Little Hellraiser: This Don Hardy-Built 1972 Dodge Colt Is An Engine Away From It’s Hemi Roots


Little Hellraiser: This Don Hardy-Built 1972 Dodge Colt Is An Engine Away From It’s Hemi Roots

The 1971 Dodge Colt was nothing more than a Mitsubishi Colt Galant that had passed muster for sales in the United States. Basically, it was Chrysler Corporation copping out of building a car to compete with the Vega, Pinto and Gremlin. Chrysler had no real interest in building a compact car of that size and figured that since the Japanese had plenty of practice at it, that they would just import their stuff instead. For the average, everyday folk, that was just a little more than a footnote in history. For the drag racer, however, the Dodge Colt was the point where Pro Stock went small and buck-wild. After the Hemi had stomped everyone into the ground in 1970 and 1971 there was a big pushback for someone else to win. The NHRA and AHRA wanted smaller cars with smaller engines to come play, but by 1972 the name of the game was “weight break” and the Dodge Colt became Ma Mopar’s nuclear option. While the A-body Duster and Dart Sport were competitive, the Colt with a Hemi on board would be something to seriously worry about.

And how true that statement was. Often considered one of the most unsafe machines that ever hit the strip due to instability and seemingly bad luck. The NHRA outlawed them for Pro Stock use, but you could find them other classes, or racing in the IHRA or UDRA. Racers like the Rod Shop team and Billy “The Kid” Stepp ran the Colt even when the Duster was proving to be just as capable.

This particular Colt is claimed to have been built by Don Hardy for Bill Sharkey, and is supposed to have race history with Tom Kocanda and Donn Patrick before being mothballed for a few decades. There’s no running gear…it’s safer that way, we guess, especially since the last known bit of kit we can find involved a big-cube Chevrolet and a ‘Glide…but there it is for you to view and consider. Nostalgia Pro Stock is hot and this Colt would make a neat addition to the fleet of former Pro Stockers roaming the nation.

eBay Link: 1972 Dodge Colt


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5 thoughts on “Little Hellraiser: This Don Hardy-Built 1972 Dodge Colt Is An Engine Away From It’s Hemi Roots

    1. jerry z

      Yes those short wheelbase Colts must have been a handful!

      Still I would like to make a Sox and Martin clone.

  1. Bill Greenwood

    Build a nice, mild 426 with a juice roller, pump gas compression, and a tunnel ram. Put a Lenco behind it, and bracket race the bejeesus out of it. High nines in the low 130’s and it won’t feel like it’s trying to kill you. I’ve been jonesing over that thing since it first showed up for sale a couple years ago.

  2. Scott Liggett

    One of the owners of Corvette Unlimited/Performance Unlimited in Omaha ran a 72 Colt on the local tracks back in the ’80’s. . It was supposedly a former Pro Stock car

  3. Gary

    I’d kill for it. From what I’ve heard, the four link Colts were the one’s that crashed, the survivors are the ladder bar cars. I don’t know why that’d be, just something I’ve been told.

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