We all have our ultimate cars. If you’ve been following us over the years, you know that our President has an affinity for the 1967 Plymouth GTX. As you may also know, back in 2009 we completed an every nut & bolt restoration on a 1967 Plymouth GTX HEMI car, which was produced on the last day of production in 1967 and came from the factory with a legit R0 Super Stock HEMI block. The restoration was featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines and we later torched the price guides by fetching $140,000.00 for this ultimate restored GTX.

A year later, we upped the ante when we completed a world class restoration on an original sheet-metal, numbers matching black on red 1967 GTX HEMI 4 speed. We featured this car at the 2010 Carlisle All Chryslers Nationals and sold the car shortly after the event for a whopping $160,000.00, sending the price guide to the hospital on life support.

These early Chrysler HEMI cars are special vehicles. They were the first street HEMI cars and produced in relatively low numbers. The 1967 GTX was a one year only body style, shorter and lighter than the 1968-1974 versions and was one of the fastest stock muscle cars of all time, as measured by quarter mile performance, in 100% stock form.

If you are a 1967 GTX fan as we are, then you understand that the Holy Grail is the HEMI 4 Speed Convertible. Only seven were built and only a couple still exist. These cars trade for $200k-$300K and if you are itching for a 1967 Plymouth GTX HEMI 4 Speed Convertible, how likely are you to plunk down $250K and then drive the car to your local Dairy Queen on cruise night? Probably not real likely. One teenager texting on a cell phone and a serious piece of muscle car history is vaporized in a flash.

No, GTX fans, what you do is what’s been done with this car: spend $180K and create the ultimate 1967 Plymouth GTX cruise night/car show thermonuclear weapon. If this sounds appealing to you, read on!

Built over a six year time span, with one of the most meticulous and thorough restoration and shake-downs we’ve ever seen, this 1967 GTX Convertible HEMI is a magnificent car in every way. The build began in 2005 with Mike Parcenka Custom Refinishing in Scottsdale, Arizona. Starting with a rust free, low mile car, this GTX was disassembled down to a bare body, with the doors, hood, deck lid and fenders removed for refinishing. This was a clean west coast body to begin with, so the trunk floor and floor pans are original to the car. The entire front suspension was carefully disassembled, along with the rear axle, brake assemblies and leaf springs. Over the next five years, more than $50,000.00 was spent to transform the GTX body into a perfectly straight masterpiece, with perfect panel gaps and amazing black paint. The body and paint work on this car easily matches the quality of the work on our black HEMI car that we sold last year. You can stare at the body for hours and appreciate just how much time and effort went into producing the finishing product.

As part of the restoration process, every square inch of the exterior of this GTX was restored or replaced. Check out the front and rear bumpers, the door handles, side mirror, hood scoop bezels, fender-mounted turn signals and the tail light bezels—all of these chrome items were re-plated to show quality standards. The anodized aluminum headlight bezels, grill and tail light panel were all restored to the highest standards ($5K for these pieces alone). All of the exterior stainless steel, including the wheel lip moldings, was carefully polished and restored to better than new standards. The NASCAR style gas cap was replaced with a B/E & A Specialties high quality reproduction unit. As well, new marker lights, reverse lights and new emblems were sourced and installed. You can’t have a blinding perfect body without perfect glass, so a complete new glass set was ordered and installed, along with new window felts, weather-strips, seals, body plugs and grommets.

The end result is impressive. From a visual standpoint, this GTX is “blow me away” stunning. You can’t take your eyes off of the car!

Carefully open the perfectly aligned hood and staring you in the face is a massive chromed 1967 Street HEMI air cleaner and two equally massive original, restored HEMI valve covers. The vintage HEMI block was torn down and rebuilt by Maurer’s Performance of Tempe, AZ. Total cost for the machine work and parts exceeded $16,000.00. After the engine was assembled, it was expertly tuned and balanced. In all respects, this is a brand new vintage 426 HEMI engine, with correct heads, pistons, rods and crank sourced from Mancini Racing. Present are two correct 1967 HEMI carburetors, a correct intake, correct exhaust manifolds, correct water pump, correct water pump housing, correct alternator and correct power steering crank pulley. Additional details abound: correct reproduction battery and positive/negative battery cables; reproduction washer bottle; correct restored 26" radiator; correct hoses, claims and plug wires. You will also notice the Classic Auto Air system neatly bolted to the front of the engine. A correct power steering system, newly rebuilt by Firm Feel is present. For additional stopping power, an MPC power brake system was installed, complete with a vacuum pump for additional safety. If you’re looking to win some trophies for “Best Engine Compartment”, this GTX will put you in the running at just about any show you enter!

