX, Judd isn’t sure if he found his Hemi, or his Hemi found him.

One way or another, it seemed like it was meant to be six years ago when the Dousman, Wis., resident unexpectedly came home from the huge Mecum Kissimmee Auction with a pretty sweet addition to his fleet.

“This was back in 2020, and I was with my son-in-law and he knew I had been looking for a Hemi car, but the price had to be right. In other words, it had to need work I could do myself,” Judd says. “So we were walking out on the auction floor and in the staging lanes was this car. And he said, ‘Well, here’s a Hemi car, and look at that white interior, isn’t that stunning?’ So we decided to hang round and see what happened. Then the bidding stalled out … and I don’t like to jump in at the beginning, I want to see where it’s going. Somehow, my hand went up, and it was nowhere near the reserve. And then Dana Mecum gets in the guy’s ear and starts talking, and all of a sudden I hear ‘Sold!’… And I said to my son-in-law, ‘Oh boy, I got a car!’

“Well, my wife [Naomi] was on her way up from south Florida, and her brothers had been watching it on TV, and they called her right away and said, ‘Hey, did you see Eric? He bought a Hemi car!’ So my phone rang, and she said, ‘Do you have something you’d like to tell me? And I said, ‘Yeah, I bought you a car!’”

The whole episode was a little out of character for Judd. He says he usually doesn’t make rash decisions when it comes to cars, and prefers to mull things over a while before pulling the trigger. In this case, he threw caution to the wind.

“I really didn’t spend much time with it. When we first saw it, I did a quick look-over, and that’s it,” he recalls. “It still had the original drive train in it, and it was really pretty original. It was made in St. Louis, bought new in St. Louis. And other than that, I don’t know much. It was some dealer, I believe down south, that had taken it to the auction, and it had no history on it all.”

All in all, it wasn’t the way Judd expected his first big Hemi buying experience to unfold.

“This is the first foray into the Hemi world,” he laughs. [Naomi was] really good about it, because she knows I don’t buy foolishly.”

The Belvedere Gets Some Muscle

Having a big-cube performance model in your lineup was mandatory if you wanted to market your cars to youth in the mid 1960s. Pontiac started it with its GTO option for the intermediate Tempest in 1964. One by one, the competition followed: GT, GTA and so on. One of the last to arrive was the Plymouth Belvedere GTX. The mid-size Belvedere already had a hot-car image, thanks to race car driver Richard Petty. The GTX took it to showrooms as an official factory street machine with all the look-fast-go-fast goodies on the outside and under the hood. With its lightweight Super Stock models and its big Wedge and Hemi V-8s, Plymouth built limited-production cars that were far faster than the GTO. But the company dragged its feet on doing an all-inclusive youth package that put the full range of parts together in one exciting model.

Two vital elements of the Plymouth GTX story resided under the hood. In the middle of the 1966 model year, the company introduced the 426-cid Street Hemi and it then followed up with the release of the 440-cid “Super Commando” Wedge V-8 in 1967. When either of those powerful engines was combined with the Belvedere’s 116-in. wheelbase and lighter weight, you had a potent machine on your hands. When you tossed in the top-of-the-line front bucket seats, a couple of fake hood scoops and maybe some optional stripes, the GTX was ready to go cruising the boulevard.

For $3,178 in two-door hardtop form and $3,418 in the convertible, you got a 375-hp/440-cid V-8. You also got TorqueFlite automatic transmission standard, a heavy-duty suspension and even a pit-stop-style gas filler cap. If you plunked down an extra $564, you got the Street Hemi. The monstrous motor was fed by a pair of Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors and carried a conservative 425-hp rating. Magazine tests proved that the Super Commando GTX was capable of 0-to-40 mph runs in 7 seconds or less. The 1967 GTX loaded up with the Hemi could race to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in about 13.5 seconds.

The exact number of GTXs sold during the 1967 model year is not known, since that total was combined with the Satellite models. What is known is that the Hemi-optioned GTXs are rare, with only about 730 of the 12,690 or so GTXs carrying the famed 426. Of those, 312 had four-speed transmissions. Only 17 Hemi GTX convertibles are believed to have been built.

The 1967 model year turned out to be unique for the GTX in that it was the only year that it was considered an upscale version of the Belvedere. The following year, 1968, it became its own model and stayed that way through the end of its run in 1971. The 1968 model year also saw Chrysler introduce major changes in the design of the Plymouth B-bodies, so the GTX was given a completely new look.

A Rowdy Car … With Manners

In hindsight, considering how little homework he did on the car, Judd figures he got a little lucky. Aside from a few minor nit-picky issues, the GTX was very well put-together, and very original — as far as he can tell.

“I had a few things to straighten out in the engine compartment,” he says. “The engine compartment was painted black, which I really don’t like for a MoPar. It’s supposed to be painted body color. And I had some touch-up to do on the cowl and just general straightening out. As it sits, it’s as it came out of the factory, with redlines, the road wheels… Somewhere along the line — I’m not sure if the dealer did it — but somebody put chrome valve covers on it. Factory power disc brakes, that was an option. The console, and with that, of course you got the bucket seats.

“About the only option is somebody popped for the AM radio!,” he laughs. “The 3-watt AM radio! It has just the front dash speaker. When I got it, the radio didn’t work. Somebody, in their infinite wisdom, decided to cut the lead for the antenna off right at the base of the antenna, so I had to find a new antenna to the tune of $168! I went through the wiring, replaced the speaker, turned on the radio, and bingo, it works!” 

Judd added an aftermarket tach, and oil pressure and temperature gauges to make it more drivable. “And I took the instrument cluster out and sent it to Red Line, because I’ve had issues with the MoPar ammeters, so I had it converted to a voltmeter.”

Judd says what really sold him permanently on the hot Plymouth is its civil road manners and smooth ride. “It’s got 3.23 gears and it’s not a handful. It’s one of the nicer-driving cars that I have. It drives straight down the road, very comfortable car to drive in. With those 3.23 gears, it’s still fast, but it takes a while to get going. It’s more of a highway car.”

Judd’s fleet has cars from all of the Big 3 these days, so he can pretty much fit in with any crowd. He says he never envisioned himself being a MoPar lover — he’s got four now— but once he took the leap, there has been no turning back. 

“I was a Ford and Mustang guy… but I got sucked into the MoPar world. I bought a ’63 Dodge Polara 500 that needed work back in 2011 and that sucked me into the MoPar world, and I’ve been sucked in ever since!

“I’m careful. I don’t drive crazy, but it’s probably out at least once or twice a week at home,” he adds. “I cannot park a car. I want to take it out and enjoy it. I could never build a concours vehicle. And that’s not what I like. I like to take it out and talk to people and show it off, because people enjoy seeing these things.”

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