If you wanted to sell muscle cars to serious enthusiasts in the middle 1960s there was one place to do it, at the drags. Every company figured this out by the latter half of the decade and that is when a nuclear war of factory drag strip performance broke out with every company lobbing their specialized entries into the fray. While the famed Hurst Hemi Darts and Barracudas are more well known, the 1967 RO23 Belvedere is perhaps our favorite of the Mopar factory creations.
The RO23 cars are exceedingly rare. Only 55 were ever built by the factory and far fewer than that remain today. They were lightweight cars designed to come into super stock and make the Fords, Chevrolets, and Pontiacs, look like paperweights. In many ways they succeeded, winning high profile races at the local and national event level in the NHRA and AHRA back then. This is one of those 55 cars but rather than a factory restoration you are looking at a modernized competitive version of the car.
The addition of the John Holt Race Cars roll cage and chassis work along with the cross-ram equipped Ray Barton built super stock hemi puts this car in the modern competitive realm as opposed to as it was shipped from the factory. Is this a bad thing? Perhaps only if you want to own a completely unmolested, un-raced factory drag machine. The reality of the situation is that this is a rare and beautiful car with an eye-wateringly awesome power plant and the fit and finish work of something far more refined than it ever would have had when new.
Simply put, this thing is bad ass.
RacingJunk: This red 1967 RO23 Belvedere is a hemi powered dream
Wow. A real one! One that’s been butchered with a four link and full cage. I’ll pass…
My pants are tight.
Cool!! That would make a nice coffee table for my man cave! Too nice to drive or risk racing, right, so what’s the point of purchase? Other an ego trip?!
Other than the VIN, how much of the original RO23 is left?
WOW! Am I on the right website?
…”butchered with a four link and full cage…”
…”Too nice to drive or risk racing…”
…”how much of the original RO23 is left”..
You guys should just smack it with your purses, clutch your pearls and keep moving! I would pound that car all weekend long in SS/EA and look great doing it.
Exactly!
The only problem I have with this car is that it appears the previous owner hasn’t done exactly that. I don’t get why.
And so I have to wonder if he had some concerns it wasn’t ready to hit the strip. I were rich enough to afford that car, I’d just be sure to leave a bit of money in reserve for getting it properly dialed in.
Agree. This car was basically never really raced. With 17 miles on the odometer, that is max of maybe 20 passes, and probably more like 2 half-hearted ones.
Right there with ya.
OOGA BOOGA ROOGA DOOGA!
But the temptation would be irresistible to return it to stock condition and then sell it on for a fat profit!
Butchered. Thank god that big tire craze is over.
Beautiful race car ! As mother MOPAR always intended.
Bullshit “RO23”! Old Plymouth with lots of dollars, more likely!
OOga – Booga is right … Woof … Yikes … OUCH ! I owned a 66 Belvidere II … and installed a 69 / 383 Magnum …. Great cars Hemi or not ….. My mind set is … I won’t own a resto , I want things I can play with . Bless the restorers . I’m pleased they are out there ….. just not my thing …
Beautiful car, well executed. Not that I have 100k just laying arount, but for met , I’d have to have a 4-speed ( if street driven, a 5-speed).
Bob J
Ditch the mufflers and street tires and go NSS.
Woah a straight clean 67 with a Barton Engine and proper race mods for 32k thats a deal