Moving on to the underside of the GTX, the entire front suspension was blasted, and painted/restored. All new bushings and seals were used. The rear suspension was also blasted and repainted, with new shocks posted at all four corners. A new fuel tank, along with new fuel lines, new brake lines and new rubber hoses were installed. Underneath the car is where you will spot the brand new Keisler Tremec TKO 500 5 speed manual transmission, which was just installed by RK Motors, along with a brand new slip yoke, cross member, reverse light assembly, bell-housing, clutch, pressure plate and throw-out bearing. The Tremec uses a hydraulic clutch and the 5th gear allows for trouble-free, high speed highway motoring. The brand new balanced drive-shaft feeds an equally brand new Strange Dana 60 axle, with a 3.54 posi gear-set. The GTX rolls on four brand new BFGoodrich P225/70R14 red-line radial tires, mounted to four brand new Magnum 500 road wheels with center caps.

The trunk is also properly restored and refinished, with a new trunk mat, trunk board, new spare and restored jack and hardware.

As incredible as the exterior and the mechanicals of this GTX are, the restored black interior of the car raises the bar more than a few notches. The interior of a Plymouth GTX is absolutely beautiful, but there are more than 200 pieces to worry about. Not a single part of the interior of this GTX went un-restored. All of the following was sourced as new: four (4) door panels; two (2) door handles; four (4) window cranks; six (6) seat covers, six (6) seat foams; center console; center console top plates and hardware; pistol grip shifter; two (2) kick panels; rear seat GTX emblem. There is an abundance of chrome trim in these interiors-every single piece was re-plated to show chrome standards. The original 1967 seat-belts were expertly restored by Ssnake-Oyl Products and show as better than new. The original instrument cluster was disassembled and rebuilt and reinstalled into the beautiful re-painted dash, capped by a restored dash pad. Every dash knob and bezel was re-plated. The original AM/FM radio was rebuilt by Chet Greenwood. A brand new antennae assembly assures a clean and clear signal over the OEM style speakers. The Classic Auto Air system is expertly installed and is activated using the factory heater controls, immediately flooding the cabin with cool air on hot summer days or nights. To cap off the stunning interior, a brand new black convertible top with rear glass window was expertly installed on to the restored convertible top hardware. Neatly covering the recessed convertible top is a brand new convertible top-in black of course. From the blinding new chrome, to the perfect glass, to the beautiful center console topped by a pistol grip, this is a no-excuses, no holds barred restored interior. If you don’t win the “Best Engine Compartment” trophy with this GTX, you will make it up for it with the “Best Interior” award.

This GTX was completed in late 2010 and over the next six months, received one of the most thorough testing and shake-outs we’ve ever seen on a restored muscle car, performed by Quality Muscle Car Restorations in Scottsdale, Arizona. Present are more than 60 pages of notes documenting more than $11,000.00 in labor hours and parts, as the car was painstakingly tested and dialed in through early 2011, with sub-par components replaced and an endless sequence of adjustments made until the GTX was trouble-free and operated exactly as envisioned when the project began in 2005.

At that point, mission accomplished, the builder/owner of this magnificent car sold it to us and we made a number of final adjustments and additions, including the Tremec TKO 500 5 speed manual, the Strange Dana 60, and the MPC power brake vacuum booster.

From a documentation standpoint, present are more than 200 pages of receipts and invoices for parts and labor invested into this car over a six year period, as well as a detailed accounting of the shake-out process which began in late 2010.

We all have our ultimate cars. If your ultimate car is the 1967 Plymouth GTX and you don’t have 300 large to drop on a car you are going to stare at and not drive much, then this IS your ultimate car. A HEMI powered triple black convertible, with a pistol grip 5 speed, power brakes, power steering and air conditioning …. what else could you ask for? Drive it … show it … wax it …. enjoy it for a lifetime. This is a special car that personifies how much we love these cars and why we spend entirely too much time, attention and money on them. We are going to have more than one guy asking us when we are going to get another like this, long after it’s gone. The answer will be: never. Call today!