Manson Myles

                                                 

This page is dedicated to Manson Myles , who has served in the United States Army . 

He has helped protect this great nation so we can enjoy our freedom and  enjoy our passion for Racing .

 

Manson said he did six years in the Army.  

After ROTC basic at Ft. Bragg, he went active duty as a 2nd Lieutenant at Ft Huachuca in Arizona , for the Military Intelligence officers basic course.  It was here were he met  another Lieutenant named Kevin Brown.  Kevin taught him the finer points of high performance engine building.  

From there he went to Ft. Jackson S.C. as a company XO.  And finally to Ft. Stewart as the S2 of the 124 MI Battalion.  Six years had passed at this point and while at Ft. Stewart,  he said started  to build a nd restore a 71 Oldsmobile 442 W-30.  

When this car was done 7 years later, he sold it and financed two Mopar projects.  A 71 Dodge Demon Pro Street and a 73 Duster Street Machine .

 

Manson has some great Mopar's he would like to share with us, so I said sure lets show them all . Instead of more then one post I'm going to post them all here .

                

                  The first car we featuring is a 1973 Plymouth Barracuda .

            The first thing that stands out is the Plum Crazy Purple paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manson purchased the car in 1999 after looking for a Cuda' for 13 years.  This is a real BS23 car.  It was featured in 2001 issue of Mopar Muscle magazine .

 Engine Room features :

The 426 wedge that fills the frame rails , was not an option in 1973 but it gets the job done .

It is equipped with a 11:1 Cr. short block , Lunati Bracket Master II cam shaft. With  Edelbrock stage 1 heads with 1.5 roller rockers. Air and fuel flow through an Offenhauser 360 dual quad intake with two 625   Carter Competition carbs.   

A MSD Pro billet distributor & 6AL2 box lights the fire and Taylor 409 plug wires carry the current . Manson is using a MSD  tach. adapter .which signals the factory in dash tech. ,for a stealth look.

 

The exhaust consists of ceramic coated big tube headers, 3" pipes and Borla XR1 racing mufflers with Cuda' tips .

 

 
AAR style rear louvers were

installed along with a factory

style spoiler .

Tail lights were upgraded to led units.

 

He installed a custom hockey stick stripe with 426 call out since this motor is a wedge not a HEMI .

The gear changes are handled  by a  727 HEMI Transmission with an A1 4000 stall converter and TCI deep pan.  A stock slap stick remains in place with a Harm's shifter handle. & a Denny's 4" aluminum drive shaft.

A Randy's billet aluminum center section for 8 3/4 Chrysler rear-end 489 housing. with 4.10 gears and an Auburn posi unit fill the housing.

 

All stock upholstered with White/yellow face gauges and Alpine sound system.

17 inch Year One road wheels with 295/45 Mickey Thompson's  on the rear and 255/45 Nitro Extremes on the front.  Shocks are QA1 all around , all bushings were replaced with urethane.  

Mopar performance frame connector were added as well.

Manson stated he wanted the car to retain it's Cuda' heritage but have a hint of hot rod .

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1969 Plymouth Roadrunner

 

Back in 2000 Manson decided that he wanted A factory 4 speed car.  He had multiple Mopars over the years but few have had a manual transmission.  Manson stated he had a  Pro Street Dodge Demon that despite being a Super nice car , it was time for a change so it went up for sale .  One day I got a call from a gentleman in Roanoke Virginia.  He was looking for something different and he had the 69 Road Runner for trade . A deal was struck and the Road Runner was loaded up.  The body was straight and the interior was so so, but the 440 weak as water.  With a quick rev of the engine,  and dumping the clutch , He found out that the motor needed to be rebuilt.

 

 

The engine is a 69 model 440 out of a GTX.  The basic short block is original from 1969.  It is equipped with a Melling oil pump, Cloyes true roller timing chain, and a Lunati Bracket master cam.  With Pro Comp 1.5 Roller Rockers bumping the valves.  Induction is a factory 6 Pak set up.  Manson  also added the functional air grabber hood.

 

 

 The transmission is an 833 four speed with 11 clutch and pressure plate.  All controlled by a pistol grip shifter. The rear end is an  8 3/4 with 489 casting with 3.55 gears.

  

The carpeting is original from 69, all the rest of the interior came from Year One.  The dash gauge cluster was pulled from a GTX with the 150mph speedometer with the factory tach.   Manson had the factory radio rebuilt but also installed a hidden Blaupunkt radio that's controlled with a remote.  The factory steering wheel was cleaned up and the Beep Beep horn reinstalled.

Manson's good friend Harlan Wrisbon straightened the body and shot it with it's original B5 medium metallic blue paint.  All the chrome was re plated and yellow high beam bulbs installed.  Of course Wiley Coyote showed up and got plastered on the rear glass. The 383 call outs on the hood were replaced with the appropriate 440 ones.