The restyled 1964 Dodge was one of the cleanest designs to ever emerge from the drag era. The 50 Hemi cars used the flat hood scoops, while earlier Max Wedge versions had a center-dividing dimple design.
 No high back plush buckets – lightweight A100 van seats could suffice when you were only going to be in the car for 12 seconds! In place of the back seat, Hemi package cars received a red back panel. No heater or radio, but the standard bright red color was smokin’… |
Finally, to keep the machine even lighter, the interior was gutted – cheap lightweight seats on lightened mounts, the back seat replaced by a cardstock panel, aluminum door hinges, and no body sealer. There was no radio or heater. One striking touch in the ’64 Dodge Hemi S/S was the use of red as opposed to black in the interior. As with the Max Wedge cars, the battery (a fat one at that) was conveniently moved into the trunk over the right rear tire. It was package set on kill, which it did on regular occasions during the later half of 1964.
Push-button Torqueflites are now as extinct as the typewriter itself.
One guy who became a pretty famous Dodge driver back in the early 1960s was a Chambersburg, Pennsylvania new car salesman named Bud Faubel. An Air Force pilot who flown in combat over both Korea and Vietnam, Faubel had originally raced circle track cars and had even gotten some help from Chrysler executive Bob Rodgers back in the 1950s for that effort. NASCAR great Marvin Panch came up with the name ‘Honker’ for Bud’s fast cars in this era. Starting in 1960, Faubel was factory-backed for the new sport of drag racing, first with 383 cars, then Max Wedges. By the time this Hemi car came into being, he was being tuned by Bill ‘Grumpy’ Jenkins, who had partnered with driver Dave Strickler to campaign a Dodge that season. Incidentally, 1964 was Dodge’s 50th anniversary year.
