In this installment of What's in The Garage we check out Paul Kaufmann's over the top Plymouth Arrow. What was once an old street race car from Detroit, it's now a Hemi powered street-machine that looks like noting else on the road.
This one is still in the garage but its about to break free. Ten years were spent on this build spanning over four states; New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia and now
Florida.
The story is extensive and Paul has many people to thank. Paul stated that this his first EFI project and its been a blast getting together. Lots
of engineering went into planning and executing the build, he had two machinists, one
body guy, one chassis shop, and an engine & transmission builder, the list
goes on & on !
Paul states he is still wrapping up technical issues and
getting ready for the road.
Paul stated that the street tires
and wheelie bars don't jive but he had the chassis shop build them for him
so he can get her on the track with slicks and not have any mishaps.
When Paul bought it, the Arrow was
an ex-Detroit 1/8-mile street racer, which explains the Hoosier slicks and the hideous 1980's Aero-scoop.
When purchased, it had a 440 that seen better days, just by looking at the oil pan you could tell it
had been blown up a number of times.
The
plan right now is get it on the street and turn some heads, then start working on sorting it out at the drag strip. Paul plans to take it to Gainesville for some shakedown runs, as it's close by.
The custom stainless headers are a work of art. Built by Joe Waskewiez of JW Racing & Fabrication.
The Hemi features a Milodon oiling system with a big single external line and a swinging in pan pickup.
As this story was being written the car has been finished and shakedown runs have taken place.
As with any new build, break downs and leaks can happen. With a build at this caliber multiple test drives and and leak inspections are necessary to insure a trouble free future.
Paul is no stranger when it comes to building Mopar's. He's owned a minimum of 28 1969 Dodge Charger's.
Out back the Arrow is all business, a Dana-60 rear end was pressed into service and it's filled with 4:10 gears. Its more then capable to handle the Hemi's horsepower.
When rebuilding the car the first step was to redesign the chassis. The rack and pinion was moved to accommodate the big Hemi. Bars had to be moved to
allow his 6' 4" frame get into the car. A drivers side swing out bar
was also installed for easy egress. All of this work is compliments of Joe Waskewiez
of JW Racing & Fabrication. His team is legendary, cranking out
cars from scratch or modifying them as customers require.
Joe
and his father can be found at:
jwracing-fab.com
When rebuilding someone else's previous race car you're bound to find some interesting things.
Paul said all the 4-link bars had right hand threads and it making adjustments impossible.
The complete wire harness was replaced with a custom system featuring modern fuses and it also incorporates a modern ignition system with an ecu to run the fuel injection system supplied by Hilborn.
Custom fuel rails were installed into an Indy Cylinder heads tunnel ram, Topped of with an Enderle bug catcher scoop!
The lowdown on the Hemi engine.
The mighty elephant is a huge by large 604 cubic inch gen. 2 Hemi built by Jeff Shmanske from California. Paul stated that he builds Hemi's of all types and considers him to be premier engine builder.
The engine was originally built for a project that Jeff was working on but his plans changed and Paul stepped in and bought the Hemi. This was pre- Covid and if Paul waited, post Covid an engine like that could have meant a long wait and an even steeper price tag due to the supply chain issues. The engine features high-flow Edelbrock cylinder heads. Air enters the Enderle injector scoop and flows through an Indy tunnel ram. Paul said that Jeff is also a technical advisor to Chrysler and he also builds killer Gen III Hemi's as well.
When Paul moved from New Jersey to Georgia he had to find a new team to help him assemble the car. As luck would have it he found Steve Reichwaldt at RE Machine.
He is responsible for the completely hand build electrical system especially the harness, it integrates the fuel injection system that is made up of Hilborn induction parts and a Holley control system.
A one off dash panel was created to house a digital speedometer that runs off GPS making it very accurate.
Paul mentioned that Steve is an excellent machinist as well, his work also includes other numerous parts such as the oil filter mount, motor plate, fuel lines & blocks, EFI sensor brackets, and even modified the seats so Paul could fit in the car . The most interesting part has to be the modified golf cart turn signal switch making the car street legal.
Steve can be found at :reichwaldtent .com.
When
Paul was still in Georgia the front end was reworked and customized, it
is now removable to make working on the Hemi much easier. The front
bumper is a totally hand made piece as well. A new hood was needed to
replace the flat hood with Aero-scoop so a new one in fiberglass was
constructed with help form Chris Gowin of North Georgia Corvette and
Muscle.
Chris
used cardboard and green foam to perfect the shape of the new front
bumper, he molded it in fiberglass and got the job done one day before Paul left for Florida.
Chris can be reached at : office@ngcorvette.com
Since the Arrow was an ex-street racer it had the scars to prove it, the front end need to be repaired as well as a door and and a repaint needed to happen. This is when Paul found Danny Smith of Danny's Custom Creations.
The fact that this car was most likely painted in the 1980's the paint match was spot on. He did all the paint work and made all the panel gaps fit super tight. Danny is going to complete some final touches and then it's time to start having some fun with it.
Danny can be found at: dannyscustomcreations@comcast.net
.
Paul went on to say that he only trusts on person to build his transmissions and that would be none other then Pat Barret of Level 10 Performance. Pat has been building Torqueflite's for him for over 40 years, that's well over 100 transmissions and the last one he built for him is in this Arrow. If this one blows-up it's going back to Vernon, NJ for Pat to rebuild. That's because Paul would never have anyone else's transmission in his car
Pat can be reached at: levelten.com
The exhaust system expels the fumes through original E-Body tips.
These pictures show the quality and effort that went into this build, not only is this a hot street car but it could be entered into a show and win best engineered as well.
The latest rare part added to this killer Arrow is a set of vintage rear window louvers.
Paul thanks his wife Vilma, her support and has been priceless, without her the car would have never seen the light of day.
Thanks Paul for sharing your Arrow with us we can't wait to update it with some video's!
Photos courtesy of Paul Kaufman 2023.
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