1965 Plymouth Belvedere

Wallpaper Description:

Inspiration
Like the mall is to teenage girls, 555 Race Shop in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, was to Paul Haye growing up. Owner Ken Montgomery built some really famous Mopars over the years, including a '65 Belvedere A990 race car. Even before getting his license, Paul fell in love with the cars Ken built, and wished he could build one just like it. He's had more than a few Mopars over the years, but none like the Belvedere he has today.

Though decades had passed, Paul never forgot about his dream car and when he saw one up for sale in inner-city Philadelphia, he jumped on it. The car was engineless and stripped of interior workings, but that was OK since Paul had a plan for it. He wanted to take what he learned from snooping at the race shop and build a car inspired by Ken's '65.
Paul really wanted to do this one right, so before putting any new parts on he got the car dipped to rid it of any paint, filler, or rust. This gave him the platform to put together a car from scratch and he wouldn't take any shortcuts. While still in bare metal, he had GMD Motorsports build subframe connectors and narrow the rear framerails to allow for a tightened Alston ladder-bar suspension. GMD fit the 9-inch between the newly placed rails for the wide tire he would need. Before being passed off to be assembled, Paul sent it over to Crozier Body Shop in Weston, Ohio, to get the thing as straight as possible. There he had both quarter-panels replaced along with the smoothing and finishing of the rest of the panels.
When it came to the motor choice, Paul didn't see that he had one; it had to be a Hemi. He wouldn't consider a motor built by anyone but Ken Montgomery. Ken assembled a 426 Hemi with a mix of factory and aftermarket components to help it perform well, but keep it true to its roots, like the rest of the car.
Paul's daughter, Jennifer, was always eager to lend a helping hand in the garage when she was younger and is a die-hard Mopar fan, thanks to her pops. She took the photos you see here and currently runs a photography studio in Toledo, Ohio.