Kurt Tevault spent five long years building his beloved 1964 Dodge Polara wagon. So, when an accident relegated him to a wheelchair, he feared he might never race again. His determination to drive, though, brought him back from the brink and back to drag racing.
It was his father who piqued Kurt’s interest in Mopars, as the man raced in the Stock class in the 1960s and early ‘70s. “He bought and sold muscle cars but was a Ford man, so I grew up riding around in Shelby Mustangs,” remembered Tevault, now 58, who took a different trajectory with his make of choice. “My father mostly raced a 1969 Ford Torino Cobra Jet, but he bought a Plymouth Superbird in 1970 and I’ve been in love with Mopars ever since.”
Kurt bought his first Mopar, a Dodge Charger, when he was 15 and the car inspired a lifetime love for the brand. In the late 1980s, he started his bracket racing career and knew he had found his niche. Since then, he’s owned multiple Mopars. “I have a Dodge Charger that I drive to car shows, and another 1965 Plymouth Belvedere that I used to race in Nostalgia Super Stock (NSS) before the station wagon. Now, it’s a backup car for NSS but I still bracket race it,” he added.
The car is a blast to drive. It goes wheels up and I lose sight of the track every time when taking off.
Based out of Newton, Illinois, Tevault had always liked the 1962-1965 Mopar factory race cars. In 2008, he read an article about a Hemi-powered ’64 station wagon and was inspired to have one of his own. So, he headed to eBay where he quickly found – and bought – his unique Mopar.
Tevault spent half a decade piecing the beautiful piece of muscle car history together, and was careful to make sure each component, from powerplant to paint, was perfectly period-correct.
Under the hood, a 541 cubic inch Mopar Performance Hemi hums flawlessly while pushing out a generous 880 horsepower and 757 pound-feet of torque in a naturally-aspirated configuration; the Dodge’s spent exhaust gasses are sent back out into the world via a set of 2.25-inch headers from TTi Performance Exhaust.
Built by Best Machining, Inc., the 15:1 compression ratio V8 engine features 4.375-inch bore and 4.5-inch stroke cylinders, each of which is filled with CP pistons atop aluminum GRP connecting rods. The slugs rotate around a Callies crankshaft, while a Comp Cams solid roller camshaft ensures the valvetrain stays in synch. Aluminum heads from For Hemis Only (FHO) flank each bank of…
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